Hebrews
No Priest-No King
Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony
Subject: Conversations, Panels, and Sermons
Lesson: 15-33
Genre: Lecture
Track: 15
Dictation Name: RR198H15
Location/Venue:
Year:
Let us worship God. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. Let us pray.
Our Father we come into Thy presence again, we know that day after day Thou art ever mindful of us when we are forgetful of our own best interests. Thy mercies are really new every morning. And so our God we come in gratitude and thanksgiving, teach us gratitude toward thee, teach us patience in all our trials, tribulations, and activities, give us confidence as we face the duties of our calling, the oppositions of this world, and the problems that always beset us. Now father, as we give ourselves to the study of Thy word, teach us that which we are in need of. Make us strong in the knowledge of Thy kingdom, and of Thy word, in Christ’s name, amen.
Our Scripture is Hebrews 7:15-28 our subject, No priest, no king. Hebrews 7:15-28
“15And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
16Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
17For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
18For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
19For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
20And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
21(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
22By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
24But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
25Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
26For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
27Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
28For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.”
Our text begins by asserting in the first verse, verse 15, that another priest, after the order of Melchisidec has of a necessity arisen or been given to men. The Levitical priesthood was provisional, because its sacrifices were types of what was to come. They set forth atonement, but not the atoner. The old priest hood verse 16 tells us, was made after the law of a carnal commandment, meaning that the law for the Levitical priesthood had reference to the body, there were physical and genealogical qualifications, and the requirement of ceremonial purity.
It’s sad, but this is a verse often misunderstood because of one word: Carnal. Wherever it appears in the New Testament, people now a days and for the past century or more somehow begin to think nasty ideas. Carnality to them means sexuality, so they go completely astray in the understanding of every usage of the word carnal. But it means bodily. It refers to the fact that there were physical and genealogical requirement for the priests in the Old Testament. He had to be of the house of Levi, after the order of Aaron, he had to be of a particular age, he had to have no physical infirmity, and after a certain age and his infirmity set it in, he was retired. That’s all it means. And the point here is, that Jesus Christ, who is life, needs meet no such requirements because He himself is the standard.
He is a priest forever, after the order of Melchisidec. His priesthood does not begin at a certain point in His life, and end with infirmity or death. His priesthood is not from men, and no beginning or ending marks it, or any limitations are on its efficacy. Verse 18 tells us: “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment for the weakness and profitableness thereof.” In other words, the commandment as given in the Old Testament, in the law, is disannulled if the man dies or becomes infirm. But there is no disannulling of Christ’s priesthood. Verse 19 we are told: “The Law made nothing perfect, but now a better hope enables us to draw nigh to God.” The law here refers to the Law of the Levitical priesthood. Again we have a case of a word, the law being expanded here to mean every law of the Old Testament, every Law of God. But what Hebrews is talking about is limited strictly to the Law of the Priest and the Sacrifice. Nothing more. And to expand it is to pervert and to destroy the meaning of the text. What we are told is that the old laws of the priesthood are now obsolete, because the great high priest has come. His order is from heaven, the old law of the priesthood and of sacrifices made nothing perfect, we are told, because only Jesus Christ could make an efficacious and perfect atonement for us. We have now a better hope and a sure one, and we are brought near to God by Jesus Christ our great high priest.
Two words misinterpreted, and the result has been a great deal of error in the church. Sometimes I have tried to reason with some of these people, and say: “Well, if the law is gone, why isn’t it alright for you to commit adultery, to kill, to steal, to do as you please?” And they only become indignant at that. But they cannot have it both ways, either the law stands or it does not. And carnal either refers just to that which is physical, and which passes away, so that you have a term of office and when that term ends it’s over. That’s what the point of the text is. The priesthood of Aaron had a limited tenure in office.
In verses 20-22, we are told that more than a proper genealogy stands behind the priesthood of Jesus Christ. We have Gods oath. Psalm 110 verse four is again referred to. This new priesthood is not bound by any human qualifications, nor is it at all under man’s government and control. Jesus Christ is not our High Priest by a carnal commandment. By a commandment which has a limitation to human and historical factors. The Levitical Priesthood was ordained by God as a historical fact, the priesthood after the order of Melchisidec was directly given by God without reference to human precedents, controls, and rules. This means that Jesus was made the surety or pledge of a better testament.
Because the renewal of the covenant is now made by the great prophet of God, the messiah king, Gods great High Priest, it is the superior covenant. Until now there have been many priests and High Priests as well in the history of the covenant people, but in every case their priesthood ended with their death. This means that all of them assumed the priesthood for a time only. Whereas Jesus Christ is forever High Priest. Jesus Christ who lives forever has an unchangeable priesthood according to verse 24.
A man can be a soldier for a few years, or for many years, but he is not born a soldier and he is not forever a soldier. The priesthood of Jesus Christ is not a temporary aspect of his history, but forever an essential part of His being.
Verse 25 tells us: “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, saying He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Well at this point we have a curious fact. Jesus Priesthood is forever. Anyone who prays, prays in Jesus name, and they assume He is a priest forever. This means of course that the Hebrews to whom this is addressed logically could not have prayed because Jesus was not a High Priest for them making intercession. And it means that those today who look for the restoration of the temple and the sacrificial system are saying: “We need a priest in a restored temple in Jerusalem to make intercession for us.” They have denied Christ’s priesthood.
Verses 25-28 give us as it were a magnificent hymn to Christ our High Priest. As (Emar?) Vincent points out, in these verses it is not intercession that is stressed as much as intervention. Jesus is always there not only to make intercession, but intervention. He is there to intervene on our behalf, to work on our behalf. This means that Christ in his infinite wisdom is totally active on our behalf. Yesterday, today, and forever. Having shed His blood for us, it is nothing for Him now to care for us. There are no limits on his power, no limits on His activity for us. They are we are told, to the uttermost. For those who come unto God by Him.
The concluding clause is more than man would dare to say, seeing as He ever liveth to make intercession for us. This does not mean a man centered concern for us, but a kingdom centered one for the people of His service. Our high Priest is holy, harmless or guileless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, according to verse 26.
He is far greater than our conceiving can grasp, for He is God the Son. Verse 27 says of Jesus Christ, that He needeth not daily as those high Priests to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins and then for the peoples, for this He did once when He offered up Himself. He was the great and only true sacrifice, and His sacrifice ended the sacrificial system. However as Acts 6:7 tells us, many many Jewish priests became Christians and obedient ones, in time however some felt the need to perpetuate the sacrificial system in some fashion, and this led to the idea of an unbloody sacrifice, and ultimately to the mass. We do not realize that the temple and synagogue worship were transferred into the Church, even to the very terminology.
For the law maketh men high priests, which have infirmity, but the word of the oath which was since the law maketh a son, who is consecrated forevermore, according to verse 28.
Levitical priesthood relied on infirm and limited men, we see that very early. We see Aaron for example. Acting the coward when Moses was on the mount. We see priests that again and again who were subservient to evil kings, but the oath consecrates the son as eternal high priest. The oath of Psalm 10 verse 4 came after the giving of the Mosaic law and its laws for the priesthood, so it had reference to the Great High Priest who was to come. The implication are now clear. Hebrews began by declaring what none reading the letter would question, namely that Jesus Christ is God the Son, by whom the worlds were made. Psalm 102 verse 25 is cited, and Hebrews 1:10, to declare that Jesus Christ is the creator king. Now, Hebrews goes on to declare in effect: No Priest, no king. If He is not your High Priest He is not your king. You cannot have Jesus Christ on any other terms. If He is not your king of righteousness or justice, he cannot be your king of peace. To go back to the temple and its high Priest is to abandon their God and King.
Hebrews is an uncompromising manifesto. It offered no compromises to the Hebrew Church members. Its message was: “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” Let us pray.
Our Father, we thank Thee that we have and eternal High Priest in the heavens, who is also our king, and a great prophet, and Thy Son, eternally very God of Very God. We thank Thee that we have therefore an efficacious intercessor and intervener for us. Give us the Spirit of prayer, teach us to cast our every care upon Him who is our mediator and Priest. In His name we pray, amen.
Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?
[Audience Member] Another definition of the word carnal then would be legal requirements?
[Rushdoony] Yes, legal requirements that are historical. In other words, you have to meet certain historical and human requirements, of age, of ancestry and so on. They are legal requirements, all of them. Yes, a very good point. One of the problems of course in history is that men tend to prefer that type of thing, the legal requirements. And they are very very hostile to anything that is not a part of that framework. So they want to regularize everything. It isn’t a church unless its part and parcel of an institution, and yet that’s not how the Lord defines the church.
It isn’t a legitimate anything unless you’ve been properly authenticated by the state, so we’ve gone overboard on that, and the result today is that people want to know what group authenticates you. And a scholarly work written by a person who is not a part of the academy, does not get consideration. Again, unless the work meets these scholarly requirements it isn’t considered good.
Recently one professor, a P.H.D., wrote a volume on a very technical field, the volume was popularly written, it showed more comprehension of the subject than any of the very large erudite volumes in the field. It got to the heart of the matter as no other book I’ve ever read has. But it was not a book that was going to be recognized by the academy. After all, it was written intelligently for any intelligent, non-technical reader. And that is regarded as wrong. So, all through the centuries people have had their ideas of what is proper accreditation. Now that’s not to say that accreditation is wrong, but we have carried the idea to absurdity. Yes?
[Audience Member] Well a great illustration of that is years ago, people asked insurance companies to write insurance contracts in language that they could understand, and the legal profession stopped them from doing that, because the contract wouldn’t hold up in court simply because they didn’t use the legal terminology.
[Rushdoony] Yes, very very good point. Exceptionally good point. Well, we--- Yes?
[Audience Member] Is there something significant in verse 20, there is no definite article between He is not made a priest, He is made priest, period.
[Rushdoony] Yes, he was made priest period. He was not part of a great company, He was THE Priest.
Any other questions or comments?
Well if not let us conclude with prayer. Our Father, we give thanks unto Thee for Jesus Christ, our great high Priest. We thank Thee that at any time, any day, anyplace, we have someone who will hear us and intercede and intervene for us. Great and marvelous art Thou oh Lord, and thy provisions for us are perfection. And so we praise Thee, and we thank Thee.
And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.