The Inadequacy of the Levitical Priesthood

Transcript

GR 1692
06/02/2013
The Inadequacy of the Levitical Priesthood
Hebrews 7:11-19
Gil Rugh

We're going to Hebrews 7. I think Hebrews is a challenging book for believers, and as I reflect on it as we read through the book of Hebrews, it can seem in one sense not to be relevant to us. It is involved in a discussion and unfolding of issues relating to priesthood and a comparison of the Old Testament priesthood, the priesthood of Melchizedek. And we can begin to think, we're not Jews, we're not involved with the Levitical system and the issue of the Old Testament priesthood is not really an issue for us. So in some sense the book of Hebrews can seem at first look as not particularly relevant and pertinent to us in our present day situation. Perhaps back then for those Jews it was, but we are just not wrestling with those issues. But the reality is, we are.

What the book of Hebrews is about in very great detail is the gospel of Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? That the Son of God had to come to earth to take our place and pay the penalty for our sin so that we might be forgiven and cleansed. That's the high priestly ministry of Christ. And a failure to understand and grasp the importance of this has disastrous effects for the church right down to today. And the corruption of this foundational truth of the high priestly ministry of Christ began very early in church history. And that corruption continues down.

In the book of Hebrews there is a contrast being drawn between the Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament associated with the Mosaic Law or the Mosaic Covenant and the priesthood of Christ which is of a different order, the order of Melchizedek. The Old Testament priests were descendants from the tribe of Levi. Jesus Christ is not of the tribe of Levi, He is of the tribe of Judah. That seems very clear in the New Testament. And yet let me read you some comments from early church history, some men sometimes referred to as church fathers because they go back into early church history.


The first one is a man named Irenaeus. Irenaeus died in 202 A.D. So the book of Hebrews written in the middle 60s A.D., he is 135-140 years after the book of Hebrews was written. He was only a little over 100 years after the book of Revelation was written, so he is close. But listen to what Irenaeus said. He says that Christ was begotten as king and priest from Levi and Judah according to the flesh. No one can understand where he came up with such an idea. We know from other writings that he was familiar with the book of Hebrews. So no one can understand how he could say that Christ was a descendant of Levi and Judah according to the flesh. The whole argument of Hebrews is that Christ was not of the tribe of Levi, but of the tribe of Judah. But here is one of the early church fathers stating that.

A little bit later a man named Origen, and perhaps you are a little more familiar with Origen. He popularized a view of handling Scripture with allegorizing, which is not taking it literally but reading things into Scripture and seeing things behind what is really there. That can become almost fanciful. Origen himself died 253 A.D., the middle of the third century. And he attempts to maintain a distinction between Melchizedek and Levi but note what he does, “it is very important for where we are today.” He argued that “what is said about Melchizedek and the Melchizedekian priesthood in Psalm 110 and in our book of Hebrews applies only to Christ.” That's good, that's right. But then he goes on to say, “the Aaronic priesthood, the Levitical priesthood through the line of Aaron, continues in the ministry of the Christian church. We say accordingly, he says, that men can be high priests according to the order of Aaron, but according to the order of Melchizedek only Christ can be the priest of God.” Now wait a minute, do you see what he has done? Out of the air he has decided contrary to the book of Hebrews the Levitical priesthood is not over.

It continues on in the ministry of the church, so that Cyprian who was a contemporary of Origen, he died a few years after Origen did, in 258 A.D. Here is what one writer says, “what is remarkable is that notwithstanding the plain doctrine of the epistle of the Hebrews, by the middle of the third century the Christian ministry has come to be widely understood in terms of the Levitical priesthood of the Old Covenant. This is strikingly evident in the writings of Cyprian who, we can say of him, he treats all the passages of the Old Testament which refer to the privileges, the sanctions, the duties, the responsibilities of the Aaronic priesthood as apply to the officers of the Christian church.”

Think about that, by the middle of the third century, around 250 A.D. it had become the common belief that the leaders in the church were in the line of the Levitical priesthood. That's a denial of what the book of Hebrews is talking about. Where do you get that? We sometimes have the saying, a well told lie wins over the truth every time. And there is an element of truth in that. You tell a lie often enough, people begin to lose perspective. Maybe there is truth to it. We see this in people, we watch certain programs, what's going on? People get up and blatantly lie and they lie and they continue to lie and people begin to think, maybe they are telling the truth after all. You know an old lie is just a lie.

This is one of the major differences between us as evangelical believers whose sole authority is the Scripture and a group like Roman Catholicism that has as their authority also the church fathers. The church fathers back into the earliest history of the church are only correct as far as they agree with the Scripture. They are not a separate authority. You wonder, where does the Roman Catholic Church get its system of the leaders of the church or priests like the Aaronic priesthood was? You have a high priest with the pope, you have another layer of priests with the cardinals, and another layer with bishops, and another layer with the area priests. Where do you pull that out of the air? Well, we're in the line of the Aaronic priesthood, I guess. And you see the error that develops early. The devil does his work well. And it doesn't matter if you tell that error for 2,000 years it is still error, it is not truth. And it is contrary to what the Scripture teaches about the priesthood of Christ. You cannot be evangelical, believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be following a system that has a setup of priests. I am not your priest, I do not stand between you and God. I am a pastor with responsibility for oversight of this flock with other men, but I don't stand between you and God. You don't have to come to me to approach God. That's a denial of what the priesthood of Christ has accomplished. We have people coming to the priest so that he can represent them to God, and you are closed out from God's grace and God's salvation if you don't come to the priest and through the priest. You come to confess to him, you come to receive sacraments from him, people believe he is the dispenser of grace, he stands between you and God. That whole system is done! There is no connection to what is being done today. They are not even in the Levitical system, they are not Jews.

But somehow they do it and people look around and say, there mustn't be much difference. Do we really need to be emphasizing difference? The practice of that is a denial of evangelical, biblical Christianity. We are so far apart the difference is between heaven and hell. That's what the argument of the book of Hebrews is. We try to continue on a priestly system after the finished work of Christ, you are condemned to an eternal hell. We'll be reminded of that again in Hebrews 10 when we get done talking about the contrast between these two priesthoods.

The confusion today, so we have people talking about, maybe the difference isn't so great. Received a booklet in the mail this week, it's honoring the president of an evangelical seminary who is retiring. And one of the things they speak glowingly about is the rapport he developed between evangelicals and Mormons with their polluted system and corrupted priesthood and idea of that in all of that. What is there to honor someone who claims to be evangelical for making bonds with the devil? The failure to understand and grasp these truths, not just having some superficial idea that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You will, but you must understand what the issues are in that. And that's what Hebrews is unfolding.

Hebrews 7, the whole chapter is about demonstrating the superiority of Christ as a priest after the order of Melchizedek over the Levitical priesthood after the order of Aaron. That's all of Hebrews 7. And you understand the Levitical priesthood after the order of Aaron was powerless. So he started out by the first ten verses, first he gave the historical account of Melchizedek in Genesis 14. And he was a type of the coming high priest, Christ. Then in verses 4-10 he showed that Melchizedek in that historical account in Genesis was shown to be superior to Abraham, was shown to be superior to Levi. Remember about the Levitical priesthood. You have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Then Jacob had twelve sons, each became the head of one of the tribes in Israel. The tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe. That tribe was entrusted with the responsibilities for the tabernacle and all aspects of it. The family of Aaron out of the tribe of Levi was the priestly line. Not all Levites were priests, but all Levites were associated with the tabernacle and the priestly ministry. But the only priests were of the line of Aaron out of the tribe of Levi. But Levi was inferior to Melchizedek.

Okay, then we come to verses 11ff. In verses 11-28, we're not going to cover them all today but we will in coming weeks. Hebrews 7:11-28 are going to demonstrate that Christ is the fulfillment of Psalm 110:4. Remember after Genesis 14:18-20, the historical account of Melchizedek who is a type of Christ, prefiguring Christ, the only other reference to Melchizedek in the Old Testament is a prophetic reference. “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” And verses 11-28 will be unfolding the importance of that prophetic reference. It will be quoted twice, once in verse 17 and once in verse 21. He going to show perfection, we'll talk about that word, could not come through the Levitical priesthood. In that sense it was useless.

So verse 11 will start out, “now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood,” but it wasn't as we'll see, perfection. Then you come down to verse 19, “for the law made nothing perfect.” Then we'll come down to the end of verse 28, “but we have a Son made perfect forever.” So the perfect Son with a perfect sacrifice is the One who could do what the Levitical system and the Mosaic Law could not do. That's what this section is about, that's about our salvation, that's about what we call the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, His finished work on the cross.

We're going to focus on verses 11-19 and verses 11-19 will show the inadequacy, the inability of the Levitical priesthood. And then in our next study we'll look at verses 20-28 which show the superiority of Christ's priesthood. We're leaving behind the historical reference now that has been developed, the point out of it that he wants to make those points have been made. Now the focus will be on the prophetic reference, “you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” And Christ as the One who is the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Verse 11 begins, “now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood,” skip the parenthesis for a moment, “what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be designated according to the order of Aaron.” You see how precise God has been in the giving of His Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed.” Here we have one verse in one Psalm in all the verses of Scripture, but it is crucial in announcing that there would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He is making clear that the Levitical priesthood is inadequate. Why would God say there would be a different priesthood if you could have perfection in the Levitical priesthood? You know these Jewish believers were a little bit confused here. They thought, I can go back to the Levitical priesthood. You're going back to failure, you're going back to lostness, the Levitical priesthood. There wouldn't be a prophecy of a coming Melchizedekian priesthood if the Levitical priesthood could provide perfection.

Perfection, we noted it is used in verse 11, it will be used in verse 19, used in verse 28. That's what it is about. The word can mean fulfillment, completion. The idea in the context here, the Levitical priesthood could not provide either a priest or a sacrifice that could bring the cleansing necessary to enable a person to have access to God, could not enable them to draw near to God. That will be the point down in verse 19. “The priesthood of Christ,” at the end of verse 19, “is that through which we draw near to God.” The perfection he is talking about is what God requires for a person to be acceptable in His presence. The Levitical priesthood did not provide that. Later we'll have a diagram we'll put up about the Old Testament tabernacle and its system. But you remember just in the intersection of that tabernacle there, there was a division—the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. And there was a heavy curtain or tapestry that separated it. And in the innermost place of that there was the Ark of the Covenant. And it was there that the presence of God was manifest. No one in Israel was ever allowed to go behind that curtain. One exception—the high priest once a year could go behind that curtain to offer the blood of the sacrifice on behalf of the people. You know if the priest dropped over of a heart attack while he was back there, no one could go in to get his body. That's how serious it was, you are not allowed to go behind the curtain. Penalty of death. Do you know what they had? They had a rope on his ankle so they could pull him out if he died. I mean, God is serious about this.

You cannot draw near to God through the Levitical system. It did not provide that kind of perfection and completion. Now be careful here, Old Testament saints were saved, but they weren't saved by the Levitical system, through the Levitical priesthood, through the Levitical sacrifices. No one ever was. “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight.” Well then how were they saved? The same way you and I are, by grace through faith. Romans 4 uses Abraham as the great example of the one who “believed God and God credited to him as righteousness” in Genesis 15. It has always been by grace through faith, you were never saved through the Levitical priesthood or the Levitical sacrifices. What was their purpose? It was to remind people of their sin, of their guilt. It brought them the knowledge of sin, prepared them that to be acceptable to God there will have to be a sacrifice. God by grace through faith was saving them on the basis of Christ's sacrifice, not the animal sacrifice. Later in Hebrews we will come to the explanation that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. But when Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness, what was the foundation for that? The sacrifice of Christ. God was forgiving him on the basis of the sacrifice that His Son would offer. Just like we are saved today on the basis of the sacrifice He has offered. There has never been any other way of salvation. By grace through faith, on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ.

So when he says here perfection was not provided or else there wouldn't have been the need for another priesthood. What the Old Testament system did remind us is we need a high priest to represent us in the presence of God, to provide a sacrifice that will make us acceptable to God. What happened at Christ's death on the cross? That curtain or tapestry that hung keeping people out from the presence of God was torn in two. Representing the fact that now access to the very presence of God will be provided.
So if there was perfection in the Levitical priesthood what would be the point of God prophesying that there would come a different kind of priest, a priest after the order of Melchizedek? That is a testimony from God that the Levitical system is inadequate. He gave it for a purpose but it wasn't to provide salvation, it was to prepare them for the salvation He would provide in His Son.

So verse 12 connects to this. Wait, we need to back up, I want to pick up that parenthesis and then verse 12. “For on the basis of it,” verse 11, “the people receive the Law,” on the basis of the Levitical priesthood they received the Law. We say, wait a minute, the Law established the Levitical priesthood, didn't it? Well in one sense it did but the Levitical priesthood is the foundation and heart of the Mosaic Law. If you take the Levitical system out with its priesthood and sacrifices, what do you have? You have no provision for people to have forgiveness, you have no provision for people to have access to God. That's the uniqueness of Israel and the God of Israel. He has provided a way for them to be acceptable and forgiven before Him. And those who truly believe followed through this system. The Assyrians did not have that, the Babylonians did not have the priestly system that the Jews had. So the Levitical priesthood is the foundation and heart of the Mosaic Covenant. Everything else is connected to that. Without that you have nothing but commandments and ordinances like the Babylonians had and the other systems had. It's the worship system that God provided for Israel that marks Israel out as unique.

So on the basis of it, the Levitical priesthood, the people received the Law. That connection is important. Without the Levitical system there would have been no Mosaic Covenant.

Verse 12, “For when the priesthood is changed of necessity there takes place a change of law also.” Since the Law, the Covenant, is based on the priesthood, if you change the priesthood you have to change the Covenant. So what he is saying here, the whole Mosaic Law, the whole Mosaic Covenant is canceled, is nullified when you change the priesthood because that Covenant, that Law was really about the priesthood. That's the foundation of it, that's the heart of it. That's what provides access to God, that's what provides forgiveness from God on the physical and human level here. To deny the sacrifices and refuse to do them meant you really didn't believe God. So you were cut off from fellowship with God's people and closed off from a relationship with God.

So you see the connection now. We're clear we are going to have a change of priesthood, God prophesied it. And since the Law is based on the priesthood, the Covenant is based on the priesthood, you expect the whole Mosaic Covenant is going to be changed. Some people think we have parts of the Mosaic Law, we have the moral law continuing today but the ceremonial law and the civil law is removed. Read Hebrews. It's all tied to the priesthood and when you change the priesthood, you have to change the Law or the Covenant. I read commentaries written recently, men were saying now understand this doesn't apply to the moral aspects of the Law and so on. Well, who said that? I mean the Covenant is a covenant, and remember what James says, “you break one part of the Law, you broke the whole thing.” You break one part of the Covenant, you broke the Covenant. The Covenant is ended. Where the priesthood is changed of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

Verse 13, “or the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe.” Now you see here he is talking clearly, Christ is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 110:4. He is the One spoken of. He was typified in the historical Melchizedek, but we're moving on now to the prophecy that prophesied a new priesthood. It's prophesying Christ, that's clear. The one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning the priests. So you see here the clarity. There is a problem, Christ could not be a priest under the Levitical system.

Come back to Matthew 1. The physical genealogy of Christ is given twice and we have the genealogy of His mother and we have the genealogy of His father. His father in Matthew and His mother in Luke 3. We're just going to look at Matthew. You'll note how it starts out, Matthew 1:1, “the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the son of Abraham.” Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah. And now we're on, Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father, and down you come to Joseph and that's the line of which Christ is part. Christ is also a descendant of Judah through His mother, Mary, but there is a change when you get to the line of David. But same tribe, Judah. So it's clear, there is no argument about this. The genealogy of Christ is clear. How in the world could Irenaeus say, Irenaeus I read to you, he said, “Christ was begotten as king and priest from Levi and Judah according to the flesh.” Ate too much pizza, I don't know. Something happened. Nobody knows why in the world he would say such a thing. But here is a man revered as an early church father and he makes such a blatantly foolish statement. So we want to be careful that we are being accurate.

Come back to Hebrews 7. The Old Testament Law, we're not going to go back there, you are familiar with it, it is clear. It's the tribe of Levi and they would get no land in the land of Canaan as an inheritance. They would be supported by the tithes of the rest of the tribes because they are going to be the priestly tribe responsible for priestly duties and things associated with priestly duties like the care of the tabernacle and all of that. The Law said nothing about priests in Judah, they would be excluded. You can't be a priest from the tribe of Judah, it has to be from the tribe of Levi.

We should go back to the prophetic reference in Psalm 110 because I want you to see the context. This is the psalm, Psalm 110, that is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, primarily because of verse 1. But verse 4 is quoted often also. But note Psalm 110:1, “the Lord says to my Lord, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” And Jesus confounded the Jews of His day by referring to this passage. And in Mark 12:35-36, in there, as well as parallel references it is clear that the Jews did recognize this is a Messianic prophecy, that the One spoken of here, “seated at My right hand until the enemies are made a footstool” was the coming Messiah. But you'll note in verse 4 that it's this same person that the Lord says, “you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” So even though the book of Hebrews doesn't tie it to verse 1 in this argument, the point is made here. The Messiah who must be a descendant of David, David the writer of this, “the Lord said to my Lord,” that's the issue that Christ raised with the Jews of His day, David speaking. They recognized the Messiah would be of the line of David and He's the One God the Father says, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. We're into a different tribe. The Levitical system will be done.

Come back to Hebrews 7. So verses 14-15, verse 14, “for it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is clearer still.” What is clearer still? What he has been talking about, verses 11-14, about the inability of perfection coming, verse 11, “through the Levitical priesthood,” that Christ is not part of the Levitical priesthood. He is not of the line of Levi. We should be anticipating a new and different priest with a different kind of priesthood, a different tribe.

“This is clearer still,” is the point. If or since, this condition here would be translated since because different ways grammatically to structure their conditions so they can, condition of fact that we might translate as since, a doubtful condition, different things like that. Since another priest, if another priest arises and he has, Christ. If or since “another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek.” So it is further made clear by what has happened. Another priest has arisen according to the likeness of Melchizedek. And with this word likeness he picks up on a word that he used back in verse 3, “made like.” And those two words are connected. “Made like the Son of God.” And we noted then that what was written about Melchizedek in Genesis 14 was recorded. And what was not recorded was not recorded so that he would prefigure Christ. So here he moves at the end of verse 11 he talked about the order of Melchizedek and the order of Aaron. But now he reverts to that made like, or likeness to that historical Melchizedek because he wants to distinguish now. When we talk about the order of Melchizedek and the order of Aaron, we have two different kinds of priesthoods, but there is a difference even in the order. When we talk about the order of Aaron and the Levitical priests, there is a line of them because they couldn't continue because of death. We talked about this previously. The priests descended from Levi through Aaron were succeeded one after another. But there will be no succession in the line of Melchizedek. There is only one true Melchizedek and he'll have no successors. That's the point.

So if another arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement. Now the connection of the Mosaic Law and the Levitical priesthood. And the Mosaic Law did give the regulations and requirements for the Levitical priesthood. That was a physical law related to physical men whose priesthood would be restricted by their mortality. They would die and be succeeded by another and another and another and so on. Everything they did was associated with physical matters, a physical tabernacle with physical altars, with physical animals as sacrifices and so on. It was a law of physical requirements, particularly relating to the high priest here. And so down through Israel's history you had successions of high priests.

That's not the basis for Christ's priesthood. There is no line of priests in the order of Melchizedek. How does he hold his priesthood? There are no successors. He holds his priesthood according to the power of an indestructible life. What he is talking about here is the resurrected life of Christ. To be sure He died, but He had to die. He's the high priest, remember, He has to offer the sacrifice and the sacrifice He has to offer is Himself. But no one takes My life from Me, I lay it down of Myself. And if I lay it down, I have the power to take it up again. And He was raised from the dead. So He's not only a high priest who made the sacrifice which God would accept that could bring perfection, which was His own life, but He is raised from the dead and is alive.

So that is the clearest proof of His indestructible priesthood. Aaron died, the descendants of Aaron died, the high priest position kept getting passed on. Christ died but there was no passing on because He was raised still as high priest. So that was the point in verse 3, the end of the verse, where Melchizedek in Genesis 14 was made like the Son of God. He remains a priest perpetually. Why? There was no record of the end of his life, remember. Not that that physical Melchizedek, but he was made like, he was prefiguring and anticipating the coming of this new high priest. And so there is no record of his death to symbolize and anticipate that this high priest would be an eternal one, there would be no successor. In that sense he is the first and the last, he holds his priesthood permanently, unendingly.

Come down to verse 24, this will be in our next section, “but Jesus on the other hand because He continues forever holds His priesthood permanently.” See that's the point. Well there is the clarity of it all and the greatness of this high priest compared to the Levitical priesthood, the power of that priesthood. The Levitical priesthood couldn't do it. And it's a testament.

Now remember we said verses 11-28 are unfolding the truth of that one verse in Psalm 110:4. Now we have that verse quoted, for it is attested of Him, “you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” What has he talked about? The significance of being after the order of Melchizedek. Now he has reached that climactic point—you are a priest forever. He holds His position by the power of an indestructible life, His life was given as a sacrifice but He took it back again, raised from the dead. So He holds His priesthood permanently. The end of verse 25 will say, “He ever lives to make intercession for us.” That high priestly ministry continues on now on the basis of that once-for-all sacrifice. That's why access is available to us.

So verses 18-19, pull this together, closes the paragraph that began with verse 11. Verses 11-19 form a paragraph as we noted, verses 19-28 form a paragraph but they are connected. For on the one hand there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness. So we're going to draw a contrast between the Levitical priesthood and the covenant associated with it. They are inseparable, remember. If there is a change of priesthood there will be a change of the covenant or the Law connected with that priesthood. On the one hand there is a setting aside of a former commandment, that was the Mosaic Law, the Mosaic Covenant. Why? Because of its weakness and uselessness. The first statement in verse 19 in parenthesis connects that. What is its weakness and uselessness? The Law made nothing perfect. To understand what good is it if it can't do what has to be done? Why did God give it? He didn't give it as a way of salvation, the way of salvation would always be in His Son. A thousand years before Christ we have the prophecy of Psalm 110, “you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” It has always been the foundation of God's forgiveness. Abraham couldn't have been saved if Christ was not going to die. That's why the book of Revelation refers to Him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It's in God's plan and everything that unfolds and anyone who is ever saved from Adam on is saved by the grace of God through faith, based in God's sovereignty on the sacrifice His Son would make. The Law was useless, it was weak, it couldn't make anything perfect. That's where we started out in verse 11. It could not remove the curtain that kept Israel out from the very presence of God.

That's what you had with the Mosaic Law, the Levitical priesthood—weakness, uselessness, inability to provide perfection. On the other hand there is the bringing in of “a better hope.” There is our word better repeated, I don't know, 11, 12, 13 times, I forget the count. We went through them previously, you probably have them marked in your Bible. We'll have it again at the end of verse 22, a better covenant, better. We had it up in verse 7, “the lesser is blessed by the greater” or the better, the superior. We have a better hope. What is this better hope? It's the perfection we need, it's the priesthood and the sacrifice we need through which we draw near to God. We can come before the very presence of God. That's why the curtain was torn in two upon the death of Christ. We now have a priest and a sacrifice that can bring perfection, that provides access. How tragic is it that billions of people are trying to find a way to God, going to a priest and a priestly system, hoping that this one will provide access to God.

One of the very prominent men in our country died a few years ago and it was said as he was on his death bed, he sent a special note to the pope. What does that do? A man who has made himself high priest, at the head of a system of priests. I mean, they don't even have the authority that the Levitical priesthood had, and it was worthless. And now you set up your own? And that should be called Christian? It's a denial of what true biblical Christianity is all about. And it's not just Roman Catholicism, Protestants are still trying to find their way, so many of them. They're trying to work their way to heaven, they have their own and other religions.

That's why the book of Hebrews is so important. This is it. If you don't come this way, you don't come. You might say, I don't think that's fair, I don't think it ought to be only one way. God doesn't care what we think. Do you think God talked to me this morning and said, Gil, I have some decisions to make but I need your input. That wouldn't be a God you would want to worship, is it? We don't tell Him, He tells us. Isn't He gracious that He had His Son come and provide a way for us to draw near to God?

Back up to Hebrews 4:14, “therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,” He has been raised from the dead, we'll get into the details of this further on in Hebrews, “Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near.” We have a better a hope, a hope through which we draw near to a throne of grace to receive mercy and find help in time of need.

Come to Hebrews 6:18, “so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge in Christ would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast, one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” He has entered into the presence of God in heaven. That's the true sanctuary. How befuddled have these believers in this church become that they are thinking they could go back to the Levitical system. It was always weak and useless and unable to provide the perfection necessary to provide access to God. You understand true faith in the living God brings submission to Him and obedience to His Word. We become so muddled and so confused. Well, I think they are sincere people, I think that they have a lot of truth. So did the Jews. But they are in danger of being condemned to an eternal hell because they think that they can become involved in the Levitical system again and they'll be all right. Understand the seriousness of this, God is serious about this.

This is a wonderful message, there is a high priest. He is in heaven representing us. We'll get into this in the coming section. But He is the only way. There is no salvation in the Mosaic Law and the Levitical system, there never was. “By works of the Law shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” The heart and foundation of the Mosaic Law is the Levitical system. God forbid that we should have a system of priests or any other system of our efforts. We have one hope and it is a sure hope, it is a hope that our faith in Jesus Christ has brought to us the perfection of His salvation. That is amazing as it is. We are not invited to come right in, not behind a curtain, not stop at the curtain. Right up to the throne of God's glory and talk to Him and receive the help and grace we need. How better could it be, what more could we want? I mean, you don't have to come to me. That doesn't mean we don't pray for one another, intercede for one another. People don't have me pray because I'm closer to God and He answers my prayers but not yours. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, come with confidence to the throne of grace. And if there is something I can pray with you about, I'll come there, too. We'll both be there before the throne of grace. I won't be between you and the throne of grace and you won't be between me and the throne of God's grace.

That's the message of Christ being our high priest and offering a sufficient sacrifice. This is the significance of the new priesthood. Praise God for such a priest.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your grace poured out in Christ. Lord, how awesome is the truth that was anticipated down through Old Testament history. Priest after priest, sacrifice after sacrifice, and yet You in marvelous grace provided salvation on the basis of the sacrifice that Your Son would offer, the same sacrifice that we are saved on the basis of. Lord, how simple it is. Man strives to do something, to work, to earn something, to honor men who may give them access they believe. Lord, we are greatly blessed and honored by You to have Christ as our high priest and to come and speak to You with confidence and assurance. I pray for any who are here who do not have this better hope, may this be a day of salvation for them. We pray in Christ's name, amen.