Hebrews 7 (5)

Introduction
Those priests who served under the Old Covenant were not able to save anyone, including themselves. This is why a new Priest was required, One possessing an indestructible life, so that He might save forever all who come to God through Him. Jesus is that Priest, and in Him God has inaugurated a better and an enduring covenant with those who trust in Him, just as He promised He would.

Read Jeremiah 33.14-26.

Read Hebrews 7.20-25.

Think it through.
1.  The writer makes the point that Jesus was established as a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek by an oath of the Lord. Why is this important? Is this the way priests were typically ordained to office (v. 21)? How did this oath make Jesus’ ordination as High Priest especially significant? As High Priest, “Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.” What is a surety? How does Jesus fulfill that role? What are the implications of His being surety for this new covenant?

2.  Jesus is not only High Priest; He is the final High Priest. There will be no more High Priests or priests at all after Him. Why not? The phrase “save to the uttermost” might just as well be translated “save completely” or even “save in every way.” How many different ways do lost sinners need to be saved? How does this help us in thinking about our “great salvation” (Heb. 2.3)? According to verse 25, to what are we saved through Jesus? What does this suggest about the end and substance of our great salvation? How should we expect to experience this? Does it matter to you that Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for you? For what is He interceding on your behalf?

Meditate.
“Since the New Covenant promised us the kingdom of heaven, resurrection from the dead and life everlasting, though none of these is in sight, he had to call the Lord Jesus its ‘surety,’ who through his own resurrection confirmed the hope of our resurrection, on the one hand, and on the other continued to give his own resurrection through the miracles worked by the apostles.” Theodoret of Cyr (393-499 AD)

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2.13

Lord Jesus, bring me to the Father today, and keep me there by Your constant intercessions, so that I…

Pray Psalm 110.1-7.
In this psalm, what are the Lord’s people doing? Is this what you should be doing? Pray that Jesus will intercede for you to have the strength and faith to be a source of refreshment and renewal to the people you encounter today.

Psalm 110.1-7 (Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
“Sit by Me at My right hand,” 
The Lord says to my Lord, 
“Until I make Your foot stand 
On all who hate Your Word.” 
From in His Church the Savior 
Rules all His enemies; 
While those who know His favor 
Go forth the Lord to please. 

Filled with the Spirit’s power, 
In holy robes of love,
From early morning’s hour 
They serve their Lord above. 
Christ reigns a priest forever, 
The King of Righteousness 
And King of Peace who ever 
His chosen ones will bless. 

The Lord at Your right hand, Lord, 
In wrath shall shatter kings, 
When judgment by His strong Word 
He to the nations brings. 
Then, all His foes defeated, 
He takes His hard-won rest, 
In glorious triumph seated 
With us, redeemed and blest!

T. M Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.