Sermon Tone Analysis

I. The God who speaks in Scripture

· The author of Hebrews certainly understands that the Old Testament is the Word of God –

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you hear His voice,

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith

· In most cases, an Old Testament quotation is cited as God or the Holy Spirit “speaking” so that it is ultimately not the human authors of a given book of the Old Testament that is speaking in and through the text but God wh still speaks to God’s people (including the reader) today.

This striking feature affirms that the Old Testament is God speaking.

· The New Testament also accepts the writings of the apostles on the same level as the Old Testament.

15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,

16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

II.

The Superiority of the person and work of Christ and His High Priesthood.

· The first major theme of the letter is the supremacy of the person and work of Christ.

Christ is the eternal, preexistent Son of God, who created the world and was made human to provide atonement for his people, and then sat down in order to return at the end of time for judgment and salvation.

The book opens with a series of contrast demonstrating the superiority of Christ.

Jesus is not merely a servant like the prophets, in these last days he spoke by His Son.

As the maker of the universe, Christ is also its heir.

The angels are merely ministering servants who worship the Son.

Moses was a servant in God’s house; Christ was the Son over the house.

· On the basis of his uniqueness as a person, Christ also rendered a unique work, described in Hebrews against the larger backdrop of the high priesthood of Christ.

While this emphasis is virtually unparalleled in the New Testament, it does not represent an innovation by the author.

To the contrary, the author uses both Old Testament and New Testament text.

1 The Lord says to my Lord:

“Sit at My right hand

Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

2 The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,

“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

3 Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power;

In holy array, from the womb of the dawn,

Your youth are to You as the dew.

4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind,

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:

42 “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?”

They *said to Him, “The son of David.”

43 He *said to them, “Then how does David ain the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet” ’?

45 “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”

· Clearly the oath of God to this figure pertained to Christ!

Hence, Jesus is a priest forever like Melchizedek, as the author of of the two major Old Testament passages dealing with the priest-king

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.

19 He blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,

aPossessor of heaven and earth;

20 And blessed be God Most High,

Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind,

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek

· The first reference to Christ’ s priesthood involved his sacrifice.

Christ redeemed his “brothers” (i.e.

human beings) in that he tasted death for everyone, and thus he functioned as their high priest in making the sacrifice.

Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

· That Jesus was a high priest like Melchizedek means that he was superior to the Levitical priesthood.

The author argued that the Melchizedek of the Genesis account was a superior priest because Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abram and Melchizedek blessed Abram; thus the greater blessed the lesser.

But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.

· Christ was a priest like Melchizedek in that he did not descend from Levi, but even more so because of his eternal existence—he will never die again.

As an eternal priest, he represents a far superior priesthood.

The Levitical priest had to offer sacrifices for their own sins; Christ did not.

Their sacrifices made no one perfect; they had to keep making them year after year; Christ’s priesthood was once for all.

The Levitical priests had to be continually replaced because of death; Christ lives forever.

Finally, the Levites served in the midst of “shadows” under a covenant that had become obsolete; Christ is the fulfillment of Old Testament typology, the minister of the new covenant, which is far superior to the old.

· Jesus was prepared for his priesthood (and qualified for it) by becoming human and by suffering in this life like all other human beings.

He was also installed by the oath of God which is clearly stated in )

The Lord Gives Dominion to the King.

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord says to my Lord:

“Sit at My right hand

Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

2 The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,

“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

3 Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power;

In holy array, from the womb of the dawn,

Your youth are to You as the dew.

4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind,

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

5 The Lord is at Your right hand;

He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.

6 He will judge among the nations,

He will fill them with corpses,

He will shatter the chief men over a broad country.

7 He will drink from the brook by the wayside;

Therefore He will lift up His head.

.

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,

“You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You”;

6 just as He says also in another passage,

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

And inasmuch as it was not without an oath

· A Permanent, that is, Eternal Priest

but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.

For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

· His offering is presented in terms of fulfilling the Old Testament typology of the Day of Atonement.