Hebrews 7:11-19 – The Better Hope.

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 10 Mar. 2019
Omitting greyed-out text should bring the delivery-time down to about 45 minutes.

Intro

• A couple of weeks ago, I read the following quote in John Brown’s classic commentary on Hebrews. It is profound: “Our faith and our hope will just be in proportion to each other, and our holiness will be in proportion to both.”

  • If your hope is great, your faith will be great, and your holiness will be great

  • If your hope is weak, your faith will be weak, and your holiness will be weak too.

  • It is my aim to pump up your hope by meditating on this passage in the middle of Hebrews chapter 7.

• The context of this passage is the classic struggle between Judaism - which rejects Jesus as not enough - and Biblical Christianity which sees Jesus as everything.

• “The Dead Sea Sect, as we have seen, expected the advent of two messianic figures, one priestly, of the order of Levi, and the other kingly, of the line of David; and… there is ample evidence in the apostolic writings of the threat which judaizing influences and sects presented to the Christian church. There is evidence, too, that … judaizing influence… succeeded, in the post-apostolic period…

  • The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs… appears to be the manifesto of a second-century judaizing sect [very similar to the Qumran Essenes] whose members attached particular importance to the role of Levi and Judah… in the eschatological kingdom…. there is not a single mention of Melchizedek… Consistent with this silence is the absence of any reference to Psalm 110…

  • [I]n the latter part of the second century… Irenaeus… asserts that Christ ‘was begotten as king and priest from Levi and Judah according to the flesh...’

  • Origen, in the third century writes, ‘that men [- speaking of contemporary Christian leaders] can be high priests according to the order of Aaron…’

  • [B]y the middle of the third century… Cyprian… treats all the passages of the Old Testa­ment which refer to the Aaronic priesthood, as applying to the officers of the Christian Church…

• “[B]ut our epistle teaches with the clearest possible emphasis that the introduction of the order of Melchizedek means the disappearance of the order of Levi; consequently any suggestion that the latter is still in force in the ministry of men is inadmissible and shows a surprising disregard of the instruction so plainly given by our author.” ~P.E. Hughes

v.11 So if perfection had been in existence through the agency of the Levite priesthood (for the People have been legally instituted upon it), why still a need for a different priest to be raised up according to the order of Melchisedek and not dictated according to the order of Aaron?

• The grammar of this verse in Greek¹ indicates that the author is stating something hypothet­ically which he does not believe to be true. Perfection did not exist under the Levite priest­hood. If it had, there would have been no need for Jesus to come and improve upon it.

• However, our author does acknowledge the importance of the ceremonial law in the paren­thetical phrase, “for the people [that is, the Israelites as a nation] were legally instituted/re­ceived law under it” - “it” being the “Levitical priesthood” (the nearest referent matching in gender, number, and case^C)

  • The Levites were clearly given the authority over the Israelite nation to interpret God’s laws and to decide all legal disputes in Deut. 17:8-11 “And if a matter shall be too hard for thee in judgment... thou shalt come to the priests the Levites... and they shall search out the matter and report the judgment to thee... and thou shalt observe to do all whatso­ever shall have been by law appointed [νομοθετῆσαι]² to thee. Thou shalt do according to the law and to the judgment which they shall declare to thee: thou shalt not swerve to the right hand or to the left from any sentence which they shall report to thee.” (Brenton)

  • The word translated “received/gave the law/legally instituted”

    • is a compound of the Greek word for “law” and the Greek verb for “set in place.”

    • It is translated “enacted/established” by all the English translations in its only other occurrence in the New Testament: Hebrews 8:6 (“...He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” ~NKJV)

• In fact, Yahweh said to David’s Lord in Psalm 110, “I will make you a priest forever accord­ing to the order of Melchizedek,” which indicates that God wanted to make a priest that is different from the Levitical priests.

  • Why a new priestly order? Because the Levitical one wasn’t perfect. It had its problems. A quick survey of the Old Testament priests bears this out:

    • Nadab and Abihu were incinerated for doing something irresponsible in the temple.

    • Eli, the priest was cursed by God for being careless with rearing his sons, so God raised up a new priest, Samuel, from a different Levite family and gave this prophecy: 1 Samuel 2:35 “And I will raise up to myself a faithful priest, who shall do all that is in my heart...” (Brenton)

    • Then, the temple worship was dropped for 70 years while the Jews were in Babylon.

    • When Ezra and Nehemiah re-built their nation after the exile, they both recognized the need of a new priest to “arise” to start worship back up in Jerusalem³.

  • The Levitical priesthood wasn’t perfect, so there was a need for something better, and the solution had been dictated by God in Psalm 110: a new priest would arise designated/cal­led/named “after the order of Melchezidek.” But it wouldn’t be just a new priesthood...

v.12 Indeed, while that priesthood is being replaced, out of necessity a replacement of law also happens.

• The Greek root word metatithemi occurs twice in this verse denoting a “change.” In other words, in order to institute a new priesthood, the old priesthood has to be “put away,” and if the old priesthood had a set of laws governing it, that set of laws also will get “set aside” for the new set of rules governing the new kind of priesthood.

• I’d like to note that the Greek word for “the” is not used with the word for “law” in this verse. It is added in by most English translators, and that addition might lead to the idea that the entirety of the laws God gave during the time of Moses became irrelevant⁴,

  • but it was not the entire law which was changed, only that part which relates to the Levitical priesthood and sacrifices – what we generally call the “ceremonial law.”

  • And the words used here in Greek do not carry negative connotations, as though the law or priesthood were actually bad. They served a legitimate purpose in their time.

• However, the writer of Hebrews is making it plain that for Jewish Christians to return to Judaism would be insane because it would not be returning to well-established roots, rather it would be going to a system that was being rendered obsolete and would do them no good in the future.

  • The Greek verb for “being displaced/changed” is present tense, indicating that this was still in process at the time of writing. Levite priests were still offering sacrifices at the time of writing, but it wouldn’t be for much longer. Only a short time later, the Roman army des­troyed Jerusalem and temple worship ceased for good.

• The Apostle Paul wrote of the law that came in as a replacement, calling it the “law of faith,” which justifies “by faith apart from the works of the law” (Rom. 3:27) and which moves believers in Jesus out from under the Levitical law and puts them “under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

  • “It was this change in the law, at the very heart of the gospel, which was so violently resented by those Jews who were wedded to their own legalistic principle of works-righteousness. Those who put Stephen, the first Christian martyr, to death did so on the ground that he had declared that the advent of Jesus of Nazareth meant a change in the customs which Moses, their great law-giver, had delivered to them (Acts 6:14). The hostility which Paul… encountered from the Jews was engendered chiefly by the charge that his teaching was contrary to the law and the temple (Acts 21:28).” ~P.E. Hughes

• I would also go on to say that there is a grave error in end-time views which look forward to animal sacrifices being reinstated in Jerusalem. Scripture tells us that is not perfection. Our future is in the priest of the order of Melchizedek who changed those rules with His once-for-all perfect sacrifice of Himself on the cross.

v.13 for he about whom these things were said was a member of⁵ a different tribe from which no one has tended to the altar.

• Who is the “he of whom these things were said”? And what was said about him?

  • The Greek wording is masculine, so there was no need for the NIV and ESV to leave the traditional English translation for a gender-neutral pronoun here. It was a man.

  • The most recent list of things said about a man was at the beginning of this chapter. Hebrews 7:1-3 listed a dozen or so things about Melchizedek gleaned from the historical account of him in Genesis 14. So I think this is talking about Melchisedek.

• And it is clear that Melchizedek, as a contemporary of Abraham, couldn’t possibly have been a descendant of Abraham’s great-grandson (Levi), so, according to the ceremonial law, he couldn’t have been a Levitical priest. Furthermore, Melchizedek wasn’t related to Abraham closely-enough to have been mentioned in the geneaologies of Abraham – which means Melchizedek wasn’t even a Jew. He was from a different tribe… and so was Jesus!

  • In the last sermon, we looked at the passages in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy which contained commands that only Levites could be priests, and anybody else who tried to offer sacrifices at the altar were to be put to death.

  • Yet, here is Melchizedek - from a different tribe - being called a “priest,” and in Psalm 110, the Messiah (David’s “Lord”) is being called “a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” instead of a priest according to the order of Aaron and the Levites.

• The Greek word translated “attended/officiated/served” connotes having a set of standards and “paying close attention” to them to keep them all properly.

  • And if you’ve read the book of Leviticus, you know how true that was of the Levitical priests. Rules upon rules, and everything had to be done exactly right or else God might get mad and turn you into a smoldering heap of ashes.

  • One guy from Judah, King Uzziah, tried to burn some incense in a can at the temple, and just for that God struck him with leprosy and effectively ended his career as king (2Ch. 26).

  • Melchizedek, on the other hand is not portrayed as tending to an altar; he merely receives Abraham’s tithe, doesn’t kill any animals - serves bread and wine, and blesses Abraham.

• Now, since, Psalm 110 says that the Messiah would be of the order of Melchizedek, we’d expect similar things of Jesus:

  • a minister who received donated food,

  • a minister who came from a tribe other than Levi,

  • a minister who did not offer sacrifices at the altar in Jerusalem,

  • who offered bread and wine to his followers,

  • and who spoke blessings over His followers.

• Do you see how Jesus fits every one of these characteristics?

  • There were people who dedicated themselves to following Jesus around and feeding Him and his disciples, paying for it out of their own accounts (Mt. 27:55, Mk. 15:41).

  • Both Joseph and Mary⁶ were from the tribe of Judah, as the genealogies of Matthew and Luke clearly demonstrate, placing Jesus in a different tribe than Levi.

  • Jesus’ ministry focused on walking around and teaching, not on offering animal sacrifices.

  • Jesus offered bread and wine to His followers, both in His miracles and at His last supper.

  • And Jesus blessed His followers in the beatitudes spoken to the crowds as well as through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

v.14 so it is easily-demonstrated that our Lord has risen up out of Judah, to which tribe Moses uttered nothing about being priests.

• Nowhere did Moses say anything about anybody in the tribe of Judah being a priest; only Levites were allowed. Yet Jesus arose out of the tribe of Judah to be our great high priest!

• It seems odd for the NASB, NIV, and ESV translators to render the Greek word ἀνα-τέταλκεν with the English word “descended,” when everywhere else⁷ they translate the same word as “rose,” or “dawned” or “came up.”

  • This Greek verb, which literally means “rise up,” shows Jesus as different from Levites who traced their descent downward from Levi. Jesus instead “springs upward” as the long-awaited hope of Israel, out of Judah. It is a key word in many messianic prophecies:

  • Numbers 24:17 “...a star shall rise [ἀνατελεῖ] out of Jacob...” (Brenton)

  • Isaiah 60:1 “...thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen [ἀνατέταλκεν] upon thee.” (Brenton)

  • Zechariah 6:12 “...Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall spring up [ἀνατελεῖ] from his stem...” (Brenton)

  • and Malachi 4:2,“...the Sun of righteousness shall arise [ἀνατελεῖ], and healing shall be in his wings.” (Brenton)

  • The reference here in Hebrews is clearly an allusion to these prophecies of the Messiah.

• Also notice the phrase “our Lord” here in v.14. The apostle clearly and authoritatively connected Jesus with David’s “Lord” from Psalm 110 and calls him “our Lord”!

v.15-17 And it is still more overwhelmingly demonstrable if a different priest arises according to the likeness of Melchisedek, who came to be, not according to a law of a command of flesh, but rather according to power of an indestructible life, for He testifies, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.”

• In light of the 110^th Psalm, which predicted the coming of an “eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek,” and in light of the “arising” of Jesus with so many “similarities” to Melchi­zedek, the fact that there must be a change in the law-order becomes “clearer/more evident/ even easier to see.”

  • And, for what it’s worth, this “like-ness/ὁμοιότητα” is not a statement of exact sameness⁸, nev­ertheless, the similarities highlighted in Hebrews between Jesus and Melchizedek are striking!

• In v.16, the authority upon which the old priesthood and its ecclesiastical law were estab­lished and the authority upon which this Melchizedekian priesthood is established are con­trasted in terms of “a law of a command of flesh” versus “power from an indestructible life.”

  • A “command” is often a word used to indicate a specific law within a larger body of law.

    • For instance, it was once asked of Jesus, “What is the greatest command in the Law?” (Mt. 22:36, NAW)

    • I think the “law of a command” indicates a specific subset of commands within the larger law of God.

    • The nearest referent would be back in v.5 “... the sons of Levi have, according to the law, a command to collect tithes from the people...” (NAW)

  • This command, upon which the Levites had the authority to be priests between God and man, is described in v.16 as “of flesh/σαρκικῆς⁹” - which is somewhat ambiguous in meaning.

    • I tried to keep that ambiguity in my translation, but the NIV and ESV added some paraphrasing to give it the more specific meaning of a “regulation concerning ances­try/bodily [descent],” referring it to the qualification of Levitical priests to be physical descendants of Aaron. That seems to be the best interpretation¹⁰.

    • The word “flesh” also implies that there will be inherent limitations to this priesthood because it is dependent upon temporal “flesh.”

    • John Brown’s classic commentary states: “[A]s a man, there is no doubt that [Melchi­sedec] began and ceased to live; but as a priest he did not belong to that order who had a fixed period for commencing, and a fixed period for concluding, their priestly existence. The Levitical priests were allowed at the age of… thirty [to enter] the ser­vices peculiar to the priesthood; and at fifty there was an end of their priestly services. This was the ‘beginning of [their] days’ and the ‘end of [their] life’ as priests…. Mel­chisedec is superior to the Aaronical priesthood; for their priesthood is temporary and limited – they die as priests before they die as men...”

  • In contrast to the “fleshly command” is the “power of an indestructible life” to establish priesthood between God and Man.

    • Heb. 1:3 has already spoken of that dynamic/power of Jesus, “...being the radiance of His glory... and carrying all things by the word of His power, having made purification from our sins with His own self, He took office at the right hand of [God].” (NAW)

    • That’s a big change! If you have a priest who can’t die, you have no need for any more priests, and no need for rules defining a succession of priests. It’s a game-changer!

    • Not only does Jesus’ indestructible life give Him qualification for priesthood by His similarity to Melchizedek in being “without beginning and without end of days,”

    • it also qualifies Jesus for priesthood in that He has the power to share that life with those He saves: 2 Peter 1:2-4 “...His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness...”

    • How is He able to share that life with us? The use of the word “indestructible” (trans­lated “endless” in the KJV) carries the connotation that His life was not deserving of destruction because it was so righteous, for the word “destruction” implies God’s judgment. This, of course, applies to Jesus, who lived the perfect life of obedience to God and did not deserve to perish, yet accepted the punishment of death on our be­half, and then rose from the dead - and can’t be killed again!

• This is the kind of priest we need to make us OK, not a mere human whose sin deserves des­truction and who is going to die and leave us looking for somebody else to make us feel bet­ter. Jesus’ power (proved by His resurrection) means we don’t need anybody else to go be­tween us and God. He is IT!

  • Eph. 2:12-18 “...you were...strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross... through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (NKJV)

  • Romans 8:1-4 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (NKJV)

v.18-19 So, what has happened is, on the one hand, a displacement of a prominent command (on account of its weakness and lack of benefit -- 19 for the Law perfected nothing), and, on the other hand, a superimpos­ition of a better hope through which we get close to God!

• The Greek word προαγούσης, describing the “displaced” command does not connote “for­mer” in time, but rather “going out in front/being in the lead/prominent.” I mention this to guard against any accusations of inaccuracy in the Biblical text based on modern translations. The divine regulations behind Melchisedek’s priesthood actually predated the Levitical com­mands issued through Moses, but in the Mosaic economy, the Levitical commands “took the lead” for a thousand years until the “fullness of time” when “God sent forth His only begotten son” to displace the Levitical priesthood forever.

• The Greek word for this “displacement/annulment/setting aside” is A-thetesis.

  • It is similar to the Greek word meta-thesis translated “changed/replaced” back in v.12, describing what would happen to the Levitical priesthood and its ceremonial law. There it meant to “change/re-place,” here there is a different prefix that means there is “no place” for the Levitical priests anymore – they are “annulled” - permanently sidelined.

  • This Greek word is used only once more in the New Testament¹¹ in Hebrews 9:26 “...He has appeared to put away [displace] sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (NKJ)

  • It’s like when you drop a rock into a bowl full of water, it splashes the water out; that’s what happens to sin when your life is filled up with Jesus. And that’s what happened to the ceremonial law and the Levitical priests when Jesus showed up on the scene.

• Why was this prominent (and ancient) Levitical system displaced? Because, says the end of v.18, it was “weak and useless/unprofitable.”

  • “It must be understood that… the deficiency is located in sinful man rather than in the law; for in itself, as Paul insists, the law is holy and spiritual (Rom. 7:12, 14).” ~Hughes

  • Galatians 4:4-10 also calls the ceremonial law “weak:” “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ ... But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years.” (cf. Rom. 5:3)

  • The word translated “unprofitable/useless” shows up only one other place in the New Testament, and that’s in Titus 3:9, also talking about the law: “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless[empty].” (NKJV)

  • In the Old Testament, dumb idols are also called “useless” (Isa. 44:10, Jer. 2:8).

  • Arguing over what the Urim and Thummim were doesn’t do anything positive, any more than a carved idol can do anything positive for you.

  • The reason the law can’t do anything positive for you is explained in the next verse:

• v.19 “because the law perfects no one...”

  • The Apostle Paul explained that the law, by its very nature is not capable of telling you that you are all-right; all it can do is tell you that you sinned. Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that... all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified... for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (NKJV)

  • “[T]hat commandment and the priesthood founded on it would be abolished… on account of its incapacity of gaining the great ends of Priesthood [to bring Man to God]… It did not make a perfect priest; it did not make perfect expiation; it did not afford perfect peace of conscience; it did not give real, far less perfect, sanctification… ‘The law in every re­spect opened up and imposed a number of problems without solving any of them. It set up in the decalogue the ideal of a holy life, but it gave no power to realize that ideal. By the law of sacrifice it awakened the consciousness of the necessity of an atonement; but it provided no true, valid offering for sin. In the institution of the priesthood it held for the necessity of a representation of the sinner before God; but it gave no priest able to save men [forever]... In short, it left everything unfinished.” ~John Brown (quoting Ebrard)

• The replacement, therefore, that is “brought in” to “displace” that “weak” administration is the same one one mentioned in Hebrews 1:6, using the same root word: “...He shall bring His firstborn in [εἰσαγάγῃ] to the world...”

  • The Greek word here in v.19 [ἐπ-εισαγωγὴ] builds upon that former Greek word with a pre­positional prefix indicating – not only a grand introduction but – a bringing-in of something to replace what was there; that’s why I translated it a “superimposition of a better hope.”

  • This isn’t adding a freshman quarterback to the lineup, it is, at the same time ousting the poorly-performing senior quarterback so there’s no more fumbles and incompletes!

• The result is that we are even now (Present tense) drawing near – getting close – to God! Do you realize what a game-changer this is???

  • This is part of the new economy of the Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ. In the Old Testament, hoi polloi could not “draw near to God;” that was only for only Levites!

    • Exodus 19:22 “...let the priests that draw nigh to the Lord God sanctify themselves...” (Brenton, cf. Lev. 10:3)

    • Ezekiel 43:19 “And thou shalt appoint to the priests the Levites of the seed of [Zadok], that draw nigh to me, saith the Lord God, to minister to me...” (Brenton)

  • Yet now, all who trust in Jesus are encouraged to draw near to God!

    • James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…” (NKJ)

    • Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore keep approaching the throne of grace with openness in order that we may receive mercy and find grace...” (NAW)

Conclusion

• Now, I realize that most of you are not “chomping at the bit” to bring animals into our wor­ship services so you can slaughter and burn them, so the attractiveness of this compromise with Judaism, which was so alluring to first Century Hebrews, may be hard to understand. But think about it in terms of the compromises the world around you today pressures you to make with Christianity.

• You may not care about Old Testament priesthood with its ephods and Urim and Thumim, but you do care about what priests do. They make you o.k.

  • What is it (besides Jesus) that feels like it will make you o.k.?

  • How do you make yourself feel better when you don’t like yourself?

  • What do your social media friends and co-workers and movie stars pressure you to do?

    • Eat this comfort food,

    • trust this expert,

    • wear these clothes,

    • compare yourself to that person,

    • escape with this show,

    • lose yourself in that game,

    • join this political party or that politically-correct social organization…

    • and on and on the list goes.

  • These are the modern-day equivalents of the temptation that first-Century Jewish Christ­ians felt to abandon Jesus and go back to the Levitical priests and their ceremonies.

  • Satan wants you to go back to any of these “weak and beggarly elements” rather than to look to Jesus to make you o.k.

• But Jesus is your better hope… He is the priest forever according to the order of Melchezidek, the one who instituted the law of faith, who “arose” in fulfillment of all the messianic prophecies with the power of an indestructible life because He was the righteousness of God, the one who can perfect us and bring us close to God.

APPENDIX: Side-by-side Greek Text & English Versions of Heb. 7:11-19^A