Scripture Reading : Hebrews 7
Theme : Superiority of Jesus Christ over Levitical Priest II
In Hebrews 6:19-20, the author returned to the topic of the priesthood of Melchizedek, because Jesus Christ has “become a high priest forever.” Jesus, as the High Priest, is just like Melchizedek, who is superior over the Levitical priests.
- His permanence. There were many generations of Levitical priests, who served God and the Israelites, and after their death, they will be succeeded by the next generation. Jesus, however, “holds His priesthood permanently” (Hebrews 7:24). This is because He is God, “having neither beginning of days nor end of life” (Hebrews 7:3). The author compared Jesus Christ with Melchizedek, who is greater than Abraham, to show that Jesus is greater than the levitical priests who are descendants of Abraham.
- His perfection. The human high priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sins first, before offering sacrifices on behalf of Israel (Hebrews 7:27). Unlike the levitical high priests, Jesus has no need to offer any sacrifices for His own sins, since He is perfect and sinless. By His perfection, Jesus completely fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17), and thus abrogated the Law.
- His promise. It is God Himself who confirmed Jesus as high priest. Quoting from Psalm 110:4, the author shows that God promised with an oath to make Jesus the Great High Priest forever.
Praying the Scripture
- Because of His permanence, Jesus is “able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Let us thank God for the permanence of Jesus’ priesthood, so that we need not depend on one human after another human to make intercession for us.
- Because Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law perfectly, He is able to impute His perfect righteousness onto us. If not for Jesus’ perfection, we will all perish, because there is no way we can ever fulfil the Law by our own strength. Let us praise God for His perfection and thank Him for fulfilling the Law on our behalf.
- God is the One who sent Jesus, the perfect and great high priest, who offered Himself as the sacrifice. He provided the solution to the problem of sin that no other human priest could. Let us thank God for offering His own Son as the sacrifice for us.
经文：希伯来书7
主题：耶稣基督超过利未祭司（二）
在希伯来书6:19-20，作者回到麦基洗德为祭司的主题，因为耶稣基督已成为“成了永远的大祭司”。作大祭司的耶稣就像麦基洗德一样；祂远超过众利未祭司。
- 祂的永恒。事奉神和以色列人的利未祭司有好几代；死后，他们是由另一代传承的。可是，耶稣祭司的职任是长久不更换的（24节）。这是因为祂是神，“无生之始，无命之终”（3节）。作者将耶稣与麦基洗德作比较，因为麦基洗德比亚伯拉罕还大，也就显示耶稣比作亚伯拉罕后裔的利未祭司还大。
- 祂的完全。身为人的大祭司必须先为自己的罪，后为以色列人百姓的罪献祭（27节）。与众利未大祭司有别的是，耶稣无需为自己的罪献祭，因为祂是完全、无罪的。因着祂的完美，耶稣完全成就了律法（太5:17），从而废除了它。
- 祂的应许。神自己确认耶稣为大祭司。作者引用了诗篇110:4，显示神立下应许时起誓为证，叫耶稣永远作大祭司。
用经文祷告
- 因着耶稣的永恒性，“凡靠着他进到神面前的人，他都能拯救到底”。让我们为耶稣永恒作祭司向神感恩，叫我们不用再靠一代代的人为我们代求。
- 由于耶稣完全成就律法的要求，祂能将祂完全的义归给我们。要不是耶稣的完全，我们都会沦丧，因为我们是无法凭自己的力量成就律法的。让我们为耶稣的完全赞美神，为耶稣代我们成就律法感谢祂。
- 神是差派那完美大祭司耶稣的那一位，而祂为我们舍了自己。祂提供了解决罪的方法，而这是无人类祭司能做到的。让我们因神为我们舍了自己的儿子作挽回祭献上感恩。
