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AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK. Hebrews 5:5-11. 8/27/2023. #16.
5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:
“You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” 6 As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”; 7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” 11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
1. Appointed High Priest
a. The author of Hebrews makes clear that Jesus was not seeking to honor Himself
a1. He did not appoint Himself High Priest
a2. He sought no glory for Himself
b. God the Father appointed Jesus to fulfill His role
a1. God had begotten His Son
a2. God had appointed Him to sacrifice for sin
a3. Through the cross, Christ emerged as the High Priest
b1. Not after Aaron, the Levite
b2. Jesus was a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, who was both priest and king
a4. Jesus’s priesthood is effective, eternal, and elevated (next to the throne of God)
c. Gen. 14 Melchizedek was both the king of Salem (later, Jerusalem) and the priest of the Lord
2. The agony of the cross
a. Luke 22:39-46 Jesus was in great agony before going to the cross
a1. The Father could save Him from the agony of the cross (spare His life)
a2. Christ had to submit if sins were to be paid for
b. Christ had a legitimate choice to make
a1. In His flesh, He was in great agony
a2. God did not force Him to submit
a3. Christ could have chosen not to go through the agony of trial and crucifixion
c. The idea that Christ as God had to die is not correct
a1. God left the choice of action up to His son
a2. Through suffering Christ learned to obey and trust His Father
b1. His emptying (kenosis) of the powers and privileges of His Godhood were so complete that He faced death as a man with all its terrors
b2. Christ felt the gut-wrenching terror of facing pain, humiliation, suffering, bearing the sins of the world, and the agony of the soul with all the weakness of His humanity
d. Christ had to learn obedience just like any man
a1. He triumphed over His fears as a man, for it was His humanity that was subject to death and His divinity that gave His sacrifice the worth to defeat Satan and sin
a2. His godly reverence in His humanity made Him choose suffering over sparing Himself
e. Christ became perfected (complete) in His suffering
a1. By choosing to endure the cross, the ministry of Christ finished the work of atonement
a2. Eternal salvation (used only here in NT) was accomplished by His obedience (ever saved)
3. The order of Melchizedek
a. Psalm 110:4 only after Christ obeyed His Father did He become priest and king after the pattern of Melchizedek
b. Genesis 14 much can be said of Melchizedek, but the readers were dull of hearing (not well studied in doctrine)
a1. Symbolism of Abraham giving tithes to Melchizedek and Melchizedek offering bread and wine to Abraham
a2. Understanding the symbols strengthens faith
c. Christ fulfilled all that was prophesied about Him
Key Verse: Luke 22:39-46
39 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”