Hebrews: The New Covenant Administration of Christ Max A Forsythe (c) Anno Domini 2002

From the Pulpit at Pilgrim's Rest Presbyterian Church in America

“So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’  In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.  And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”

Introduction: In the last few weeks, we have begun a lengthy study of the high priestly calling of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Our doctrinal standards do rightly affirm that Jesus Christ is to be called our prophet  priest and king.  And the verses before us today do indeed document His calling to the vocation of Great High Priest.

Last week we looked at the calling of the high priests of Israel and we considered their job description.  And in that context we considered the American standards for just who may qualify for a specific job and unfortunately those who apply  humanistic standards are appalled at what we would call nepotism in our own government.  Heaven forbid, we might intone  that any father might seek the promotion of his own son?  And yet, in the last decade it is precisely a “fatherless” son who so sadly butchered the reputation of our presidential office, that it is taking everything that a legitimate son, of another former president, can do to restore the public confidence in the once tarnished office!

We are so far away from the historical divine rights of kings that the passage before us smacks of favoritism rather than the means to a better administration of the means and methods of salvation by grace.  The Episcopal Church amongst others is having an impossible and improbable task in distinguishing between bishops and queens!  Let alone, the even more widespread of using secular humanistic psychology tests to determine who shall lead the Lord’s flock!  A calling and specific criteria for spiritual jobs, hardly?  The vast majority of the church would prefer the worldly means testing rather than the personal choices of a Father God who will reign through His own appointed prophet  priest and king: our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is indeed sovereign even as the scriptures decree and as our own confessions declare.  His Son must uniquely fill the calling and vocation of priest no matter what any contemporary or ancient church board may decide.
 
Development:  F.F. Bruce declares that “the same two qualifications as are requisite in any high priest are present in Christ; in His case, however, our author presents them in the reverse order:

(a)     His divine appointment

(b)     His ability to sympathize with His people.”

Years ago, when I was put out of consideration for the Gospel Ministry by the liberal church, several friends suggested that I just announce that I was a minister and begin to collect God’s people.  After all, any number of charlatans had done quite well in this country over the years  why not use the God given office to a better advantage, they encouraged.  Yet, I explained  that is not the proper way to gain leadership in Christ’s Church.  You have to be recognized by some legitimate authority to administer the sacraments and preach the word of God!  Even though it took me fifteen years to be ordained  I am convinced that is the only way to assume the mantle of leadership within the Church of the Living God!

And here in verse five F.F. Bruce tells us, the very Son of God, “did not assume the high-priestly dignity by His own initiative; He was called to it by God.”  And not only was His calling official but so was His lineage and heritage for the supreme position that only He, being God with Us  could truly and finally fill and fulfill, precisely because the job description was so tightly restricted from the beginning  so that only the One might thereby qualify.

We should understand from the words quoted from Psalm 2: 7:  “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” is in our author’s mind: “the day of Christ’s enthronement  the day when the Most High gave public notice that He had exalted the crucified Jesus as ‘both Lord and Christ’.  And, says our author, the same God acclaimed Jesus as His Son has also acclaimed Him as perpetual high priest.”

But also, and this is a very significant but: the long expected Jewish Messiah who is destined to be both priest and king; He must have a proper, legitimate and distinguished pedigree that allows Him to claim not only His office but also His vocation to fulfill that office.  F.F. Bruce reminds us that “in some strands of Jewish expectation, a distinction was made between the lay Messiah (the ‘Messiah of Israel’ or prince of the house of David) and the priestly Messiah (the ‘Messiah of Aaron’).”

That is the reason for the dual certification of both:  Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 110: 4 which are quoted here in verses five and six.  You see, the problem behind this declaration is the presumption that a descendant of David could not qualify for the high priestly office, because that office had been given not to the tribe of Judah, but to the family of Aaron.  But, here is the key to the argument espoused by the Apostle.  Bruce fills in the appropriate details:  “Melchizedek makes his appearance in Genesis 14: 18 as king of Salem (traditionally, and in all probability rightly, identified with Jerusalem) and priest of God Most High.  When, centuries later, Jerusalem fell into David’s hands … he and his heirs became successors to Melchizedek’s kingship, and probably also (in a titular capacity at least) to the priesthood of God Most High.”

At one allied conference, Winston Churchill argued  that had his father moved to America with his mother, he could very well have been sitting in Roosevelt’s chair instead of his own, since his mother had originally been American.  In another more strictly appropriate example, the current royal family in Windsor had originated as sovereigns of Hanover, a minor German Kingdom.  However, by the one time laws of inheritance  the sovereign of Hanover became George I of the United Kingdom, thus uniting two very different and disparate lands and traditions.  George, his son and grandson created a lot of history and our new nation by presuming to rule Britannia the same as they were used to ruling one of the many minor states in Germany.

But, these examples fall far short of the inheritance rights implicit in the passage before us.  The first point and lesson for us today is this, as Bruce describes it:  “The promised prince of the house of David is, by the same divine right, perpetual priest of Melchizedek’s order.”  And thereby He is not only entitled by divine right and order, but also by God’s direct appointment: able to take up the vocational calling assigned to Him before the creation of the world.

Application:  Our second necessary qualification is the subject of the remaining verses before us today.  And this vocational calling is His ability to sympathize with those whose cause He maintains.  Commentator Raymond Brown identifies four criteria to measure and admire the sympathy of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In verse seven we see not only His dependence on God, but also His reverence for God.  Then in verse eight we read of His obedience to God and finally in the last two verses (nine and ten) we see demonstrated the effectiveness of His calling to the vocation as our personal Great High Priest.

In other words never, in the history of the world was there a more perfect match between the office and the candidate chosen to accomplish what no other person in the world could do.   Let us consider these points one by one.

In verse seven, we are reminded of the high-priestly prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before Jesus was crucified.  Here we see the real humanity of our precious Lord.  The day of all days was upon Him, and from the Gospel accounts  we know that Jesus not only prayed, but cried  not in despair, but for strength and grace to proceed.  How many times have you laid awake dreading the trials of the next morning: exams, a court appearance, a politically correct seminar  even real gut-wrench combat with mortal enemies  to name a few?  Even Martin Luther dreaded the confrontations with His papal enemies.  While he knew they held not the power over salvation  still there was the fiery means of transition to the heavenly life that worried him.  But, we know well from the gospels that our Lord did set His face like flint and marched into the spiritual battle without flinching.

In John 12: 27 we read the thoughts of Jesus on the long road to Jerusalem:  “Now is my soul troubled.  And what shall I say?  Father, ‘save me from this hour’?  But for this purpose I have come to this hour.  Father, glorify your name.”  This was no first Adam here, but the second and greater One to come in the fullness of time.  Jesus knows full well that in order to succeed He must depend on the loving providence of God laid out before the dawn of creation.  And that He does as no other man was able or even willing.  Certainly  several of the disciples drank from the same cup as He, but it is His drinking and suffering that makes it possible for others to live by dying in His greater Name above all names.

At the end of verse seven we sense the “godly fear” which in our translation is rendered merely as “reverence.”  Bruce tells us that what we read about here is “our Lord’s devotion and submission to the will of God.”  Raymond Brown observes: “it was because of his own deep awe and reverence for his Father that his prayer was heard, even though it did not issue in his immediate physical deliverance.”

It is sort of like this, and remember all of our human examples must fall far short of the divine perfections in this matter.  During World War II, there were any number of combat movies that drilled into the audience over and over that the battle savvy non-coms, who had already seen “the elephant” and survived: had something important to convey to the new recruits.  When I was in basic training in the sixties, and before I knew I was going to hang over a typewriter for the next three years, I took to heart every possible lesson that our drill sergeants passed along to us.  These heroes became almost little gods to us, and some abused their calling by pretending to be more than they really were.  More than once we went forward into situations that ordinarily we would have avoided.  The live fire exercise was the most challenging  and yet with the ever faithful sergeant nipping at our heels  we crawled through the obstacles for everything we were worth.  At one point, I started to crawl over a sand bag, only to be yanked back by dear old Sgt Roy.  “Not that one dummy, the explosives are in there,” he yelled in my ear from six inches away!  The only thing similar to these common military experiences is that you have to learn to trust someone completely and absolutely, even as Jesus trusted His Father and as we are invited to trust thereby in Him.

In verse eight we see the perfection of Christ’s obedience even unto death.  Drill Sergeants are some times wrong, but even when they are right  there are often casualties and death simply because those under orders went into harm’s way.  There is a classic test for officers and their military calling.  And that is that after having trained a ship, air craft or company of infantry, tanks or artillery: are they willing to sacrifice the whole unit in order to achieve the assigned goal.  Those who are unwilling will never be trusted with the fate of nations on the field of battle.  Some times you must loose a fight, but you have to remember thereby the whole war may finally be won.

And that we see in the effectiveness of our Lord’s calling and vocation in verses nine and ten.  “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”  The grand design providently ordered and agreed upon within the Godhead even before creation is hereby worked out to satisfy the failure of the first Adam and all his kindred spirits who knew, loved and trusted the Creator God and His promised redemption.  As we come to a close upon these meditations today, let us take with us an admonition from Raymond Brown and John Calvin.

Brown:  “Before we leave this passage with its moving description of Christ’s total submission, we need a further reminder that obedience was not only necessary for him; it is expected also of us. … It is important for us to see that when Jesus surrendered himself entirely to God’s will, he obeyed not only in order to honour God but also to help us to see what obedience is all about.”

Calvin:  Jesus “did this for our benefit, to give us the instance and the pattern of His own submission … If we want the obedience of Christ to be of advantage to us, we must copy it.”

Look carefully at the last portion of verse nine to see what they are talking about:  “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”
But what frail creatures we are?  What can we do?  At the very least, and this is a substantive thing in and of itself.  I have read or heard recently that at a minimum, the awesome, holy God of heaven and earth commands all of created mankind to come to Christ.  We have been enabled to do so by the power of His Holy Spirit  so let us come to the savior of our souls in all gladness and seek in our obedience to please Him with the fruits, not of our selfish confidence, but in a humble reliance upon Him, not only for faith, grace and mercy  but also for day to day obedience, so that we may praise and honor Him thereby.  Amen.