Hebrews 5:6 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Hebrews 5:6

Comments

The writer will say more about Melchisedec later in chapter 7 and will pick up on this quotation again and amplify the exposition of it. Melchisedec was the King of Salem in Abraham's time, a very mysterious man and a priest also, but it is the order of Melchisedec that is significant here. Yes, Christ’s priesthood is like the priesthood that began with Aaron, in the time of Moses. That priesthood which ran all the way until the time of the New Testament was a picture or a prophecy of the priesthood of Christ. But Christ's priesthood belongs to a different order, which goes back even before Moses: the order of Melchisedec. Melchisedec was a type of Christ, and in some ways a more realistic type than Aaron. He was a high priest who lived long before the Aaronic priesthood was established and therefore quite independent of it, and he was the one to whom Abraham bowed. The inspired writer is telling converted and seeking Jews in his day, ‘Christ is a high priest of an order which is higher than that priesthood that came from Moses. It goes back to the time of Abraham, that mysterious priest who was without beginning and without end.’ We will look at that, but that is the significance of his being mentioned here. Here then is the word of Scripture by which Christ is called to be our high priest, consistent with the truth that ‘no man takes this honour unto himself’. The fact that this appointment was made via a prophecy which was given long before Christ entered into the world, only enhances its authority. Other New Testament passages apply this psalm to Christ, and indeed, in all three of the synoptic Gospels Christ applies it to himself (Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42).

Application

To the Spirit of God, the future is no less known than the past. God’s forethought overwhelms us, and time and again God’s people have come to see that the Lord anticipated future events and prepared for them long before any human being understood what would take place. The Lord does not need our help in anything he does, and certainly does not consult human planning or wisdom. Melchisedec was made a high priest by God with the full knowledge of all that Christ would do in the future, and when the Saviour came into the world he read this Scripture given before and knew that it applied to him, and appointed him to be a priest of a different order to that of Aaron: the high priest of the New Covenant, in which he would save his people from their sins.

Questions

How is Christ a priest forever? He was only the Saviour in the world for three years plus. He always was bearer of the office of high priest, even in eternity past. Forever it was ordained that he would come and be our high priest and Saviour, and he always will be, so in the mind of God it's an eternal office that he holds. Now he’s at the right hand of the Father, but what is he doing? By his very presence he is interceding for his people, for ever, and his very presence at the right hand of the Father is an intercession.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Hebrews 5:6 Commentary and Bible Study