In this message we will continue to consider the experience and enjoyment of Christ as the One better than Aaron.
According to Hebrews 5:6, God says to Christ, “You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Verse 10 speaks of Christ “being addressed by God as a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 7:20-21 say of Christ, “Inasmuch as He was not made a Priest without the taking of an oath (for they are appointed priests without the taking of an oath, but He, with the taking of an oath by Him who said to Him, ‘The Lord has sworn and will not regret it, You are a Priest forever’).” These verses reveal that Christ is a High Priest different from Aaron in three respects: He is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, according to the power of an indestructible life, and by the taking of an oath.
Hebrews 5:6, a quotation from Psalm 110, says, “You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” This refers to Christ in His ascension and enthronement (Psa. 110:1-4), which, in addition to His resurrection, are further qualifications for Him to be our High Priest (Heb. 7:26). Christ is our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. The order of Melchizedek is higher than the order of Aaron. The order of Aaron was for the priesthood only in humanity, whereas the order of Melchizedek is for the priesthood in both humanity and divinity.
In the Bible the order of Melchizedek came sequentially before that of Aaron. The priesthood of Melchizedek did not come in with Abraham’s descendants but with Abraham himself. The priesthood which came to Abraham was not that which is according to the order of Aaron but that which is according to the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek met Abraham with bread and wine, and Abraham gave him tithes (Gen. 14:18-20). However, Melchizedek did not come to Abraham to receive tithes from him but to minister to him the bread and wine.
One night, before He left His disciples, the Lord Jesus ministered to them the bread and wine (Matt. 26:26-28). The Bible is wonderfully consistent. Melchizedek ministered bread and wine to Abraham, and the Lord Jesus ministered bread and wine to His disciples. Partaking of the Lord’s table is related to Christ’s priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek.
What is the significance of the bread and wine used at the Lord’s table? The Lord Himself said of the bread, “This is My body” (v. 26), and of the wine, “This is My blood” (v. 28). This indicates that the bread and wine on the table portray Christ who, as the embodiment of God, has been processed that He might be ministered into us.
When Christians think of Christ as their High Priest, very few refer to Genesis 14. Hebrews 7 refers us to Genesis 14, the time when Melchizedek, king of righteousness and king of peace, met Abraham after the slaughter of the kings. Although Melchizedek was a king, he did not come as a king but as the priest of the Most High God, coming to Abraham with bread and wine. In the Bible bread denotes the life supply. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), meaning that He is the bread from heaven which gives us life. In the Bible wine signifies the blood, which accomplishes redemption in order to quench our thirst. As fallen people, we are under God’s condemnation. We are thirsty because the fire of righteous judgment burns within us. Since our thirst comes from being under God’s condemnation, water cannot quench it. Our thirst can be quenched only by some liquid of life. Wine is not water; it is a life liquid extracted from grapes, which are of life. The Lord Jesus chose wine to signify His redeeming blood, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:27-28). Melchizedek’s coming to minister the bread and wine to Abraham, the father of the called race, signifies Christ’s coming to minister Himself as the processed God into us. He was processed on the cross that He might be our life supply with the redeeming wine to quench our thirst under God’s condemnation. He is the redeeming God imparting Himself into us for our supply and satisfaction.
When the priests according to the order of Aaron are mentioned in the Bible, we are told that they were chosen and called to offer the sacrifices for sin, not to minister bread and wine to the people. They mainly ministered to God by offering Him gifts and sacrifices for sin. The priesthood according to the order of Aaron took care of God’s people mainly in a negative way. But the high priest according to the order of Melchizedek did something more. He did not go to God with the sacrifices for sin; he came from God with bread and wine.
At the time of the passover, the blood was applied and the unleavened bread was eaten (Exo. 12:13-22). The bread and wine ministered to us are the issue of the passover. This means that Christ as our High Priest today ministers into us that which has come out of His redemption. He died for us, sacrificing His body and shedding His blood. All this was accomplished before He went back to God the Father. According to the book of Hebrews, Christ offered Himself as the unique sacrifice for sin and solved the problem of sin once for all (9:26, 28). Then He brought His blood into the Holy of Holies in the heavens and sprinkled it in the presence of God, thereby accomplishing redemption (v. 12). Now, as far as redemption is concerned, Christ has nothing more to do. He is sitting on the right hand of God (1:3). However, He still needs to be our High Priest, not to go to God but to come to us. He does not come to us to deal with our sins but to minister the bread and wine, which signify Himself who, for our supply and satisfaction, was processed through death and resurrection. This surpasses redemption.
Most Christians today dwell on Christ as their Redeemer and Savior, the One who shed His blood for them, offered Himself for them, and made propitiation for their sins that God might be appeased on their behalf. But the book of Hebrews goes further than this. It unveils Christ who no longer is only a Redeemer offering the sacrifice for sin to God and shedding His blood for our sins. The Christ revealed in this book is also the One who, after accomplishing redemption, comes to us in a mysterious way in our spirit. He does not come as our Redeemer but as our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He does not come to offer anything on our behalf but to minister Himself to us in the form of bread and wine as our daily supply and our satisfaction. Many Christians are weak because they do not have much experience of Christ ministering Himself into them as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.