6 Great Attributes of Jesus’ High Priestly Service to You (Hebrews 7)

No one is like Jesus. I have never known anyone as impressive as him. My Savior, he is also my guide, friend, leader, counselor, teacher, financial planner, advisor, coach, helper, intercessor, and pastor. I cannot imagine how I'd get through life without him and his constant aid.

It is precisely this robust aid I want you to think of as I write about Jesus as the greatest priest of all time. My reason for this is simple: we often have a small view of the Old Testament priesthood. For us, the word "priest" might conjure up images of modern clergy. We might think of robes and prayers and homilies and little help for real life.

The Jewish Christians Hebrews targeted, however, did not have such a small view of the priesthood. Their priests would guide, befriend, lead worship, offer counsel, tell them how to treat their finances, advise them on healthy life practices, intercede for them, help them deal with shame and guilt, and spiritually mentor. The Old Testament priesthood was meant to be a gift for Israel, and their role was fuller than we might initially imagine. It is this full version of priesthood I want you to think of as we consider Jesus. There is no one like him. He can serve and aid you in countless ways. But what makes him unique? Let me show you, from Hebrews 7, six reasons Jesus is the greatest priest for us.

1. Jesus Is King-Priest (Hebrews 7:1-3)

"For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.” (Hebrews 7:1–3).

The Hebrew Christians who first received this letter would've wondered at how Jesus could be a priest at all. He was not, after all, from the tribe of Levi. He was no descendant of Aaron. So Jesus could not serve as an Aaronic, Levitical priest. And if not, how could Jesus operate as the new high priest?

The answer the author gives is biblically astute and astounding. He went back to an Old Testament character we know very little about, but one whom Abraham interacted with briefly, a man named Melchizedek.

There are only four verses in the entire Old Testament about this man. First, there is a mention of him after Abraham miraculously won a battle to rescue his nephew Lot. Once the battle was over with, rich with spoils, Abraham met the king of Salem, Melchizedek. This king came out to Abraham with bread and wine. He was not only a king but also the priest of God Most High. He then blessed Abraham, confirming God's previous promises on Abraham's life. Then Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils from the battlefield (Genesis 14:18-20).

Hebrews says of this Melchizedek that he "resembles the Son of God," and there are some striking similarities between the two. First, it says Melchizedek was "without father or mother of genealogy." Though Jesus had Mary (and Joseph served as an adoptive father), the Bible teaches the Son of God incarnated, but has no beginning. He is no one's offspring. Second, Hebrews says Melchizedek "had neither beginning of days nor end of life." Though Jesus died on the cross, his resurrection gave him an endless life, and in his eternal state, he is without beginning or end. Third, both Melchizedek and Jesus, Hebrews states, are priests forever.

But I want to draw your attention first to a small phrase in Hebrews 7:3. Melchizedek's name means "the King of Righteousness." His title as the King of Salem means and the King of Peace. So Melchizedek came out to Abraham as a priest, but he was also a king. Righteousness and peace were his domain.

This is the first element of Christ's beauty as our great high priest. He is not only a priest but a king. No Israelite high priest could or would ever serve as king. And no king would ever serve as priest. Uzziah, one of Israel's better kings, tried to offer levitical sacrifices, but God struck him with leprosy. The two offices were not to mix. But Jesus is the one who can intertwine the roles. He is Priest, and also King.

From David's, Jesus is King. From Melchizedek's priesthood, Jesus is Priest. How does this benefit us? Think about it. Priests were concerned with humanity's relationship with God. They focused on things like sin, repentance, forgiveness, prayers, and personal holiness. Kings were concerned with governing justly and expanding a righteous kingdom. They concentrated on things like mercy, justice, defense, and expansion of the kingdom. Jesus, though, can focus on both. He wants to make us good with God, but also doers of good for God's kingdom. He is the King-Priest.

When you isolate one role from the other, you get an imbalanced Christianity. If the kingly role of Christ is forgotten, then only your personal relationship with God will get attention. You will forget to serve and work and pray to see his kingdom expand. If the priestly role of Christ is forgotten, then only the outward forms of Christ's kingdom will get attention. You will forget to pray, personally obey, live a life of personal holiness. We need both sides of Jesus' King-Priest role.

2. Jesus Is Worth Giving To (Hebrews 7:4-10)

"See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.” (Hebrews 7:4–10).

The author continued his argument about Jesus and his role as high priest. Since he was trying to connect Christ to Melchizedek's priestly line, he presented fascinating new evidence. He pointed out that Abraham gave a tenth of his possessions to Melchizedek centuries before the Levitical priesthood existed. Think about it. At the time Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek, Isaac was not even born. Isaac would then have Jacob, and Jacob would have twelve sons, one of whom was Levi. Those twelve sons would grow, for 400-plus years, into the twelve tribes of Israel. A few million people in number, those descendants of Abraham were enslaved in Egypt. God sent Moses, delivered them, and in the wilderness received the law of God through Moses. Only then was the Levitical priesthood established.

But who was the ancestor of the Levitical priests? Abraham, so many years earlier. It's as if the entire Levitical priesthood was "still in the loins" of Abraham. So the author teaches us that it's like the Levitical priesthood, men who were commanded by God to receive a tenth of Israel's possessions, actually gave a tenth to Melchizedek through Abraham. By proxy, since Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, they tithed to Melchizedek. The conclusion? Melchizedek's priesthood must be the greater priesthood.

But it was not only Melchizedek's priesthood the author to the Hebrews wanted to show as greater. He was also a greater person than even Abraham. Melchizedek blessed Abraham, not the other way around, and "it is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior." Abraham came to give gifts to Melchizedek, but Melchizedek came to pronounce a blessing upon Abraham.

The blessing of Abraham by Melchizedek serves as a reminder. God will not ever be outgiven. The greater blesses the lesser. The superior blesses the inferior, and the supreme God knows how to get the job done. He blesses his people. Abraham tried to come around with his tenth for Melchizedek, but Melchizedek dropped something greater onto Abraham.

Jesus' priesthood is wonderful because it turns our giving into a blessing. Jesus told us to lose our lives for his sake and the gospel's (Mark 8:35). When we do, he said, we will find our lives.

Paul told the Corinthian church to give in the financial realm. He said that if they gave sparingly, it would be like sowing sparingly. To sow sparingly, he said, meant they would reap sparingly. But, "whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Corinthians 9:6). When you give your life -- time, treasure, heart, mind, energy -- to Jesus, a blessing will return to you. Giving turns into a blessing.

I recently had a begrudging attitude regarding a ministry task (read: I did not want to go to a church meeting). I knew I was wrong, so I repented and told God I would give it my all for the people because he gave his all for them. His love for them meant I should love them as well. So I went, thinking I would give my big sacrifice of heartfelt service to God. I was giving to Jesus two hours on a Tuesday night, but judging by my prayers, you'd have thought I was committing to a lifetime on the mission field.

Then, at the meeting, the most wonderful conversations began to unfold. I started meeting people who were an answer to my prayers. Their faith and stories of God's grace electrified my heart. I was overjoyed, refreshed by the reports I heard. I needed the blessing of encouragement, but didn't know it, so God decided to pour out this blessing on me. As I spoke with each person, I began to realize what was happening. I went into the night with a desire to give God a little somethin', but he decided to pour out a blessing onto my life. I brought a meager gift, but he dropped a truckload of blessings into my life. Like Melchizedek, Jesus is an outgiving High Priest. Abraham tried to give to him, but Melchizedek turned a blessing right back upon him. It's always been this way for me. I have never been able to outgive God.

3. Jesus Changed Our Relationship With the Law (11-14)

"Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.” (Hebrews 7:11–14).

In the next paragraph, the author mentioned how perfection was not attainable through the Levitical priesthood. A change in the law had to come, making way for the Melchezidekian priesthood. When Jesus came and died on the cross, he fundamentally changed our relationship with the law of God.

If Jesus had not come, the book of Romans would've been a very short epistle, ending before the completion of the third chapter. There, Paul taught that humanity is divided into three camps. Societies are either Romans 1, Romans 2, or Romans 2-3 societies. In the first, a society rejects the revelation of nature and begins to worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. This leads to the inevitable worship of sex and the perversion of it to astonishing degrees. Soon, everyone calls evil good and good evil. In the second, a society is moral, and they know it. They think themselves approved for their goodness, all the while ignoring the fact they can't even obey the moral laws they discovered or concocted. In the third, a society is engulfed in religion, sometimes fanatically so, with laws and rules to govern them which flow from said religion. They believe themselves superior for their religiosity, but everything about it is external. Their hearts haven't been delivered from sin.

All three societies are guilty before God. Paul wrote, "all are under sin" (Romans 3:9). He continued, "None is righteous, no, not one. No one understands; no one seeks God" (Romans 3:10). He concluded that by the law "the whole world is held accountable to God. For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:19-20).

If Jesus had not come, that would have been the end of the human story. The perfect law of God would've decimated all of us, leaving us without hope of returning to paradise with God. We would never be free in his presence, as Adam and Eve were, again. Hope would be lost.

However, Jesus did come. So Paul wrote, "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law..." (Romans 3:21). He continued to write by declaring how redemption comes through Christ. He came and served to satisfy the wrath of God for sinful humanity. He fulfilled the law for us.

Jesus did not only fulfill the law for us, but he refreshed the law for us. He brought it back to its core: to love God and love our neighbor. Paul said, "Through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Galatians 5:13-14).

Jesus went even further. He fulfilled the law, refreshed the law, and now helps you keep the law. God did what the law could not do "in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Romans 8:4). This is another way of saying that after fulfilling the law for us, Jesus, by the Spirit, helps us obey the very law we could not previously obey.

4. He Generates Inward Hope and Upward Access (15-19)

"This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” (Hebrews 7:15–19).

Here's the key phrase: "A better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God" (Hebrews 8:19). The old covenant didn't have this brand of hope. In that system, the worshipper had no hope of true inner transformation, but we have "a better hope." The law was, he said, weak and useless for personal transformation. It could never perfect the worshipper. But the righteousness of Christ makes a way for the righteousness of you.

As a result, we have hope of inward change. But we also have access to God, and it is precisely this access we need to experience inward change. Transformation will not come without God. We need him to shape us. He is the one to develop our character and transform our minds. We have hope of change by drawing near to God.

We should not silently sit and try to muscle our way through temptation. We should not -- alone and despairing -- think ourselves incapable of a real change of heart. It is possible, by the blood of Jesus and the New Covenant he offers. Instead, we should draw near to God and access his resources for growth and maturity.

I have known many men over the years who came to a breaking point in their journey with God. Silently, sometimes for years, they toiled and labored, hoping for a breakthrough. Struggling in their sin, a breakthrough never came, but neither did their pursuit of God. Prayer, confession, fellowship -- all were conspicuously absent from their lives. Perhaps the only thing they had going was regular church attendance.

But then, when the breaking point came, these same men got after it. They began to seek God, tapping into the resources he made available for them. Soon, victory began to flow. What changed? Inward hope was born, and the upward access to God Christ gave them became useful. They went to God -- and the resources he dispensed -- and watched him perform miracles. Now, these same men are running in the victory and joy God has for their lives.

5. He Saves to the Uttermost Through Intercession (20-25)

"And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one 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.’ ” This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:20–25).

An old saying goes like this: "At twenty, we worry about what people think of us. At forty, we don't care what people think about us. At sixty, we find out that people haven't been thinking of us at all!" Ha! So true.

But Jesus has been thinking of us. From his place at the right hand of the Father, Jesus lives to make intercession for his people. In his high priestly work, Jesus, it says, "lives to make intercession for" his people. He is "able to save to the uttermost." Jesus' whole priesthood -- built on the better promises and oath of God -- is capable of working wherever our lives and decisions take us. He is at the right hand of God, interceding for us (Romans 8:34).

We should not have the idea that Jesus is somehow placating the Father, holding back his wrath against us. That work was a once and for all experience at the cross of Christ. Jesus propitiated (was the perfect sacrifice to take our place and judgment) on the cross. Instead, when we think of Jesus interceding for us, we should think of him continually holding up our presence and (imputed) righteousness to the Father and Spirit. Today, Jesus secures the help of the Godhead for us.

He does this so that he can save us to the uttermost. Now, the Bible teaches that the blood of Christ is sufficient for the worst sins and sinners, that anyone can be saved because of his perfect sacrifice. This is how we sometimes think about this phrase: "He is able to save to the uttermost." But the author is not talking about justification (reaching a lost sinner). Instead, he is talking about people who already belong to Christ. Positionally saved (justified), they require practical salvation, help, and victory over sin today. Jesus can go to the uttermost of all our experiences to help get that job done. He can save to the uttermost. This speaks of the degree (furthest), time (always), and distance (everywhere) of Jesus' right now priesthood. There is no situation Christ can not help you out of and through.

6. He Is Perfect Forever (26-28)

"For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He 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. 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.” (Hebrews 7:26–28).

As our Great High Priest, we must know Jesus will never lose his position. Other priests died, and others replaced them. But Jesus, who was holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens, came down for us. He engulfed our unholiness and guilt on the cross, put up with its shame, and joined himself to sinful humanity. But, after the cross was said and done, he rose and ascended to the right hand of the Father, back to glory. There, after offering that one perfect sacrifice, he was"made perfect forever."

Jesus will never lose his position. He has no need for a replacement. He is perpetually our King-Priest. He will forever serve his people. For these Hebrew-Christians, the lesson was of great importance. They didn't need to turn to anyone or anything else. No longer did they need the high priesthood in Jerusalem. It could not aid them. Only Jesus could. And he would never be dethroned.

Modern believers need the same enlightenment. We must know how Christ is the perfect intercessor, friend, counselor, and teacher. Priestly work is personal work, and Jesus is up for the task. Original priests physically inspected the worshippers, heard confessions, and put their hands on the sacrifice. They ate with the one who sacrificed. Their work with the worshipper was close and intimate. Jesus, as our high priest, is willing to engage with us. He is not distant, but close, right now ready to aid us in our quest to live our lives for him today.