Hebrews 7:15-19 - A priest forever

7:15-17

There had already been one non-Levitical priest, Melchizedek. Then there was another one. He is mentioned in Psalm 110:4, and Jesus referred to that Psalm claiming His Messiahship (Ps 110:4). The writer relates the claim of Jesus to be the “priest forever” on the “basis of an indestructible life”. This implies two things. On the one hand the horrific nature of Jesus’ death, and on the other the reality of His resurrection. Nothing could destroy Him! The basis for a Levite being a priest was the Law and the ancestry of the man, ie being part of the tribe of Levi. In Jesus’ case it is the resurrection that proves who He is.

Jesus was clearly the Messiah, and therefore Psalm 110 shows that He must be the “priest forever” in the line of Melchizedek, and so the Levitical priesthood has been superseded.

7:18,19

Now we certainly do need to look at the Bible as a whole, and verse 18 is a prime example of why. The Law was “weak and useless”. Now this does not mean Law is weak and useless! It means it is weak and useless at making people perfect in the sense of being acceptable to God. And it does not mean that the Law was a failed attempt on God’s part. The Law was given to point the way to Christ, and to keep Israel in check, as described in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The Jews were so set on seeing the Law as the means by which they could become righteous, but all it did was prove that on their own merits they most certainly were not righteous. The Law made no one perfect.

In Christ we have a “better hope”. We are perfectly justified by His death and resurrection, and we have a hope, a sure hope, that we will be transformed when we are raised from the dead. We draw near to God on the basis of the cross.