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Hebrews 11:10
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. At Mt Horeb, God instructed the people of Israel about the different types of offerings. The first one mentioned in the Book of Leviticus is the ‘burnt offering’ called in the Hebrew the ’olah’ or ‘the offering of ascent’. This offering is fully burnt and dedicated to God; no-one else receives any benefit from it like with the other offerings. This speaks a total abandonment to Hashem without reservations. This is what Abraham was asked to do with Isaac on Mt Moriah, which he did with the ram provided by Adonai. This event took place at Mt Moriah, the place occupied by the city of Salem where Melchizedec was king. This was also the place where later, at the time when David sinfully decided to take a census of the nation Israel, an angel destroyed many people with a plague (2 Samuel 24). Under the instructions of Gad the prophet, David bought the place to build an altar so he could make an offering for Adonai. We must remember at this point that God had forbidden altars to be built in random places. The only altar to be used so far was the one in Shiloh by the Ark. This was therefore a strange command from Gad, but David also knew that at some point and time, Hashem had a place in the Land of Canaan where He would write His Name. A traditional source tells us that in order to honor both Melchizedec and Abraham, David later renamed the place, ‘Yireh-Salem’, or Jerusalem meaning: ‘He will provide peace’. What a name for a city that has seen more than its share of wars and conflicts and still waits for ‘the big one’! Oh but He will provide peace. Like Abraham we must not stop our eyes at this imperfect world. We must seek for our true homeland; desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. That’s why Hashem is not ashamed to be called our God, for He has prepared for us a city, a city that will finally see and know peace, a peace like no other city or even country in the world has ever known or seen. Not a ‘Pax Jerusalema’ enforced type of peace, but a peace from within originated by Yeshua the Messiah: the Prince of Peace Himself. This Jerusalem is the city with foundations, whose designer and builder is the Almighty God. Abba, the Father. He has the true peace-plan and road-map to peace in Jerusalem. Yes, Jerusalem will see peace; He promised it (Hebrews 11:10, 16)!
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Hebrews 7:17
"You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." In the Book of Hebrews Yeshua is spoken of as ushering a new priesthood; it even seems speaks of a change of Torah. It says, For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the Torah as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe … altar (Hebrews 7:12-13). This poses a problem. The Aaronic priesthood stems from an eternal covenant (Exodus 29:9), the Torah is established through an eternal covenant (Exodus 24:8), and God Himself doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6); how then could the levitical priesthood and the Torah be terminated?. Here is more: For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (Hebrews 7:18). What? The Torah, weak and useless? Context, context, context! The Messianic Jews of Israel had just witnessed the assassination of James, Yeshua’s brother who was also their leader, by a wicked High-priest. As Yeshua had forewarned them (John 16:2), they were now being evicted from the synagogues where they had continued worshiping God until that day. These people were at a loss so the author of Hebrews tries to comfort the Israeli believers telling them to now look up to the Temple and priesthood which are upward. He tells them: ‘Don’t worry, for the Torah appoints men in their weakness (weak because they had to make yearly offerings for their own atonement) as high priests, but the word of the oath (Psalms 110:4) … appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever (Hebrews 7:28). Yeshua is not an Aaronic priest (not a Levite; He was from the tribe of Judah), and as such not fit to serve in the Temple which is below (Hebrews 8:4) but He is a priest according to the order of Melchizedec who serves in the Temple which is above. The text then explains to us that the Aaronic priesthood being efficacious solely for the ritual purifying of the flesh, the priesthood of Yeshua serves to clean the conscience (Hebrews 9:8-14). The Levitical service is not therefore to be replaced by another, simply completed. The Aaronic priesthood was weak in that it could not save (Salvation was never the goal of the Torah), Yeshua, the priest according to the order of Melchizedec, holds his priesthood permanently (He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices for Himself every year as levitical priests do), because he continues forever Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:24-25). Now the equation is solved. The problem is that whereas people do read the Word, they read it with the glasses of a theology already established for them in childhood, so they read into the text instead of letting the text instruct them. Jeremiah the prophet tells us of the Messianic age when a third Temple with the two priesthoods serving together (Jeremiah 33:21). May that time come Adonai, even in our days! In the mean time, may we like our brethren from the Book of Hebrews find comfort in lifting our eyes upwards, towards He who is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25). |
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