We will return to Hebrews chapter 7. In our series through the book of Hebrews, this is message number 20, entitled, Blessed by the Greater. And we're going to be looking at Hebrews chapter 7, verses 4 to 10. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law that is of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." So chapter 7 opens up returning to the subject of Melchizedek and particularly the Melchizedekan priesthood. The writer began to talk about this all the way back in chapter 5 and verse number 6, but there was a necessary warning that needed to be given, a necessary encouragement that needed to be given. And so he's going to go on with this strong meat, this strong doctrine concerning Melchizedek because he's confident. He's confident that his readers will respond. He's confident that they'll be diligent to listen well, to understand. He's confident that they're going to receive the warning that he has given to them. And he presents, in the opening of chapter 7, he presents the person of Melchizedek, who seems quite an obscure figure from very early in the Old Testament. Again, mentioned only in Genesis chapter 14, in three verses there, in one verse in Psalm 110, and mentioned nowhere else in the Bible except for in the book of Hebrews, where he is mentioned several times. Now, the writer accomplishes quite a lot in these first three verses by presenting the person of Melchizedek. And so what we were able to see from what he has told us, Melchizedek was a man who lived at the time of Abraham. He was a Jebusite king of Salem or Jerusalem. His name, Melchizedek, indicates that he was part of the Jebusite dynasty in Jerusalem that we know from the Bible lasted for at least 600 years beyond him. He was not only a king, but he was also a priest of the Most High God. He was then a believer. independent of Abraham. He's outside of Abraham's descent. Again, he would trace back, if his lineage were given, he would trace back to Ham of Noah and, of course, Abraham was ascended from Shem. His priesthood was before and it was greater than that of the Old Covenant. His priesthood was independent of genealogy. If you recall after the return from Babylon to Jerusalem, in Ezra and Nehemiah, as they were sorting out the records of the people and tracking their genealogies, those that could not prove to have been part of the tribe of Levi Though they weren't excluded from Israel, so to speak, but they were not permitted to serve the temple once it was rebuilt. They had to prove that genealogy. Well, the priesthood of Melchizedek is independent of any sort of genealogy or descent. It's independent of the nation of Israel. It is a priesthood, in fact, for the nations. His priesthood order is forever. The writer of Hebrews picking up on the fact that there's no termination, there's no beginning of it, there's no ending of it indicated in the Bible. And again, the writer of Hebrews, as he's reading these Old Testament passages, he is reading them as they are presented and interpreting them in the context in which they are presented. Now, most importantly, the writer of Hebrews tells us there by the end of verse number three, that this man, Melchizedek, was an intentional type of Christ. And they use that term type in the biblical theological sense of type. He's presented to us in the Bible in a way that deliberately foreshadows the priesthood of Jesus Christ. It's not just that there's some similarities. It's not just that, well, we could maybe see some correspondence or we can draw some sort of analogy from this with Melchizedek and this with Jesus. Now the writer is telling us very plainly, He was made like the Son of God. He was made a type of Jesus Christ. So this is intentional, which is what a biblical theological type truly is. And that fact is also confirmed by Psalm 110 and verse number 4. In Psalm 110, as David envisioned his Lord, the anointed Son King, sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven until such time as he returns to the earth to destroy his enemy nations and to rule over the nations, is declared priest. after the order of Melchizedek. That's Psalm 110 and verse number 4. Now to this point, the writer has primarily just rehearsed facts. about the person of Melchizedek. Facts from Genesis chapter 14 verses 18 to 20 and Psalm 110 and verse 4. Now again he does refer to the way that he's presented and things that are not said about him and he pulls out the significance of that. But he proceeds to cut straight He proceeds to put together the biblical record to give us mature teaching on the priesthood of Jesus Christ. So now as we look at verses 4 to 10, he is continuing this record of Melchizedek, again relying primarily on the Genesis account, as he draws important conclusions from the Old Testament. Now the controlling theme of this letter is the superiority of Jesus Christ. It seems like it would be impossible to just read this letter and miss that fact, that over and over again you're going to encounter Jesus being compared to and contrasted with and shown to be better, better than, The writer, as sort of a mechanism or as a device in this letter, is continually putting lesser and greater alongside of each other so that the difference can be evident, it can be seen. But ultimately, The writer's aim in this letter is to present Jesus Christ as superior and particularly superior to the Old Covenant in many ways and the priesthood being one of those. So here the writer begins showing the priesthood of Jesus after the order of Melchizedek is superior to the Levitical priesthood and the order of Aaron according to the Old Covenant. So as we begin to look at this passage of verses 4 to 10, we're going to see him make this point by drawing out how that Melchizedek is actually better than Abraham. So let's begin here with verse number 4. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. Now, based on what the writer has just said about Melchizedek again in this opening here in verses one to three that we looked at earlier, and particularly the fact that he was made a type of Jesus Christ, he calls them to consider. And after having read the end of chapter five and chapter six, we see the weight behind these words. This word for consider, it means give attention. to look at attentively, to look at with discernment and understanding. Now earlier he was worried they had become lazy in listening, but here he calls them to the most active and attentive listening. I want you to consider this. So he's starting to draw some conclusions. Again, primarily in those first three verses, he just presented facts that the biblical record gives us And he's beginning to draw some conclusions from that by comparing again, cutting straight, putting these things together. So he wants them to listen attentively. This is where he wants them to employ that diligence that he talked about in chapter six. He said, you've been very diligent in serving the saints, and I want you to show the same diligence in listening as well. And so he's calling them to it. He wants them to follow along carefully and to understand how this fits together, how this is put together. Now the writer picks up on something that seems maybe random or inconsequential. In other words, again, it's hard sometimes for us to read the Bible without, maybe I should put it this way, sometimes I think we need to check our baggage at the door when we go to read the Bible because we bring so many things, so many things to it that can oftentimes cloud and just sort of muddy up the waters, and we're missing what is actually there in the black and white. So the writer is picking up on something as you're reading through Genesis. And again, this is the first mention of a priesthood in Genesis 14. This is the first mention of a tithe. So a tithe and a priesthood in Genesis 14. And again, if you're just curious and you're not familiar and you're reading through this, you're thinking, what does this have to do with it? Where did this come from? What does this have to do with anything? It might seem random even. But everything that's going on in Genesis with Abraham and all of a sudden he pays this tithe, this tenth of the battle spoils to Melchizedek. And this is what the writer is picking up on and what he's going to focus on. And he goes on to explain the significance of Abraham paying the tithe, but he immediately is drawing attention to the fact of it. To the fact that Melchizedek comes forth from Jerusalem and Abraham pays him a tithe. And what does that mean? It means that Melchizedek was greater, was superior to Abraham. Even though, he says, Abraham was the patriarch. And this is where you need the long E. He was the patriarch. He is the patriarch par excellence. He is the father, literally, Father Abraham. There is none greater in the history of Israel. And that's, again, that's something hard maybe for us to hear. Think about being in the first century, having been raised in Judaism and tracked your, you know, your descendant from whatever tribe and whatever that it was, and then to hear someone say that there's someone greater than Abraham. How could that even be possible? I doubt that they could really even conceive of that possibility. How could someone be greater than Abraham? He is the greatest. He is the father. Now, Moses would be a close second in Judaism. They hold Moses in very high regard and very high esteem, but I still don't believe they would look at Moses as greater than Abraham. They would still see Abraham as greater than Moses because he is the father. So again, we're reading this and it probably doesn't It hit us just how profound, how shocking of a statement that the writer is making here. And again, he's drawing this out of the account and the record in Genesis 14. The greatness of Melchizedek is highlighted by the fact that Abraham paid him tithes, paid him a tenth of the spoil. A tenth of the spoil, by the way, that Abraham, along with his armed servants, secured. They did that. They fought that battle. They garnered those spoils. Of course, we know Abraham in the end wouldn't keep any of it. But he paid, before he did anything with it, he paid a tenth of it to Melchizedek. So what we see in Genesis 14 is that Abraham submitted to Melchizedek. Maybe there's some backstory there that we're not given, but nevertheless, that's what happened. Abraham submitted to Melchizedek. Abraham honored Melchizedek with a tenth of the spoils that he won over those kings. So the more that you think about it, it's the stranger that this encounter in Genesis 14 and this action on the part of Abraham seems to be. And the writer is going to proceed to draw out implications, but he immediately says, I want you to consider, to think about how great Melchizedek must be if Abraham paid him tithes of the spoils. Verse five, and verily, They that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham." Now here he is referring to not explicitly the account in Genesis. Now he's referring later to the Old Covenant that's referred to here as the law. According to the Old Covenant, The tribe of Levi was elevated above the other tribes. They did not receive inheritance of land. The other tribes received an actual portion of the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the Levites did not receive, and in fact, God said of the Levites, they wouldn't receive a portion like the other tribes. He would be their portion. He would be their inheritance. And so they did not receive inheritance, but they were actually honored by the other tribes with tithes and just certain allotment among each of them. So the Levites were in a sense scattered among the tribes and had sort of apportioned places. They served the temple and the tabernacle and then later the temple they served as the priests and all of these sort of things. But of course they didn't take that to themselves. They were chosen to this by God. God designated the tribe of Levi. The twelve tribes didn't get together and have everybody nominate somebody for this job. God designated the tribe of Levi and the commandments concerning them were given in the Old Covenant that he's referring to here as the Law. The livelihood of the Levites was supplied primarily by the tribes of Israel. who they served and the tribes of Israel were commanded to pay tithes to the Levites. One reference Numbers chapter 18 verses 20 to 36. Now when you go back to the Old Covenant and you look at all the tithing laws it's more complex than this but I don't want to get into all the details of it. But the Levites would receive the tithes from the other tribes. And then from what they received, the first thing that the Levites would do when they received that tithe was they were to pay a tenth of that to the Aaronic line of the priests within the tribe of Levi. As best as I understand it, the Aaronic priests actually then received a double portion of the tithes. And so the writer is picking up on this. And again, he's not getting into all the details. Of course, the Levites, then they would take their share. And then there was a certain cycle where they had to set aside a certain amount for the fatherless and the widows, the poor and such that were among them. And there was various things. Also, this had to go toward the services of the tabernacle. Some of it went to the reward of the feast. Again, it's more complex in those terms, but the broader point is that the tithes that were commanded of the tribes were all paid to the Levites. So what's the writer picking up on here as he's going back to this reference to the Old Covenant and bringing in the Levites? He's picking up here again on a line of lesser to greater. And even though the Levites were descended from Abraham just like the rest of the tribes, they were superior to them in receiving tithes from them. The Levites did not pay tithes to the other tribes. It did not work that way. It worked the other way. All the other tribes paid tithes to the Levites according to the Old Covenant. So in other words, the writer is just pulling out that there's an evident distinction here. There's sort of a hierarchy. There's a pecking order, whatever that you want to call it, and the Levites were receiving the tithes, then they were essentially at the top of that order, even though those they were receiving from were descended from Abraham just like they were, but nevertheless, God put them in that position. Now he continues on, verse number six. But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. So now the writer shows a contrast. He brought up how the Levites received tithes from the other tribes. The greater received tithes from the lesser in this instance, with the Levites and the other tribes. But Abraham, Abraham was the father. the patriarch. So necessarily Abraham is greater than all the tribes who came from him, the tribe of Levi included. But here's a man, Melchizedek, who wasn't descended from Abraham at all. He is from a totally different line, which would make him lesser in the reckoning of the Jews. So in their mind, that would make him lesser than Abraham, not greater. But it's actually the opposite. Abraham, again, descended from Shem, Melchizedek descended from Ham. However, Melchizedek received tithes from the greatest of them, Abraham himself, Father Abraham, the patriarch. The consequence is then that Melchizedek must be greater than Abraham. That's what he called them to give their attention to as he began. Not only did Melchizedek receive tithes from Abraham, but Melchizedek blessed Abraham. He blessed the one, the writer of Hebrews says, who had the promises. The one who received the covenant. Abraham had the promises from God that he would be great. God said, I'll make you great. that the nation from Him would be great, that they would inherit the land, and that through them God would bless all nations of the earth. Meaning what? Meaning that that nation that God had chosen and promised from Abraham would be exalted above all the other nations of the earth. But this man, Melchizedek, blessed the father Abraham. In other words, he mediated the blessing of the Most High God to Abraham in Genesis 14, 19. So, in other words, the writer here is actually drawing out of this account in Genesis and giving two proofs, you might say, of the superiority of Melchizedek to Abraham in the fact that Abraham paid him tithes and Melchizedek blessed, in turn, Abraham. Verse number seven, and without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. So, he's saying this is without dispute. The less is blessed by the greater. The greater is the one that blesses the lesser. In other words, he is clearly superior. Clearly superior. And the writer is essentially appealing here to just clearly revealed evident truth. Abraham blessed his servant. Abraham blessed his son, Isaac. Isaac blessed his sons. Jacob blessed his sons, and on and on down the line. In other words, it's an evident truth that the greater is blessing, the lesser. He says, and in this case, it was Melchizedek who blessed Abraham. He is clearly superior to Abraham. You might even say better than Abraham. Then verse number eight. And here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. Now he returns to the Levites here at this point. The Levites were priests according to the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant established the superiority of the priests in that they received tithes from other tribes and they performed their various functions and duties. But he's focusing on this issue of tithing because Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. But he brings up the fact that those men died. Those priests that received those tithes, those Levites that received those tithes from the other tribes died and would be succeeded by another. Now, he's actually gonna develop this important point more concerning this built-in mortality of the Old Covenant Levitical priesthood and what is so important about that. He's gonna develop that more later, but he actually brings that up here. The point is, is those priests, so when you think about the actual men of the tribe of Levi who served as priests, who received tithes, and who paid to the Aaronic line, who ate of it, who did everything that they had their living by it, all these things, when you think down to that level of the very men that did that, they died. And once they died, they no longer received tithes. You say, well, that seems like a point not necessarily being made, but that is exactly the point the writer of Hebrews is making. Their priesthood, in other words, was limited. It was limited. And their superiority, which was a real superiority, was limited. But it was witnessed. Notice how he expresses this. of whom it is witnessed," there's one that receiveth tithes, "...of whom it is witnessed," witnessed, testified, reported, "...of Melchizedek, that he lives," and the tense is he lives, he lives continually. Now the writer is once again referring to the biblical record as it is presented in Genesis. Now, what do we know, again, from the biblical record? Well, we know that the Jebusites, which had a long occupation, who knows how long that it may have been, but hundreds of years that they had an occupation of that region. Jerusalem was their capital. They had a dynasty, we know, that lasted at least 600 years of the Zedeks that were reigning over the Jebusite nation. But we also know The Jebusites were finally conquered and Jerusalem was taken. Which means what? Which means Melchizedek did not live forever as king and priest of Salem. He was gone by the time we read about in Joshua's time. By the time in 2 Samuel 5 that David captured Jerusalem and overtook the Jebusites. Melchizedek wasn't there. He was gone. So what I'm saying is, the Bible is not saying, the writer of Hebrews is not saying, well, the Bible tells us that Melchizedek lived forever. That's not what he's saying. The point is that the way the information about Melchizedek is presented to us, it is presented intentionally to typify the priesthood of the anointed King Jesus. When you read those genealogies, so-and-so begat so-and-so and what? and he died, and so and so begat so and so, and he died, and so and so begat so and so, and he died, and on and on and on. That's the way that the genealogies of Genesis are presented, but Melchizedek is, we're given no record, no record of his birth, no record of his death, no record of his parents, no record of his descent. We're not given that record, and the writer of Hebrews is picking up on the fact that that is significant. That is significant, this omission. Why? Because Melchizedek is presented to us in order to be a type of Jesus Christ. So if we follow the argument then that the writer of Hebrews is making, Melchizedek lives so to speak, and that's sort of what he says there at the beginning of verse 9, and as I may say so, so to speak. Melchizedek lives, so to speak. Then what does that mean? Well, that means his superiority continues. The Levites died. Their superiority didn't continue. They didn't continue to receive those tithes. They didn't continue to receive that honor. Their superiority died, but the superiority of Melchizedek continues, so to speak, his order. Which it does, again, not in the person of Melchizedek, but in the person of the antitype, which is the fulfillment of the type, the substance of the shadow, as it were, in Jesus Christ. That's the point that the writer is making. He's going to continue to develop that. So the superiority of the Levites was limited and it was temporary. The superiority of Melchizedek was unlimited and unending. So if you read the Old Covenant and you read all these regulations about the Levites, about the priesthood, about the tithes and all those sort of things, you will see it's limited and it's temporary, by the very text of Scripture. By the text of Scripture, the way that Melchizedek is presented, his superiority is unlimited and unending, thus establishing the order of Melchizedek that's referred to by David in Psalm 110 and referred to here by the writer of Hebrews. Verse 9, and as I may say so, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, Abraham paying tithes, again, shows the superiority of Melchizedek to Abraham, who received the tithes that Abraham paid. So, what's he saying? He's extending. He's extending. He's saying the same holds true. If Melchizedek is superior to Abraham, he's superior to the very father of Israel. So, necessarily, then, he's superior to all Israel that descended from Abraham. So this is also the case with the Levites as well as the other tribes. But Levi, who was the father of the Levites, he says, received tithes but also paid them through Abraham. In other words, he's descended from Abraham. You can't rise above the father in that sense. Verse 10, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. This is the explanation of Levi paying tithes in Abraham. Levi was not yet born. Again, Isaac had not even been born. Ishmael had not even been born at the time that this happened. But when he was born, he was born of Abraham, Abraham the patriarch who received the promises. And so if Abraham was inferior to Melchizedek, then so is Levi, inferior to Melchizedek, even though Levi, in essence, was superior among the tribes of Israel. So ultimately, the writer of Hebrews is building up this comparison and contrasting of the Melchizedekian priesthood and the Levitical priesthood according to the Old Covenant. Now, the Melchizedekian priesthood is obviously superior, and he will expound on that as this great section continues to unfold. In other words, it's really a primary subject in this section, chapter 7 through 10. But notice something about how the writer of Hebrews reads and interprets scripture. Some of the most bizarre things that I have heard, supposedly coming from the Bible, have been in reference to Melchizedek. Some pretty bizarre things that I have heard in reference to him. One of the most bizarre funeral sermons I've ever heard, and I've heard some strange ones, One of the most bizarre funeral sermons I ever heard was preached from Hebrews chapter 7 verses 1 to 10. I'll just think about that in a moment, you know, in a funeral setting and preacher gets up and reads Hebrews chapter 7 verses 1 to 10 and proceeds to preach about Melchizedek at a funeral. And actually what he did was he took this as a proof text for predestination in the election because Levi was not yet born but paid tithes through Abraham. And yes, in case you're wondering, it's not even remotely connected to what the writer of Hebrews is saying in this passage. Again, that was a very bizarre sermon and attempt. Well, the writer of Hebrews isn't doing anything like that. He keeps coming back to what was presented about Melchizedek. and how it was presented and where it's at and sort of how it fits in with the flow of Genesis as well as the storyline of Scripture. Not fanciful, he's not making fanciful musings and other such things. He's drawing appropriate conclusions, consistent with the rest of scripture as Melchizedek was an intentional type of Jesus. Well, if Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, then Jesus is greater than Abraham and all his descendants. And his priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood of the Old Covenant. And so it might be disappointing if you were hoping to hear something spooky and mysterious about Melchizedek, but I think the reality is actually much greater.