A Prophesied Change Has Come 10-12-25 PM
I. The change (Hebrews 7:11-12).
a. Our writer begins the section by pointing out the fact that a change has been made in the priesthood.
b. He does so by stating a fact that they should have understood: there was no way to reach spiritual maturity or completion under the Levitical system.
c. In fact, the change was twofold:
i. There was a change in the priesthood;
ii. There was a change in law.
d. The Psalmist, one beloved by the Jews, had prophesied of the fact that the Messiah would be a High Priest in the likeness of Melchizedec, not Aaron (Psalm 110:4).
i. There would be no need for a change if the human high priests through Aaron could lead a person to spiritual completion.
ii. One could not get to God completely through them, which is what perfection is, access to God (Hebrews 7:19).
e. All that the offerings of the Old Testament did was to roll sin forward to Jesus and His redeeming blood.
f. The only way to change the priesthood, though was by changing the law (vs. 12).
i. Notice that the writer said is of necessity.
ii. The word necessity carries the idea of compelling force.
iii. It was imperative that there be a change in the law.
g. Our writer does not discuss the change in the law here, but introduces and will come back to explain it more fully later on.
h. This change in the priesthood was prophesied by the Psalmist and that of the law by Jeremiah.
i. God had promised there would be a change and our writer, by inspiration, points out these changes.
II. The evidence of a change (Hebrews 7:13-17).
a. The writer does not want his readers to simply take his word that there has been a change: he provides evidence of such.
b. He gives evidence of the necessity of a change because the One of whom these things were prophesied belonged to another tribe, not the tribe of Levi.
i. The One of whom these things were spoken was the Messiah.
ii. We know that Jesus was not of the tribe of Levi and no man had ever served at the altar who was from His tribe, that of Judah.
c. History records the fact that Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, and had to be in order to be the Messiah.
i. He was to be a descendant of David (2 Samuel 7:13).
ii. David was from Judah, and the genealogies of Matthew and Luke show that Jesus descended from him, not anyone from the tribe of Levi.
iii. Moses never mentioned that anyone from Judah could serve as a priest under the Mosaic Covenant.
d. Incidentally, but extremely important, this lays out a great example of the power, or authority, of the silence of the scriptures.
i. Moses never was inspired to write down who could not be a priest under the Old Law.
ii. He was only inspired to write down who was a priest and it was understood that all others were left out of the priesthood.
iii. Only those of Levi could serve in the temple, and more specifically, only those Levites descending from Aaron could be the high priest.
iv. When God says what He wants done or used in the fulfilling of His will, He does not have to tell us all that He does not want done or used in the fulfilling of His will (elaborate).
v. This verse, Hebrews 7:14, is a tremendous and powerful illustration of that fact.
e. Our writer then points out more powerful evidence of the change.
f. A new High Priest has come into existence in the likeness of Melchizedec.
i. This High Priest, the One about Whom our writer has mentioned several times as we noted in the introduction, did not come to office because of the flesh or a fleshly commandment.
1. He did not descend from Aaron.
2. He is not like them in that they all died and another replaced them.
3. There was a system in place to change the high priest when death occurred.
ii. He came to this office because of the resurrection and the fact that His life will never end and the power that is shown by that fact.
1. Jesus will never die, thus His Priesthood will never change.
2. There will never be one to take His place.
g. The writer was then inspired to remind them of the prophecy of the Psalmist found in 110:4.
i. The “he” mentioned at the beginning of the verse is God.
ii. God, through the Psalmist, testified and still does, that Jesus is forever a High Priest in the likeness of Melchizedec.
III. The purpose of the change (Hebrews 7:18-19).
a. It may be that there might be some who would have read these words and wondered why a change had to be made.
b. Our writer does not deal with why the priesthood had to be changed specifically, but does so by pointing out why the Law had to be changed.
i. The law had to be cancelled, the meaning of disannulling, because it was weak and unprofitable.
ii. Weak means without strength.
iii. Unprofitable means useless.
iv. It was such because it could not save mankind, it only reminded men of their sins, never completely removing them, only rolling them forward till the blood of Christ was shed.
c. It was described in this way because it made nothing spiritually whole or complete, only the bringing in of a better hope could do that.
i. He has previously tied hope to Christ (Hebrews 6:19).
ii. It is superior to what the Aaronic priesthood offered because it brings us to completion.
d. Completion is described as drawing nigh to God.
i. Through Christ, you and I have access to God.
ii. He’s already told us that we can get to the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16).
e. This is the whole purpose of Christianity, to give us closeness and access to God and this is what God wants.
i. He provided it in the Garden.
ii. When man sinned, the ability to draw close to our Holy God was hindered.
iii. God provided a way through Christ for man to once again have access and closeness to Him.
f. If we want it, we can have it.