Daily Meditations

Hebrews 7:18-19 The Law cannot make us perfect Unsurprisingly, the apostle Paul wrestled with the complexities of the Law, for he was a Jew who was intent on keeping its rules and regulation as accurately as was possible. He found that “ the very commandment that was intended to bring life, actually brought death.”  Paul blames sin for deceiving him and for using the commandments to put him to death! He writes, in Romans 7:12, “ So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good .” The system of the Law, put in place by the Lord God was brilliant, it had no defects, but it could not keep men and women perfect, instead it served only to point out our imperfections. No ordinary human being can keep God’s Law because we are all sinful people, however, we needed the Law to show us our sinfulness and our weaknesses. The Law, as given to Moses, is a black and white set of regulations, it shows us what is good and the standard that God expects and what we have to do...

Hebrews 7:17 A Priest forever Let’s just remind ourselves of the quotation from the Psalm that is repeated here . “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.””  Psalm 110:4. Notice that this heavenly pronouncement is not like any earthly ordination. Firstly, it is an appointment by God Himself, secondly, He makes it with an oath and thirdly, it is an eternal role. In other words, this assignment is not only meant for earth but also for heaven and it will never, ever be rescinded. There is no redundancy clause in the contract that has been offered to Yeshua, He has more than a job for life, it is a role that He will fulfil for all time - and beyond. We studied Psalm 110 nearly 2 years ago and this was what was written then, “ The primary role of Yeshua was to be a High Priest before God for Israel and for every Gentile who was ever born. He came to be a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” David and his descendant...

Hebrews 7:16 Regulation v resurrection! Once again, the author of this epistle draws out attention to the contrast between human values and those that are spiritual. We must be careful to not look down on the regulations that exercised the priesthood in Israel, after all, the whole system was put in place by the Lord God to ensure that the Israelites had mediators that could bridge the gap between heaven and earth. These men followed the rules and then added some! The strict regulations about ancestral and genealogical qualifications for the priesthood were meticulously upheld and are still revered today. If you are Jewish and your surname is Cohen then tradition indicates that you have patrilineal descent from Aaron, the first High Priest. Thus, this is a common surname amongst Jews today, as are its variations such as, Cohn, Kahn, Kahan, Kagan, Kogan and Cohan. There are rumours that men with this surname have already been appointed to be priests in Israel once the Temple is rebuilt ...

Hebrews 7:15 A priest like Melchizedek We have established by now that, under the Law of God, Melchizedek was not a Levite and therefore not qualified to be a priest. In the same way, Jesus Christ was born to the line of Judah and He doesn’t qualify either! Bear in mind that none of these ancestral roles had been put in place at the time of Abraham; Jacob  had not been born, for he was Abraham’s grandson so, obviously, the 12 sons of Jacob and their place in God’s plans for Israel were not even contemplated. To make matters worse, when Abraham and Melchizedek met, they were strangers from completely different backgrounds. Abraham could trace his ancestry back to Noah through Terah, but he was a nomad who had reached Canaan after a torturous journey from Chaldea. Melchizedek’s ancestry is, of course, unknown but he was King of Salem, a Jebusite city. The meeting between these two men is unlikely and, at first sight, apparently random, except that Yahweh was involved and everything w...

Hebrews 7:14 A priest from Judah? As we have seen, Jesus is the greatest of all the King / Priests that have ever walked this earth and there’s no question about His ancestry. He was not a Levite and He did not descend from the priestly tribe of Israel. He was from Judah and in that sense, we can follow His succession as a King from the family of David. But a priest? No priests could trace their ancestry through the genealogies of Judah. Many believed, and still believe, that Yeshua was an interloper, an imposter who had no ancestral rights to His title. How do we resolve this enigma?  Yeshua never claimed to be an earthly priest or king, what He did claim, again and again, was that He represented the Kingdom of Heaven and that He did not come to offer daily, repetitive sacrifices, He was both the celebrant, and He was the ultimate sacrifice. His role as our High Priest was not gained by birthright but by His actions, and He proved Himself a worthy Priest, after the order of Melchi...

Hebrews 7:13 Jesus belonged to a different tribe! It sounds like it’s “goodbye” to the Levites, doesn’t it? Let’s just unpack what we’ve been learning thus far, shall we? Melchizedek, the priest of Salem, is of a higher class than the Aaronic priesthood, for His kingdom is eternal. Abraham tithed to Him and He in turn blessed the patriarch. In making his offering to Melchizedek, Abraham was representing all members of the priesthood who were yet to come, in fact it could be said that he made that tithe on behalf of us all, for we are all children of the promise. Melchizedek undoubtedly represents Christ Himself, hence today’s verse that says He “belonged to a different tribe and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar.”  The tribe of Yeshua was Judah of course.  Some Christians have regarded all of this as further ammunition for their argument that the church has replaced Israel, and the Jews are no longer part of God’s plans. All the blessings, all the promises, a...