PASTOR OLUWASEYI OSANYINBI
Melchizedek was an Old Testament character who appeared on the scene all of a sudden in the Book of Genesis and was not spoken about again until He was mentioned in the Book of Psalms as touching a prophecy concerning Divine order of Priesthood of Jesus. The Book of Hebrews finally helps us understand that the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is in the order of Melchizedek.
When Abraham met Melchizedek, he was so sensitive that he could recognize Him as someone who deserved to be worshiped and to be offered a tithe of all. Melchizedek spoke about eating bread and wine with Abraham. In the communion of Jesus with His disciples using bread and wine, it signified that Melchizedek was a typology of Him.
In the book of Hebrews, Paul used his writings to bring down the reputation of the Fathers, Prophets and Angels that was already built in the minds of the Hebrews Church. He even brought low the first rest they partook of, and told them of another rest Jesus promised, a better rest.
[biblegateway passage=”HEBREWS 4:12-16″ display=”HEBREWS 4:12-16″]
Jesus is the Word and everything that comes out of Him is the Word. Only the Word (Jesus) can discern thoughts or actions emanating from either the Soul or Spirit. It may shock us to know that we might not even know the intentions of our heart. It takes the Word to accurately judge them.
When the Word speaks, it is like wielding a double edged sword. When He speaks light is released to crush every undesirable thing along the line. His word separates bone from marrow and soul from spirit.
Jesus has been raised as a High Priest who is touched by our infirmities. He can understand the issues we go through and administer God’s word unto us accurately so that we can be healed.
Jesus was tempted in every way possible and he stood the test. He is more than qualified to speak on our behalf and that is why He is our advocate.
The Throne of Grace is the place that has been instituted to take away our infirmities. We need to be bold to approach the throne because we have a High Priest there. Very important to note that Jesus did not go through our feelings and temptations in a super-natural manner, rather He actually did go through them practically.
The Infirmities that our High Priest promised to take away might not necessarily be sins, it could be in the form of weaknesses.
However, the high priest has a way of seeing defects in the offerings of men and could tell whether it is acceptable or not.
Sincerity with God is very key in our relationship with the High Priest, we should learn how to open up to our High Priest (Jesus) because Jesus was in all points tempted. And because of this, we are to come to the throne of Grace to meet Jesus our High Priest. On the Judgment day, we would have no excuses if we do not come to meet Jesus our High Priest.
[biblegateway passage=”Hebrews 9:1″ display=”Hebrews 9:1″]; [biblegateway passage=”1 Timothy 1:19 ” display=”1 Timothy 1:19 “]
The Temple of Solomon was a big mistake in the operations of God. Solomon ignorantly barred people from God as opposed to the Tabernacle of David which gave everyone free access to God, but God promised to restore the Tabernacle of David and that is what the death and resurrection of Jesus did for us.
The first Covenant in the Old had divine instructions for service, a priesthood and a tabernacle for worship. The Priesthood of Jesus is to help us deal with different manifestations of death. Death is portrayed in ignorance, foolishness, stupidity as touching the will of God. Jesus’ sacrifice put paid to death.
The gifts and sacrifices of the Levitical Order could not even make the priests perfect as touching the conscience. Those things were mere impositions for the time being. Christ came with a better and perfect tabernacle that is not made by hand.
Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption for us as opposed to the annual pardon the Levitical priests obtained for the people of Israel. Eternal redemption has nothing to do with the doctrine of eternal salvation that has been around for quite some time. The salvation we have from Jesus is able to keep us till the end but we can of ourselves walk away from that salvation.
The whole story of Israel could be distracting, the real thing was what was happening in the tabernacle. Without the operations in the tabernacle, there was no service unto God. Their service in the tabernacle was what prevented God’s judgment for Israel. As pertaining our service to God, we must be able to stop death in everything and everyone we meet.
Funny enough to know that God was not even pleased with their service, he just had to endure till Jesus came.
The conscience plays a pivotal role in our salvation experience. The Old Testament dealt with the periphery of the problem of conscience but the New Testament is directed at the core problem of man which is the conscience. We can not be perfect if our conscience is not purged from dead works. We can only serve the living God acceptably with a purged conscience.
The blood of Jesus is potent enough to purge our conscience. The blood is not to protect us from accidents or demons so pleading the blood of Jesus is an act of ignorance. God has given His angels charge over us to keep us from harm’s way. We must learn the right application of our spiritual resources.
We need to be confident in Jesus, He is a worthy, reliable and trustworthy mediator of the New Covenant. We can only be right with God in His name, we can never approach God based on our self righteousness. We have our cases in the right hands if we hand them over to Jesus.
Eternal salvation is different from eternal security. Eternal redemption and salvation is what Jesus had secured for us. The redemption of the Old Testament was to be sought for every year, but Jesus secured it for us once and for all.
In the Old, without the cleansing no one could approach God. The blood of goats and bulls were needed in the ceremonial cleansing.
Jesus has made a huge sacrifice which will end up taking us to where God is. Wherever God is is the the Most Holy Place. Jesus’ blood speaks eternally.
[biblegateway passage=”Hebrews 10:1-13″ display=”Hebrews 10:1-13″]
Jesus made a sacrifice for us once and for all and since then He has been eagerly waiting for a time when His enemies will be made His footstool. This can only happen when the Church comes to a place of blamelessness, when sin is dealt a decisive blow.
The enemies of God don’t want us to come into perfection. They will stop at nothing to stop us from becoming perfect. As such, we are constantly at war because we are in pursuit of perfection. We need a conscious relationship with our High Priest so that He can see us through.