The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet 1962 kc 13-3

The simplicity of all this is that "Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God,

Now let us return to Hebrews where Paul has just made the point,
knowing as a prerequisite what the law required concerning Levi,
that the tribe of Judah had no connection with tending the altar under the law of Moses.

So the law pertaining to the priesthood must of necessity be changed!

Hebrews 7:15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Paul then goes on to show that the argument for that change in the law is made even more obvious
when you consider that the priesthood of Christ was promised and sworn to by God Himself
to be "after the order of Melchisedec"!

Selah: Are you getting all this?

Carnal commandments and religious ordinances
and priests of men can NEVER provide a way of forgiveness and sanctification,
i.e. salvation! Only Jesus Christ, the power of the Living Word of God can grant such!

[16] Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Again, eternal life can only be granted by He who possesses eternal life, the great "I AM"!
[17] For He testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Paul for the umpteenth time quotes Ps. 110:4...
for this is the PROMISE of our hope by which Almighty God gave an OATH...
the promise of Messiah our eternal High Priest and Savior,
by whom and through whom we may obtain salvation.

There is no other way!

[18] For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
Those carnal commandments and ordinances of blood sacrifices, etc., are all done away with.

As it is written, those things of the law were but shadows of Him who was to come.

However, as Paul has already admonished us, starting "To Day",
we had better get off the "milk bottle" and "go to school" in His Word
and begin to know and understand those things of the law for they teach us all about Jesus Christ
that we may come to KNOW HIM and have faith in Him!

Galatians 3:24 "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."

Again, there was simply nothing in the law itself or administered through the Levitical priesthood
that could "make perfect", i.e. bring forgiveness and salvation to man.

Therefore, not until the PROMISE of His coming was there HOPE of salvation!

And you know what else, it is because of the "sonship" God has given us
that Jesus Christ has the legal right to stand in as our kinsman redeemer and to make intercession for our souls!

[19] For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
We do not draw near to God through religion or church systems of ceremonial worship and rituals, etc., etc.

We draw near to God by dwelling with Him, by seeking Him through His Word.

[20] And inasmuch as not without an oath He was made priest:
The only high priest God ever promised and swore by His oath would be able to bring us eternal salvation
was Jesus Christ, who was eternal, a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.
[21] (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by Him that said unto Him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
This is the umpteenth + 1 time Paul quotes Ps. 110:4.

Surely by now you can see and understand that Melchisedec,
the King of the Just and the King of Peace was indeed Christ.

[22] By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
A surety is a guarantee and it is in Jesus Christ,
the eternal High Priest promised by the sworn oath of Almighty God,
that the New Covenant and the hope of our salvation rests assured.

Nothing and no one prior to or coming after could have or will provide that salvation.

Our Father's contract is therefore sure and binding which means the rest is totally up to you,
to love Him and exercise your faith by trusting and relying on Him,
laboring earnestly and patiently to enter into His rest!

[23] And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
Paul is just driving home the point he has already made time and again
concerning temporal things whether they be carnal commandments or mortal men,
hoping somewhere along the line we "get it"!

Fact: No mortal priest can give you life or offer sacrifice to atone for your sins, because he doesn't have life to give you!

You see, he himself is subject to death.

There is only One priest who can atone for your sins
and grant you salvation and that priest does have life, eternal life,
and that priest was the One  promised by God and sworn to by His oath
who would come after the order of Melchisedec, who abideth a priest forever!

[24] But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
The Word of God abideth forever, for Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Therefore you shall NEVER have need to change priests.

You never need to put your trust in men nor elevate them to a higher status
because they are all sinners just like you and they all die just like you.

But our High Priest is eternal,immortal, and without sin,
and He has ascended and now sits above the heavens at the right hand of His Majesty on high!

It is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, who can redeem and save your soul!

[25] Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
The simplicity of all this is that "Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God,
the fulfilment of the PROMISE guaranteed by the OATH of God,
to be our High Priest FOREVER after the order of Melchisedec."
[26] For such an high priest became [He for] us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
We do not have to rely on men (for all have sinned and come short) nor any of their traditions.

Remember, "You are COMPLETE in Him!"

[27] Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this He did once, when He offered up himself.
Jesus Christ was the perfect and unblemished Lamb of God,
who by His sacrifice became our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7) once and for all time!
[28] For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated [perfected] for evermore.
Those two immutable and unchangeable things,
the PROMISE and the OATH sworn by God, document
and declare the surety of our salvation in Jesus Christ, who became our High Priest...
not after the order of carnal commandments or temporal and fallible men,
but after the great order of Melchisedec, who abideth a priest forever!

How exciting and wondrous the Word of God truly is!

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.


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