Expounds on Jesus Christ as a superior High Priest, drawing a parallel between Melchizedek and Christ. It begins by establishing the context of Christ's priesthood within the book of Hebrews, contrasting it with the Levitical priesthood. The sermon then delves into the significance of Melchizedek's name, his acts of condescension, intercession, and reception of tithes, highlighting these as foreshadowing Christ's role. Finally, it presents Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of this priesthood, serving as our surety, Savior, and perfect sacrifice, emphasizing the eternal and authoritative nature of His priestly office.
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Now we're going to turn to Hebrews chapter seven and we're going to talk about this mysterious person named Melchizedek. We usually associate his name with the scripture that we read a number of times. And high priests are to the order of Melchizedek. Now I'm not going to take time this morning again to recap. If we're going to learn these things, they have to be said over and over and over again, and we get a little bit more each time. But I'm going to see if it isn't possible for us to make up for you a mini-agraphed outline of the epistle that you'll be able to follow from this point on.
So get my wife busy on the typewriter, and we'll unearth some of your reproduction equipment. and we'll see if we can, for tonight or tomorrow morning, come up with an outline on the epistle. Chapter seven then, and we are still, you will remember, dealing with the third presentation of the Lord Jesus, that of a high priest before God. Now we've noted that this study, which takes us from the end of chapter four, those last three verses, all the way through chapter seven, A, a better priesthood.
And then we shall talk about a better sanctuary, a better covenant, and a better sacrifice, because these are the four things with which the Spirit of God is concerned as he brings before us the Lord Jesus as a high priest before God. Now this chapter seven is taken up with what we have called the illustration of Christ as high priest. In the last three verses of chapter four, we have the introduction of Christ as High Priest. In the first ten verses of chapter five, that is right up to that parenthesis that we spoke of, we have the superiority of Christ as High Priest.
And in following that parenthesis, in what is left of chapter six, verses thirteen through twenty, we have the function of Christ as High Priest. And now in chapter seven, these twenty-eight verses, we're going to look at the illustration of Christ as high priest. Now again take your pencil and mark two phrases in the chapter which will form the pegs upon which we want to hang the thoughts for today. Look at verse one. For this Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace.
Now go back to verse one and underline the words, This Melchizedek. Melchizedek. Because in these early verses we have the title, Melchizedek. Now go a little further down to verse twenty-four. Now we're reading, well let's read from verse twenty-two for the sake of connection. By so much more was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth ever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
Now, under the line, underline the words, this man. We have this Melchizedek in verse one, this man in verse twenty four. What do we have in the early part of the chapter is the type. What do we have in the end of the chapter is the anti-type. Now, that is A-N-T-E, not A-N-T-R. If you use the word A-N-T-I, anti, that means against. But if you use the word A-N-T-E, anti-type, that means a fulfillment of the type. So here in the chapter we have a very complete section in itself, the type and the fulfillment of the type.
The type, this Melchizedek. The fulfillment of the type, this man, that is the Lord Jesus. So now we'll read first of all about the type. Now the way is paved for our subject in chapter five in two verses and in chapter six in one verse. Look at chapter five and verse six, will you? Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now look at verse ten of the same chapter. Called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now look at chapter six and the last verse.
Made and high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, let's suppose that you have never read the Bible before and you are now reading the epistle to the Hebrews. When you come to chapter five and verse six, you would read that and you'd say, what does it mean? The order of Melchizedek. Then when you got to verse ten, you'd say, here it is again. What does it mean? The order of Melchizedek. Then when you got to chapter six, your curiosity would be really aroused and you'd say, well, here it is again, the order of Melchizedek. Now, I've got to have an explanation. I've got to find out who this man Melchizedek was.
And having stimulated your interest, now the Spirit of God launches into the topic. All right? You want to know who Melchizedek is. Now, we'll find out. This Melchizedek King of Salem, and so on, verse two, King of Peace, verse three, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made light unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, under whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them receives tithes of Abraham, and bless him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed, of the better. Obviously Melchizedek was a better man even than the father of the patriarchs, Abraham. Verse eight, And here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, that is another tribe than the tribe of Levi.
The Lord demanded that the responsibilities of the priest should be given to the Levites, you'll remember. Now it says, he of whom these things are spoken, that is Melchizedek, pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tried Moses to make nothing concerning priesthood. Now the writer is saying this. The mystery figure Melchizedek came fleetingly into the picture before the Levitical priesthood came into being. Now the one who is being presented to us, the Lord Jesus, did not spring of the tribe of Levi.
but he is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now, Melchizedek came first, the Levites came after, and yet here in the Lord Jesus there is a reversal to the Melchizedek priesthood, which then must be more important or better, if you will, which is the key word. than even that wonderful Levitical order which was brought into being according to the law and by special dispensation. Did you get that? That's the argument here. And so it says, verse fourteen, it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah.
And of that tribe Moses made nothing concerning priesthood. And yet it is far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek, There arise of another priest who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. And now the writer moves from the type into the anti-type, bringing the Lord Jesus before us as the one who is after the order of Melchizedek, whose priesthood, unlike the Levitical priesthood, has no end. Now we must go back and look again at this man, Melchizedek.
Now we reminded ourselves that already we've read about him in chapter five twice, and in chapter six once, so that now in chapter seven comes the explanation. So had we only read Hebrews and nothing else, we would now be saying, ah, now we begin to understand a little about this expression, the order of Melchizedek. But you and I are more fortunate. We can go back to other references and so let's do this, shall we? Let's go back without losing our place in chapter seven of Hebrews to Genesis fourteen, where we read about Melchizedek and his meeting with Abraham.
Very early in the history of Israel, Because it deals with the father of Israel, we have Melchizedek and Abraham. Look at verse seventeen, will you? This is Genesis fourteen and verse seventeen, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedaleoma and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Sheba, which is the king's dale. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he, that is Abraham, gave him, that is Melchizedek, tithes. of all. Now in our chapter in Hebrews we read, the one who receives the tides is greater than the one who pays them. So here you have Melchizedek the greater, and Abraham the great. Now that reference in Genesis then is the first one.
But let's go to Psalm one hundred and ten and notice another fleeting reference to this same man. Melchizedek. Psalm one hundred and ten, verse four, the Lord hath sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now these three mentions then, one in Genesis, one in the Psalms, and one in Hebrews in the New Testament have their own special significance. Let me mention it.
Melchizedek is mentioned once in Genesis in connection with history. Now that's worth putting down. Melchizedek is mentioned once in Genesis in chapter fourteen in connection with history. And then Melchizedek is mentioned once in the Psalms in Psalm in connection with prophecy. And then Melchizedek is mentioned once in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews, and he's mentioned this time in connection with doctrine. You see how careful the Spirit of God is?
You see how orderly and how complete the revelation? Once in connection with history, once in connection with prophecy, and once in connection with doctrine. Now, very interesting, as we read on through Hebrews, we shall find ourselves moving into the wonderful truths that have to do with the tabernacle. We shall look at the tabernacle. We shall look at some of the instruments of the tabernacle. Just mention them in passing. The Holy Place and the Holy of Holies and so on. It's very interesting. Because God's concern in chapter seven is with the priesthood of Melchizedek.
And God's concern in chapters eight, nine, and ten is with the Aaronic priesthood. Now why the difference? Well, ten and one. Because in chapter seven, God is bringing before us the person of the priest. In chapters eight, nine, and ten, he's bringing before us the work of the priest. So we have the Melchizedek priesthood in chapter seven, and we have the Aaronic priesthood in chapters eight, nine, and ten. It's very beautiful, and it's very, very orderly and very complete. The person of the priest in chapter seven, and the work of the priest in chapters eight, nine, and ten.
Now what about Melchizedek? I want you to notice three things as we go to our chapter seven. First of all, the significance of his name. and then secondly the significance of these acts, and then thirdly the significance of his person. We'll read again these early verses, but chapter seven, verse one, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, whom also Abraham gave the tenth part of all, First being by interpretation King of Righteousness and after that also King of Salem which is King of Peace.
Now there seem to be a lot of names here but they can actually but just be divided into two tiny little groups. He is called Melchizedek and he is called King of Salem. The name Melchizedek is explained for us, it means King of Righteousness and the name King of Salem is explained for us It means King of Peace. Have you got that? Here then is the significance of his name. He is Melchizedek, King of Salem, and that means King of Righteousness and King of Peace. Now have you ever heard righteousness and peace drawed into close proximity to one another?
Are there scriptures that come to mind that put righteousness and peace together? You can think of one immediately. Give me one. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Of course, that's not the only one where these two are brought together. You might like to do a little personal study and find some others, but you will never find them in any other order. Righteousness and peace. Righteousness and peace. Always righteousness and peace. Now, it's obvious why it comes this way. If the believer tampers with sin, He never knows what peace of mind is.
Does it ever make you thoughtful when we open our hymn books and we sing, Wonderful, wonderful peace, sweet peace, the gift of God's love, and yet there are believers by the thousands who sing about it heartily and glibly, who do not enjoy it for a moment. I've heard believers stand up and talk about the wonderful enjoyment that the Christian life is, but they're not experiencing it. Why? Because too many Christians are dabbling with sin. Too many Christians are unconcerned about righteousness. And if you're unconcerned about righteousness, you can't enjoy peace.
because if there's sin in your life there isn't peace in your heart even though Christ may be in your heart and you may be born again and assured of heaven as if you were already there we remind our young people so earnestly and so often about this thing you've got to know what it is to have victory in your life so that you don't sin because if you sin you'll become a weak Christian if you sin you'll become an unhappy Christian of course If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. When I pray, if I'm sinning, my prayers hit the ceiling, and they bounced back. Do you remember that man who prayed as he stood upright and patted himself on the back and said, Oh, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are.
I do this, I do that, I do the other. I'm not even like this. Poor publican here, who's obviously a sinner. You know, if you read that story very carefully, you'll find, of that man, the Lord Jesus said, who prayed thus with himself. Did you ever notice that? His prayer hit the ceiling and bounced back. It never reached the ear of God, because he was a proud man. And pride is the birth and the gate and the curse of hell. And I'm quoting Dr. Andrew Murray there. And there are lots of different kinds of pride, you know. There's pride of race, and it's causing lots of trouble in these days. And there's pride of place. You come from Boston, you know what I mean. And there's also pride of faith.
You're good looking. Don't you let it be a stumbling block so you many people have. But there's not only pride of race and pride of place and pride of faith, but there's pride of grace. You can even be so humble as to be proud of your humility. Like the man who wrote a book, the ten most humble people on the earth and how I met the other nine. Pride is a wretched thing. And pride destroys its effectiveness for believers, because one of the things that's an abomination to the Lord is the proud look. And you can put this alongside a lot of other things, and you'll realize why a lot of Christians are not happy, because there isn't the righteousness in their life that produces peace.
That's the order. Righteousness first, and then peace. No wonder the Bible is full of exhortations to us, to flee lust and to turn our backs upon sin, and to make sure we enter into possess what belongs to us in Christ, who died not only to save us from the penalty of sin, but to deliver us moment by moment and hour by hour from its domination and its power. Righteousness and peace. So do you find yourself a disturbed Christian? and not a Christian at faith and not a happy Christian, you begin to ask yourself some very earnest and serious questions and see if you can't pinpoint the reason and put your finger upon sin in your life.
Because that's what robs people, what robs Christians of peace of mind and heart. Here then is the significance of his name. Melchizedek was king of righteousness and Melchizedek was king of peace. Now let's go over those verses again and look at the significance of his acts. They are three. It says, For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham. Now that was the first thing. Then it says, And he blessed him. That was the second thing. And then it says, He received from Abraham tithes. Because verse two says, To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all.
Now if Abraham gave it, Melchizedek must have received it. These are the three things then he met Abraham, and he blessed Abraham, and he received from Abraham. Now because Melchizedek is very clearly pointed out to be the greater of the two, this indicates this man's condescension. He went out of his way to meet Abraham when Abraham was returning from his victory over the king. Now that's very significant. I'm sure that Abraham was elated. I'm sure that Abraham was really moving in the glow of his victory and so on.
But Melchizedek knew that this man in the midst of his success had very real need. And so Melchizedek went out of his way to meet him. Here is condescension. Very beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus. And we know when we've had our backs to the wall, we know that when we've really had burdens to bear that threatened to crush us, and we turned to the Lord Jesus, we found him there. He was there in our times of desperate need. But you know, at times when we didn't realize we needed him. When we were in the full flush of victory and we were really having a good time on top of the world, he drew near just as assuredly because he recognized that our danger in the second instance was probably greater than our danger in the first.
When we've got our backs to the wall and we're pressed with burdens, then we know we need him and we know we can't do without him and we want the evidence of his presence. But you know when we are full of self-satisfaction and everything's going smoothly and we're really riding the crest of the wave, then we can forget that we need him just as desperately and maybe even more. Or it was condescension on the part of Melchizedek that made him go out and meet Abraham. He recognized Abraham's need in a time of prosperity. There was a man in the Bible named Jeshu Run. Do you know what was written of him? Jergerun waxed fat and kicked.Jergerun waxed fat and kicked.
You know, if we look back to our Christian experience, we'll find that the times when we were closest to the Lord were the hard times. And that should have a signal effect upon us. Because when we become a little, life is a little easier, a little more prosperous, we are not so conscious of our danger. And that's when the devil can come in and really reap havoc in our lives. So it was at a time of prosperity when Abraham needed to be reminded of God and so on that Melchizedek condescended to meet them. Let's get into the habit of developing a sensitivity to our need of the Lord Jesus when things are going really well.
And then it says he blessed him. If you went back to the historical account, you would find that he did two things. He went to God for Abraham, and he went to Abraham for God. This man did his job, his priestly job, well. He was the mediator. He was the go-between. He went to each for the other. First of all, to God for Abraham, and then to Abraham for God, because his receiving of the tides, was for the Lord's sake. So here we have not now condescension, here we have intercession. To God for Abraham, to Abraham for God.
Intercession. And then he received, and that word is used in verse six, he whose descent is not counted from them received tithe of Abraham. Now here we have not condescension. And not now intercession. But here we have an acknowledgement of homage. He received from Abraham. This also was an act of condescension because he didn't need anything that Abraham had. But he received it. Isn't that a beautiful picture again of the Lord Jesus and of God? They don't need anything that we can bring. And yet because it brings joy to our heart to give, it's still true.
that it's more blessed to give than to receive. They who need nothing that we have come to us and seek the homage of our hearts. So Father speak of such to worship him. You know, that's always staggering to me. That God should be so conscious of our need as to lay himself open who needs nothing that we have to receive from us. That we might have the satisfaction of giving. Beautiful. But it's just like God. Here then we have the significance of his acts. One was the act of condescension.
The other was the act of intercession. And the third the act of the reception of an acknowledgement of homage, receiving tithes. Now just in passing, notice that this man received tithes of Abraham. I've heard people say that we as Christians shouldn't tithe, because in so doing we are putting ourselves under the law. Now you will please notice that Moses hadn't been born. You will please notice that the children of Israel were not yet in existence as a nation. The law had not yet been given. And yet here is Abraham giving tithe to Melchizedek.
There has nothing to do with the law. Nothing to do with the law at all. Now, I do agree that Christianity shouldn't tithe. I think a tithe is too small. The Jew under the law gave a tenth plus a free will offering. Now, if that was what the Jew did under the law, then we certainly ought to do more than that. Under grace. And we find the New Testament very positively teaches proportionate giving. Proportionate giving. When I reminded you the other night that I was seventeen when I came out into the work and all my What a lot I had to learn. I still got a lot to learn. I sometimes think I haven't learned my lessons very well. But, you know, I will remember, and I'm not going to take time to give you the story, but I will remember when I knew the call of God to my heart.
I was seventeen. And, you know, I got down on my knees and said, Lord, I must be mistaken. I must be mistaken. I haven't even started to live yet. I don't know the first thing. I'm not even wet behind the ears. There must be some mistake. And, you know, I did what proved my immaturity. Just to get an assurance from God, I opened my Bible, and I came across this word, Say not I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak, be not afraid of their faces. And you know, that became the seal of God upon my call. But you know, in those early days, I had, as I said, so much to learn. I traveled in those early days with a group of men called the Pilgrim Preacher.
Now, please don't go home and say, Mr. Woodhouse belonged to the Pilgrim Father. I don't go that far back. But, however, the Pilgrim Preacher is yes. And one day, I remember, we'd been on tour about three months, and the leader of our group was a man by the name of John Newton. Mr. Ernest Bluff founded the work, but Mr. John Newton took command of the troops on the road, as it were. And one day he said, would you like to take a walk? Being an Englishman, I like walking. And so he was an Englishman too, and he liked walking, so we went for a walk. But you know, he had something at the back of his mind. And as we walked along, he put an arm around my shoulder, and he said to me, now, I know that you don't get very much, because I know how much you get.
But he said, I wonder what you do with it. He said, I know you give to the Lord, because we have our own party offerings, But he said, I wonder whether you give proportionately. Now, do you know that was a new thing to me at seventeen years of age. Now, I found out the greatest blessing of my greatest single blessing of my life at that time, and I probably haven't had a greater one since, I learned that proportionate giving is a tremendous thing. I had little responsibility. Then I found out then that I could put aside so much for God and all the rest was mine. No, it wasn't that way at all.
I found out that when money came into my hands, there was a certain part of it I dare not touch. It was God's. And of the rest, I would have the privilege of paying my expenses and then being able to give to God again. Now, if every believer exercised before God about proportionate giving gave as he ought to give, the work of God would not languish as it languishes. You know, I sometimes think that some of us could get a tremendous blessing out of taking our bank book and saying, now, how much am I worth? I'm worth so much. Well, I'm going to give myself a special treat. I'm going to go to my bank, and I'm going to withdraw a certain proportion of that money, and I'm going to give it to God.
You know, it's still true that it's more blessed to give than to receive. Now, my wife and I have done this, and we find in our married lives it's a tremendous thing to be able to look at a certain sum of money and say, we'd love to do this with that. It would be just wonderful to do this with that. But if we do this with that, we won't be able to do that with this. And so what we must do is get our progress straight. And, you know, it's a wonderful thing. Now, I'm digressing here, and I don't know why, but if this was a young people's meeting, if you know what I'd do, I'd say, now, look, I'm going to get off on a hobby horse. I'm going to talk about credit. Because there are lots of young people who hang a millstone around their neck.
and their paychecks are condemned the moment they come into their hands. And I believe a lot of our young folk are making desperate mistakes about this business of credit. But you're old enough, you've all learned this lesson, so I don't have to ride that hobby horse today. But, you know, we have found in our own experience, you will forgive me if I give you a little of our own experience, won't you? You know, because we felt we couldn't buy anything on credit, when we needed something, we would save us. put a little money aside, a little money aside, and we say, now the old refrigerator is creaking and it's noisy and so on. Now we need a new refrigerator. Okay, now then, how much is the one we want? Well, at this time, it's three hundred and fifty dollars. Well, we'll start saving. You know, we found out a wonderful thing.
By the time you save three hundred and fifty dollars, it's possible that God suddenly brings a need to your mind, and you say, the old refrigerator is still hanging on. We can take this three hundred and fifty dollars, and instead, we can do this with it. And instead of investing it in a few years, with a quiet refrigerator, we can invest it in eternity. You know, things happen like that to Christians. They really do. And it's a wonderful thing, this business, of being able to give to God and give sacrificially. Now, none of us are so well blessed here that giving isn't in a measure sacrificial. And, you know, that's the thing that rejoices the heart of God. Being willing to give sacrificially.
Now, this man gave a proportion of what had come to him through his victory to God. And this is the least that we as believers can do. And I rather think perhaps I'm telling you things that have long been a blessing in your own life. You know it's true that a proportion of your income belongs to God. For I mention this because the people who tell you this is coming under law are wrong because high giving was practiced before ever the law came into being. So let's disassociate the two in our thinking, shall we? Now what about the significance of this man's person? Look at what he says, verse three. Without father, without mother. Now, was this man a miraculous being who came into existence without earthly parentage?
I don't think so. I really don't think so. But God has done a very wonderful thing. He has clothed this man's history in obscurity for a very real reason. And the first part of our study here with regard to the significance of his person is... His obscurity. Now because this man is a type of the Lord Jesus, obscurity is a necessary thing, because it becomes a type of Christ's continuity. It says here, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God.
In other words, As far as his record goes, he has no mother, no father, there's no record of his being born, there's no record of his dying, and it's deliberately so in order that his very obscurity might become a type of Christ's continuity. I'm going to let the train go by. You're well trained at Father the Palm. Not well trained, actually. We get very little nuisance from those days. How many trains go through a day? How many? Two, three, four, five. So don't give up the idea of living a part of the farm because the trains come through.
They don't come through very often. She's a steward. A type of Christ's continuity. Now then, verses four, five, six, and seven, look at it. Now consider how great this man was. Here is the second thing, his greatness. And it is a type of Christ's authority. Consider how great this man was. Even the patriarch Abraham gave a tent of the spoils to him. And in doing this, says the writer, Levi, who hadn't yet been born, hadn't come into being, and the tribe of Levi, which still lay in the future, to whom was to be given the priestly privilege, even they, in the person of the father of the tribe, paid tithes to Melchizedek.
This makes the Aaronic priesthood. A priesthood that is... less significant, great and wonderful as it was, than the Melchizedek priesthood. And that's pointed out by the author here of the letter, whoever he may have been, the greatness in the greatness of this man, Melchizedek. A type of Christ or Sorette. Verse five says, They that are of the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people. But then notice verse nine, They... In Levi also who received us tithes, paid tithes in Abraham while he was yet in the loins of his father.
His greatness. The greatness of Melchizedek. A type of Christ's authority. Then comes his priesthood which was a type of Christ's office. Verse three, it says he abides us, a priest continually. I'm not going to take time to talk in detail about this. But if you'll read these verses and the references to this particular priesthood, the priesthood of Melchizedek, you'll find, first of all, it is a priesthood that was true in its essence. Because this man is called the priest of the Most High God. His priesthood was true in its essence. At verse one, you'll find it was eternal in its character.
You can look at verse three. And verse seventeen. And verse twenty one, where you get the word forever. Eternal in its character. It actually represents the only abiding priesthood. What do you know of the priesthood? There have been two kinds in the past. The head of the family was the priest in the early days. The tribe of Levi became the priest in the later days, the days of the economy of Israel. But here is a third priesthood, and this one the only type of the abiding priesthood. The only type of Christ priesthood.
All right? So it was true in its essence. It was eternal in its character, and it was endorsed by an oath. Look at verse twenty and twenty-one, will you? Verse twenty says, Inasmuch as not without an oath he does make priests, for those priests were made without an oath. But this was an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord swear, and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So you see how this priesthood is singled out, and God endorses it by an oath. So much then we haven't had time to say any more about the type.
I only want to take five minutes more. I may take six or even seven. to talk about the anti-type or the fulfillment of the type, because in the verses that remain from verse twenty-two through verse twenty-eight, we have the gist of the fulfillment of the type. And I want you just to notice a word or two here. Look at verse twenty-two. And notice the word surety. Will you? It might be an idea to underline it. By so much more was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Now we're looking at the fulfillment of the type. We've been looking at the type, Melchizedek, and now the first thing that he said of the Lord Jesus as he fulfills the type is that he is a surety.
Now look at verse twenty-five. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost. Underline those words to save them. The one who is a surety in verse twenty-two is a savior in verse twenty-five. Now look at verses, uh, twenty-six and twenty-seven and so on. Look at verse twenty-seven particularly, the end of the verse. He offered up himself, the one who is a surety in verse twenty-two, and a savior in verse twenty-five is the sacrifice in verse twenty-seven. Now can I just very quickly make reference to thee?
The fulfillment of the type is our surety. Now here's a very interesting great word. Down in New York City where we have the mission, two very, very, very short blocks away from us is the tomb at New York Jail. They recently had riots there. Now if you walk down to the jail from the mission, you will find storefront after storefront advertising bondsmen. Bail's men. Here's what happens. A fellow who has no money gets caught for a crime, and he's let off on two hundred dollars bail, but he doesn't have two hundred dollars bail.
So he goes to the bail's men, and the bail's men says, well, all right, you pay me twenty dollars, and I'll put up your bail. And so that's what he does. The man pays twenty dollars, and the bail's men becomes his guarantor. He becomes the guarantee that this man will appear in court on a given day. And so the man comes, or the The bondsman pays the two hundred dollars. He usually makes sure that the fellow is going to turn up because he wants to make doubly sure that he himself is secure. But there's a very interesting thought here. You know, when I was newly converted at thirty years of age, I read the story of Satan in heaven in the presence of God, getting pride into his heart and having to be cast out of heaven.
And I used to say to myself, well, now if sin entered heaven once, couldn't sin enter heaven a second time? If God had to tickle Satan out of heaven because sin had entered his heart, how do we know it's not going to happen again? Now here's the reason. The Lord Jesus has become our balesman, and that's what this Greek expression means. He has become the guarantor of our eternal security and blessing in heaven. Sin which entered heaven once can never enter heaven again because Jesus has become the guarantor. He is our surety. That's a very wonderful thing.
I just had time to talk more about it. There is not only our surety, He is our Savior. Read the verses, at verse twenty-five particularly. He is our Savior from destruction. He is able to save them to the uttermost. The torment and the fire fed thee, the hymn writer, The torment and the fire, mine eyes shall never see. My sins deserve eternal death, but Jesus died for me. We've been snuffed as bread from the burnings, saved to the uttermost. And as we tell our men from the Bowery, saved from the guttermost, this is the one who saves from destruction. But notice what it says again. It says he is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him.
We're not only saved from destruction, we're saved from distance. We're brought into God's immediate presence because of him. And not only are we saved from destruction and from distance, we are saved from God's displeasure. because it says he continues, never liveth, to make intercession for us. He said to people, I prayed for thee. He said in his prayer in John the Seventeen, which was a high-christian prayer, he said, I pray not only for thee, but for those who shall believe through their word. Jesus in the days of his flesh prayed for you and me. And he still prays for us today.
He is... that kind of Savior. But not only was the fulfillment of the type a surety and a Savior, but also a sacrifice. Oh, it's so beautiful. Look at verse twenty-six. For such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who 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 the sacrifice. You'll notice that first of all the sacrifice was, that he had to be, without blemish, holy, guileless, undefiled.
Holy. That means to say that as far as goddess was concerned, he was without blemish. Gildas, as far as men was concerned, he was without blemish. Undefiled, as far as he himself was concerned, he was without blemish. The perfect sacrifice, not only without blemish, but without equal, separate from sinners made higher than the heavens, without equal. and also without substitute. When he offered up himself, he did it only once. Sacrifices by the thousands had been offered down through the years.
There was no substitute for this one. When he offered up himself, that was it. In other words, it was this, the fulfillment of the type, the sacrifice as well as the purity and the saviour, without blemish, without equal, and without substitute, but also without sin. He offered up himself. He couldn't have done more anymore. No man take of my life from me, he said. I lay it down of my faith. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. No wonder we read in verse twenty eight, and indeed we do, that this is the priesthood that is perfected forevermore.
Can't you improve it? And it's going to last forever. True, bowing prayer. And I think again, following our session and our prayer, we'll sit quietly for a moment and ponder again our wonderful high priest as a generous praise before we separate. Our Father, how earnestly we thank you for any comprehension that we have of these wonderful things. We think of the man-knockers again, and we think of all that he pictured so beautifully. And we think of the more than adequate fulfillment that we've found in the person of the Lord Jesus.
Accept our thanks for him and for our season together around thy word. In his name. Amen.