And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Another priest stands up patterned on Melchizedek, and that priest is Jesus Christ as a separate person who belongs to the same priestly order. He serves not by physical descent from Levi but by God's oath and by the power of a life that does not end, so unlike dying priests who pass their office to successors He holds it forever and saves completely those who come through Him. Because He comes from Judah, the law that vested the priesthood in Levi had to be set aside, and the whole Levitical system with its repeated offerings is superseded by a perpetual ministry in the true heavenly tabernacle. There as Priest-King on His Father's throne He presents His own blood, mediates the new covenant, and carries forward the twofold sanctuary work including its final cleansing until probation ends. Since tithing was paid to Melchizedek before Levi existed and His priesthood never passes to another, the tithe continues to Him for the support of gospel ministry, giving believers certain hope in an everlasting royal priesthood.
Language and Literary Setting
After the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest, who is Jesus Christ as high priest of an eternal priesthood, distinct in person from Melchizedek yet belonging to the same priestly order. Melchizedek, known only from Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7 as priest of the Most High God and priest-king, was one priest of this order who met and blessed Abraham, and Christ is another priest of it, like him a priest-king and king of righteousness and therefore king of peace. His priesthood is not based on the Mosaic law's rule of physical descent or the law of a carnal commandment, since He came from Judah of which Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood, but on the power of an endless life and by the oath of God, continuing ever with an unchangeable priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood was temporary in duration and ceased at the cross, while the Melchizedek priesthood is eternal in nature, so the change is from many mortal priests to one Priest who lives forever to intercede and from service based on the earthly sanctuary to Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Becoming such a priest required the Son of God to become man of the seed of Abraham with a human pedigree traced from Adam, to suffer temptation, learn obedience, conquer and be made perfect, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest to make reconciliation and succor the tempted, whereas Melchizedek has no recorded pedigree or beginning and end of life as a priest, receiving His priesthood from no predecessor and yielding it to none to come. He made His sacrifice before He began His priesthood, for of necessity He must have somewhat to offer, and He began His priesthood especially for men after offering sacrifice and ascension, since the oath that made Him priest came since the law.
After the similitude means patterned on Melchizedek to supply what is deficient in Aaron's pattern, for the priesthood of Aaron gives a necessary but incomplete picture of Jesus' ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Neither Melchizedek alone nor Aaron alone fully represents Christ, but together their roles present its essential truths and a fuller type of His priesthood. Christ both belongs to Melchizedek's order and fulfills the pattern of Aaron as high priest, whose office included making the great atonement, and He is also the antitype of the Levitical priesthood in serving sinful humanity, so that the sacrifices of the past pointed to Him and find their fulfillment in Him. The Melchizedek priesthood thus fulfilled in Him includes righteousness, sonship, fatherhood and eternal life, and is therefore everlasting. Scripture does not call Melchizedek a high priest, and there is no reason to think that distinction was known in his time, and if he could be identified as Christ Himself or given a genealogy the argument based on his likeness to Christ would be undermined.
The verse continues the subject of the Melchizedek priesthood introduced in Hebrews 5:6, belonging to Hebrews' explanation of how the old sanctuary's priesthood and sacrificial service find their fulfillment in Christ's ministry and sacrifice. The depth of the subject and the lack of growth in the brethren caused a digression describing their condition, giving solemn admonition of great danger, then encouragement through the example of Abraham and the faithfulness and righteousness of God in keeping His promises. The hope resting on the promises made to Abraham turns toward the priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchizedek, which is the great object of the letter. Even the details and omissions in Scripture are guided by the Holy Spirit, for the account intentionally omits his descent, beginning and end with no known predecessor or successor, and those omissions point to an important truth and are not accidental gaps in the record, while the names of Melchizedek and Salem also carry significance.
Who Melchizedek Was
Melchizedek was a distinct historical priest-king living in Abraham's time, priest of the Most High God and king of Salem, who met Abraham, blessed him, and received homage from him. He was not Shem, and he was not Christ himself, but another person belonging with Christ to one priestly order in which Christ arises as another priest after his likeness. As the first priest of that order his name stands at its head, so he had no predecessor in that order. Christ had a human pedigree traced from Adam and was born and died, while Melchizedek stands with no recorded pedigree as priest, and the two are therefore like in priestly order without being the same person.
His name means king of righteousness, and as king of Salem he is king of peace, a priest-king uniting kingship and priesthood. This is fulfilled in Christ as the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS and as our peace, our great High Priest, Prince and King of Peace. In that priestly office Christ makes peace on his Father's throne, reconciling by the cross, bringing nigh by his blood, and obtaining redemption by his own blood. Melchizedek was also a preacher of righteousness teaching God's universal religion founded on the unchanging principles of the Decalogue.
Without father or mother and without beginning or end of life means no record of pedigree, predecessor, successor, or beginning and ending of priesthood is given, not that he literally had none. The omission was guided to make him a fitting type of the Son of God, supplying what is deficient in Aaron's pattern so that Aaron and Melchizedek together present the essential truths of Christ's priesthood. It shows Christ's priesthood comes from no other, passes to no other, is age-lasting, and has no priestly genealogy. If a genealogy for Melchizedek were given, or if he were identified as Christ himself, the argument resting on his likeness to Christ would be undermined.
It is worthy of study that he may have been a visitor from another world and its head, as Adam was appointed head of this world. Beyond his being a perfect type of Christ's priesthood as king of Salem and priest of the Most High God in Abraham's time, he is not identified as any particular heavenly or historical figure.
Christ's Endless Priesthood
Christ is priest after Melchizedek's order, not Aaron's or Levi's, because He sprang out of Judah of which Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood, while the priest's office under the law was reserved to Aaron and his sons of Levi. As David's descendant and rightful heir to David's throne He unites kingship and priesthood, as Melchizedek did as king of Salem and priest of God, and the transfer of priesthood from Levi to Judah, signaled by Christ's offering of His blood, makes the Son of God high priest forever in Melchizedek's order. He is not a Levitical priest serving on David's throne, and His priestly ministry is therefore in the heavenly sanctuary, not on earth, as set forth with Hebrews 8:1-5. He is made not after the law of a carnal commandment or rule of physical descent but after the power of an endless life, and because He continues ever He has an unchangeable priesthood as surety of a better testament.
Unlike the dying Levitical priests whose office had to pass from one to another by succession, having once taken office He holds it forever without predecessor or successor and it never passes to another. He was made priest by the oath of God and by the power of an endless life, not by a carnal commandment, and He ever lives to make intercession and saves completely to the uttermost. The Aaronic priesthood was temporary in duration and ceased at the cross, while the Melchizedek priesthood is eternal in nature. The yearly Levitical service prefigured the complete service of Christ, while its short duration allowed each high priest to represent that service without interruption by death.
The different priest who comes in the pattern of Melchizedek belongs to an order entirely distinct from Aaron in ten ways. His priesthood is kingly on His Father's throne in heaven while Aaron had no kingship; no genealogy is reckoned in His priesthood while Aaron's priests could serve only with clear and undisputed genealogy; He was born of Judah though that tribe is immaterial to His priesthood while Aaron's priests had to be of Levi; He saves completely to the uttermost while their priesthood and service made nothing perfect; His priesthood is in heaven while theirs was earthly. His is perpetual and not transferable while theirs was temporary and passed by succession through death; He is ever without sin while they had infirmity and were sinners as others; He offered one sacrifice, Himself once as the Son consecrated forever, while they offered many daily and year by year continually; He offered no sacrifice for Himself while they had to offer for themselves; He was made priest by an oath of God while theirs was arranged through a mortal man.
Another priest was needed and a new Priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek because perfection did not come through the Levitical system, proving He did not continue Levi but brought a different priesthood. The change is from many mortal priests to one Priest who lives forever to intercede, and from service based on the earthly sanctuary to ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The Levitical priesthood served temporarily because of sin, serving sinful humanity and dealing with putting away sin as type of His priestly work for a sinful world, while the Melchizedek order is universal, applies to all conditions and times including those yet to come, extends throughout the universe and lasts for eternity. The Melchizedek priesthood includes righteousness, sonship, fatherhood and eternal life and is therefore everlasting, and it is everlasting and royal, so that those He saves will be kings and priests to Him forever. It is a father-priesthood that makes Him the spiritual Head of the human family, the second Adam and everlasting Father and the race's second representative Head, demonstrated to be the Son of God by resurrection, and His eternal life also makes Him King of Righteousness and King of Peace.
His becoming such a priest required the Son of God to become man of the seed of Abraham, to suffer temptation, to learn obedience, to conquer and to be made perfect, so He might become a merciful and faithful high priest to make reconciliation and succor the tempted. He made His sacrifice before He began His priesthood, for of necessity He must have somewhat to offer, and He began His priesthood especially for men after His ascension, since the oath that made Him priest came since the law.
Heavenly Sanctuary Ministry
His ministry fulfills the old sanctuary's priesthood and sacrificial service in the true tabernacle in heaven made by the Lord and not man. The earthly sanctuary with its ordinances and yearly service was pattern, figure, type and shadow of that heavenly sanctuary, and what Moses and Aaron did in the earthly pattern Christ does in heaven. The work of the earthly priests, including cleansing from uncleanness, prefigured his complete work, and the Levitical priesthood was given to teach about this heavenly work. Unlike the Levitical priests whose sacrifices could not remove sin and pointed ahead to the coming sacrifice, having given his life for the world he offers pardon and salvation and is able to save completely those who come to God through him.
He serves as Priest-king on his Father's throne in heaven, not on David's throne nor on his own throne where he will not serve as priest. Because he was of the tribe of Judah he could not minister on earth under the first covenant as a non-Levite, for the Aaronic priests ministered in the earthly sanctuary while his priesthood belongs to the new covenant and is exercised in heaven without successor. There as literal personal High Priest and Mediator he makes peace for us on his Father's throne, as King of Peace and Prince of Peace in his priestly office. He is our peace who reconciles us to God by the cross and brings us nigh by his blood, obtaining redemption by his own blood, pleading his sacrifice, which proves the exalted pre-existent Son himself shed his blood and laid down his life.
He made his sacrifice before he began his priesthood, for of necessity he must have somewhat to offer, and he began his priesthood especially for men after his ascension, since the oath that made him priest came since the law. At the cross and the termination of the seventy weeks cut off from the 2300 days the shadow of good things to come, the example and shadow of heavenly things, the figures of the true, the offering of bulls and goats, and ministration in the tabernacle made with hands ceased and were succeeded by the more excellent ministry and the true holy places in heaven. Heaven itself was consecrated with his own blood and the Most Holy, the Holy of Holies, was anointed as preparation for its ministration, fulfilling what Moses and Aaron did in the pattern, for as the anointing in the earthly tabernacle immediately preceded presentation of the sin offering before the mercy seat he had to go within the veil after his resurrection before he could fulfill the type. His priestly rule continues as long as mediation and probation continue, including the two stages of sanctuary service and the cleansing of the sanctuary in the Most Holy Place begun in 1844, until his enemies are put under his feet, when he finishes his priestly rule, receives his own subordinate throne and kingdom and becomes subject to the Father, ending just before the plagues and his coming in judgment.
The tabernacle symbols pointing to Christ's work are also applied to ministers on earth, so that both Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods are claimed to be carried out in the church's ministry. As the end and antitype of the Levitical system, in whom the Levitical priests who represented the High Priest of the heavenly sanctuary find their fulfillment, Christ is free from paying for temple support, just as its serving priests were exempt.
Change of Law and Covenant
The law that is changed is the law that constituted Aaron and his sons priests and vested the priesthood in the tribe of Levi to the exclusion of every other tribe, under which it was death for a man of another tribe to serve as priest. It is not the Ten Commandments, for those commandments made no priests but remain as a moral code that convinces of sin, and Christ in teaching the new covenant ratified by His blood taught that moral law in every jot and tittle. Because Jesus sprang out of Judah, of which Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood, that priestly law if still in force would bar Him from being accepted as a priest of God, so of necessity it had to be changed and disannulled before Christ of Judah could serve.
With the arising of another priest after the similitude of Melchizedek, made not after the law of a carnal commandment but after the power of an endless life, the Levitical priesthood was superseded by a priesthood which passes not to another and whose offerings no longer apply. This was the change at the crucifixion and ascension of Christ and at the termination of the seventy weeks cut off from the 2300 days, where the shadow of good things to come ceased, where the offering of bulls and goats gave place to the great sacrifice, where the example and shadow of heavenly things was terminated by the more excellent ministry it shadowed, where the holy places which were figures of the true were succeeded by the true holy places in heaven, and where ministration was transferred from the tabernacle made with hands to the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Christ is thus the promised antitype of types and shadows marking the end of the ceremonial law abolished at the cross, including the Levitical priesthood described in Ezekiel's vision which is no longer in force, the earthly sanctuary and its shadow services having given way to the true heavenly sanctuary and Christ's more excellent ministry as High Priest. Yet a type can cease to be observed before its antitype is fully reached in completion, as when the Levitical priesthood as type of Christ's priesthood ceased while the antitype will not be reached until Christ comes out of heaven itself to give the people of God endless life, even as is applied to the Sabbath and its remaining rest.
The arising of this priest belongs to the comparison between the Levitical priesthood serving the first covenant through its ordinances and Christ's more excellent ministry fulfilling the service of the second or new covenant, which answers to and surpasses the Levitical services, the covenant's service being distinct from the law that formed its terms. The new covenant concerns the same promise as the old, in which the Lord promises to put His law in their hearts. In this contrast the old law of works is set against a new law of faith with Christ as its beginning, who arises after the pattern of Melchizedek not under a carnal commandment but through the power of endless life.
The Scriptures themselves contemplated this change of the priesthood law and the raising up of a Priest of a different and superior order from Aaron. The prophecy that another Priest should arise forever after the order of Melchizedek by direct appointment from God proves the Aaronic law restricting the priesthood to Levi was temporary and could admit an exception. This makes Jesus of Nazareth, of the tribe of Judah and not Levi, a lawful Priest, and only by adhering to Jesus as Messiah and having Him as High Priest can the instructions of Moses be carried to their ultimate spiritual import and real meaning, apart from whom the Levitic or any other human priesthood can have no significance.
Tithing and Believers Hope
The tithe from the beginning was placed in the eternal Melchizedek priesthood, and upon the termination of the temporary Aaronic priesthood at the cross all its duties not of a typical nature ending there, among them receiving tithes from brethren, reverted to the Melchizedek priesthood from which they originally came. Abraham's payment of a tenth to Melchizedek and Jacob's vow show that tithing predates Levi, and because the tithing system is not a type it continues under Christ the eternal High Priest. After the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another priest, Jesus Christ, made priest forever after that order not after the Levitical priesthood, eternal by the power of an endless life and by the oath of God, while the Aaronic priesthood ceased at the cross. The change set forth in Hebrews 7 concerns the priesthood, not the law of tithing, and its leading features are Christ's priesthood, his superiority to the high priests of Levi, his relationship to the work of God in the earth, and his right to the tithe as high priest after the order of Melchizedek. As children of Abraham, that is children of faith and Abraham's seed purchased by his blood, Christ's disciples still owe tithes to Christ, and now as in the beginning the tithe belongs to the altar and service of God as one of the holy things of the altar, of which they which wait at the altar are partakers, for the support of gospel ministry.
Because his continuing priesthood remains, its requirements including the duty to pay tithes remain in force in the Christian era. The Levitical priesthood was given to teach Israel about this true priesthood and Christ's work in the heavenly sanctuary, but Israel wrongly treated it as the final priesthood and sought salvation and perfection through it.
The verse gives splendid instruction concerning the High Priest and his Melchizedek priesthood, showing the wonderful encouragement God gives to his children and the certain fate of those who reject the means by which he saves men. Melchizedek was not a shadow or figure of Christ but a priest in that same order, though Christ is preeminent, and his mediatorial work stands at the heart of both the old and new dispensations. The Levitical priesthood served sinful humanity in putting away sin, while the Melchizedek order applies to all conditions and times including those yet to come, and Christ's priesthood is everlasting and royal, with those he saves to be kings and priests to him forever.
Another priest stands up patterned on Melchizedek, and that priest is Jesus Christ as a separate person who belongs to the same priestly order. He serves not by physical descent from Levi but by God's oath and by the power of a life that does not end, so unlike dying priests who pass their office to successors He holds it forever and saves completely those who come through Him. Because He comes from Judah, the law that vested the priesthood in Levi had to be set aside, and the whole Levitical system with its repeated offerings is superseded by a perpetual ministry in the true heavenly tabernacle. There as Priest-King on His Father's throne He presents His own blood, mediates the new covenant, and carries forward the twofold sanctuary work including its final cleansing until probation ends. Since tithing was paid to Melchizedek before Levi existed and His priesthood never passes to another, the tithe continues to Him for the support of gospel ministry, giving believers certain hope in an everlasting royal priesthood.
Language and Literary Setting
After the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest, who is Jesus Christ as high priest of an eternal priesthood, distinct in person from Melchizedek yet belonging to the same priestly order. Melchizedek, known only from Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7 as priest of the Most High God and priest-king, was one priest of this order who met and blessed Abraham, and Christ is another priest of it, like him a priest-king and king of righteousness and therefore king of peace. His priesthood is not based on the Mosaic law's rule of physical descent or the law of a carnal commandment, since He came from Judah of which Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood, but on the power of an endless life and by the oath of God, continuing ever with an unchangeable priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood was temporary in duration and ceased at the cross, while the Melchizedek priesthood is eternal in nature, so the change is from many mortal priests to one Priest who lives forever to intercede and from service based on the earthly sanctuary to Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Becoming such a priest required the Son of God to become man of the seed of Abraham with a human pedigree traced from Adam, to suffer temptation, learn obedience, conquer and be made perfect, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest to make reconciliation and succor the tempted, whereas Melchizedek has no recorded pedigree or beginning and end of life as a priest, receiving His priesthood from no predecessor and yielding it to none to come. He made His sacrifice before He began His priesthood, for of necessity He must have somewhat to offer, and He began His priesthood especially for men after offering sacrifice and ascension, since the oath that made Him priest came since the law.
After the similitude means patterned on Melchizedek to supply what is deficient in Aaron's pattern, for the priesthood of Aaron gives a necessary but incomplete picture of Jesus' ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Neither Melchizedek alone nor Aaron alone fully represents Christ, but together their roles present its essential truths and a fuller type of His priesthood. Christ both belongs to Melchizedek's order and fulfills the pattern of Aaron as high priest, whose office included making the great atonement, and He is also the antitype of the Levitical priesthood in serving sinful humanity, so that the sacrifices of the past pointed to Him and find their fulfillment in Him. The Melchizedek priesthood thus fulfilled in Him includes righteousness, sonship, fatherhood and eternal life, and is therefore everlasting. Scripture does not call Melchizedek a high priest, and there is no reason to think that distinction was known in his time, and if he could be identified as Christ Himself or given a genealogy the argument based on his likeness to Christ would be undermined.
The verse continues the subject of the Melchizedek priesthood introduced in Hebrews 5:6, belonging to Hebrews' explanation of how the old sanctuary's priesthood and sacrificial service find their fulfillment in Christ's ministry and sacrifice. The depth of the subject and the lack of growth in the brethren caused a digression describing their condition, giving solemn admonition of great danger, then encouragement through the example of Abraham and the faithfulness and righteousness of God in keeping His promises. The hope resting on the promises made to Abraham turns toward the priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchizedek, which is the great object of the letter. Even the details and omissions in Scripture are guided by the Holy Spirit, for the account intentionally omits his descent, beginning and end with no known predecessor or successor, and those omissions point to an important truth and are not accidental gaps in the record, while the names of Melchizedek and Salem also carry significance.
Who Melchizedek Was
Melchizedek was a distinct historical priest-king living in Abraham's time, priest of the Most High God and king of Salem, who met Abraham, blessed him, and received homage from him. He was not Shem, and he was not Christ himself, but another person belonging with Christ to one priestly order in which Christ arises as another priest after his likeness. As the first priest of that order his name stands at its head, so he had no predecessor in that order. Christ had a human pedigree traced from Adam and was born and died, while Melchizedek stands with no recorded pedigree as priest, and the two are therefore like in priestly order without being the same person.
His name means king of righteousness, and as king of Salem he is king of peace, a priest-king uniting kingship and priesthood. This is fulfilled in Christ as the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS and as our peace, our great High Priest, Prince and King of Peace. In that priestly office Christ makes peace on his Father's throne, reconciling by the cross, bringing nigh by his blood, and obtaining redemption by his own blood. Melchizedek was also a preacher of righteousness teaching God's universal religion founded on the unchanging principles of the Decalogue.
Without father or mother and without beginning or end of life means no record of pedigree, predecessor, successor, or beginning and ending of priesthood is given, not that he literally had none. The omission was guided to make him a fitting type of the Son of God, supplying what is deficient in Aaron's pattern so that Aaron and Melchizedek together present the essential truths of Christ's priesthood. It shows Christ's priesthood comes from no other, passes to no other, is age-lasting, and has no priestly genealogy. If a genealogy for Melchizedek were given, or if he were identified as Christ himself, the argument resting on his likeness to Christ would be undermined.
It is worthy of study that he may have been a visitor from another world and its head, as Adam was appointed head of this world. Beyond his being a perfect type of Christ's priesthood as king of Salem and priest of the Most High God in Abraham's time, he is not identified as any particular heavenly or historical figure.
Christ's Endless Priesthood
Christ is priest after Melchizedek's order, not Aaron's or Levi's, because He sprang out of Judah of which Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood, while the priest's office under the law was reserved to Aaron and his sons of Levi. As David's descendant and rightful heir to David's throne He unites kingship and priesthood, as Melchizedek did as king of Salem and priest of God, and the transfer of priesthood from Levi to Judah, signaled by Christ's offering of His blood, makes the Son of God high priest forever in Melchizedek's order. He is not a Levitical priest serving on David's throne, and His priestly ministry is therefore in the heavenly sanctuary, not on earth, as set forth with Hebrews 8:1-5. He is made not after the law of a carnal commandment or rule of physical descent but after the power of an endless life, and because He continues ever He has an unchangeable priesthood as surety of a better testament.
Unlike the dying Levitical priests whose office had to pass from one to another by succession, having once taken office He holds it forever without predecessor or successor and it never passes to another. He was made priest by the oath of God and by the power of an endless life, not by a carnal commandment, and He ever lives to make intercession and saves completely to the uttermost. The Aaronic priesthood was temporary in duration and ceased at the cross, while the Melchizedek priesthood is eternal in nature. The yearly Levitical service prefigured the complete service of Christ, while its short duration allowed each high priest to represent that service without interruption by death.
The different priest who comes in the pattern of Melchizedek belongs to an order entirely distinct from Aaron in ten ways. His priesthood is kingly on His Father's throne in heaven while Aaron had no kingship; no genealogy is reckoned in His priesthood while Aaron's priests could serve only with clear and undisputed genealogy; He was born of Judah though that tribe is immaterial to His priesthood while Aaron's priests had to be of Levi; He saves completely to the uttermost while their priesthood and service made nothing perfect; His priesthood is in heaven while theirs was earthly. His is perpetual and not transferable while theirs was temporary and passed by succession through death; He is ever without sin while they had infirmity and were sinners as others; He offered one sacrifice, Himself once as the Son consecrated forever, while they offered many daily and year by year continually; He offered no sacrifice for Himself while they had to offer for themselves; He was made priest by an oath of God while theirs was arranged through a mortal man.
Another priest was needed and a new Priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek because perfection did not come through the Levitical system, proving He did not continue Levi but brought a different priesthood. The change is from many mortal priests to one Priest who lives forever to intercede, and from service based on the earthly sanctuary to ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The Levitical priesthood served temporarily because of sin, serving sinful humanity and dealing with putting away sin as type of His priestly work for a sinful world, while the Melchizedek order is universal, applies to all conditions and times including those yet to come, extends throughout the universe and lasts for eternity. The Melchizedek priesthood includes righteousness, sonship, fatherhood and eternal life and is therefore everlasting, and it is everlasting and royal, so that those He saves will be kings and priests to Him forever. It is a father-priesthood that makes Him the spiritual Head of the human family, the second Adam and everlasting Father and the race's second representative Head, demonstrated to be the Son of God by resurrection, and His eternal life also makes Him King of Righteousness and King of Peace.
His becoming such a priest required the Son of God to become man of the seed of Abraham, to suffer temptation, to learn obedience, to conquer and to be made perfect, so He might become a merciful and faithful high priest to make reconciliation and succor the tempted. He made His sacrifice before He began His priesthood, for of necessity He must have somewhat to offer, and He began His priesthood especially for men after His ascension, since the oath that made Him priest came since the law.
Heavenly Sanctuary Ministry
His ministry fulfills the old sanctuary's priesthood and sacrificial service in the true tabernacle in heaven made by the Lord and not man. The earthly sanctuary with its ordinances and yearly service was pattern, figure, type and shadow of that heavenly sanctuary, and what Moses and Aaron did in the earthly pattern Christ does in heaven. The work of the earthly priests, including cleansing from uncleanness, prefigured his complete work, and the Levitical priesthood was given to teach about this heavenly work. Unlike the Levitical priests whose sacrifices could not remove sin and pointed ahead to the coming sacrifice, having given his life for the world he offers pardon and salvation and is able to save completely those who come to God through him.
He serves as Priest-king on his Father's throne in heaven, not on David's throne nor on his own throne where he will not serve as priest. Because he was of the tribe of Judah he could not minister on earth under the first covenant as a non-Levite, for the Aaronic priests ministered in the earthly sanctuary while his priesthood belongs to the new covenant and is exercised in heaven without successor. There as literal personal High Priest and Mediator he makes peace for us on his Father's throne, as King of Peace and Prince of Peace in his priestly office. He is our peace who reconciles us to God by the cross and brings us nigh by his blood, obtaining redemption by his own blood, pleading his sacrifice, which proves the exalted pre-existent Son himself shed his blood and laid down his life.
He made his sacrifice before he began his priesthood, for of necessity he must have somewhat to offer, and he began his priesthood especially for men after his ascension, since the oath that made him priest came since the law. At the cross and the termination of the seventy weeks cut off from the 2300 days the shadow of good things to come, the example and shadow of heavenly things, the figures of the true, the offering of bulls and goats, and ministration in the tabernacle made with hands ceased and were succeeded by the more excellent ministry and the true holy places in heaven. Heaven itself was consecrated with his own blood and the Most Holy, the Holy of Holies, was anointed as preparation for its ministration, fulfilling what Moses and Aaron did in the pattern, for as the anointing in the earthly tabernacle immediately preceded presentation of the sin offering before the mercy seat he had to go within the veil after his resurrection before he could fulfill the type. His priestly rule continues as long as mediation and probation continue, including the two stages of sanctuary service and the cleansing of the sanctuary in the Most Holy Place begun in 1844, until his enemies are put under his feet, when he finishes his priestly rule, receives his own subordinate throne and kingdom and becomes subject to the Father, ending just before the plagues and his coming in judgment.
The tabernacle symbols pointing to Christ's work are also applied to ministers on earth, so that both Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods are claimed to be carried out in the church's ministry. As the end and antitype of the Levitical system, in whom the Levitical priests who represented the High Priest of the heavenly sanctuary find their fulfillment, Christ is free from paying for temple support, just as its serving priests were exempt.
Change of Law and Covenant
The law that is changed is the law that constituted Aaron and his sons priests and vested the priesthood in the tribe of Levi to the exclusion of every other tribe, under which it was death for a man of another tribe to serve as priest. It is not the Ten Commandments, for those commandments made no priests but remain as a moral code that convinces of sin, and Christ in teaching the new covenant ratified by His blood taught that moral law in every jot and tittle. Because Jesus sprang out of Judah, of which Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood, that priestly law if still in force would bar Him from being accepted as a priest of God, so of necessity it had to be changed and disannulled before Christ of Judah could serve.
With the arising of another priest after the similitude of Melchizedek, made not after the law of a carnal commandment but after the power of an endless life, the Levitical priesthood was superseded by a priesthood which passes not to another and whose offerings no longer apply. This was the change at the crucifixion and ascension of Christ and at the termination of the seventy weeks cut off from the 2300 days, where the shadow of good things to come ceased, where the offering of bulls and goats gave place to the great sacrifice, where the example and shadow of heavenly things was terminated by the more excellent ministry it shadowed, where the holy places which were figures of the true were succeeded by the true holy places in heaven, and where ministration was transferred from the tabernacle made with hands to the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Christ is thus the promised antitype of types and shadows marking the end of the ceremonial law abolished at the cross, including the Levitical priesthood described in Ezekiel's vision which is no longer in force, the earthly sanctuary and its shadow services having given way to the true heavenly sanctuary and Christ's more excellent ministry as High Priest. Yet a type can cease to be observed before its antitype is fully reached in completion, as when the Levitical priesthood as type of Christ's priesthood ceased while the antitype will not be reached until Christ comes out of heaven itself to give the people of God endless life, even as is applied to the Sabbath and its remaining rest.
The arising of this priest belongs to the comparison between the Levitical priesthood serving the first covenant through its ordinances and Christ's more excellent ministry fulfilling the service of the second or new covenant, which answers to and surpasses the Levitical services, the covenant's service being distinct from the law that formed its terms. The new covenant concerns the same promise as the old, in which the Lord promises to put His law in their hearts. In this contrast the old law of works is set against a new law of faith with Christ as its beginning, who arises after the pattern of Melchizedek not under a carnal commandment but through the power of endless life.
The Scriptures themselves contemplated this change of the priesthood law and the raising up of a Priest of a different and superior order from Aaron. The prophecy that another Priest should arise forever after the order of Melchizedek by direct appointment from God proves the Aaronic law restricting the priesthood to Levi was temporary and could admit an exception. This makes Jesus of Nazareth, of the tribe of Judah and not Levi, a lawful Priest, and only by adhering to Jesus as Messiah and having Him as High Priest can the instructions of Moses be carried to their ultimate spiritual import and real meaning, apart from whom the Levitic or any other human priesthood can have no significance.
Tithing and Believers Hope
The tithe from the beginning was placed in the eternal Melchizedek priesthood, and upon the termination of the temporary Aaronic priesthood at the cross all its duties not of a typical nature ending there, among them receiving tithes from brethren, reverted to the Melchizedek priesthood from which they originally came. Abraham's payment of a tenth to Melchizedek and Jacob's vow show that tithing predates Levi, and because the tithing system is not a type it continues under Christ the eternal High Priest. After the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another priest, Jesus Christ, made priest forever after that order not after the Levitical priesthood, eternal by the power of an endless life and by the oath of God, while the Aaronic priesthood ceased at the cross. The change set forth in Hebrews 7 concerns the priesthood, not the law of tithing, and its leading features are Christ's priesthood, his superiority to the high priests of Levi, his relationship to the work of God in the earth, and his right to the tithe as high priest after the order of Melchizedek. As children of Abraham, that is children of faith and Abraham's seed purchased by his blood, Christ's disciples still owe tithes to Christ, and now as in the beginning the tithe belongs to the altar and service of God as one of the holy things of the altar, of which they which wait at the altar are partakers, for the support of gospel ministry.
Because his continuing priesthood remains, its requirements including the duty to pay tithes remain in force in the Christian era. The Levitical priesthood was given to teach Israel about this true priesthood and Christ's work in the heavenly sanctuary, but Israel wrongly treated it as the final priesthood and sought salvation and perfection through it.
The verse gives splendid instruction concerning the High Priest and his Melchizedek priesthood, showing the wonderful encouragement God gives to his children and the certain fate of those who reject the means by which he saves men. Melchizedek was not a shadow or figure of Christ but a priest in that same order, though Christ is preeminent, and his mediatorial work stands at the heart of both the old and new dispensations. The Levitical priesthood served sinful humanity in putting away sin, while the Melchizedek order applies to all conditions and times including those yet to come, and Christ's priesthood is everlasting and royal, with those he saves to be kings and priests to him forever.