JESUS Christ’s High Priesthood after the order of Melchisedec Heb. 7:1-10, FAR MORE EXCELLENT THAN Aaron’S PRIESTHOOD, 11-28
“If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood… (v. 11).
Fifth, the unveiling of the future state. Christ hath “brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel” 2Tim. 1:10. Whatever knowledge of resurrection and eternal blessedness individual saints enjoyed in Old Testament times, it was not conveyed to them by the ministrations of the Levitical priesthood. That which characterized the people under the Mosaic law was that they “through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” Heb. 2:15. Nor could it be otherwise while the curse of the law hung over them. But now our great High Priest has endured the curse for us. He entered the devouring jaws of death. But He did not remain there. He triumphed over the grave, and in the resurrection of Christ His people have the evidence, guarantee, and pattern, of their own victory too. He has gone on High, and that as our “Forerunner” Heb. 6:20. And His request is, “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am” Jn. 17:24. Sixth, joy. “The kingdom of God is … righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” Rom. 14:17. True it is that many of the Old Testament saints rejoiced greatly in the Lord, yet it was not by virtue of the Levitical priesthood. The ground of their joy was that death would be swallowed up in victory Is. 25:8, and that awaited the death and resurrection of Christ. Therefore, did Abraham rejoice to see His day Jn. 8:56. But ordinarily their joy was mixed and allayed with a respect unto temporal things: see Lev. 23:39–41, Deut. 12:11, 12, 18, etc. But the Christian has a joy “unspeakable, and full of glory” 1Pet. 1:8. It is that inexpressible satisfaction which is wrought in the love of God by Jesus Christ. This gives the soul a repose in all trials, refreshment when it is weary, peace in trouble, delight in tribulations: Romans 5:1–5. Seventh, glorying in the Lord. This is the fruit of joy. One chief design of the Gospel is to exclude all human boasting, to empty us of glorying in self Rom. 3:27, Eph. 2:9. God has so ordered things that no flesh should now glory in His presence, so that he that glorieth must glory in the Lord 1Cor. 1:29, 31. Thus it was promised of old: see Is. 45:25. Glorying in the Lord is that high exultation ofspirit which causes believers to esteem their interest in heavenly things high above things present, to despise and condemn all that is contrary thereto, to say with the apostle, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”. A brief study 2Cor. 3 will be helpful. This could be added upon the parenthetic clause of v. 11: “For under it the people received the lawThe law demanded perfect righteousness, but fallen man was incapable of producing it Rom. 3:19, 20; 8:3; nor could the Levitical priesthood effect it. Thus, the only hope lay outside of themselves. “Christ is the end of the law…” Rom. 10:4.
For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (v. 12). “The second consequence which must be drawn from the facts stated in vv. 1–10. First, the Levitical priesthood was inadequate, incapable of producing “perfection”. Second, therefore it was but a temporary institution, it must be set aside. In other words, Judaism as such, was now defunct. Thus “a change of the law” means a change of dispensation, a change of Divine administration. This at once fixes the meaning of “law”. The law and the Gospel could not mix. Works and grace are antithetical. Moses must disappear when Christ was revealed.” Pink Arthur W.
