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Pastor Nathaniel's Blog June 12. 2024
"Jesus’ Melchizedek Priesthood"
As your high priest, you've probably heard that Jesus is high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. But did you know that the basis for Jesus' high priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is due to his death, burial, and resurrection? Hebrews 7:15-16 says, "And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life" (NIV). This passage makes three points, of which the first two are pretty clear.
First, Jesus is like Melchizedek from Genesis. Melchizedek was a high priest and a king (Hebrews 7:1) - much like Jesus is our high priest and king! Even the word "Melchizedek" means in Hebrew "king of righteousness" (Hebrews 7:2), and Jesus is definitely the king over righteousness: the one who gives righteousness and reigns in a righteous way.
Second, Jesus is NOT high priest according to the order of Melchizedek because of human ingenuity. The phrase "not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry" is more literally in Greek "not according to the law of a fleshly command." In Greek, this expression can either mean that the basis of Jesus' high priesthood is NOT his human ancestry (like the NIV translates it), or it can indicate that the basis of Jesus' high priesthood is NOT a human giving a command or declaring that Jesus is the high priest.
But the third point Hebrews 7:15-16 makes, which can be difficult to discern, is that Jesus' high priesthood is based on the kind of resurrection life which he brought with him from the grave. The expression "an indestructible life" is a hope-filled reference to Jesus' burial in death and resurrection from that death. More literally, the word "indestructible" means "that which cannot be loosed." It's related to the term Peter uses in Acts 2:24 to refer to the "pains of death" from which Jesus was released by his resurrection. Hebrews 7:15-16 does not envision Jesus being the high priest because he cannot die. Instead, Hebrews 7:15-16 presents Jesus as the high priest precisely because he DID die, but the resurrection life he now has is one that "loosens" or "unties" death and can never been unraveled, loosened, or untied by death.
Friends, rejoice that Jesus is your high priest because his death has conquered death and has secured an indestructible life for you.
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
