Hebrews Chapter Five, According To The Order

Hebrews 5:5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” [6] As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”;

 

The two citations quoted by Hebrews’ author to demonstrate Christ’s calling to the office of High Priest belong to Psalm 2:7, and Psalm 110:4, respectively. Just as Aaron was called in Exodus 28:1, so too was Jesus called by the Father, and did not take the mantle of priesthood upon Himself.

Psalm 2 states, “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel,” Psalm 2:7-9. This verse (Psalm 2:7) is first cited in Hebrews 1:5 when the writer contrasts our Lord Jesus with the angelic order, demonstrating His supremacy to the creation by declaring Christ as the Father’s inheritor. As an earthly father leaves his estate and his livelihood to his firstborn, when Christ incarnated the Father vested Him with the prerogative of rule and judgment, being the Son of Man, as well as the Son of God.

 

We know from Acts 4:25, 26 that King David wrote Psalm 2 and the language implies a fulfillment far beyond what happened in Israel during David’s reign. The Son God promised to sit on David’s throne, the greater than Solomon of Matthew 12:42, would eternally officiate at the altar, offering once for all the sacrifice of Himself on our behalf, to save mankind from sin’s curse and the second death. Psalm 110, also written by Israel’s most preeminent Psalmist, begins with the famous prophetic verse: “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool,” Psalm 110:1. Quoted in Hebrews 1:13, the author utilizes similar rhetoric when citing both Psalms. We read from verses 5 and 13, “For to which of the angels did He ever say…but to which of the angels has He ever said…” In contrast to the mediation of angels replete in the Old Testament, Christ is a Son, glorified by His self-effacing choice to suffer death, now risen to preeminent glory at the right hand of the Father: a fact and feat never attributed to any of the angelic majesties. Like Psalm 2, Psalm 110 ascribes to the Christ, Israel’s Messiah, rule of the nations as ordained by God: “The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies,” Psalm 110:2, NASB. Verse 3 continues, “Your people will volunteer freely (lit. will be freewill offerings) in the day of Your power; in holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew,” NASB. Israel, from whom He is ruling out of (verse 2) come freely to the Christ, arrayed in His righteousness after finally turning to the Messiah. They arrive in vast numbers like the womb of the dawn produces the morning dew, covering the face of the land. They are referred to as His youth, suggesting spiritual regeneration as the Holy Spirit is poured out on Israel, Joel 2:28-32, Zechariah 12:10-14, 13:1.

 

Much has been said about the mysterious personage of Melchizedek. mentioned here in Psalm 110, and of course in Genesis chapter 14. Described in the latter as priest of God most high and coming from the city of Salem, or the city of Peace (Salem’s meaning) he blessed Abram after the battle with the kings and Abram gifted the priest with tithes. Since chapter 7 deals with the person and station of Melchizedek more thoroughly, I would merely at this point like to draw the reader’s attention to the term “order,” for now. It says “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” “Are” is a present tense pronoun, qualified by the descriptor “forever.” Christ is (presently) a priest forever. Psalm 110:4 begins, “The Lord has sworn and will not relent (lit. be sorry).” Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, slain since the foundation of the world, and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Revelation 13:8, John 1:29.

 

Christ is a priest forever according to Melchizedek’s order, drawing the Jewish mind immediately to contrasting it with the Aaronic order. If Aaron stands as the figurehead for the Aaronic order, Melchizedek then would stand for the order after which he is named, and after which Christ our Lord is likened. We are in fact told that Jesus has come, “in the likeness of Melchizedek,” Hebrews 7:15. If Aaron’s order, and all it represented stood for a covenant perpetuated by fallible men prevented from fulfilling their duties through death, the order David speaks of in Psalm 110 reflects its opposite: an older, more durable covenant whose officiator remains in office since death does not prevent him from doing so. The priesthood of the Levites came long after Abram encountered this king priest outside of the city of Salem, who was then priest of God most high. David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, clearly sought to differentiate the orders of priesthood, separating Aaron’s lineage from Melchizedek’s order, and proclaiming that the one who would rule in the midst of His enemies from Zion and have the allegiance of united Israel as King would also officiate in the order of Melchizedek.

 

Psalm 110 continues. “The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries. He shall drink of the brook by the wayside; therefore He shall lift up the head,” Psalm 110:5-7. The NIV, in place of, “the heads of many countries,” simply renders the passage, “the rulers of the whole earth.” The great day of God’s wrath has come and the earth is subdued before the Christ. Verse 1 has our Lord at the Father’s right hand until this time, and then, in verses 5 through 7, the time has arrived. The Antichrist and his coalition of kings will be punished, as will the nations that worshiped him. Verse 7 implies refreshing when He sees the travail of His soul’s accomplishment on Earth and it lifts up His head, or enlivens Him. The righteous are saved and the wicked judged in equity by One who is both King and Priest forever, according to Melchizedek’s order.