OUR FATHER WHO SWORE TO THE ETERNAL PRIESTHOOD OF JESUS

The the writer of the book of Hebrews chapter 7 verses 13 - 22 continues his examination of what the king and priest named Melchizedek represented.

Because the tribe of Judah did not exist at the time Abraham encountered Melchizedek, it is clear that Melchizedek come from a priestly line that had nothing to do with the Levitic priestly tribe that was later established in the law. Further to that, the Lord Jesus came from the tribe of Judah which had no prescription of priesthood.

What is revealed is that there is a priesthood that exists that is not secured through ancestral lineages but rather through the indestructibility of that priest's life which the Lord Jesus fulfilled by rising from the dead.

13 He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 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. 17 For it is declared:

                       “You are a priest forever,

                        in the order of Melchizedek.”

18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

20 And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, 21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

                “The Lord has sworn

                and will not change his mind:

                ‘You are a priest forever.’”

22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

The priesthood occupied by the Lord Jesus is also one secured by an eternal oath of God which makes Jesus an eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Whereas Levitical priest were not innaugurated by oaths, the priestly line to Which Jesus belonged was one that was sworn to by God himself and as such was a better covenant because it was a priesthood that was under-written by the life of God forever.

Amen.

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