Monday, February 6, 2017

Hebrews 7:20-28

20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’ ”), 22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. 23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

Commentary
Vs. 20-21 20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’ ”), 

The point being made here is that the Lord Jesus Christ, unlike Aaron and his priesthood, was made a Priest by an oath given by the Lord God. And so the oath being given by God the Father to Christ His Son is His own confirmation to Him (and us all) that His Priesthood is not only Superior to Aaron's but it will have no end, Therefore the Scripture again states: The Lord has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’ ” 

Vs. 22 "by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant." 

The New Covenant and Christ's Priesthood then is eminently Superior to the Old Covenant and Aaron's priesthood born out of it, because as previously stated both Aaron and the Old Covenant made nothing, or no one perfect (Heb. 7:11-19, vs. 11-12, 19). And so Jesus has become, by an oath made by God, a surety (i.e guarantor) of a better covenant, established on better promises (Heb 8:6). 

Vs. 23 "Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing." 

The Word of God continues on reasoning with us as to why both Jesus' Person and Priesthood is Superior to Aaron's. Under the Old Covenant both the high priest, and those priests who served with him were all temporary, their tenures were all limited by their own morality. And so with each and every generation there was always the need for a new high priest (and priests) who would officiate before God on behalf of the people. Now some of these men were Godly, like Samuel, and some were not, like Eli and his sons (see 1 Samuel 1-4). And so Aaron's priesthood by it's very nature had the fundamental flaw of lacking any sort of consistency or permanence, because not all men are holy, and not all men are just, and no man (whether just or not) is assured of life itself, only death itself. Therefore death always limited them all from continuing on in their service, (and thus their work on behalf of both the individual, as well as the nation of Israel was temporary) because theirs was not the eternal service for God, it was and will always be Jesus Christ's the Lord.  

Vs. 24 "But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood."

And so unlike them, the Lord Jesus Christ whose Person, Sacrifice, and now Intercession for us all who believe in Him continues forever, He has an Unchanging Priesthood via the New Covenant.

Vs. 25 "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." 

Since then Jesus Christ's Person and tenure as High Priest of God on our behalf will never end, "...He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Now being saved to the uttermost (gr. παντελές) means not only completely, but also perpetually, forever. Thus with Christ's sacrifice for our sins completed; and thus forever satisfying the justice of God; the Lord Jesus Christ's intercession on our behalf is likewise forever interceding for us as need arises, being based solely upon His Atoning sacrifice at Calvary which is the means by which we as sinful men, woman, and children are reconciled to God the moment we believe in Him (Eph. 1:13-14). 

Vs. 26 "For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;" 

The point being made here is that there was but One Man, the Son of Man/Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ who alone could fulfill this unique Role as the Everlasting High Priest to God for us. 

Jesus Christ alone is holy, for He alone is the expressed Image of God (Col. 1:15).
Jesus Christ alone is harmless, (gr. ἄκακος, "guileless, without fault, upright, innocent"). And yet more than just being blameless or innocent in every sense, this word also indicates something that is exceedingly good in it's fundamental nature, and thus is the antithesis of every and any form of evil. In stark contrast to that then the devils fundamental nature is to kill, steal, and destroy in whatever ways he can, for that is what he is naturally, and so that is what he seeks to do too, and through men and woman's lives in this world of which He rules, and holds sway over. Therefore where such things take place you now the devil is at work deceiving and or swaying people to do his own evil will. Now the only reason I'm stating as much is so that you will understand the striking contrast between the Works of the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ and the works of the devil, because the Lord Jesus Christ not only is Good, but He only seeks to do Good, and will do nothing but Good, which is in accord with the Will of God, and which is in accord with His own Fundamental Nature. 
Jesus Christ alone is undefiled, neither Aaron nor the priests descended from him were undefiled,
if they were God would not have required a sacrifice first for their own sins, before they could begin interceding on behalf of the people for theirs.
Jesus Christ alone is separate from sinners, now this does not mean that Jesus has nothing to do with sinners, for He was crucified with and for sinners (Isaiah 53). What it means is that as our Crucified, Resurrected, and now Ascended Lord and Savior seated at the right hand of God, Jesus Christ alone is both uniquely qualified, and in the position to intercede to God for us, because He alone is separate from sinners, because Jesus Christ alone has a Sinless Nature.

Vs. 27 "who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself."

Because of the Lord Jesus Christ's Sinless Person and Nature (as well as the Completeness and Sufficiency and Finality of His own Sacrifice) He does not need to offer up daily sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the peoples He is interceding for, because this He did once and for all time when He offered up Himself to God on the cross for us all. The Lord Jesus Christ's Sinless Person and Sacrifice then uniquely qualifies Him to serve as God's High Priest on our behalf. 


Vs. 28 "For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever."
 
Another failing of the Law is that it only appoints as high priests men who have weaknesses (gr. ἀσθένειαa: weakness, incapacity, limitation etc.). And so unlike the Lord Jesus Christ whose Divine Person and Nature has no weaknesses, and who alone was called by an oath given by God Himself, (referencing Psalm 110:4), the high priests the law appointed were all men bound with weaknesses, in that they all bore a sinful nature, and they all were subject to death. And so with the Lord Jesus Christ their is no weaknesses or limitations. For even as the Son of Man who once subjected Himself in the flesh to death (John 10:17-18), Jesus is no more subject to death, because He has by His own Resurrection from the dead been Perfected forever, when by laying down His own life on the Cross for us all, He three days later He took it up again on behalf of us all. The Lord Jesus Christ then is the first born of the Resurrection of the dead, and thus by doing so He alone has enacted God's Promise of everlasting life coming to one and all who repent and believe in Him crucified and Risen from the dead. Therefore unlike the mere mortal men whom the Law appointed as high priests, who only serve for a season, because they are all subject to sin and death, and thus they can by no means deliver themselves or anyone else from it's clutches, because of their own inherent weaknesses and mortality. The oath sworn by God the Father to His own Son Jesus Christ that He would be a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, exceedingly surpasses and supplants everything that Aaron and the high priesthood that came through him did and could do. For apart from Christ and His ministry for us there is no escape from sin and ultimately death which it brings to bear on us all. The Superiority then of Christ's Person and Priesthood over Aaron and that which came through the Law then is self evident to one and all who repent and believe and thus trust not in Aaron and Law (and thus ones own righteousness according to it) but only in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.


Resources Consulted For Word Studies
Kittel, Gerhard, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985.

Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1996.




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