In this message we need to see that the High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec is the cause of eternal salvation. Have you ever heard that eternal salvation has a cause, origin, and author? Our High Priest, Christ, is the cause of this eternal salvation. As we shall see, He is not a High Priest according to the old priestly system, the order of Aaron, but according to the order of Melchisedec.
Aaron did not take honor unto himself but was called and established by God to be the high priest (Heb. 5:4, Heb. 5:1). This is even more true with Christ. He did not glorify Himself to become a High Priest; He was ordained by God in His resurrection, according to the order of Melchisedec (Heb. 5:5-6). Aaron, as the high priest, took care of things pertaining to God on behalf of the people (v. 1). Christ is superior to him in taking care of all our cases before God. Aaron offered both gifts and sacrifices for sins in type for the people and for himself (Heb. 5:1, 3). But Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice for sin in reality.
In Heb. 5:2 we are told that a high priest was “able to exercise forbearance toward the ignorant and straying, since he also is encompassed with weakness.” The Greek implies a feeling toward the ignorant and straying which is neither too severe nor too tolerant. It is to be moderate or tender in judgment toward their situation. The thought in this verse is a continuation of the thought in Heb. 4:15. Christ as our High Priest, though not encompassed with weakness as the high priests taken from among men, has been tried in all respects like us. Hence, sympathizing with our weaknesses, He is able to exercise forbearance toward us, the ignorant and straying ones.
As the High Priest, Christ was glorified by God through resurrection. Hebrews 5:5 says that “Christ did not glorify Himself to become a High Priest, but He Who said to Him, You are My Son, this day I have begotten You.” The word glorify in this verse replaces the word honor in the foregoing verse. With the high priest taken from among men, there is only honor, a matter of position. With Christ as the High Priest, there is not only honor, but also glory; not only the preciousness of His position, but also the splendor of His Person. Verse 5 contains a quotation from Psalm 2:7, saying, “You are My Son, this day I have begotten You.” This refers to Christ’s resurrection (Acts 13:33), which qualifies Him to be our High Priest. For Christ to be our High Priest, He must partake of our humanity, as mentioned in 2:14-18, and enter with this humanity into resurrection. With His humanity, He can sympathize with us and be merciful to us (Heb. 4:15; 2:17). In resurrection, with His divinity, He is able to do everything for us and be faithful to us (Heb. 7:24-25; 2:17).
In 5:7 we are told that Christ “in the days of His flesh... offered up petitions and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was able to save Him out of death.” The words “out of death” here do not mean that He did not enter into death and suffer death. They mean that Christ was resurrected out of death. Before He died, Christ prayed for this, and God answered His prayer by raising Him from among the dead.
Verse 6, a quotation from Psalm 110, says, “You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec.” 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 (7:26). Christ was not only resurrected from among the dead, but He ascended to the height of the universe. In the previous message, we pointed out that Christ overcame the gravitation of earth, overcoming the frustrating attack of the demons on the earth. When He entered into the air, as Colossians 2:15 reveals, He stripped off the principalities and powers and made a show of them. The Greek word translated “stripped off” means to dust off as with a feather duster. When Christ was ascending through the air, the principalities and powers came, like insects, to prevent Him from ascending. The Lord Jesus did not struggle against them; He simply dusted them off and made a show of them. After that, He ascended into the heavens where He is now sitting at the right hand of God. Whenever we touch Him, we touch the One who is above all, and we also are above everything. The attraction of the earth, the demons, the principalities and powers, and all negative things have been overcome by Him. How we need to experience the Christ unveiled in the book of Hebrews!
Christ is our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec (5:6). The order of Melchisedec is higher than the order of Aaron. The order of Aaron was for the priesthood only in humanity, whereas the order of Melchisedec is for the priesthood in both humanity and divinity. This is fully developed in chapter seven.
Aaron was established in honor to be the high priest only for his lifetime, for he was prevented by death from continuing. But, as the Son of God, Christ was ordained in glory to be our High Priest forever (v. 6). With Him there is no preventing of death. He is glorified forever to be our High Priest.
According to the Bible, there are only two orders of the priesthood — the order of Aaron and the order of Melchisedec. The order of Melchisedec came before that of Aaron. The priesthood of Melchisedec did not come in with Abraham’s descendants but with Abraham himself. We have seen that Adam was the head of the created race and that Abraham was the head of the called race. Since the created race under the headship of Adam had become a failure, Adam having failed God in His eternal purpose, God eventually gave up the created race. At the time of Babel, the created race had become altogether a land of Chaldea. Since the time of Nimrod, Chaldea was filled with idols. Idolatry is utterly opposed to God Himself. Because mankind under the headship of Adam had become a land of idols, even the Almighty God found it impossible to do anything with them. Although He gave up the created race, He could never forsake His eternal purpose which needed man for its fulfillment. Therefore, according to His economy, God called Abraham out of the fallen created race, making him the head of the called race.
We, the chosen ones of God, also belong to the called race. We all were once part of the created race belonging to Chaldea” under the headship of Adam. We all have come out of an idolatrous land. Where were you before you were saved? You were in a land of idols. In the eyes of God, everything, whether it was moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, good or bad, high or low, was an idol. Praise the Lord that He called us out of our “Chaldea”! Romans 8:29 and 30 say that God foreknew, predestinated, and called us. This calling of God is not an insignificant matter; it is a high, heavenly matter, and we must behave ourselves worthy of it. God’s calling is higher, richer, and more important than His creation. Hallelujah, we are members of the called race! Our father Abraham is the head of this race. The priesthood which came to the father of the called race was not that which was according to the order of Aaron but that which is according to the order of Melchisedec. Melchisedec met Abraham with bread and wine, and Abraham gave him tithes (Gen. 14:18-20). Melchisedec 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. 26:26-27). The Bible is wonderfully consistent. Melchisedec ministered bread and wine to Abraham, and the Lord Jesus ministered bread and wine to His disciples. Not many of us who have been partaking of the Lord’s table for years have ever realized that it is related to Christ’s priesthood according to the order of Melchisedec. The first time the priesthood is mentioned in the Bible we are told that a priest came from the Most High God and ministered bread and wine to the father of the called race.
We do not know where Melchisedec came from. In the biblical record, he had no parents, no genealogy, no beginning of days nor end of life (Heb. 7:1-3). He simply came and went.
Melchisedec was the king of Salem, which was the ancient site of Jerusalem. “Salem” means peace, and “Jeru” means foundation. Hence, Jerusalem means “the foundation of peace.” At the time of Melchisedec, there was Salem but not yet Jerusalem; there was peace but no foundation of peace. The first time the Bible speaks of the priesthood, it tells of a wonderful person who was the king of peace. The second aspect of his title is that of the king of righteousness. If we do not have righteousness, we cannot have peace, because peace always comes from righteousness. With Melchisedec there was both righteousness and peace. Based upon this righteousness and peace, he ministered the bread and wine to Abraham. What is our basis for coming to the Lord’s table? Is it pity or mercy? No, it is righteousness and peace. According to Romans 3, 4, and 5, righteousness has been reckoned to us and we have been justified. As a result, we enjoy peace. Romans 3 and 4 give us righteousness and justification, and Romans 5 gives us peace under righteousness. Based upon this righteousness and peace, we may enjoy the bread and the wine at the Lord’s table. The One who brought in righteousness and peace is the One who ministers the bread and wine to us. He is our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec.
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” (Matt. 26:26), and of the wine, “This is My blood” (Matt. 26:28). This indicates that the bread and wine on the table signify the processed God, portraying the Christ who, as the embodiment of God, has been processed that He might be ministered into us.
If we would understand any item in the Bible, we must consider it at its source, the place where it is first mentioned in the Scriptures. This is in keeping with the basic principle of the first mention. Although the book of Hebrews speaks of Melchisedec, if we would know him, we must consult Genesis 14, the place where Melchisedec and the priesthood are first mentioned. When Christians think of Christ as their High Priest, very few of them go back to Genesis 14. Hebrews 7 refers us to Genesis 14, the time when Melchisedec, king of righteousness and king of peace, met Abraham after the slaughter of the kings. Although Melchisedec 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. This seems simple and rather unexciting, but it is profound. 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 only be quenched by some liquid of life. Wine is not water; it is a life liquid, coming from grapes, which are something of life. The Lord Jesus chose wine to signify His redeeming blood, saying, “Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:27-28). Melchisedec’s coming to minister the bread and wine to Abraham, the father of the called race, signified 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 sins. The priesthood according to the order of Aaron mainly took care of God’s people in a negative way. But the high priest according to the order of Melchisedec 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. 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. Then He brought His blood into the Holy of Holies in the heavens and sprinkled it in the presence of God, thereby accomplishing redemption. Now, as far as redemption is concerned, Christ has nothing more to do. He is sitting on the right hand of God. 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 has truly crossed the river. It unveils a Christ who is no longer only a Redeemer offering the sacrifice for sin to God and shedding His blood for our sins. The Christ revealed in this book is the One who, after accomplishing all this, comes to us in a mysterious way. As He comes in our spirit, He does not come as our Redeemer but as our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec. He does not come to offer anything for us, but to minister Himself to us in the form of bread and wine as our daily supply and for our satisfaction. Many Christians are so weak because they do not enjoy this supply. Although the book of Hebrews is in their hands and they have the words “High Priest” as a term in their vocabulary, they do not have much experience of Christ ministering Himself into them as the High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec.
The book of Hebrews reveals that Christ has already accomplished everything God requires. This is the reason both God and the Redeemer have a Sabbath rest today. According to this book, Christ is not working for redemption; He is sitting because He has fulfilled all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory. Today, He is the resting Christ, and God is resting in Him, enjoying the Sabbath rest. When we come into the church life, we also rest and enjoy the Sabbath with Him and God.
The book of Hebrews also reveals that although this resting Christ has completed His redemptive work, He is very active as our High Priest, ministering Himself into us as the processed bread and wine for our daily supply. This is why Christ is not the High Priest according to Aaron but according to the order of Melchisedec. Today He is not the sacrifice-offering High Priest; He is the bread-and-wine-ministering High Priest. Hallelujah! We have righteousness and peace, but righteousness and peace alone cannot satisfy us; we need something to eat and drink. We need our daily supply. Thus, based upon God’s righteousness and peace, our Melchisedec ministers the bread and wine for us to eat and drink. He has redeemed us and now He feeds us.
Firstly, we need Christ’s priesthood as typified by Aaron to offer the sacrifices for sin. Then we need His priesthood according to the order of Melchisedec to minister the life supply to us. Having the processed God ministered into us as our supply is to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. However, offering the sacrifices for sin is merely to deal with the negative situation. God’s original purpose was not to redeem us; it was to impart and work Himself into us. Since we were fallen, He had to rescue us, redeem us, and reconcile us to God. While this is the function of His priesthood as typified by Aaron, His priesthood according to the order of Melchisedec is for God’s original purpose. If we had not fallen, we would not need the priesthood typified by Aaron, but we would still need Christ’s priesthood according to the order of Melchisedec to minister God into us. Most Christians only know Christ’s priesthood as typified by the priesthood of Aaron for reconciliation. They have not seen that, according to the order of Melchisedec, Christ ministers God into us. But according to Hebrews, Christ as our High Priest is not mainly the One who offers the sacrifice for sin, but the One who ministers the bread and wine.
In the early days of my experience, nearly every time I knelt down to pray, I said, “Lord, thank You for being my Redeemer and for shedding Your blood for me.” At that time I never realized I could come to the throne of grace and enjoy such a positive High Priest ministering the bread and wine. Every morning I confessed the failures of the day before, hoping I could do better that day. But that day also ended in failure and the next morning I would confess once again. This went on and on day after day. I only knew Christ as the High Priest typified by the order of Aaron. Only after many years did I learn that I could come to the throne of grace and touch our High Priest who ministers to me the bread and wine. I do not need to try to be a success. I simply need to come forward to the throne of grace and enjoy the positive High Priest ministering the bread and wine. This is the best breakfast. Whenever I enjoy such a breakfast, my whole day is a success. Just as we need a physical breakfast every day, so every morning we should enjoy Christ as our breakfast. The best breakfast table is the throne of grace where we enjoy Christ in such a positive way. Christ is our Melchisedec today. How we need to come forward to the throne of grace to Him, the One who ministers the bread and wine!
In 4:14 we are told that we have “a great High Priest Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,” and in 4:16 we are told to “come forward with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for timely help.” When we come to chapter five, we see that the High Priest whom we meet at the throne of grace is not a priest typified by the order of Aaron but a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec, ministering to us the bread and wine as our supply.
Christ, our High Priest, is the Son of God, having been constituted to be our High Priest not according to the law of a fleshy commandment but according to the power of an indestructible life (7:16). Having the qualifications of His divinity and His resurrected life, He is able to minister the processed God with the divine blessing, not to sinners but to those who fight for God’s interest, as Abraham did (Gen. 14:18-20).
The eternal salvation we have in Christ (5:9) is based upon the eternal redemption He has accomplished for us (9:12), which is much better than the temporary atonement carried out by the priests according to the order of Aaron. That temporary atonement covered sin but never put it away; whereas Christ’s eternal redemption has put away sin, solving the problem of sin forever. Furthermore, Christ’s eternal salvation is not merely an objective redemption to solve our problem of sin on the negative side, but also a subjective salvation to save us into His perfection and glorification on the positive side. Such an eternal salvation is not limited by time and space, but is all-embracing with the divine element and nature. The divine element and nature of Christ are the basic constituents of His eternal salvation, which not only saves us from the most negative things but also saves us into the most positive things, even into God Himself. Such a saving is all-embracing, not limited by time and space.
The very Person of Christ as our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec is the cause of our eternal salvation (5:6-10). As long as such a One is with us, we could never be weak. He is the cause of eternal salvation, of which all the effects, benefits, and issues are of an eternal nature, transcending the conditions and limitations of time and space. Some brothers have come to me saying that they were afraid to return home because their wives were so mean. Some sisters have told me the same thing about their husbands, saying that they could not stand the situation at home. It seemed that their salvation was not eternal and did not reach their home environment. When some brothers have told me that they did not want to return to their hometown because the situation in the church there was too difficult, I said to them, “If your salvation is not good for your city, then your salvation is not the eternal salvation.” In any and every place, we do have the cause of eternal salvation. This is why I have encouraged the disappointed brothers and sisters to return home. I have told the sisters, “Why be afraid of your husband? He is not a tiger. Go back and swallow him up by Christ in life.” I can testify to you that a good number of sisters went back and swallowed up their husbands by Christ in life and brought them into the church as a prey. Do not be afraid of your wife or husband, because Christ, as our High Priest, is the cause of your eternal salvation.
Although we have Christ as the Captain of our salvation in Hebrews 2, we do not have the cause of eternal salvation until we come to Christ as our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec in Hebrews 5. Our Christ is not only today’s Joshua; He is also our eternal Melchisedec. As our Joshua, the Captain of salvation, He takes the lead and we follow Him. As our Melchisedec, the cause of eternal salvation, He ministers Himself to us as bread and wine, and we eat and drink of Him. When our Melchisedec comes to us, He does not come with demands or requirements; He comes with bread and wine. Are you tired? He is your bread. Are you thirsty? He is your wine. Let us eat of Him, drink of Him, and enjoy Him for our supply. Whenever we come to the Lord’s table, we declare to the whole universe that we live by eating the divine bread and by drinking the divine wine as our daily supply. This is our way of living. Not many of us have had this realization at the Lord’s table. May we all be helped to see that the table symbolizes that our Christ today is our Melchisedec who ministers to us the bread and the wine. I say once again that this is the cause of our salvation.
Christ was perfected to be our High Priest through His sufferings (5:8-10). In His eternal salvation, we need to experience Him in His sufferings. When we experience Him in His sufferings, we shall also be saved into His perfection. This experience of Christ in His suffering for perfection is by our enjoying Him as our High Priest. We shall cover this matter in detail when we come to chapter seven.
