The Wicket Gate

Introduction

Good morning. Open your bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 7. We have a lot to cover this morning as we will be going through the first 10 verses of chapter 7. If you remember from 2 weeks ago, I ended that sermon by eluding to the fact that we were now moving on to the meat of the letter. Remember, it seemed as though the author of Hebrews didn’t really want to go this deep right? He started to in chapter 5 when he first brought up this man Melchizedek but then paused because he felt his readers weren’t ready. We then got the rest of chapter 5 and all of chapter 6 with the warnings and encouragements that we spent a number of weeks on only to see the conclusion of chapter 6 return again to this mysterious character, Melchizedek.

This is just my personal speculation but it’s as if the author of Hebrews was possibly considering bypassing the exposition of Melchizedek because it was too deep or too difficult to explain and he says as much in chapter 5 that these things are hard to explain because his readers have become dull in hearing. By the inspiration of the Spirit though, by the time he gets to the end of chapter 6 the flow of his writing has returned again to Melchizedek so inevitably he was left saying, “Ok I guess we are doing this.”

Again, that is just a little speculation but nevertheless we can be assured that what follows it not for the dull in hearing. To quote many an elementary school teacher in the 90’s, “you’ve got to put your thinking caps on for this.” It is for this reason that many preachers and commentators seem to have a bit of anxiety about this passage and have even suggested that this might be a portion of scripture you might want to skip past. To that I say, that’s maybe what the author of this letter thought as well and yet here it is for us. I can tell you church, having sat on this passage for many days now, it is going to take some mental effort and work on your part this morning to track with his explanations but God willing this very well may be one of the most encouraging and enlightening sections in the whole letter. I certainly pray that it is.

With that little bit of introduction, stand with me as we read Hebrews 7: 1-10

Hebrews 7:1–10
ESV
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.

He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!

And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.

But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.

It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.

In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.

One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,

for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

Who is Melchizedek?

Yes, I know there is a lot there but hang with me and, Lord willing, it will all be made clear. Let’s first then address who this Melchizedek is and who he is not. Genesis gives us very little about him, in fact, Hebrews says far more about him than all the rest of the bible combined which is not much. He only occurs for a few verses in Genesis 14, which we will look at in a moment, and David mentions him briefly in Psalm 110. There is much speculation about who he is with some saying he is Shem, one of the sons of Noah who was still alive and others saying that this is clearly the preincarnate Christ. I can certainly see why people may gravitate to that explanation because, as I have noted before, we would say that the preincarnate Christ shows up at times as the angel of the Lord or the commander of the Lord’s army, as in Joshua.

Here though, it would seem a bit of a stretch to get there and we would have to gloss over specific clear statements in the text. Most obvious among those is that the writer of Hebrews says he “resembled the Son God”. Not was the son of God but looked like him. Was a shadow of him, someone who we can look back on and because of the various circumstances he was involved in and what is said about him we can clearly see a foreshadowing of Christ. It is also through this Melchizedek that the fullness of Christ’s office and identity is best explained if we only have eyes to see and ears to hear.
With that said, I stand with those who hold the position that Melchizedek was a man, who was King of Salem, and was appointed directly by God to serve both as King and as high priest, even before such an office was formally given through the Levites. That too will become clear as we go.

We are introduced to him during Abraham’s return trip from having rescued his nephew Lot from enemy captives. If you read it and remember, Lot was living in Sodom and four kings from neighboring places invaded Sodom and Gomorrah and took everything from them including Lot and others as hostages. Someone escaped and told Abraham about this and Abraham, being an absolute beast of a man, gathered up 318 of his own men and pursued these kings and killed them all, and brought back Lot, all the possessions, and all the women and people who were taken. What a story, right? On the return journey through, Abraham, likely still worn out from the battle, is met in the Valley of Shaveh by the king of Sodom and this mysterious King of Salem, Melchizedek, who is also mentioned as being the priest of God Most High.

There are a few things that are significant and worth noting about what is said and not said about this man. First, is that “He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.” To understand the significance there we need to know how important genealogy was in the Old Testament and certainly among the priestly order.
In the book of Ezra, for instance, in chapter 2 there is a long list of the genealogy of Israel and at the end there are some people who it seems are attempting to register as Levites but they can’t prove their heritage. In Ezra 2:62

These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.

The Levitical priesthood was a very tightly guarded order and if one couldn’t definitively prove their Levitical connection they could not serve as a priest of God. But the writer of Hebrews points out to us that this Melchizedek is clearly not supported by any genealogy because as far as we know he just fell down from heaven and then went right back up after his scene with Abraham was over. We don’t believe that is actually what happened, but no one has any real clue who this guy was and where he came from and yet Genesis says he was priest of the Most High God.
The point that Hebrews will elaborate on is that there is another priestly order. One that doesn’t run through man by way of strict adherence to genealogy but rather one that is appointed by God.

The Greater Priestly Order

This brings us into the second major section of the text, starting in verse 4, where the author is laying out how we can be assured that this other priestly order is superior to the Levitical order. There is a point to all this, we are just quibbling about which priest is better so please stay with me. The basis of his argumentation is that the inferior is always blessed by the superior. The father blesses his sons, and then the sons his sons. The priest blesses those who are spiritually unclean or inferior to them. That is how blessing works, and such an argument is without dispute. So, when we get to Melchizedek, we see that he was the one who blessed Abraham, the inferior. Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham and blessed him, establishing a clear communication that there was a priest greater than Abraham.

How can anyone be greater than Abraham? This is near blaspheme for a Jew, right? We know this to be true because of conversations Jesus had with the Jews. In John 8 they say to him,

53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

To which Jesus replied,

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

They of course tried to stone him for such words. If they would have had eyes to see though they would have known that one greater than Abraham, one who was before Abraham was already established. A priest greater than Abraham who received tithes from him, who blessed him was already established. Even more, given that the Levitical priesthood came through Abraham and prior to that Abraham tithed to and was blessed by a superior priesthood it is concluded that even the Levitical priesthood tithed to this greater priesthood.

This is what is meant by Levi being in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. Think about it like this. All the Jewish nation came from Abraham. So, a system in which the other tribes paid tithes to the Levites, the priests, amounts to essentially brothers paying brothers. This is mortal men, paying mortal men and exchanging money for blessing and if that is all it was then can’t we say this is an inferior or even flawed system? The Jews lived and died and would kill for that system, but Hebrews is showing us that there is something bigger going on.

Even Levi and every Levitical priest down through the ages existed in Abraham, right? The Levitical DNA was in Abraham and he paid tithes to the greater priestly order so simply by using God given wisdom and the direction of his word, we can see then that all the Levitical priests, though they received tithes from their brothers, actually themselves paid tithes into a priestly order that was greater than themselves, established before Abraham, according to the will of God, the priestly order of Melchizedek.

The Office without End

Why is this distinction so important? Aside from obliterating the continuation of the intercessory role of mortal priests, there are deep spiritual implications for us.

The Never-Ending Priesthood

The first of those is that this higher order of priesthood has no end. There was an age limit on levitical priests, did you know that? It was 50. It was around 20 that they started an apprenticeship and by 25 they could being serving as priests but at 50 they had to retire and another generation took their place. Not only was their office temporary but their intercession was temporary. They could offer sacrifices for sin and give blessings but such things, like their position, had a term limit.

The people continually sinned, and they themselves continually sinned and since their sacrifices and prayers offered no lasting forgiveness of sin they were stuck in a perpetual loop of sin and sacrifice. Not unlike the moral law that was given to us by which we are told do this and you will live but doing this and living is wholly unattainable. So is God unjust in establishing a priesthood that is not effective or a moral law that we are hopeless to fulfill? Maybe that case could be made if in his grace he didn’t establish an everlasting priesthood that is eternal and effective and one in which the levitical priesthood only shadows.

This is why the author to the Hebrews says these things are difficult to explain and why these things are the meat that we have to chew on. They require us to see the substance beyond the shadow. The eternal beyond the temporal. They require us to see that the law and the priesthood were never the final point but rather the means by which we cry out to God, “we are hopeless, we need something better than this.” And there is.

27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. Hebrews 7: 27-28

A perfect sacrifice from a perfect priest is by necessity perfect forever. And the priest over which this sacrifice occurs is also by necessity perfect forever.

The Revelation of Christ

The second spiritual implication of the text is that this so clearly reveals to us and points us to Christ. I glossed over it a bit to bring it around here but just in the name Melchizedek and his title, King of Salem, we see Christ and we hear his gospel. Melchizedek translated means King of Righteousness. Isn’t it the righteousness of Christ to which we cling? It was the eternal righteousness that Christ her had in eternity past and this same righteousness that he earned on our behalf in the incarnation by perfectly fulfilling the law and the priesthood. It is this righteousness that by faith he freely gives to all who call upon his name. This righteousness doesn’t simply wipe our sins clean returning us again to a neutral state but by nature of the perfection of this righteousness, like a light shining in a dark place it expels the darkness and we are forever imputed with the very righteousness of Christ. By the grace of God and to his glory, it is not as though we have not sinned, but by faith it is as though we have lived the same perfect life that Christ has lived. This law that was impossible to fulfill, this priesthood that was otherwise insufficient has been completed for us and given to us in perfect righteousness.

Wretched sinners that we are, because of Christ, we are now seen through the righteousness of the King of Righteousness. This also means, on account of this imputed righteousness, that we are partakers of the King of Salem, that is the King of Peace.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1: 19-20

These two are necessarily connected. Because of this righteousness of Christ, earned for us and given to us by grace through faith, we are also at peace with God. Not only with God but with all creation. All things have been reconciled by the cross, in heaven and on earth and though it may not seem like it at times, we do have peace and can experience his peace because on the throne sits the King of Peace who by his righteousness has made us partakers of his eternal kingdom, one of righteousness and peace.

This is also though why so many missed Jesus and still miss him. Christ is too often a disappointment when we look to him to conquer our military foes, or win our political battles. When we expect him to ride in on a war horse but instead he sits on a donkey. When we expect him to right now heal all our pain, enlarge our bank accounts, keep us from all trial and trouble. Make no mistake, he will do all those things in his time, but you will surely see him and know him if you look to him as King of Righteousness and then King of Peace. Christ came first to establish righteousness for us and that looked not like a throne but like a cross and then he sat down having established peace. Our pursuit of righteousness and peace may also look more like a cross than a throne but take heart if that is that case, you are on the right path.

4 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2

The Lasting Refreshment

The final thing I want to pull from the text this morning is that this passage reveals to us, somewhat indirectly, that in Christ we have eternal refreshment. The author of Hebrews doesn’t make this connection explicitly but I think it’s obvious enough and certainly worth pointing out. I mentioned that Hebrews is referencing this story in Genesis when Abraham is coming back from the slaughter of the kings and having rescued Lot. This is where he meets Melchizedek and also where Melchizedek refreshes him and blesses him. I want you to see how Abraham is refreshed here. Turn back to Genesis 14: 17-20

Genesis 14:17–20
ESV
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)

You can’t help but see in every detail of these passages the glorious foreshadowing of Christ. I am tempted to say this is God continually leaving breadcrumbs to keep the analogy uniform but to me this is far less subtle than that. This is more like the giant Bucees road signs that say clean bathrooms 52 miles ahead. By the grace of God, we can now see these giant billboards that say, Christ just ahead. We can go back and read the OT and see that all the roads were leading to Christ. Bread and wine. This mysterious priest of God of whom is type of Christ refreshes Abraham with bread and wine and what is that bread and wine if not a foreshadowing of the final priest who refreshes us not with literal bread and wine, as even those elements call us to remember his body broken for us and with his blood shed for us.

Conclusion

Do you want eternal and lasting refreshment? Do you want to be a partaker of the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace? Then eat his flesh and drink his blood. Not the bread the fathers ate and died but the bread that came down from heaven. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

Romans 3:23–26
ESV
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

According to the righteousness of Christ he is both the priest and the sacrifice and because both are perfect, he is also our priest forever. Because he is our priest forever, we can be assured that we are indeed at peace forever. Next week we will further see Christ’s intercession for us and the hope that this gives. Until then may we thank and praise God for the meat of his word, and for the bread and wine, our Saviour, King and Priest after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ. Amen.