Heb 7:20–28 — The Priest Who Lives Forever

If there is one thought that comes through in this whole section, it is that this priest, that is Christ, is a priest who never dies, a priest who lives forever. And so that is the title of the sermon, the priest who lives forever. We see that throughout the text repeatedly. For example, in verse 16, he became a priest by the power of an indestructible life. And again, in verse 17, 23, it says that the priests of the old covenant, the Aaronic priests, were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in their office. But this priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

That is the main thought. If you come away with anything, come away with that. That is the main point of our text, that we have a priest who lives forever. Now just to briefly remind ourselves of the context here, last week we focused on the fact that the priesthood has changed. In the previous text, the emphasis in verses 11 through 19 is simply on the fact that the priesthood has changed.

That is, the old covenant priesthood, which was a priesthood that was established in the time of Moses and Aaron. Aaron was the head high priest, and then his lineage of priests who came from him were the high priests of the old covenant. But in the New Covenant, we have a priest who is far superior to the priests of the Old Covenant because this priest, Jesus Christ, is a priest after a different order. He is not a priest after the order of Aaron. He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. We talked about Melchizedek at length in the previous couple of sermons.

The main point there is that the author of Hebrews is looking at Psalm 110. Psalm 110 is this prophecy speaking about the exaltation of Christ. And in that prophecy, David as a prophet is speaking about the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. And in that prophecy, it says, the Lord has sworn an oath and will not change his mind. You, that is addressing the father, addressing the son, you are a priest forever.

Not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek. And so the author of Hebrews draws upon Psalm 110 verse four as his main argument to show and to prove that there has been a priesthood change. The order has changed. And he is drawing this out to draw out the implications of that for our understanding of the newness of the new covenant. There has been a transition from the old covenant to the new.

For example, in verse 11, he says, if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, and the word Levitical there is interchangeable with the word Aaronic, Levi, Amram, Kohath, Aaron, so it is the same line. That if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood or the Aaronic priesthood, or under it, or on the basis of it, the people receive the law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, as Psalm 110 says? And so he is arguing that when God gave the law at Mount Sinai to the people, he did so on the basis of the Aaronic priesthood. And he is arguing that law and that covenant that God made with the people was a weak and passing covenant, a temporary covenant, as proven by the fact that the priesthood, on the basis of which that covenant was made, was a weak and temporary priesthood. Therefore, if the priesthood changes, that means that the covenant also changes.

And he is going to pick that up in the next chapter, in Hebrews chapter eight, when he talks about the new covenant. He quotes that passage from Jeremiah 31, that God is going to make a new covenant, not like the covenant that he made with Israel, when he brought them up out of the land of Egypt. And he is going to conclude in Hebrews 8, verse 6, that as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is a priestly ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant that he mediates is better. So there again, that connection between the covenant and the priesthood.

We saw that back in 7 verse 11, on the basis of the priesthood, the people received the law. And then again in chapter 8 verse 6, he says, since Christ has received a better priestly ministry after the order of Melchizedek, that means that he is also the mediator of a better covenant, that is the new covenant.

But today, we are going to focus upon What specifically has changed about this priesthood? We are going to focus on three points of contrast between the Aaronic priesthood and Christ’s priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek. And it is very simple. If you look at our text, you can see these three points just in order in our text.

Appointed Priest by Divine Oath

The first difference that the author of Hebrews brings out is that this issue of the oath. Christ was appointed priest by a divine oath, that is in verses 20 through 22, whereas the Aaronic priests were not. Then the second major point of difference between the former priesthood and this new priesthood in Christ is in verses 23 through 25, that the priesthood of Christ continues forever, whereas the priesthood of Aaron and his sons was passed on from one mortal man to the next. But Christ holds his priesthood permanently. And then the third point of contrast is in verses 26 and 27 that unlike the priests of the old covenant, Christ is sinless and perfect. He is not a weak and sinful man like the priests of the old covenant who had to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people. So let us look at those three things.

First, he is appointed priest by divine oath. The Aaronic priests were appointed without an oath. Their priesthood was established simply by the Mosaic law. And the Mosaic law, according to our text, made nothing perfect. That is in verse 19. The law made nothing perfect. It did not have this guaranteed oath-bound character to it. They were weak priests because they were priests of a weak covenant that did not have that divine oath guaranteeing the certainty of that covenant.

But Christ was appointed by the oath of God. As Psalm 110 says, the Lord has sworn. And that word to swear in Hebrew, and also in Greek, does not mean like in modern day language of, somebody who swears a lot. Not that, it means to swear an oath. So you could translate it that way.

The Lord has sworn an oath and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. Christ was appointed in a way that is superior to the way the priests of the old covenant were appointed. He was appointed by the oath of God. The Lord has sworn an oath that will never be broken, that will never be taken back.

This is a quotation from Psalm 110, verse four, as I have said before. And this Psalm, Psalm 110, is a prophetic declaration of something that is going to happen in the future. Psalm 110 is a Psalm of David. So he is writing somewhere around 900 years before Christ. And as a prophet, inspired by the Spirit, David looked ahead to the coming of the Messiah and saw that the Messiah would be raised from the dead, exalted to the right hand of God, and that he would be, by an oath of God, installed as a priest forever.

This psalm, Psalm 110, is very similar to Psalm 2. Psalm 110 and Psalm 2 have to be read together. Remember in Psalm 2, there is a similar type of language? Now Psalm 2 is not a psalm of David, so it was probably later. But nevertheless, we still have this same idea of a psalm that contains a prophetic oracle that is looking ahead to the coming of the Messiah. Look at Psalm 2 and verse 6.

As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” This is the father referring to his son, Christ. I have set my king on Zion. Zion is a picture of heaven. I have set my king in heaven on my holy hill. And then it goes on to say, the psalmist now speaks, I will tell of the decree The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

That is also quoted by the author of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 2 in Hebrews chapter 1 and again in Hebrews chapter 5 together with Psalm 110. So these two Psalms have to be read together. And therefore, I believe that Psalm 110 is similar to Psalm 2 in the sense that we are overhearing intra-Trinitarian language, the father and the son. The father is speaking to the son, declaring that he is his beloved son, and giving him the nations as his reward. And so also the same thing applies to Psalm 110.

We are overhearing the eternal counsels of God. We should not just merely think that this is referring to something that happened in the earthly ministry of Jesus that may be like the voice that came down from heaven at his baptism, you are my beloved son. Maybe something similar happened on the day of his resurrection and ascension where the father said to him, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, sit at my right hand. Yes, we should think that, but it is not limited to that historical manifestation in time. It goes all the way back to eternity.

And that is why David, who was writing long before the coming of Christ, and the Psalms as a whole, which are filled with Messianic prophecies, can speak about what is going to happen in the future because they are overhearing this conversation between the Father and the Son before the foundation of the world. Incredible thought, is it not? What priest in the old covenant had that? Aaron never had that. He was not brought up into the divine councils and part of the intra-trinitarian divine council. No, he was a mortal man.

But Christ, his priesthood rests upon this unchangeable purpose and decree of God. It is an irrevocable oath that can never fail. And therefore, this makes Christ the guarantor of a better covenant. Guarantor is this idea of standing in surety on behalf of another. Maybe like someone who posts bail for you to get you out of prison and says, I will be the one to make sure that he shows back up in court. Something along those lines. He is the guarantor of a better covenant. The permanence of the new covenant rests upon the permanence of his priesthood, which is bound by this eternal oath.

The old covenant was not permanent. It actually did fail because of Israel’s sin. The whole story of the Old Testament is about how Israel continued to disobey God and to worship the idols of the nations around them, leading ultimately to the exile when they were sent into captivity because of their sin and apostasy. The old covenant failed because of Israel’s repeated sinfulness, but the new covenant cannot fail. Because Christ is its guarantor.

And he has that divine, eternal oath to back it up. An oath that God has taken by his own self, as we read in Hebrews chapter six, referring to the oath that God swore to Abraham. But it is the same type of idea. That Abraham received this oath because God was showing more convincingly the unchangeableness of his purpose. And he was giving Abraham this certainty. God swore by himself. He put his own being on the line. It is as if God is saying, may I cease to exist if I fail to keep my word, but we know that is impossible. God cannot not exist. He is the eternal fountain of all being. He is the eternal creator.

The old covenant is rooted in a temporary and passing priesthood. The new covenant is rooted in this eternal divine oath in which God himself swears the oath. And therefore, the new covenant cannot fail because Christ is the guarantor of it. That is the first major difference. Notice how the author of Hebrews here is doing exegesis. That is, he is reading the Bible. He is reading the Old Testament and drawing out theological conclusions from it. He says, just look at those priests in the Old Testament.

They did not have an oath guaranteeing their priesthood. But look at this oath here in Psalm 110, verse 4. Guaranteeing that Christ is a priest forever. And so he is saying this shows us then that the priesthood of Christ is not simply that he is just another high priest that comes along in this succession of priests. He is on a higher order. He is on a different plane of existence as the divine son of God who has received this oath.

The Priest Who Lives Forever

Now the second major point that the author of Hebrews draws as a point of contrast between the Aaronic priests of the Old Covenant and Christ’s priesthood, according to the Order of Melchizedek, is that he is a priest who lives forever. The title of the sermon. The Aaronic priests were prevented by death from continuing. There had to be many of them because every priest eventually died and then the next son had to come along and take his place. There was a succession of mortal men, one after the other.

But Christ remains forever. The author of Hebrews, again, is doing exegesis. He is deriving that from the word forever in Psalm 110, verse 4. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest temporarily to be succeeded by someone else? No, a priest forever. Now it is true that Jesus did die. He died as a sacrifice for our sins, but death could not hold him.

And having been raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God, he now possesses immortal life forever in heaven. And because he remains forever, he therefore possesses a permanent priesthood. His priesthood will never be handed on to another successor. And therefore his intercession at the right hand of God continues forever. The text also says, he always lives to intercede for them, verse 25. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives, since he continually lives without any gap, without any break. He always lives to make intercession for them.

There is never a moment when we as the people whom Christ represents, the people for whom he died, are without a priest. There is never a moment when we do not have a priest to stand before God for us and to represent us. You could think of that in a couple of ways, not only like it is an unbroken reality for us here, but it is also an unbroken reality forever in heaven. Forever in heaven, we are going to be worshiping the triune God through the mediation of this high priest.

He always lives to intercede for us. That means that his saving work will continue until the very end, until his purpose is completely and fully accomplished, until every one of those for whom he shed his blood is redeemed, is brought to saving faith in Christ, is preserved in the faith, and then ultimately glorified.

The Sinless Priest Who Offered Himself

The third point of contrast between the old covenant priests according to the order of Aaron and this high priest is that he is a sinless priest. The Aaronic priests were sinners. They were weak men. They had to offer sacrifices first for themselves and their own sins before they could even begin to turn around and try to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Their own sinfulness proves the inadequacy and insufficiency of the old priesthood.

But Christ is different from that. Christ is perfectly holy, innocent, undefiled, and separate from sinners, as it says in verse 26. He does not need a sacrifice to pay for his own sins. He does not need to sacrifice for himself. He has no guilt that needs to be atoned for. Other than the guilt that he willingly took upon himself, which is our guilt. His priesthood then is not compromised by his sin and by his weakness.

After all, sin and death go hand in hand. The wages of sin is death. And so part of the reason why the old covenant priest died is because they were sinful men. But this high priest is not subject to death and mortality because he is perfectly without sin.

Another difference as well under this third point is that he is both the priest and the sacrifice. That is different from the old covenant, right, where the priests are priests and then they have to get the sacrifice and offer it. He is the sacrifice himself. He offers himself as the sacrifice. And His offering is a sacrifice that is far superior to the sacrifices of the Mosaic system. His offering does not need to be repeated. His offering is once for all. His offering is sufficient. His offering fully satisfies the justice of God. So that we are accepted before God on the basis of his perfect work.

I love the way the author of Hebrews puts that at the very beginning. Remember at the very beginning of the letter, Hebrews chapter one, he is talking about Christ, about how he is the radiance of the glory of God and all that. Then he says, after making purification for sins, this is Hebrews one verse three, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. After making a definitive once for all purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. What a wonderful high priest we have.

And these three things are interconnected. The oath is connected with the fact that he is a forever priest and not a mortal priest who dies. And that in turn is connected with the fact that he is sinless because a sinless priest does not need to experience death. He is beyond that. He is beyond that realm of suffering and death. He did experience it for a time, but now he is moved beyond that. He has passed into that heavenly realm where he is, as the Alphabet says, perfected. He is perfected. That is, he has been put into that state of eschatological confirmation beyond all possibility of fall or of any kind of breach in our relationship with God.

What a wonderful high priest we have. And how wonderful it is to see that because he is such a glorious high priest, such a perfect high priest, sinless, permanent, with this oath that guarantees his priesthood, that makes him then the minister, the mediator, the priest of a better covenant, a covenant that can never be broken because of our sin.

Draw Near through This Priest

So the author of Hebrews then draws out the application of that for us in Hebrews chapter seven and verse 25. Look at this application he brings to our attention. Consequently, because of these wonderful truths about the fact that he has this oath, the fact that he is a permanent priest who lives forever, therefore, consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. He is able to save to the uttermost, or another translation would have it, he is able to save completely. He is able to save perfectly those who come to God through him.

Saved Completely

Let us dwell upon both statements there. First, the statement that he is able to save completely, and then the statement that he is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him. There is two interconnected ideas here. Let us look at that second one first, that he is able to save completely those who come to God, who come to God through this high priest, through this mediator.

What is the author of Hebrews describing there when he says, we come to God, we draw near to God? He is talking about worship. Worship is drawing near to God. We could apply that directly to us here. We are doing worship right now. We are drawing near to God through Christ. But it is bigger than that. It is a more covenantal idea that has to do with covenantal communion with God, being God’s people, and God saying, I am your God and you are my people.

Therefore, draw near to me. And worship me.” This language of drawing near is priestly language. It is the language of the priest who would draw near to God by going into the inner sanctuary and having face-to-face communion with God. Drawing near is a priestly idea.

Of course, we do that in public worship. On the Lord’s Day, we gather together as the church to come before God together. We also do that in our personal prayer lives. Whenever you are enjoying personal worship. That is the term I like for devotions. A lot of people talk about devotions. It is not wrong, but I think a better term for it is personal worship, because it has the same character as public worship, except that it is personal.

That is, we are entering into the presence of God. We are drawing near to God through Christ. Worship is not merely talking about God. It is not merely hearing a theological lecture about truths about God. It is actually approaching God and drawing near to God. And we can only do that through Christ. Notice how the text is very clear there. Those who draw near to God through Christ. Through Christ. We can only draw near to God, whether in our own personal worship, or in public worship, or even in heaven when we are worshiping God forever. We can only do that through this mediator, through this priest.

We do not approach God on the basis of our good works, or on the basis of what we do, or on how pious we have been, or our spiritual performances. We do not come to God and say, look, God, how much I have done for you. I have served the church in this way and that way, and I shared the gospel with that person, and I gave some money to a needy person, or I gave some money at church. We do not approach to God on the basis of anything that we do.

We approach God, we draw near to God, we have that sense of closeness and fellowship with God in worship, whether personal or public, only through Christ, only through our great high priest. We approach God through the eternal priest whom God has appointed. We draw near through Christ. We draw near to God through Christ by calling upon his name, by trusting in his once for all sacrifice, by relying upon his righteousness, not ours, by trusting in his continual intercession at the right hand of God for us, by believing, really it boils down to faith.

By believing that he is and that he is in the presence of God for us, that we really do have a priest in heaven right now. We should not only meditate upon the fact that in the past Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins that we might be forgiven. We should do that, but we should also relish the reality that Savior who died for us is now alive.

He has been raised, and he is now in heaven as our continual, ever-living high priest who presents our souls to God. He is the anchor of our souls. Remember going back to Hebrews 6? We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place within the curtain. The anchor of our souls, meaning that our assurance, our confidence that we can approach this holy God is grounded in the work of Christ and in his present continual intercession for us.

When we come to God, even if you are just talking about, you are sitting in your car, you are driving to work, and you are stuck in traffic, and you decide for a moment, I need to pray. As soon as you have that thought of, I should talk to the Lord right now, I need to pray, you are immediately approaching God. You are coming near to God. And as soon as you do that, you are thinking, I do not deserve this. How can I talk to this holy God? I am a sinner.

Our confidence in approaching God, then, must rest upon this foundation of actively, by an act of faith, trusting in this reality that we have a high priest in heaven right now, so that we can draw near to God, so that in our minds and our hearts, we can draw near to him through Christ. What a wonderful priest we have.

In the Old Covenant, they could not do that. The Old Testament believers did have types and prophecies and they had the sacrificial system to tell them about the coming of Christ and what he would do and to trust in his finished work, but they were not able to look to Aaron literally and trust in him and say, I know that he is there for me and that he is my savior and my mediator, that he is the anchor of my soul. They could not do that. Of course, they were able to, through that, through Aaron, look ahead to Christ and trust in Christ. But Aaron himself was a mere man, a sinful man. We have a priest who is far greater than Aaron, through this priest. We are able to draw near to God through him.

The author of Hebrews repeatedly uses this language of drawing near to God. Hebrews chapter four and verse 16, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. That we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Whatever your need is, whatever your struggle is, your temptation, or whatever trial you are going through, let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Or again, in Hebrews chapter 10, in a more corporate setting, Hebrews 10 verse 19, therefore brothers, Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he has opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, there is the corporate dimension, the house of God gathered together for worship. Let us then draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

I believe that is an allusion to baptism. We are to remind ourselves of the fact that baptism itself does not save us, but it points us to the fact that Christ has washed us in his blood. And so we draw near through this mediator, through this great high priest. But there is another aspect to our text again. Remember, I am focusing in on the application there in verse 25. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. So I was focusing on the second half of that statement, that we draw near to God through Christ, through this ever-living oath-bound priest. But notice the result of that.

The result of that, that we are able to draw near through Christ means that he is able to save us completely. He is able to save us fully. He is able to save us to the uttermost. I believe that the author of Hebrews here is referring to salvation in its comprehensive nature as not just referring to our justification, but also our sanctification, our preservation in the faith, and ultimately our glorification at the end. There I am using language from the apostle Paul, justification, sanctification, and glorification. The golden chain of the order of salvation in Romans chapter eight, But I believe the author of Hebrews, although he uses slightly different language, is referring to the same concepts, the same idea. He is able to save completely.

First justification, Christ’s once for all sacrifice means that our sins and the guilt of our sins has been dealt with once for all. And we are now accepted as righteous before God through his priestly work. What about sanctification? Those who have been brought near to God, who are drawing near to God, are doing so because the Spirit of Christ is working in us, not only forgiving us and justifying us, but also transforming us, granting us that faith by which we draw near to God, and sanctifying us and making us holy. So justification, sanctification, preservation. That is another element of the order of salvation.

Christ always lives to intercede for us. His priesthood never ends. It is currently going on now in heaven. And therefore he is actively caring for his sheep, caring for his people, making sure that our faith does not fail, strengthening us in times of temptation. He is preserving us because we are coming to God through him. And then finally, glorification. Christ will finish the work that he has begun in us in this life. It began with effectual calling and justification, but he is going to bring it to the end. He is going to bring us all the way into the promised land.

I am referring there to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four talks about the fact that Joshua, He did not truly give people rest in the promised land. He did in a temporary way, help them divide up the land after they defeated the Canaanites. But the author of Hebrews says, Joshua did not really give them rest in the land.

Only Christ does that, and Christ will bring us finally and perfectly and completely into that promised land, that promised eternal inheritance, heaven, the new creation, when all sin and sorrow is done away with, and we are perfectly and finally in the presence of God forever.

That is what our great high priest does. Because of these wonderful features of his priesthood that make him superior to the priest of the old covenant, because of his permanence of his priesthood, because he is the priest who lives forever. As a result of that, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.