Heb. 5 :1-14 The High Priest Qualifications

The H.P. was the most important figure in the worship system of ISRAEL

A)Among the first things a Jew might have asked another person about his religion were, “Who is your high priest?

B) Who mediates between you and God? Who offers the sacrifices to atone for your sins?”

A Jew during the time of the early church may have asked a Christian,

“How are your sins going to be pardoned when you have no one offering sacrifices and no one interceding for you? How can you claim that this new covenant supersedes and is superior to the Old Covenant made through Moses when it leaves you without a high priest?”

The answer to those Questions is a Focal Pt. Of the Book of Hebrews

we do have a high priest, a perfect High Priest.

A)Who has offered sacrifice for our sins. He does not confine Himself to an earthly temple or Tab

B)Our High Priest is seated at the right hand of God and continually intercedes for those of us who belong to Him.

1) A H.P. who doesn’t need to offer up daily or even yearly sacrifices

C) He made one sacrifice that atones for all sins ever committed, from the beginning to the end of time.

1) That is how great a high priest He is and how great His sacrifice was.

The heart of the book of Heb (ch 5-9) focuses on Jesus’ high priesthood.

A)His superior priesthood, more than anything else, makes the New Covenant better than the Old.

B)The priests under the Old Covenant were bridge builders to God. JESUS IS THE BRIDGE focus of this section READ V.1-4

These 4 verses state the 3 basic qualifications for a Jewish high priest. A)He was appointed by God, was sympathetic with those to whom he ministered, and offered sacrifices on their behalf. Looked briefly on sun. am

B)Tonight I want to look at this a little more closely & gain some insights into our lives / walks / 1Peter 2 Royal Priesthood

C)The following 6 verses show how Jesus Christ fulfills those qualifications.

1) Focus of our study Sun. am – touch on Briefly tonight / end up the chapter v.11- 14 Insights into Maturity ( if time )

D) Start w/ the 3 Requirements or Qualifications of the Priest

1^st Appointed by God from Among Men he had to be a man

A)A priest has to partake of the nature of the persons for whom he officiates. A true high priest, therefore, had to be a man

B) God did not choose angels to be priests. Angels do not have the nature of men. They can’t truly understand men

1) Only a man could rightly minister on behalf of men

God established both the priesthood and the office of High Priest in the days of Moses (Exodus 28:1)

A)All the priests came from the tribe of Levi / Levi had 3 Sons Gershon / Kohath / Merari /

1)And The entire tribe of Levi was dedicated by God for religious service.

B)Now Although all priests were Levites, not all Levites were priests.

1) Those who were called to be the priest were from the family of Kohath

C)The non-priestly Levites served as helpers to the priests,

1) Those from the family of Gershon: cared for the tabernacle's (veil), fence, and curtains (Numbers 3:25-26)

E) Merari: this family took care of the boards and pillars of the tabernacle and the fence (Numbers 3:36-37)

Aaron was from the family of Kohath: The Priest would all be descendants of Aaron who was the first Priest ./ They served in the Tab

A)The family of Kohath took care of the tabernacle's furnishings, such as the lampstand, altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant (Numbers 3:31-32)

B) So the first qualification was that the H.P. had to be a man & he had to be GOD’S MAN v.4 No takes this honor to himself

1) Application for us - Ministry is the same way

C)It is not something that people just decide to do - I want to be a Pastor – want to be involved in this ministry or that

1) People are called into the Ministry. Be it full time or Lay person / Paul … called by God

All of us are called to be Witnesses / all of us called to share the gospel

A) But all of us have a specific calling & gifting in the body of Christ

B) You should be serving in some capacity –

1) Serving your Children / serving employees / serving family FINE but I believe also – role in the Church . / Eh. 4

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

C) Paul says when one person isn’t serving – using their gifts that part is robbing the body of blessing – like if your arm just shut down

1) Not being used – make yourself available to God & pray that he would show you the area of ministry you are called to.

Effective ministry: Right person / right place / right time

So first Qualification – had to be a man – called by God

2^nd –He had to be sympathetic v.2

²He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness

NIV He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.

A)A true high Priest was completely involved in the lives of the people

He lived amongst them

B) He needed to live among men to feel with them in their highs and in their lows, so He could deal gently with them

1) Machine gun – not understand / not want to deal gently / Hot fudge Sunday

C) To deal gently,” means to treat with mildness or moderation.

1) In the context of Hebrews 5:2, it can carry the idea of being in the middle of things-in two ways.

D) First is the meaning of being in the midst of, being fully involved.

1) The other is that of taking a middle ground-of knowing and understanding, but of avoiding extremes.

E) A person with this characteristic would, for example, show a certain balance between irritation and apathy in the face of wrongdoing.

1) He would be patient with the wrongdoer but not condone the wrong, he would be understanding but not indulgent

Now I have met people in ministry who want to live in an ivory tower where they spend all day studying & Contemplating the “deep things of God”

A)They are ISOLATED never interface w/ people – they have lost total touch w/ what it means to live in the real world

B) Because they have isolated themselves They have lost sight of how a normal person lives & the struggles that they go thru.-

C) Consequently The way they deal w/ people who are struggling is very idealistic / very extreme because they are so out of touch / very judgmental

C) I hate that type of mentality – it is so unlike our Lord / who hung w/ the people made himself available to the normal people

1) Studying is important – but a person in ministry also needs to be able to relate – only happens as he / she lives in the real world .

D) God wanted His Priest to be able to relate to the people they were ministering to – so he kept them amongst the people

1) So that they could deal gently w/ people

As believers we need to watch that we don’t RETREAT into our own little Christian bubble

A)We have our services / bible studies/ our prayer groups / activities that we do w/ our Christian friends

B) CONSEQUENTLY Our involvement w/ non believers is non existent or very nominal at best.

1) When here – invite a non-believer to …. Easter – think I am not close enough to any non believers to invite them – that is a problem

C) Called to be Salt & Light – Salt tasted /light seen

Again the mentality that says I just want to isolate myself & live in my Christian bubble is the opposite of Jesus

A)He sought out those who were lost/ went out of His way / so he could spend time w/ them & impart life to them

B) Jn. 4 Woman at the Well / Luke 19 Zach – Came to seek & to save those who were lost

1) Still is doing that TODAY seeking to save those who are lost / BUT now thru us !!!

C) Those biggest struggle for – those who have been walking w/ the Lord the longest – we get so caught up in serving in the Body – forget about the world

1) Person who was saved 2 months ago is still fairly connected to friends in the world –

D) Also need to watch – been around here a while easy to get comfortable /know a lot of people – forget what it is like to be a new person.

So the Priest were those who were called to be compassionate / so they could deal gently w/ those who were ignorant & going astray

A)That is those who were misguided, those who sinned in ignorance.

3^rd Qualification : offer sacrifices v.3

A)In his priestly service the high priest made two basic kinds of offerings: gifts and sacrifices

B) offering gifts- In the broadest sense, gifts included all the money, jewelry, or other such valuables people gave to the Lord through the priests.

1) But I believe that the references in Hebrews to gifts refer specifically to the grain, or meal, offering-the only bloodless offering prescribed

C) It was a thanksgiving and dedication offering (studied in Lev. 2).

1) The grain offering consisted of fine flour & oil, mixed with frankincense to give a pleasant aroma,& sometimes baked or fried into a cake.

D)Part of the offering was burned on the altar, and the remainder belonged to the priests to eat. The offering represented the dedication of a person and all his possessions to God in complete thanks for what God had done.

offering sacrifices

A)The offering of sacrifices was for the sins of the people / blood shed for the remission of sins / 5 studied in Lev. 4 were animal

B) Burnt / Peace/ Sin/ Trespass / So the Priest constantly offered Sacrifices for His sins as well as the sins of the people

So there we have the qualifications of the Priest – next the writer moves to consider How Jesus fulfilled the Qualifications of Jesus as H.P.

A) How His Priestly ministry is superior to that of Aaron & His descendants Read v.5-10

B)Focus of our study on Sunday – Superior ordination / Superior sympathy / offered a Superior sacrifice

1) Briefly review & make some comments

1^st we note His superior ordination : He also was chosen by God

A)By the time we get to the N.T the office of the H.P. had become very corrupt/

1) men lobbied for the office thru financial gifts bribes & political influence

B) Jesus day – Anaias & Caiphas two very crooked H.P. – Caiphas ran the temple swamp meet / scam involving the animal sacrifices

C) But When Jesus ministered here on earth / He ministered in stark Contrast to those in religious positions of that day

D)It was easy to see why the priesthood of Jesus would be difficult for early Jewish Christians to grasp. He was not from the lineage of Aaron./ Judah

1) He claimed nor practiced no special ministry in the temple; He confronted the religious structure instead of joining it

E) So Jesus didn’t look like the Priest / He didn’t act like the priest in that day / He was from the wrong tribe /

1) How could Jesus possibly be A HIGH PRIEST

What the writer points out here is that Jesus is High priest from a whole different order – order that was before Aaron / Melch

A)Melch is mentioned in Gen.14 & Heb. 7 turn

Heb. 7 ¹This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ²and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” ³Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.

B) Here is what happened – Sodom was captured by a group of kings – led away – Abe gathers his men together – goes to rescue – has Victory

1) When Abe returned he meets w/ this Mysterious King & Priest & proceeds to give him a 10^th of the spoils - / Melch blesses Abe

C) So there is this little snap shot of an encounter between these two men that is mentioned there in Gen. / Melch is never heard from again

1) Until 1,000 yrs later – David is writing in Psa. 110 – Psalm that deals w/ the Messiah – David says he will be a Priest forever …. Order of ..

D) Then He isn’t mentioned again until 1,000 yrs later in the book of Hebrews – side note – inspiration

The accounts of Melchizedek in sacred history are one of the most remarkable proofs of the divine inspiration and unity of Scripture. The whole concept of Melchizedek is an amazing insight into the fact that God wrote the Bible. In Genesis we have only three verses about Melchizedek. Some thousand years later David makes a briefer mention of him in Psalm 110:4, declaring for the first time that the Messiah’s priesthood would be like Melchizedek’s. After another thousand years, the writer of Hebrews tells us even more of Melchizedek’s significance. He reveals things about Melchizedek that even Melchizedek, or his contemporary, Abraham, did not know-and of which David had only a glimpse. So we reason that the God who wrote the book of Hebrews wrote the book of Genesis & Psalm 110-and all the rest of Scripture

Who was this Melch ?

A)Different opinions none can be dogmatic

B) Some think he was Shem/ godly line/ Check genealogies Shem outlived Abe so it is possible Abe could have met w/ him

1) Opinion offered by Halley’s Bible handbook

C) Problem w/ Shem is we know who His parents are . Noah & His wife we also know when he was born

Some think that Melch was a man who lived on the scene & was an actual king of Salem / very righteous man – King of Righteousness

A)But The reference here in Heb 7 to his genealogy – him having no father or mother – beginning of days or end of life / remains a priest …

B)They explain this way – We don’t have any Historical record of His birth or death or who his family was

1)He was just this Mysterious guy that Abe met w/ city of Salem /Philistines

Problems w/ that Priest of most High God from an extremely pagan place

A) Phrase made like the son of God & that Melch remains a priest continually

B) Made like the son of God – what mean ? talk more in a minute

Also remains a Priest –

1) If Melch was a man who didn’t die & He still is a Priest – doesn’t make sense because Jesus is now our High Priest

C) Others suggest that Melch was an Angel – yet such meetings of Angels who take human form in scripture & meet w/ men are usually identified that way in scripture

A 4^th opinion & the one that I hold to is that Melch was Preincarnate Christ – Jesus – O.T. appearance of a Body / Christophony

A) Joshua 5 Commander All over the O.T. as the ANGEL of the Lord /

B) 4 Reasons: #1 - no background, no record of parents, birth death- He mysteriously appears on the scene / quickly is gone

1) If he was such a significant Character – think more about him.

C) #2 - Made like Son of God - something special - Neb, Shad, Meshack, Abendigo - 4th - like Son of God = Jesus!

D)#3 - Remains Priest continually - Priest forever - if he was actual person who died - how could he remain a priest?

E) #4 - John 8:56 - Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad! When?

1) Most think – Gen. 18 visit before destruction of S&G / The Lord & two angels - I believe possible Gen 14 -

F) Saw His day – Saw Jesus in His Future Role : King & Priest

So those are the theories / what is the Significance of Melch.

A)Priest & King / Ministry is forever - Sun. am

As Priest / As King – supplies -

B) Superior Ordination / 2^nd Superior Sympathy v.7,8 we noted on Sunday ref. To the Garden of Geth.

1) Geth. = Olive Press – not a garden but an olive orchard – olive trees

C) Olive oil was made by pressing the olives on a large stone

1) In the Garden Jesus was pressed – crushed under the weight of what He was about to face / oil of the Spirit made available to us

D) Jn.14 it is important that I leave – so the Helper can come

1) There in the garden – His Olive Press / Sympathetic H.P.

Now some say How can Jesus know about my suffering / trial / Tempt.

A)He encountered suffering – rejected / ridiculed etc

B) Physical Fatigue / hunger / thirst

1) TEMPTATION - to the highest degree scale of 1-10 / 5 is the highest we can handle – he went to 10 and then some / full heat of furnace

C) Ok but He still doesn’t know what it is like to fail – because of my flesh I fail / falter / my temper gets the best of me / give into fleshly desires

1) After wards I am discouraged & condemned he doesn’t know what that is like – he can’t sympathize w/ me in that

D) In actuality He can / Although He never personally sinned on the cross He took the full brunt / suffered all of the ramifications of Your failure & men

1) He experienced what it was like to be despised by God / He experienced what it was like to feel the full wrath of God

E) That is what led Him to the garden to offer up Prayers & Supplications

There in that Garden v.8 Jesus learned obedience?/ As God … anything

But He learned what was involved in obeying -

A)Motivation – Be glorified / The way – Not my will / the reward

B) He learned obedience thru the things that He suffered

1) Application to us: If suffering was fit to teach the very Son of God, we must never despise it as a tool of instruction in our lives

C) Some say that we may learn through suffering; but such lessons are only God's second best. God really intends for us just to learn by His Word

1) And it is never His real plan for us to learn through trials and suffering.

But was Jesus ever in the Father's second best?

D)The Bible teaches 1 Thess. 3:3); that Christians are appointed to affliction

1) (Acts 14:22); it is through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of God and(Romans 8:17) our current suffering is the prelude to glorification

E) Many other places where the Lord makes it clear there is a purpose in our suffering .

1) We need to learn from it like Jesus / Motivation / The way / the reward

So because Jesus experienced suffering – compassionate & relatable

Superior sympathy – He really knows what going thru

3^rd Superior Sacrifice FINAL Ch.7:25-27 / v.9 Author of eternal salvation / the Perfect minister – Relatable & Put an end to Sacrifice

A)He Perfectly saved us & now can perfectly minister to us –

B) King – Supplying / Priest interceding & Understanding

C) Read v.11-14 Few Comments

The writer wants to go into more detail on Melch but can’t right now because they had become dull of hearing

A)I am looking forward to digging in more on him – because you are not dull of hearing – ( Commend you for being here ) Mid week

B) Note- They had become dull of hearing – they didn’t start out that way

1) How did it happen ?

C) They didn’t move beyond the basics / still only on Milk not solid food

1) Milk corresponds to the first principles of verse 12; solid food is the "meatier" material such as understanding Jesus and Melchizedek

2^nd They didn’t use what they were given - By this time teachers –still need to be taught

A)Reminds us that in some regard, every Christian is to be a teacher

B) We really only master something after we have effectively taught it to someone else; teaching is the final step of learning

1) Maturity happens from use – we have our senses exercised ……evil

C) Commend you also warn you – Easy to become dull in hearing