Considering Our High Priest (Hebrews 3:1)
Part 1 Two Lines of Priest
In this series we are going to be considering the High Priest of Our Profession, Jesus Christ. In these three short lessons we are going to show that there was only two lines of priest in the Old Testament that are connected with God, Jesus replaced the Levitical Priesthood along with the need for an earthly priest, and how Satan corrupted the Levitical Priesthood.
Two Lines of Priest:
There are many different priest in the Old Testament but as we will see there were only two that were connected with God.
1) Levitical Priesthood starting with Aaron (Exodus 28:1-3 ; Hebrews 5:1-4)
- God chose Aaron as the first High Priest in the Old Testament and his sons continued after him.
- This was established as a part of the Law given in Exodus 19, before this the patriarch of the family was the one to offer sacrifices.
2) The line of Melchizedek (Genesis 14:17-24 ; Hebrews 7:1-10)
- Abraham meets Melchizedek when returning from a battle. He gives Melchizedek a tithe of the spoils.
- There are some interesting things said about Melchizedek.
a. He is King of Salem (which is Jerusalem, Psalm 76:2) and King of Righteous.
b. He is without father or mother and without descent.
c. He has neither beginning of days, nor end of life.
d. He was made like unto the son of God.
e. He abides as priest continually.
These thing make it extremely hard to come to a definitive answer regarding who Melchizedek was. There are many guesses but I have to simply say. I do not know. The important thing for us to take from this is that God had a priest connected with Jerusalem long before David ever established the capital of Israel there.
Why is Melchizedek so important? (Hebrews 7:11-22)
We stated at the beginning that Jesus Christ is now our High Priest. But when we look at Jesus he is not from the tribe of Levi, he is from the tribe of Judah. So, if he is not from Levi then how is he our High Priest? This is where Melchizedek come into play. Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. This is why I believe that you cannot identify Melchizedek. God wanted it that way because he to be connected with Jesus Christ. Note that he is King of Righteousness first then King of Salem which is peace. You must first have righteousness before you can have peace. Jesus at his first coming established righteousness and at his second coming he will establish peace. Note also that Jesus is a priest after the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:15-16), which is what we need more than an earthly priest that is a sinner and will die.