Hebrews 7:11-25
Most churches in some hallway
have a wall of fame. Or in some cases, it’s a wall
of shame. But it’s a row of the pictures of the pastors who have
served them. And in various congregations
and church buildings, you walk down this hallway and you see
pictures, sometimes many of them. and you see the years they served
and maybe something about them. Well, you see also the changes
in style of clothing, the changes in glasses, the dark frames,
the pointy frames, the no frames and all that business. And as
you walk down that wall of fame, you think back or remember stories
that you’ve heard of the sermons they preached or their personalities
or their gifts, the things you liked about them or the things
you disliked of them. But one of the things you realize
as you look at these pictures, you realize that these were God’s
men for your church. for a certain period of time.
God called them to be the minister of word and sacrament in that
particular place for a particular season or time. They pointed
you to Christ. They pointed you to the Savior.
They pointed you to the one who could indeed save you. But sometimes
change occurs. Men move on. Men receive another
call. They pass away or they retire. For various reasons, changes
are made. And so generation after generation
witnesses a passing crowd of pastors. Friends, that’s the
same way it was with the priesthood. They had faces of men who faithfully
served them year after year in the temple of God, providing
the worship of God and its sacrifices, its blessings, its strange events
and rituals that they practiced. But those men too pointed the
people of God to their Savior, to Christ. But there comes a
point in time in redemptive history where God said, it’s enough.
These priests have served their purpose. And in particular, the
priests of the Levitical line, they have done what was intended
and a change is necessary. And that is what our passage
is going to explain to us today. Why was a change necessary for
the people of God? I mean, after all, it had worked
for thousands of years, generation after generation of Levitical
men. of the line of Levi, of Aaron,
served God in his temple. Well, what we’re going to see
today is that there was an inadequacy in the priesthood, and that inadequacy
necessitated a change, a change to a better priesthood, a change
to a priesthood that could really and fully and finally give the
people of God access to their God. Now, pause for just a moment
and let’s remind ourselves why we need a priest. Why do we need
a mediator? Why do we need someone to stand
between us and God? Well, it’s because of sin. You
remember in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had fellowship with
God. They walked with him. And he said to them, of the tree
of the garden you may eat any of them, but not of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. In the day you eat of it, you
will surely die. Well, Satan came. He tempted. It was a delight to Eve’s eyes.
She ate. She gave some to Adam. He ate. And there we have the
sin issue. And God put them out of the garden.
They were, as the Apostle Paul says, alienated from God. They
were no longer in fellowship with him. They were under his
wrath and curse. They deserved death. that thanks be to God,
that He always provides for His people. He gives us a mediator,
one to stand between us and Him, one to say, one to speak to God
on our behalf and one to speak to us on His behalf. But He also
provided a sacrifice of clothing, that their shame may be covered.
So two things about this change in priesthood. One is the inadequacy
of the priesthood. We find that in verses 11 through
14. Why were the priests of Levi inadequate? Well, they were men. They were Israelites. They were
of the tribe of Levi. All of the rules God prescribed
were followed. These men had no defects. In
fact, if you read the Old Testament, there were scores of defects
that if this man had, even though he was of the tribe of Levi,
he could not serve. I suppose I’d be disqualified
with my yellow teeth and my declining hair. But they had to be physically
fit. They had to be of the right parentage. A mother who was an Israelite,
a father who was a Levite. Remember several weeks back we
read of the strange ordination process of the priest. My kids remember the oil on the
big toe. That was the highlight of their
day. But remember how incredibly long and painstaking the process
was to be set apart as a priest of God. And not only that initial
ordination, but the ongoing rituals they must follow, the washings,
the preparations, the diets, all they must keep in order to
serve God. And then we’re told in the book
of Hebrews, not only did they have to offer offerings for themselves,
they had to offer offerings for the rest of Israel in order that
God might receive them. And this, but once per year,
this, but only one time per year. So you see the access the people
of God had to God himself was through a mediator. And it was
only once a year. And so perfection was not attainable.
Verse 11 tells us perfection was not attainable for the people
of God through this priesthood. Another priestly order was necessary. And that’s why we see Jesus coming
on the scene after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus comes to
us, not of Levi, not of Aaron, but of Melchizedek, the strange
figure we’ve spoken of in weeks past. And so when there’s a change
of priesthood, there needs to be a change in the law. Jesus
is not of Levi. And so for him to serve in the
priesthood would be illegal. Do you remember what happened
when Saul offered offerings, God took care of business. He
punished him. Do you remember when Nadab and Abihu offered
strange fire, they didn’t follow the rules of the priesthood?
Fire consumed them. Or how about Uzziah, the king
who reigned about the time Isaiah the prophet came to ministry?
He tried to offer offerings and he was told, this is not for
you. You are a king, not a priest. This is not the office you bear.
It is for another. Or think back of the time when
the exiles returned from Babylon under Nehemiah. There were men
who said, we are priests, we want to serve in this rebuilding
of the temple and its service. And they were told, wait, wait
until we We have your driver’s license, your birth certificate,
the proper identification. We have to know who you are and
that you are of Levi in order that you may serve. All of this
was adequate for a time. God set it up, but now he’s saying
it is inadequate. It has done as it, what it was
designed to do. It made the people of God aware
of their sin. It showed them the depth of their
sin and their depravity. Think of the thousands upon thousands
of sacrifices. All of the blood that was spilt,
all of the rituals, all of the walking to and from Jerusalem,
all of the this and that and the others that we read of in
the Old Testament. It was a constant reminder to the people of God
that because of sin, you need atonement. Because of sin, you
need a mediator. Because of sin, an offering acceptable
and pleasing in God’s sight must be presented to Him on your behalf. This law served as a tutor. It
served, as Martin Luther says, as a hammer, and it drove the
people to see their need of Christ, to see their need of a Savior.
And so in Christ, we see a glimpse of Him in the Old Covenant. We
see all the thousands of lambs. But they point to the one Lamb,
the Eternal Lamb. As Revelation tells us, the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. Friends, this was
an inadequate priesthood. It could not fully atone for
the sins of the people. The writer of Hebrews says in
other places that These sacrifices covered God’s wrath, they covered
the sin, but they did not. They did not remove it. It says
every priest stood daily at his service, offering repeatedly
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Goes on to say it is impossible
for the blood of bulls and goats to take away the sins. And so
what are we to make of centuries and centuries of blood, of the
death of bulls and goats, of all the smoke and all the labor
of the priests and the Levites and all the temple servants who
night and day kept fires going, who tended flocks outside the
city in order that there would be plenty of animals for the
slaughter and the sacrifice? What are we to make of it? It
could not clear the conscience. It could not remove sin. It could
not bring you near to God. And it could not bring eternal
life. But it pointed it pointed to one that could. You know, we sing a song very
often in worship, what can wash away my sins? And we don’t say
nothing but the blood of bulls and goats. What can make me whole
again? Nothing but cows and sheep and
little birds sacrificed according to the Old Testament prescription.
No, we say what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And so we see the inadequacy
of this Old Testament, this old covenant priesthood. But that
leads us secondly to the adequate priesthood. We find that in verses
15 through 19, as we think about this, aren’t you glad to be a
new covenant Christian? I mean, you don’t have to keep
sheep and bulls and goats and birds. You don’t have to attend
a little farm in order to provide your sacrifice. We don’t come
here Sunday after Sunday to, to slaughter animals for a sacrifice
that has been made once and for all. has paid for our sins. Those rituals, those sacrifices,
those orders are now over in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our great
high priest after the order of Melchizedek, not after Levi,
and his priesthood has been sufficient for our salvation. Even more,
by God’s promise and by God’s oath. He tells us, you are a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Your priesthood
is not by the law of the old covenant. It’s not by some ancient
rule that you must be from Levi. It is by the power of an indestructible
life in Jesus that we are saved. Yes, Jesus died to atone for
our sins. He offered himself as a propitiation,
as not only a covering, but as a satisfaction for our sins. God, the just judge, was satisfied
with the death of death and the death of Jesus. Sins were paid
for. But death could not hold him. He was raised from the dead.
His life was indestructible. And friends, he is our priest
forever. The hallways may be full of old pastors. The hallways
of the old covenant may be filled with pictures of old covenant
priests. But they’re all dead. They’re
all in the grave except one, Jesus, the great prophet, priest
and king who lives because he has an indestructible life. Friends,
the old covenant was inadequate. God designed it that way. But
Jesus is fully adequate to be our savior. When did all this
take place? When did the priesthood of Jesus
enter into service for us? When was it inaugurated? This
Easter, hopefully in your time and in the church, we’ve read
through the scriptures and we remember through the various
gospel accounts what took place on a Friday. We remember that
about the ninth hour, three o’clock in the afternoon, it was dark
and eerie. And Jesus let out a cry as he
hung there on the cross. And he said the words, it is
finished. And we read about some strange
events that took place in the vicinity of the cross. We read
that the curtain which hung there in the temple is as thick as
could be as high and long as imaginable, and it barred access
from the people to God, it was torn in two. From top to bottom,
the scripture says, the limited access that man had to God was
now removed. And it was done so by a mediator.
That curtain which hung there, as a recent children’s book says,
screamed, keep out, stay away, too holy, was torn in two and
we had access to almighty God. The curtain was torn in two from
top to bottom. The earth shook, the rock split. And the scripture even tells
us that tombs were opened and many received back their dead. And they went about the city
greeting their friends. And you remember the centurion.
Who was left there to guard the cross and the bodies of Jesus
and the others, and he said, surely this man, truly this man
was the son of God. At that very moment in redemptive
history, at that very moment in human history, God gave the
Levitical priests their pink slips and said, you are no longer
needed. Do not report for duty, for there
is a superior priesthood. You’ve been let go. You’re done. It is no longer in force, this
old covenant way. But Jesus, having died, having
made satisfaction for sins, With the words, it is finished. It
indeed was finished once and for all. The priest was the offering
and the offer for our sins. And so we read in verse 18 that
the old covenant priesthood was weak. And it was useless. Yes, it served a purpose, but
weak and useless. And then we read at the end of
verse nine that a better hope has come. We have access. Perfection was not available
through the Old Covenant, but perfection, access, perfect access
to God is now available to us in Jesus. And so, brothers and
sisters of the Lord Jesus, living under the Old Covenant is better,
and it’s not because of we don’t have to sacrifice animals and
have all the blood and mess upon us. It’s because we have a better,
fuller, 24-7 access directly into the Holy of Holies where
God is and where Jesus is, and we can approach Him. We can approach
Him with ease, with the encouragement to come, with the blessing knowing
that He will see us, He will hear us, He will not say any
longer, keep out, the curtain is closed. But the curtain, top
to bottom, has been torn in two by His own Son. You see, in Jesus
we have the death of death and the death of Christ. No other
sacrifice is needed. No other sacrifice will do. In
fact, there is none necessary. It is finished. It is done. It
is complete. Jesus, the High Priest, no longer
stands at the altar serving, but He sits in heaven, His work
complete. We sing in that great hymn, Full
Atonement. Can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Those words were
not sung of bulls, or goats, or sheep, or birds, or turtle
doves, or grain offerings, or sin offerings, or wheat offerings.
They’re only sung by the redeemed who sing praise to the Redeemer
for the redemption by the great high priest Jesus, who is after
not the order of Levi, but after the order of Melchizedek. In
a few chapters in Hebrews, we’ll read these words by a single
offering. He has perfected for all time
those being sanctified. Friends, we have access to God
through a better priest. One of the benefits that we do
not have, though, because the daily, the weekly, the yearly,
all those sacrifices constantly obligated the people of God to
show up someplace with something to make some sort of ritual so
that their sin might be atoned for. We don’t have that. Oh,
but we do. It’s every week in worship. We
come more freely. We come with less baggage. But
we come to this place where we have free access to God. and he hears us, he pardons us,
he feeds us, he nurtures us. What a privilege we have. But
let me encourage you in this, dear friends, do not neglect
to sit under the ministry of your great and faithful high
priest, even Jesus, who lives and has an indestructible life
so that he may minister to each of you. Let us pray together.