Hebrews 7 ~ we draw near to God.

Hebrews 7

7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.


11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,

“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”

18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”

22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.






And this is wildly exciting. Like Deuteronomy.

Actually. Yes.

If we condense this. This is very like John Paul II announcing to the bureaucracy; "Yes this is the way things have always been done. And, now... I am Pope!"

Just like Jesus. Now, we will worship in Spirit and in Truth!

Matthew 7:12
In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the prophets.

Is this regular and ordinary? Not exactly. This is how miracles are. This is the story of Jesus interceding for us.

One day the Samaritan woman was doing her regular life. Frankly, that did not sound as if racing around was fun to her, in her regular life. And Jesus sat with her, and her life was never the same again. Jesus picked the Samaritan woman to be the first person - on the earth - to disclose Jesus as Messiah. Forever.

Is Jesus loud? No. The Officials were not great fans of Jesus. However, an Official - part of the Herod affiliation - came to Him from Capernaum and said his child was dying. Jesus replied, "Go and find your child healed." The Official believed him and departed. Why wasn't the Official recognized like the Roman Centurion was??? We will have to guess. I'd guess the Official asked Jesus to be very low key and private about this miracle.


Hebrews 6
13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 

18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which
 it is impossible for God to lie, 
we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 

19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. 

It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.
He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.


When you combine Hebrews 6 telling us all of the Promises of God are backed by God Himself. This is God saying, God does things the way God wants to do them. Do not count entirely on past performance indicating all His Wonders. Jesus could have said something splashy like, "You haven't seen anything yet." Instead Jesus decided to show us for 2,000 years - the world was never, ever the same.


This could be you saying, "Jesus might have something planned for Jesus and me." This is a journey. Life.

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. The University of Michigan owns Papyrus 46 of Hebrews 7. And this is marked  "Hebrews 7, written by St. Paul." This particular papyrus was written in the end of the 1st Century or the beginning of the 2nd Century. John the Disciple was still alive. (And you see how intact this is!!!)

If your minister, pastor, youth worker, priest or Dr. told you that you needed purple shag carpet in your living room with bright red and dark green streaks and gold twinkles - I'd hope you'd say, "No, thanks."

Current silliness knowledge says Hebrews was not written by St. Paul. Ok. Suuuuuuure. And who traveled the most with Timothy... If you know the answer is Paul. See Hebrews 12. Then, I don't care if Paul used different word patterns than usual, Timothy and Paul were Ministers sent Two by Two. And for Two Thou Thooooooooousand years - no one had any difficulty saying this was written by Paul.

So who killed JFK? Don't we all know that this was "Jet Black Heart" having an unfortunate hair day? Why do we think we are capable to change theological determination for 2,000 years - now?
This is just - unbelievable.

Give cheerfully - 2,000 years of Jesus believing and completely committed Christians knew this was Paul and the Holy Spirit. This is a belief held strongly and with durability by names like St. Augustine. St. John. St. Eusebius. And by your believing grandparents.

God says He will fulfill His Promises and Go Any Direction that Suits The Lord God.

This is pretty exciting. Miracles are a sudden Change.

Why are all these people in the Bible mostly born in marriage and yet the Son of God had this difficulty? Hebrews 7 is - the perfect time to ask the question.

God is saying, frankly, to this Generation today - we can make life so planned and sterile - our lives are devoid of the invention of Jesus Christ.

How easy - the Morning After Pill. You might be - minus a sibling. A child. No cousin you know today. No niece, no nephew. No :

Confucious
Leonardo da Vinci painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. Father of paleontology, ichnology, and architecture.

William the Conqueror
Thomas Paine
T. E. Lawrence
Oprah Winfrey
Fidel Castro
Sophia Loren
Eric Clapton
John James Audabon
Giovanni Boccacio
Giovanni Casanova
Paul Cezanne
Pope Clement VII
Macauley Culkin
Bobby Darin
Frederick Douglass
Alexander Dumas
George Foreman
Jean Genet
James Kier Hardie
Billie Holliday
Bo Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jack London
Anna Magnani
Tobey Maguirre
Rod McKuen
Maria Montessori
Shaquille O'Neal
Evita Peron
Fransisco Pizzaro
August Strindberg
Richard Wagner
Booker T Washington
Reggie White

This list does not touch how vastly different our lives would be.

Or what the birth rate looks like for our future.


God fought against the people of the Old Testament who sacrificed infants. God fought for the Children of Israel to have good lives. He cares for our concerns for the quality of life.

RU486
ends a life of a human being. The Morning After Pill will leave a question mark - perhaps forever.

Father God is for life. Celebrate Life with God. Celebrate Jesus Abundantly.




Father God,

Jesus was not meek and flat on the page. Jesus is vibrant and filled with humor, compassion and Joy.

We celebrate Jesus the Lord and remember.

28 Then Jesus spoke with a loud voice as He taught in the house of God. He said, “You know Me. You know where I came from. I have not come on My own. The One Who sent Me is true but you do not know Him. 29 I know Him because I am from Him and He sent Me.”

We Thank You. Abba, You have sent Jesus and hear our prayers.

Thanks Be to Abba for Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †