Daily Meditations

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...

Hebrews 7:12 A royal and holy priesthood Let’s make sure that we have grasped exactly what these profound verses are telling us. There is no place for a priesthood in the church, for Christ Jesus has taken the role of Melchizedek and He alone acts on behalf of His people, by His Holy Spirit. The apostles believed this and made no attempt to resurrect the old ways, for them the days of robed mediators, altars, annual feasts and ritualistic religion were over, now every believer was a priest, and at the head of us all is Yeshua, the one authentic mediator between man and God.  “ For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”  1 Timothy 2:5.  Not only that, but the priesthood is now comprised of all believers in Jesus Christ, we are all priests together in His church!  “ But you are a chosen people,   a royal priesthood,   a holy nation,   God’s special possession,   that you may declare the praises of him who c...

Hebrews 7:11 Our High Priest Here is another verse that reveals some divine truths that leave us with a lot to think about. Firstly, we need to understand how important the priests were in the development of the Israelites. God had given the Law at Sinai, and the people therefore had a series of rules and rituals that needed to be obeyed, and that revealed the heart of the Lord God. However, they could not proceed on their journey without a priesthood. These men and women were sinners just like you and me, they broke God’s laws and were condemned by their failure, they needed a priestly system that would mediate for them between the earth and heaven. The problem was that the earthly priests were no better than the people they served, they too were guilty of sin and consistently broke the laws of God, they too had to offer sacrifices and make reparation for their sins. Aaron’s descendants, the Levites, were human, weak and just as guilty as the people they served.  Abraham’s meeting...