Hebrews 7:20-21
"And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:(For those priests [that is the priests of Israel, out of the order of Aaron; from the tribe of Levi] were made without an oath; but this [this priesthood of Melchizedek] with an oath by him who said unto him, [which of course, is from God Himself] The Lord sware and will not repent, [or change His mind]. Thou [speaking of this priesthood of Melchizedek of which Christ is the epitome] art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec;)"
And remember that was sworn in an oath from God Himself and nothing could settle it more, that Christ is a Priest after the order of Melchizedek by virtue of the oath of God placed upon His person.(Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 6:16-18) Now verse 22.
Hebrews 7:22
"By so much (that is by God swearing in an oath that Christ would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek) was Jesus made a surety of a better testament."
Here we have “a surety” and “better”. And the other word for testament is covenant or testament and they seem to be interchangeable. Now I’m not going to comment on that word covenant in this verse, because we’re going to be picking it up again a little later in chapter 8 and I will enlarge on it then. But we still have to realize now that we’re coming out of one system and God is bringing in another. We all know what a surety is; the guaranty for something that the testator is to do for example when we buy an expensive auto it come with a 150,000 mile warranty and that covers such things as changing of the autos oil ever 3000 mile by the dealership. Well we have the guaranty that God will do as He has promised through Christ as He is our surety of the New Covenant sealed in His Blood. When we come through the Lord's last supper or marriage feast or New Covenant meal we're identified as being in His flesh and the Blood in His likeness of death we become one with Him, we have become a God-child and are sealed in Him through His Blood.
Of course, that is one reason there is so much confusion across Christendom. They will not separate these two entities so that it’s simple and easy to understand. But the Law has to be set aside. It’s done. It was crucified at the Cross. And God has ushered in now this whole new system, or economy, of Grace and His now New law. Which becomes written in our heart and impressed on our minds and is adhered to in the power of the Holy Spirit now abiding or indwelling of us.
Alright, now we’re going to come back to verse 23 and see the difference between the priests of Israel and this priest, Jesus the Christ, after the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7:23a
"And they (the priests of Israel) truly were many …"
Well, that stands to reason. They had regular schedules of all these numbers of priests as to when they would serve in the Temple Worship. And then of course, as the next verse says, or down a little further, they’re going to die. And in their place will come up new young men, always filling the ranks of the priesthood to keep fulfilling all the rituals there at the temple. But only one and once a year was he allowed to enter behind the veil and we'll see this a little later as well.
Hebrews 7:23
"And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:"
They were human and when the old grim-reaper knocked, they went just the same as anybody else. And so their priesthood would end and a new one would come in and it was in the nature of the then high priest whether Pharisee or Sadducee. Then verse 24, what’s the first word again? "But..." Now the flipside! We’re not under that system of Israel’s priests that would live and die and be replaced and die. No. We are under a whole new system.
Hebrews 7:24a
"But this man,…"
Remember I pointed out that Paul refers to Him - in fact we’d better go back and look at it. Let’s read this verse and then we’ll go back.
Hebrews 7:24a
"But this man (this Jesus, the Son, a priest after the order of Melchizedek) because he continueth ever,…"
Remember what we said about Melchizedek’s priesthood last time? He was without beginning and without end which simply means that there is no evidence of his family record known or recorded. But is there one some place? Yes, in the books of Enoch and Jasher (means to draw a ridged straight line between (ancient Hebrew) well righteous, most uprightness) both of which were removed form the Bible back around the 300 to 1000 AD in one of the Catholic councils. Jasher clears or fills the ancient path of right-wise-ness. Here's what we don't see the over lap of Bible people in relationship to each other from Noah on up, this requires a timeline study which will help our learning. But on this sit is not likely to happen because we'd need to be able to post a timeline graph which don't cut and paste every well. Or do a spread sheet but they don't copy every well either. Look back at verse 3:
Hebrews 7:3
"Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually."
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