The letter of Hebrews emphasizes the superiority of Yeshua’s priesthood over the Levitical priesthood. His priesthood and sacrificial death provide complete and limitless redemption for believers.
Not just for everlasting life but for every circumstance we face. It encourages us to abide in Yeshua and His Word, which leads to our transformation, as well as drawing others to the God of Israel.
Hebrews demonstrates God’s love and provision for us through God’s Promised Messiah. This letter was addressed to Jewish Believers in Yeshua while the Temple was still standing which is prior to 70 AD
The Temple was the only God-given place where sacrifice for sin could be provided. Synagogues were local places of study and prayer like churches today, but The Temple was God’s appointed place for reconciliation.
But because of pressure from their home Synagogues and unbelieving families, there was the temptation by followers of Yeshua to offer sacrifices in the Temple. By doing so they were denying that Yeshua was the only way for atonement. They were disregarding God’s way of walking with Him.
We really can’t fully appreciate Yeshua and the New Covenant without a firm understanding of the older covenant. Hebrews explains the Law in light of the Messiah. Torah set Israel apart as His firstborn among the nations. The Law pointed the way to God.
The Book of Hebrews carefully explains why Yeshua and the New Covenant are so important for us to understand. When we looked at the first part of Heb 7 we learned about Melchizedek.
We saw that he was a type of the Messiah, and the anti-type is Yeshua or the One to who the type points. In our study today we learn why the Levitical priesthood and sacrifices have been replaced by God.
Heb. 7:11-18 highlights the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood over the Levitical priesthood. The writer here gives us three key points: 1) God changed the Priesthood, 2) that Yeshua is a greater HP, and 3) He provides full and complete salvation.
- In v. 11-12, we see there is a Change in Priesthood. “Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity, there takes place a change of law also.
He begins by emphasizing that perfection couldn’t be attained through the Levitical priesthood. The Law established this priesthood, but it was insufficient. Though it was an essential part of God’s plan to prepare the world for the Messiah.
The Temple, the sacrifices, and the priesthood couldn’t bring righteousness or complete reconciliation between God and man. We see this in that the sacrifices offered by the Levitical priests were temporary they needed to be repeated, over and over.
The Levitical priesthood was based on Aaronic lineage. Priests descended from Aaron served in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. Jesus, however, belongs to the order of Melchizedek as we just read, not Aaron.
The writer is showing us that Yeshua’s priesthood is different and greater. Melchizedek was a highly regarded figure in Genesis 14. There we learn that he was both a priest and a king.
In Gen. 14 we learn that he blessed Abraham and received tithes from him. Unlike the Aaronic priests, Melchizedek had no genealogy listed, his birth, and death are not recorded. His priesthood transcended the limitations that would come later through the Law given to Moses.
Jesus, as our High Priest, is like Melchizedek in that regard. His priesthood is not tied to a specific lineage or the regulations that would come later in Torah.
That’s what the writer of Hebrews means when he cites Yeshua as in the order of Melchizedek. This change in priesthood necessitated a change in the law, as the writer tells us in v. 12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.
This will be elaborated in Hebrews 8. As Jewish believers in Jesus, we recognize that the priesthood of Yeshua is greater than the Levitical system. Because His sacrifice provides access to God the Father once and for all to those who put their faith in Him and His work on their behalf.
This change in priesthood—from Aaronic to Melchizedek—ushers in a new way of walking with God. Jesus as our High Priest now intercedes on our behalf. We no longer need to go to the Temple, where God took up residence.
On Shavuot 2000 years ago God came to dwell through His Spirit in all who believed in Yeshua. These are people who understood that God fulfilled His promise to lay our sins on the perfect Lamb described in Isaiah 53.
In this era, we are continually under attack by the enemy of God and His children by Satan and his demons. They continually accuse us before God and in our hearts and minds.
But because of our faith in the work of Yeshua on the cross and our trust in his substitutionary death for our sin. His blood speaks on our behalf. All we need do is confess and turn from our sin and trust in God’s provision and we can experience the righteousness of God.
- Secondly we learn that the priesthood of Yeshua is greater because it is based on an Indestructible Life. 7:14-16
For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.
Jesus’ priesthood as we have said, isn’t based on ancestry, or all the regulations involved in the requirements of Torah; it’s rooted in the power of an indestructible life. Melchizedek, as we’ve seen serves as a type of Messiah. His priesthood foreshadows Jesus’ eternal priesthood, but even he died.
And Unlike the Levitical priests who died, Jesus lives forever, ensuring an unending intercession for believers. Melchizedek, as a type of Yeshua, exemplifies this indestructible life. Here’s why:
Melchizedek in the Genesis 14 account blesses Abraham after a victorious battle. Unlike the Levitical priests, Melchizedek had no recorded genealogy, birth, or death. His priesthood transcends earthly limitations.
The writer of Hebrews in 7:21 quotes David’s prophecy in Psalm 110:4 to show us how the future Messiah would be like Melchizedek. “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
Unlike Levitical priests Yeshua’s life is indestructible: He conquered sin and death through His sacrificial death and resurrection. 7:23-24: The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.
His priesthood isn’t based on ancestry but on His eternal nature. The Levitical priests, by contrast, were mortal. They offered sacrifices repeatedly, yet their own lives were subject to death.
Jesus’ priesthood ensures unending intercession for believers: Because He lives forever, advocating for us before God. His sacrifice doesn’t need to be repeated because it’s eternally effective.
There is unity between the Old and New Covenants in that confession of sin was required then, just as today, but we no longer need to kill a lamb whose blood is then placed by the priest on the altar.
Yeshua’s sacrifice eternally speaks to God on our behalf. And His resurrection assures us that He continually is before our heavenly Father on our behalf.
As believers in Jesus, we find hope in His unwavering, indestructible life. We can approach God confidently, knowing that Yeshua intercedes for us. His indestructible life secures our salvation, and His eternal priesthood surpasses the limitations of the Levitical system.
Then the writer of Hebrews adds that through the work of God’s greater High Priest we can experience an Ultimate Salvation:
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
We see two powerful words in this verse: “save” and “always.”
Yeshua can save to the uttermost—completely and without limitation. His salvation lacks nothing. It has an ongoing, daily affect in our walk with God.
Every day we experience trials, issues, attacks and more.
We may not think of it or be aware of it, but we need God every hour of our lives. Life is hard because we live in a fallen and broken world. We are broken and everyone else is as well. But God provides His power moment by moment to help us if we will look to Him.
No one is too sinful or beyond redemption. His work is all-encompassing, reaching even the deepest of our guilt and failures. Those who transfer their trust from themselves or from relying on others experience His saving power.
When we place our faith and abide in Yeshua we find hope in His steady and unchanging salvation. His deliverance lacks nothing—it covers every aspect of our lives. The word “always” emphasizes His dependability of intercession:
Yeshua eternally lives to intercede for us. His work isn’t limited by time or circumstance. When we look to Him, we find hope, peace and security.
Our salvation is secure because it’s not based on our work or efforts but totally on God’s grace as Eph. 2:8-10 tells us “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
7:23-24 The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Yeshua, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore, He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
We can approach God without fear because of God’s love for His Son. He left heaven to come to this sinful and broken world. He came in obedience to His Father.
He came because the Father loves our world and the people He created and because of that love He made a way to save and redeem. That was through His beloved Son who bore our sin on the cross.
So, the Father listens to His Son when as our High Priest he intercedes on our behalf. That is why the writer of Hebrews urges in this letter to not forsake such a great salvation.
We need to press into Messiah Yeshua by abiding in Him and His Word. Because as we do, we will be transformed into His image. When He increases and we decrease others are drawn to Him who lives in us.
This chapter ends with these wonderful words of encouragement in 7:26-28:
For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.
We can’t save or transform the world but Yeshua and His Holy Spirt can. If we want revival it must begin with us. When it does, we will begin to see everything around us change.
So, God changed the Priesthood and brought the New Covenant because of His love for us and the world. Daily reading of God’s Word will help us to grow in our understanding of God’s plan for the world and its transformation.
Our transformation will bless us, our families, our congregation, our community, our state, our country and our world. May God help us to walk in the works He has prepared for us as we walk in His Spirit living in us.
