Daily Meditations

Hebrews  7:25 He lives to intercede for us The priestly role of Jesus Christ is described brilliantly by John in his first epistle.  “ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”  1 John 2:1-2. John obviously understood all this as well as anyone, for he devotes a whole chapter of his Gospel to the High Priestly prayers of Jesus for His disciples and then for the church. Reading John 17 gives us an insight into the ways that Jesus views His role, to protect us from the world, to develop unity amongst His followers and for them to be sanctified by the Word of truth. His mission is to see His people filled with His joy and with His glory and love, so that the world may believe.  This High Priest offers salvation by His sacrifice tha...

Hebrews 7:23-24 A permanent priesthood Presumably some of the priests of Israel were popular with the people and well loved. They would begin their active ministry at the age of 30 and it was a job for life; there was no retirement age! Levites who were assistants, however, could commence their work at age 25 and retire from the hard physical jobs at 50.  It follows that, after years of active service amongst their contemporaries, the death of the priests was a huge shock and a cause of grief amongst the people. As is usual in the ways of men, the priestly conveyor belt passed through many generations, and no one knows exactly how many of these men has served at the altar and in the Temple of the Lord. Death obviously brought about the termination of their office and someone younger would step into their shoes. None of the above applies to Jesus, by conquering death He established a permanent priesthood and His position is unshakeable, we will never grieve for Him or miss His ...

Hebrews 7:22 Jesus guarantees a better covenant We need to explore the ways in which Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant. Firstly, it is because His appointment is eternal, as we saw from the previous verse. He is indestructible, for the only thing that could hinder His ascent to power was death, and He defeated death! Hallelujah!  Then, His  influence and authority are not confined to just the earth, He is King and Priest over all things, “ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Philippians 2:9-11. There will be no more changing sides in the heavenly realms, the adversary has had his day, his rule extends only over the earth, once Yeshua was crowned, every knee must bow down to Him.  As we know, demons fear the name of Jesu...

Hebrews 7:20-21 Appointed with an oath! When the Levitical priesthood was established under Moses and Aaron, through the exacting demands of the Law, there was no oath to accompany the Covenant promises. God did not swear that He would uphold this system forever. However, we saw in chapter 6:13-19 that when the Lord God established His covenant relationship with Abraham and promised him many descendants, He did so by swearing by His own name. The same assurances are given in relation to the appointment of Jesus Christ as High Priest. God has decreed, He will never change His mind, the guarantee of the authenticity of this appointment is in the name of the guarantor. This is meant to impress the world of humanity, and it means that whenever our Lord and Saviour’s directions are sworn by an oath they should never be questioned.  However, there is another side to this, for the rise to power of Yeshua sent shock waves around the spiritual realms. The Satan and his cohorts know who...

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...