It's Sunday! Time for the story of Hebrews!
1 -- The Setting of Hebrews
2 -- The Cast of Characters
3 -- The Context at Corinth/Ephesus (13:22-25)
4 -- Closing Clues (13:1-19)
5 -- The Main Takeaway (4:14-16; 10:25-31)
6 -- Remember the Good Times (5:11-6:2; 10:32-39)
7 -- The Impossibility of Repentance (6:3-8; 10:26-31)
8 -- The Rhetorical Strategy of Hebrews
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1. "Shall we work on the core high priestly argument?" Tertius said. "You are really arguing for something remarkably new."
"It's been true all along," Apollos said, "right there in front of our eyes. It's just that the destruction of the temple has brought it into plain view."
"Yes, it would have seemed very subversive to make this argument while the temple was still standing -- to say that it is unneeded for atonement. I mean the Essenes were bold enough to say that the current temple and its priests were illegitimate. But to say the temple itself is unnecessary. Wow!"
"In part, that's why I'm going to stick to talking about the tabernacle in this sermon," Apollos said. "To be frank, the teaching I grew up around in Alexandria always made it clear that the cosmos was God's real temple. After all, as Isaiah says, what house could we possibly build for God? The highest heaven cannot contain him!" (Isa. 66:1)
"I can see it clearly myself now too," Tertius agreed. "I mean, all the Jesus-followers believe that Jesus' death was a sacrifice, just like the Maccabean martyrs. And in Romans, our beloved brother Paul used the image of Jesus as a priest. But you are taking his priesthood to a high priesthood on a whole new level."
2. "So, you were saying a three prong argument," Tertius continued. "A greater high priest offering a greater sacrifice in a greater sanctuary."
"Right. Let's start with the first prong -- a greater high priest."
"What will you say first in this thread of the argument?" Tertius asked.
"As we were saying, we will give the proposition early on: Jesus was made just like us, fully human, so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest" (2:17-18).
"Yes, he was not a demigod like Hercules or Perseus," Tertius agreed. "You can't serve as our high priest unless you are one of us."
"Then right before the core warning of the sermon," Apollos continued, "we will start slowly with the high priestly argument. We will give the pivot -- We have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens into the true tabernacle of the cosmos. He is at God's right hand, by God's throne" (4:14-16).
"Who wouldn't want a high priest like that?" Tertius responded. "He is like us. He has been tempted like us. He knows human weakness, but doesn't have sin. And he has God the Father's ear!"
"Exactly," Apollos agreed.
3. "We'll ease into the argument," Apollos continued. What is a high priest?"
"First, someone chosen by God" (5:1, 4), Tertius said. "You can't just decide to be a high priest when you grow up."
"Yes. And the key function is to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people" (5:1), Apollos added, "with the high priest making the most important offering once a year in the Most Holy Place."
"And you really want to emphasize that Jesus can identify with us, right?" Tertius asked.
"Yes, I want to keep reminding them that Jesus was tempted to give up like they are, but he didn't give up. Although he was God's son, he endured the discipline of suffering" (5:8).
"It was even the suffering that perfected him, right?" (5:9).
"Yes," Apollos answered. "In the Garden, he offered up prayers to see if it were possible for him to escape death and the cup of suffering (5:7). But he obeyed. He endured. And God made him an eternal high priest (5:9-10) -- a priest after the order of Melchizedek!"
4. "Fascinating!" Tertius responded. "Aren't all priests descendents of Levi?"
"All the earthly priests are," Apollos answered. "That's a key point. Jesus is priest on a whole new level, a completely different order."
"Melchizedek?" Tertius asked.
"Yes. The Psalm calls the Messiah a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4). That was the great insight that the Holy Spirit has revealed. Philo saw clearly that the Logos is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He just didn't know that the Logos would be fully embodied in a human being, Jesus."
"So, we will look at the story of Melchizedek in Genesis," Apollos continued. "What insights has the Spirit given us in the story of Melchizedek that are spiritually about Jesus?" (Gen. 14).
"So not necessarily about the actual Melchizedek but what the Spirit is revealing allegorically?"
"Yes," Apollos said. "the deeper meaning of the passage."
"So, what do you see?" Tertius asked.
"Well, Genesis does not tell us Melchizedek's priestly lineage. It does not tell us who his father or mother was (7:3)."
"And it doesn't say when he stopped being a priest!" Tertius added.
"Exactly! As a priest after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus has no father or mother, no priestly geneology. He has no beginning of days or end of life."
"No beginning of days?" Tertius asked. "Aren't you arguing that Jesus is installed as high priest when he was exalted to God's right hand?"
"Yes, it is a bit hyperbolic, but I am alluding to Jesus being the Logos of God. The key point that we will develop in this part of the sermon is that Jesus has no end of days. He is an eternal priest."
5. "So you are going to argue that a priest after the order of Melchizedek is of a higher order than a priest after the order of Levi?" Tertius asked.
"Yes," Apollos answered. "you can see that clearly in Genesis. Abraham gives tithes to Melchizedek on his way back from war" (7:4-10).
"So, he is superior to Abraham?"
"Yes," Apollos said. "And Levi is Abraham's grandson. He is inside of Abraham and, effectively, offers tithes to Melchizedek too."
"Therefore, Melchizedek is a greater priest than Levi."
6. "And even more crucially," Apollos continued. "The Levitical priests were constantly changing. They would get old, die, and there needed to be another one" (7:23-24).
"But Jesus lives forever!"
"Yes, he is seated at God's right hand. He is priest forever. He doesn't have to be replaced. His sacrifice is eternal," Apollos added.
"And the fact that God has changed the priesthood shows that the first order was never a permanent order?" Tertius asked.
"Yes, it was never intended to be permanent. It never actually took away sins in itself."
"A symbol? An allegory?" Tertius followed.
"It was a shadowy illustration of Christ's one time sacrifice."
"Wow. What a radical teaching!" Tertius said. "You are saying that the Law perfected nothing, that it was only a preface to the new covenant, the new law" (7:12, 19).
"I want to be clear," Apollos said. "By Law here, I am referring to the sacrificial system. It was all part of God's plan. I am not trying to disparage the Levitical system. It was great. It just was never the reality. It wasn't what makes atonement truly possible. Only Christ is finally able to do that. All those who sacrificed before were offering in hope."
"Thank you for clarifying that," Tertius responded. "When he spoke of the Law, our brother Paul usually was talking about the aspects of the Law that distinguished a Jew from a Gentile."
"No, that is not the part of the Law I am referring to," Apollos clarified. "I am referring to the sacrificial Law."
7. "And the oath of the psalm indicates that this change is permanent," Apollos continued. "The psalm says that God has sworn and will not change his mind" (Heb. 7:21; Ps. 110:4).
"Jesus' priesthood is eternal then," Tertius concluded. "He sits as priest at God's right hand forever, able to intercede for our sins."
"Yes," Apollos agreed. "And he didn't have to offer the sacrifice for himself because he had no sin. He is a priest who has been perfected forever, installed eternally as the heavenly high priest -- the true high priest for all time" (7:28).
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