Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Hebrews 7:1-14. He taught that Jesus is the true Melchizedek, the eternal King of Righteousness and Peace. Lector: Lindsey Blair
Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Hebrews 7:1-14. He taught that Jesus is the true Melchizedek, the eternal King of Righteousness and Peace.
Lector: Lindsey Blair
Over the years, I have referenced nearly every Disney movie at least once in a sermon
I have talked about Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter
I’m sure you’ve heard a sermon that mentions Braveheart or Band of Brothers
I’ve referenced Bluey and that narcissist Caillou.
We’ve referenced Peter Pan and Hercules…and no one has ever asked me why.
Why not? Because we understand what’s going on.
These characters are so embedded in our modern culture we can reference them with practically zero explanation. We know who they are and what they represent.
No one has come up to me and asked me about the historical Hercules, no one has had questions about the small French town where Belle lived.
Stories, especially the ones that stick, that we tell over and over, speak to the deepest longings of the human soul. Our hearts are bigger than words. That’s why we don’t just say, “I feel ugly and broken inside. I feel unworthy of love, and I wish someone would love me for who I am.”
We could say that, and it would be true…but instead we write Beauty and the Beast.
Stories linger with us, stir our imaginations, and give voice to our deepest longings, regardless if the stories are true or not!
Over these next 3 chapters of Hebrews, it is crucial that you remember 2 things
1.Hebrews was written for the ear and imagination, not the eye.
Meaning, it is more a symphony and less a math equation. It was meant to be listened to, enjoyed, wondered in…it is a circular, repeating appeal that speaks to our emotions and imaginations.
It is not a linear argument.
2. The point of these chapters is to show how Jesus' work is better than what came before.
When something is confusing or you feel lost, come back to that point.
How is this showing Jesus’ work is better? This will help guide us today in one of the most truly bizarre portions of the Bible.
Remember back in ch. 5, Melchizedek? More we’d like to say…hard to explain.
Well, now he’s going to give it a shot.
This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God most high.
-Hebrews 7:1
The first four chapters of Hebrews were spent discussing the Superiority of Jesus’ Person
What did we keep hearing about? Divine beings, angels, prophets…
In swirling and rhythmic fashion, the Preacher said Jesus is better than all of them
He’s better because he’s eternal, he’s God, the only son of God, the creator etc…
Now, he’s moving on to emphasize that what Jesus has done is superior, and we’ll see specifically 4 things in the coming weeks: Jesus work is superior to the old priesthood, the old law, the old covenant, and the old sacrifices.
We begin with priests, and the preacher reaches deep into his bag to talk about THE priest.
It is less important to understand who Melchizedek was historically than it is to understand who he was homiletically.
In other words, we must understand why Melchizedek is discussed here more than we understand who the historical figure Melchizedek was.
There was a rich tradition about this mysterious figure. People believed things about him and he was referred to often, even though he only comes up twice in the Bible.
Here’s what we know about him
His name means king of justice/righteousness.
He ruled a kingdom named Salem, which is Hebrew for peace or wholeness.
There is no record of his birth or death.
Abraham gave him an offering, and since all the Israelite priests are descended from Abraham, and since you only give an offering to someone greater than you, Melchizedek was greater than Abraham and the Jewish priests.
In the Jewish mind, Melchizedek was the priest of all priests.
Greater than even the high priest.
In their traditions, he was the eternal King of righteousness and peace.
Now pause…does that sound familiar to us at all today? **pause**
In the Jewish imagination, there was no one greater than Melchizedek, no work more significant or lasting.
When trying to show Jesus was greater than any other being, the Preacher appealed to beings that were highly revered: the angels.
Now, when trying to show Jesus’ work is greater than any other beings, the Preacher references the priest whose work was greater than any others: Melchizedek.
The congregation would have immediately known and understood.
Look at what he says in verse 3:
He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.
-Hebrews 7:3
He says that Melchizedek resembled Jesus. He was a foretaste of Jesus, an appetizer.
Through the many years of waiting for salvation, they longed for Melchizedek.
They longed for an eternal, sufficient, effective, once-and-for-all priest who could reconcile them to God and each other.
Why? Because the Old Problem kept creeping it’s head. Look with me, v. 8:
The priests who collect tithes are men who die…
-Hebrews 7:8
The men you are told will make you right with God keep dying.
And we keep giving offerings, but they keep dying! We keep sinning!
Here’s the problem:
If the priesthood of Levi, on which the law is based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?
-Hebrews 7:11
Levi and Aaron are descendants of Abraham. The law was given through Abraham’s descendants, and overseen/enacted by the priests.
It was the whole Jewish world, it was their everything, where their hope rested
And the Preacher is saying what everyone already knew: it did. Not. Work.
It could not work. Priests died, people kept sinning, priests kept sinning.
But throughout it all, the people hoped and waited on the promises of God.
A priest who was eternal. A priest who did not die, and even more who did not sin.
A priest so great that even Abraham, the Father of Nations would need to give an offering to. A priest so great that even he would be able to bless Abraham
There was a promise that what we had was temporary and something new, fuller, SUPERIOR was coming.
There would be a priest from a different tribe. Not an earthly one, an eternal one.
This is why the Preacher is talking about Melchizedek.
He’s diving deep into their imaginations and saying to them, “the stories you’ve told are true! But we aren’t waiting for someone like Melchizedek, Melchizedek is like the one we are waiting for.”
What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.
-Hebrews 7:14
He’s building a new case now. We’ve established Jesus is superior to every who came before him, and now we will soon see the work of Jesus is superior to every work before or after.
The old way, the old priesthood, it did not work.
And don’t you know this? What was it that brought you to Christ if not for the realization that life was not working, that you were not working?
That you needed help and rescue. That you could not do this on your own.
We need one like Melchizedek. We need the one our hearts have longed for in all the stories, we need the one whose love is eternal and transforming and effective.
And soon we’ll see we needed one whose law would be written on our hearts, whose covenant would be eternally secured, because his sacrifice was once-for-all effective.
If the old-priesthood was effective, then Abraham, the father of the priests, would not have sought out a blessing from an even greater priest.
If the old priesthood was effective, the priests would not have continually offered the same sacrifices.
If the old priesthood was effective, the priests would not have died themselves.
If your way of life was working, you would not be at church.
If your job, or your money, or your relationships was enough would you still be longing like you do?
Would you still feel the hunger deep in your soul that you do?
Why do we watch the same movies over and over, and why do we keep telling the same story over and over?
A story of a once great people who has tragedy fall upon them. Suffering, confusion, division come…but out of the ruins one person will rise up. They will do for us what we could not do for ourselves. They will serve us and suffer for us, yes…but they will rise up and save the day.
“Oh you’re talking about that girl from the Last of Us…”
“Wait you’re talking about Moana”
“No he’s talking about Aragorn”
“No he’s talking about Tony Stark”
Pick your movie, choose your story, and tell me you can’t find that plot in it…why?
Because the hunger of every human heart is for rescue. We know we need it, and our hearts cry out for it.
And I am here to tell you the stories you love are all true
But the hero’s name is Tony or Moana or even Melchizedek. The hero’s name is Jesus
He is not from the tribe of Judah, he’s in the order of Melchizedek.
He is a priest from of old, the Ancient of Days. He comes to establish a new priesthood, a new covenant, a new law, and offer a new sacrifice.
He comes with healing on his wings and the promise of satisfaction for our souls.
Jesus is the true Melchizedek, the eternal King of Righteousness and Peace.
Let’s Pray.