Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the Book of Hebrews. The Great British writer and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis said once, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else.” I have found that to be true in my own life and increasingly so as I age as a Christian. Now C.S. Lewis got saved later in life. He was an atheist as a young man and slowly came to embrace the gospel. I, like some of you, got saved early in life, and yet I have had my eyes progressively opened up to God’s revelation in our world. 

And one of the things that the author of Hebrews is doing is he’s helping us see the “everything else,” namely the revelation from the OT, in the light of Jesus Christ. He’s helping us see the OT in the light of Jesus Christ. He’s helping us see the OT priesthood in the light of Jesus Christ. He’s helping us see the OT sacrificial system in the light of Jesus Christ. He’s helping us see God’s plan of redemption in the light of the Son. 

He’s even helping us to see the great patriarchs of the OT in the light of the Son. Because the Son is greater than Moses, he’s greater than David, and he’s greater than Abraham. We’ve covered this already in the book of Hebrews. He’s greater than the angels. He’s greater than Aaron and Levi and the OT priests that were so central to the Israelite way of life. And he’s greater even than the OT itself, the Scriptures. 

Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees? “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). Jesus is greater than the Scriptures. He’s greater than the “Old Testament.”

In fact, he institutes a “New Testament” (i.e. a “New Covenant”). 

The word “testament,” by the way, is a word that means “covenant.” It’s derived from the Latin testamentum which is a translation of the Greek διαθήκη, which is a translation of the Hebrew בְּרִית. Jesus fulfills the old testament, the old covenant, and he becomes the guarantor of a new covenant. The author of Hebrews makes that clear in 7:22: 

22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 

Jesus establishes something better, something that the OT, with its law and priests and sacrifices, was pointing forward towards all along.  

So I think we’ve established already in the book of Hebrews that Jesus is better than anything this world has to offer. Haven’t we? But the author of Hebrews isn’t done yet talking about Jesus’s “better-ness.” Here are three more “better-than” arguments about Jesus’s priesthood. Write these down.

Why is Jesus’s priesthood better than the OT priesthood? Well first of all…

 Jesus’s priesthood is better because it is…

backed by an oath (7:20-22)

The author of Hebrews says in verse 20:

20 And it was not without an oath. 

What’s the “it” in that verse? Well we’ve got to go to the previous passage to ferret that out. Previously the author said in verse 18, 

18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. 

The “it” of verse 20 is a reference to the “better hope” of verse 19. And that “better hope” is a reference to the priest of the order of Melchizedek, that is Jesus, who has superseded and surpassed the priests of old. The author of Hebrews is continuing that argument in our passage today. He is stacking up irrefutable argument after irrefutable argument that Jesus’s priesthood is better than the OT priesthood. And part of that is this oath. 

What oath are we talking about? Well let’s keep reading. 

20 And it [this better hope of Jesus’s priesthood] was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 

That’s true. The Levitical priesthood had ceremonies and rituals, but they didn’t have an oath. God appointed them as priests, but he didn’t swear to them that they would be priests forever! How could he? The priests kept dying. You can’t be a priest forever if you are dead.

21 but this one [that is, Jesus, by the order of Melchizedek] was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’” 

Where’s that found? That’s Psalm 110:4. That’s David prophesying about a future Melchizedek who will be both king and priest. Jesus didn’t just get a priesthood through Melchizedek; he got an eternal priesthood. And he got it with an oath from God the Father. “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, You are a priest forever.” 

How can Jesus be a “priest” forever? Well, we covered that last time. Jesus’s priesthood is energized by the power of his indestructible life (7:16). Jesus was raised from the dead! No other priest in the history of the world, or in any other religion, has that claim to fame. Jesus is better. And that’s why… verse 22.  

22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 

Do you want a living priest, or do you want a dead priest? That’s the choice here for the readers of the book of Hebrews. They were being tempted to go back to the OT way of life. They were being tempted to go back to temple sacrifices and OT priests and the old covenant. The author of Hebrews is asking, “Why do you want to go back?” And in fact he’s saying, “There’s no going back.” Jesus is the guarantor of something better. 

Remember what Jesus said about new wine in old wineskins (Matt 9:14-17; Mark 2:21-22; Luke 5:33-39)? You can’t put new wine in old wineskins, because the chemical process of wine fermenting will destroy those old wineskins. You’ve got to put new wine in new wineskins. You can’t put the gospel of Jesus Christ into the old covenant world of the old testament. You’ve got to have the new covenant. The old covenant was good. The old covenant was needed. It pointed forward to Christ. But now that Christ is here, you can’t go back to a Christ-less world. 

By the way, this word “guarantor” is key. This is a Greek word that only shows up here in the NT. It’s a word that means, “guarantee” or “surety” or “pledge” or even “security.” Jesus secures or guarantees a better covenant, based on a better hope, leading to a better future. Jesus is the down payment of our future inheritance. He’s a kind of bondsman who pays our bail bond. 

In the OT world, the “guarantor” was a person who guaranteed the position or endeavors of someone else while putting himself at risk. If you remember, Judah presented himself as “security” to his father Jacob for his brother Benjamin, guaranteeing his father that he would bring him home safely (Gen. 43:1-14). Paul did something similar for the slave Onesimus in the book of Philemon (18-19). In this passage, the author of Hebrews is saying that Jesus secures and guarantees the promises of the new covenant. 

Speaking of a “guarantee” and a “better future.” Write this down as #2 in your notes. Jesus’s priesthood is better because it is backed by an oath. It’s also better because it is…

2) guaranteed for eternity (7:23-25)

The author of Hebrews says in verse 23:

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 

The Jewish historian Josephus speculated that there were some eighty-three priests that served from Aaron until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. That number seems impossibly low. The Talmud lists over 300. Even that seems low. But whatever the case, you don’t ever have priest who continues in office. They retire and die like the President of the United States. And even if you really liked your priest in the OT era, there’s no telling how long he’ll be there. Even if you really like priest Zadok or Moshe, and how they intercede for you, eventually he will die. And who knows if his replacement will be half as good! 

24 but he holds his priesthood permanently,

Who’s the “he” in that sentence? It’s Jesus, right? He’s a priest forever through the power of his indestructible life! Nobody will ever replace him. R. Kent Hughes says, “Think of it—you and I will never have another high priest. No young, inexperienced priest just out of seminary will succeed him! Jesus has eternal permanency. John Calvin said about this that “There is no death that prevents Christ from performing his office. Therefore he is the only and the perpetual priest.”

24 but [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 

He continues forever! Remember when Jesus appeared to John on the island of Patmos? How did Jesus introduce himself? He said, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Rev 1:17-18). Yeah Jesus died! He really died. But he didn’t stay dead. And his resurrection establishes victory over death and he has the keys to death and hades.”

 By the way, verse 24 has another reference to Psalm 110. Altogether there are four full references to Psalm 110 in the book of Hebrews (5:6; 6:20; 7:17), with additional allusions. My friend, Jared Compton, wrote a whole book on Psalm 110 and its intersection with the book of Hebrews. It’s 250 pages just on that subject!  

25 Consequently, he is able 

Consequently, [Jesus] is able, right? 

to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Okay, that’s so good. I have to unpack that more. Let’s say you like the way your priest intercedes for you. Let’s say you like priest Zadok or priest Moshe. Let’s say you like the priest down the street who intercedes for you. Well, that’s all well and good. But those guys die. Their intercessory work is limited. There’s a statute of limitations on that. Wouldn’t you rather have someone who always lives to make intercession for you? 

By the way, who’s the “them” in verse 25? Who is Jesus interceding for? Us? The saints. People in our day think that saints intercede for them. That’s ridiculous. Saints don’t intercede for us. We are the saints, and Jesus Christ intercedes for us. In fact, let me read verse 25 and replace all the pronouns for you so that it’s absolutely clear. He’s what the author of Hebrews is saying. 

25 Consequently, [Jesus] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through [Jesus], since [Jesus] always lives to make intercession for [the saints].

Saints don’t intercede for us. We are the saints. And Jesus intercedes for us. Jesus sits before God the Father and says, “They belong to me. My blood paid for their sin. They are mine.” And we are able to draw near to God because of what Jesus has done for us.

Some of you might ask, “Well if Jesus is interceding for us, do we need to intercede for one another? Is there any reason to even pray, if Jesus is interceding on our behalf before the Father?” The answer is “Yes, we still need intercessory prayer.” In fact we have examples in Scripture of both the Holy Spirit and God the Son interceding for us and helping us pray (see Rom 8:26-27). They, in a sense, take our feeble prayers, clean them up, and then present them to the Father.

The church father John Chrysostom illustrated it this way. He spoke of a young boy whose father was away on a trip. And this boy wanted to present his father with something that would please him when he returned. So his mother sent him to the garden to gather a bouquet of flowers. The little boy gathered a sorry bouquet of weeds as well as flowers. But when his father returned home, he was presented with a beautifully arranged bouquet, for the mother had intervened (she interceded), removing all the weeds. That’s how our prayers are received in the throne-room of God. Our prayers to God are a mixed bag of weeds and flowers. But Jesus, our intercessor, takes them and perfects them before the Father. 

This idea of Jesus praying and interceding for us shouldn’t be that surprising to us. Jesus interceded for his church when he was on earth. John 17 is an amazing chapter of the Bible that records Jesus’s prayer for the church. Some people have referred to this as Jesus’s “High Priestly Prayer.” I’ve referred to it in the past as “The Real Lord’s Prayer.” Because with the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. But in John 17, Jesus is actually praying, not teaching us how to pray. He’s actually interceding for us before the Father in Heaven (see also Luke 22:32). It’s a remarkable passage in the Bible. Jesus prays for us! Just think about that for a moment. Jesus, the God of the Universe and our Savior, intercedes for us! 

I remember once, in Croatia, we had parked our car a few blocks from the Baptist church in downtown Zagreb where my in-laws live. And we had to walk a bit to get to the church. And as we were walking, we passed this little Catholic shrine full of incense and icons. There were icons of Mary and Peter and some other Croatian saints I had never heard of before. And there were people there praying to those “saints.” They thought of these saints as mediators and intercessors. And I remember thinking to myself, “Why pray to these saints, when I can go directly to Jesus?” Why not go directly to the Son who “always lives to make intercession for them (7:25)?” Mary and Peter are rolling over in their graves seeing these people come to them instead of directly to the Lord. Peter’s not a Great High Priest like Jesus! Peter and Mary weren’t raised from the dead by the power of an indestructible life! Those “saints” (Peter, Mary, etc.) do have eternal life! But they have it vicariously through Jesus Christ, their Lord, just like you and me.  

Only Jesus has that power. And only Jesus is able to “save to the uttermost.” Does everyone see that statement in verse 25? What does that mean? Well “the uttermost” is a translation of the Greek παντελής. And παντελής is a combination of the Greek words πᾶς meaning “all” and τέλος meaning “the end.” So the idea here is the Jesus saves to “the end of all things.” He saves completely and fully. Any disagreement there? Everyone agree with that? 

The problem with the OT priesthood and the OT sacrifices is that they didn’t save to the uttermost. They were shadows and pictures of the coming priesthood. But they couldn’t save forever. The blood of bulls and goats can’t permanently take away sin. Jesus offers us permanence! Jesus offers us eternal salvation! Any takers?  

His priesthood is a better priesthood because it is backed by an oath. It is also guaranteed for eternity. And finally, here’s a third reason that Jesus’s priesthood is better. 

Jesus’s priesthood is better because it is…

3) separated from sinners (7:26-28)

Now watch this, church. This passage gets even better. “How can this get any better, Pastor Tony?” It does. Look at verse 26.

26 For it was indeed fitting 

For it was indeed “proper.” For it was indeed “seemly” or “suitable.” Philip Hughes says about this statement that, “The rendering of our version, it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, does not do full justice to the force of the original, which may better be translated, “such a high priest exactly befitted us,” that is to say, answered exactly to the requirements of the predicament in which we, as fallen creatures, were placed.” You might say it this way, “Jesus was the perfectly appropriate high priest for our needs as sinners.” It’s almost as if God had a perfect plan to atone for our sin all along!

26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent,

1 Peter 2:22 says, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” Can that be said about any other priest in the history of priests? No.

holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 

What? How can you have a priest who is exalted above the heavens? A priest has to be human. We covered that already (see Heb 5:1-2). Here’s the answer to that. Jesus isn’t your ordinary priest. He is human, but he’s more than human. He’s the God of the Universe. He created the heavens, and he is exalted above the heavens!

By the way, there are two Greek words that are typically translated “holy.” And that word for “holy” in verse 26 is not the typical Greek word ἅγιος that shows up elsewhere. It’s the Greek ὅσιος which connotes something more explicitly messianic. Psalm 16:10 (LXX) says, “For you will not let … your ‘holy one’ (ὅσιος) see corruption.” Psalm 16 is quoted in the NT with reference to Jesus’s resurrection (see Acts 2:27; 13:35). Christ is holy in a way that you and I will never be holy. 

Look at verse 27 with me.

27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, 

You see the OT priest had to do a little pre-sacrifice sacrificing. He had to offer up a sacrifice for his own sins, and then he could turn his attention to the people. Jesus has no need of that. 

27 He [Jesus] has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, 

since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 

This is so good! Jesus doesn’t offer up a sacrifice for himself. Jesus offers up a sacrifice of himself. The OT priests had to do pre-sacrifice sacrificing because they, unlike Jesus, were unholy. They were not innocent. They were stained not unstained. They were sinners not “separated from sinners.” They were like us in that way. 

But Jesus is qualitatively different. He’s the God-Man. He’s the perfect one. He’s the sinless one. He didn’t have to offer up sacrifices for himself, because there was no sin of his own to atone for. 

And this is where it gets even better. He didn’t offer up a sacrifice of a lamb or a bull or a goat because that’s not a long-term solution to mankind’s sin problem. He didn’t offer up a zoological sacrifice. He offered up an anthropological sacrifice. He offered up himself. 

You know, you’ve got to feel bad for those animals in the OT. They didn’t do anything to deserve being put to death for other people’s sins. It’s our fault that sin was brought in the world. Those animals were innocent. They died for the guilt of others. And that’s the point of their sacrifice. They were innocent. They were sinless. They were unstained. They were separated from sinners. But they weren’t exalted above the heavens. Their sacrifice was innocent, but it wasn’t permanent. 

Jesus’s sacrifice wasn’t just a sacrifice of innocent, it was a sacrifice of permanence. It’s done. What did Jesus say from the cross—τετέλεσται. It is finished (John 19:30). It’s done.

Anyone heard this before? 

Lifted up was He to die,

“It is finished!” was His cry;

Now in heaven exalted high;

 Hallelujah! what a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless, we,

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full redemption—can it be?

 Hallelujah! what a Savior!

By the way, this statement “once for all when he offered up himself” in verse 27 is the reason that we don’t celebrate the eucharist like Roman Catholics do. In the celebration of the Eucharist, there is a repeated offering of Christ’s body and blood to the people in atonement for sin. That’s a misunderstanding of the finished work of Christ. When we take communion here at church, we commemorate. We remember. We symbolize his once for all time work. We don’t reenact that work. 

Look at verse 28. Let’s finish this up. 

28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, 

Priests are weak. The law made accommodations for that with all the ceremonial cleansing and pre-sacrifice sacrificing. You don’t need that with Jesus. 

28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. 

The oath came at Psalm 110. That was approximately 1000 BC in the days of David. The law came in approximately 1400 BC, in the days of Moses. So the oath came after the law—400 years after. And the word of the oath (the λόγος of the oath) appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. 

Jesus has been made perfect forever! Not in the sense that Jesus was imperfect and then became perfect. We already saw that Jesus was holy, innocent, stainless, sinless. So he wasn’t made perfect in the sense that he became sinless. But he was “made perfect” in the sense that he was perfected as the sacrifice for our sins through his atonement. And he was perfected as our high priest after his resurrection and ascension. 

You might say it this way, “He was made complete.” Or “His High Priest status was finished. It was finalized.” That’s another way to translate this Greek word τελειόω. It’s related to that word τετέλεσται, or τελέω that Jesus uttered from the cross. “It’s finished!” “It’s done!”

This is Jesus, church. He’s the better-than priest offering up a better-than sacrifice. And he institutes a better-than covenant. Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant. 

Some of you might say, “What does that mean, a ‘better covenant,’ Pastor Tony? You didn’t really explain that enough today? Can you expound on that more?” Yes, I can. And yes, I will. Next week! Hebrews 8 is all about this better covenant that Jesus establishes.

But I’ll close with this and then we can sing together. Last time we studied Hebrews, we sang that great song by Charitie Bancroft entitled “Before the Throne of God Above.” Interestingly, and probably for you unsurprisingly, she wrote that song based upon her reading of the book of Hebrews.

Well I heard a story this last week, told by the Hebrews’ scholar, George Guthrie. Guthrie was teaching a class on Hebrews in Israel to a group of modern-day Jewish believers, what we sometimes call Messianic Jews. And Guthrie was marveling at how these Jews were resonating so powerfully with the book of Hebrews. That shouldn’t shock us. And so he wanted to sing that song with them to capstone one of his lectures. And so they sang this Gentile hymn together, “Before the Throne of God Above.” And it was okay. It wasn’t the most moving experience he ever had singing that song. 

But after they finished, one of the female Messianic Jews asked, “Can we sing Ram Venisa haMashiach?” which means “High and Exalted is the Messiah.” And so they sang that song. And they raised their arms in praise of Jesus, their Messiah. And as Guthrie tells this story, he remembers in that moment the tears that filled his eyes as this room full of Christian Jews lifted their arms and sang. And it was a reminder to him of why this book (Hebrews) was written, and who it was written to. 

And I can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, the original audience of the book of Hebrews… maybe they responded similarly after receiving this letter? Maybe they were cut to the quick about how great and awesome a messiah Jesus Christ is, and how he’s presented in this letter? 

And maybe we as a room of mostly Gentiles will never totally understand what that group of Jews were feeling when they got this letter. But I think we can get a sense of it. And our eyes might even fill with tears. Because we can understand just how precious Jesus is to Jews and Gentiles both. And we can understand how precious the gospel is. Because the gospel is, as the apostle Paul says, “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Rom 1:16, NIV).