Daily Meditations

Hebrews 5:10 The mystery of Melchizedek Melchizedek! We have already encountered this mysterious figure from Israel’s past, for he is mentioned in verse 6 of this chapter. As we have noted, a whole chapter of this Epistle to the Hebrews will be devoted to this enigmatic man, so it is time to become better acquainted! As we have seen, he was King of Salem (Jerusalem) and also priest of the Lord God Almighty. Melchizedek means “king of righteousness” and he met up with Abraham after Abraham’s defeat of Chedorlaomer and his allies. (See Genesis 14:18-20) You will remember that the two men shared bread and wine together as a symbol of friendship. Melchizedek revealed his credentials when he gave a blessing to Abraham in the name of God Most High (El Elyon). This prompted Abraham to give the Priest one tenth of his war spoils thus showing that he respected him and recognised his Godly office.  Psalm 110 is a Messianic Psalm that speaks of the roles of the King/Priest who is to come and ...

Hebrews 5:9 The call to obedience Perfect obedience is the key to perfect character! Most of us will have to hold our hands up and admit we are very far away from this kind of commitment to the cause; we are only too aware of our weaknesses and failings and of how far short of God’s standards we fall. Jesus might have been like us, He was human, He did have a choice about how He wanted to live out His time on earth. But He chose obedience, and in order to fulfil that choice to the ultimate degree, He also chose to allow His obedience to be tested to the very limits. The only way to achieve perfection was not by trying to be good, but by allowing every kind of trial and test to be thrown at Him and thus to prove that nothing could deflect Him from His commitment to obey the Father’s will. The ultimate tests were suffering and death. His suffering was not just the tip of the Roman soldier’s spear, or the jagged spikes of a crown of thorns, or even the lashes of the scourging whips. There...

Hebrews 5:8 A lesson in obedience Some of us may have had strict parents who believed in discipline and physical punishment. Some who are older may also remember the days when schoolteachers had canes and did not shrink from using them! Proverbs 13:24 says,  “He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him, disciplines him diligently .” The word “diligently” is very important here! The thing is, our Bibles teach us that Yeshua was without sin, and yet His Father chose to teach Him obedience through suffering! To make sense of this we need to understand that true obedience means more than just “do as I say or you will face the consequences!” Jesus did not have a struggle trying to keep His rebellious nature under control and neither did He behave as if doing what His Father required was against His own will! He learned, as a child, to obey His parents and then as He grew up, He was taught the Law of God. When questioned by John about baptism, Jesus replied that He must ...

Hebrews 5:7 What a sacrifice! It seems that the context of this verse is the sufferings of Jesus whilst He was here on earth. His pleas to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane and at Calvary are recorded so that we might have some insight into the agonies He endured. These cries were, of course, very public and thus the Gospel writers could record them, but we know that the Lord Jesus also spent many hours in private, solitary prayer to His Father, often at night! However, the heart of this verse informs us that He pleaded with the  “One who could save Him from death.”    In other words, Jesus knew that His Father had the authority and power to save Him from His terrible fate, God could still intervene and halt the events that led to the crucifixion of His Son. Why did He do nothing? Because of His love for us! Notice that the  “fervent cries”  of our Lord were accompanied with tears. Were these the result of the physical pain and torture or even the effe...

Hebrews 5:6 You are a priest forever et another quote from the Psalms, this time from Psalm 110:4,  “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind; You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”   Melchizedek was a King Priest of God Most High at Salem in the days of Abraham. (Salem means “peace” in Hebrew from which we get Shalom.) As such a King Priest he was appointed to a higher order than even Aaron and his sons and any other High Priests of Israel. The roles of priest and king were not given to any man apart from Melchizedek, a curious figure about whom we know little, but Abraham saw and believed enough to honour the man and make tithes to him. (See Genesis 14:18-20) The two men shared bread and wine just outside Salem (Later Jerusalem), I like to think they did this in the area where Jesus later shared bread and wine with His disciples!   We have already discussed the fact that Jesus was appointed both King and Priest by God His Father and now He is com...

Hebrews 5:5 You are my Son, today I have become Your Father. Having reviewed the processes by which earthly High Priests were appointed, we now turn to the appointment of Yeshua! The author is quick to point out that Jesus did not claim this role for Himself, in fact when we look at His life and His relationships, we could say that He steered well away from the earthly priesthood and had little time for their status or roles, as they did of His!    There is no evidence that Jesus was ambitious or eager to impress His fellow men – anything but. His appointment was by the Father, but the terms of engagement are mind-blowing! In selecting His Son, God the Father speaks in the language of Psalm 27:7 “ You are my Son; today I have become Your Father.”  He then goes on to describe the kingly rule of Jesus and His role in subjugating all the nations of the earth. Thus we must assume that, in God’s eyes, the roles of King and High Priest overlap, and that the position that Jesus ...