“Better Promises” [Matt's Messages]

“Better Promises”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

The Letter to the Hebrews

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

July 5, 2026 :: Hebrews 8:1-13  

What is keeping you going these days?

There are a lot of things that threaten to knock us off course, aren’t there?

There are a lot of distractions out there. So many troubling things are happening in our families, community, nation, and world. So many loud voices are trying to steal our attention through our phones, our TV’s, our culture. What was it this week for you? ...

And there are many many things that threaten to discourage us. Things that beat us down. Sometimes it’s hard to keep going. Sometimes it’s hard to get out of bed.

Anybody have a hard time getting out of bed?

I don’t mean that you’re sleepy and comfy there and want to hit the snooze button again. I mean you’re scared and depressed and anxious and de-motivated and discouraged.

And even if you get out of bed, you are just going through the motions in life, just covering the bases–not joyfully fulfilling your purpose as a follower of Jesus Christ and living each day for Him. 

It’s easy to fall into that. Especially when you have a real sense of your own failings and shortcomings and weaknesses and sinfulness. You feel guilt and shame. You know that you are not what you should be.  And so it’s hard to get out of bed and keep going. 

What is keeping you going these days? What is getting you out of bed?

The pastor who wrote this letter to these Hebrew Christians knew that they were struggling to keep going. They were tempted to quit. They were tempted to throw in the towel which would be worst thing ever for them to do.  

So he wrote these anxious Christians this letter with this message:

Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Because He is greater. Jesus is better. Jesus is worthy of our attention, and He’s more worthy than anything else. And if we fix our eyes on Him, we can keep going and going and going.

Jesus is greater. Jesus is better. This writer is laser-focused on convincing his readers (and therefore us) that this is true. Jesus is better.

He loves that word “better” or “greater” or “superior.”  We’ve seen a lot of comparisons and contrasts in this book so far, and there are more to come.

In verse 6 of chapter 8, he says it 3 times. Jump down to verse 6. He says:

“But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.”

There’s our title for today, “Better Promises.”

These are the kind of promises from God that will get you out of bed if you can really take them to heart.

We’ve reached the heart of the Book of Hebrews which we’ve said could be summed up with what three words?

Great High Priest.

His readers (knew what we often miss) that we all need a great high priest. We all need a great high priest to safely represent us to a holy God.

His readers knew that because they knew all about priests. They had priests. We call them the “Levitical Priests.” They were the priests that the Law of Moses prescribed in the Old Covenant (the Old Testament), and they were all from the Tribe of Levi and more specifically all from the sub-tribe of Aaron, Moses’s brother, the first high priest of Israel.

The Levitical priests represented the people of Israel to the holy God of Israel with gifts of thanksgiving and sacrifices for sin.

And once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would offer a sacrifice for himself and then take a sacrifice of atonement, not just in the the holy place, but the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place behind the curtain and present that offering at the Mercy Seat, at the Atonement Cover at the Ark of the Covenant which stood for the very throne of God.

They knew that. But they needed to know (and the Old Testament taught when you paid close enough attention to it), that God had promised to send another kind of high priest. A better kind of high priest.

#1. BETTER PRIEST.

A priest that doesn’t come from Team Levi or Team Aaron, but from another team, a more ancient team, a more enduring team. A team whose members are not just priests but kings at the same time.

What team am I talking about? Team Melchizedek!

In Psalm 110, the LORD promised David’s Lord, the Messiah that He would be a priest. Psalm 110, verse 4.

“The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’”

The last two weeks as we’ve studied chapter 7, we’ve unpacked both of those phrases.

First, the order of Melchizedek, of which Jesus is the greatest team member of all time. 

Second, that Jesus is a priest forever in that order, on that team.

I won’t go back over it all, but remember the list of the contrasts we saw last week between Team Levi and Team Melchizedek? The Levitical Priesthood versus Jesus’ Priesthood.

Which one looked better?

Team Levi wasn’t bad. Team Levi was God’s own idea.

But Team Melchizedek?! His team is so much better. Especially because Jesus is alive. He is now indestructible. Jesus cannot die.

Did you think about that at all this week? What kind of a high priest He can be because He lives forever and ever? “Because he always lives to intercede for” us (Hebrews 7:25)!

Now, in case you’re wondering if this is a side issue for this letter or a rabbit trail that the author has gotten off on, he says this in verse 1:

“The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.”

This isn’t a rabbit trail. All of this Psalm 110 stuff. All this Melchizedek stuff is the main point. We need a high priest like this, and we have a high priest like this. His name is Jesus!

“We do have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.”

If anyone asks you what is the point of Hebrews, you can say, “Great High Priest.”

Notice that he says once again that Jesus sat down. That’s important him, and it should be important to us. He said it in the very first paragraph of this letter. And he’s repeated it a few times. He’s going to come back to that again in chapter 10 and chapter 12.

“Jesus sat down.”

Why is that important? What would you say to that? I’m not going to tell you more today. You think about it.  Why is it important that Jesus sat down? There are several reasons. (And yes, it has something to do with His priesthood being better.) 

Where did He sit down?

Church, where is Jesus right now? “At the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.”

In heaven. That’s important, too. In fact, that’s what he’s stressing in these first five verses of chapter 8. It’s the location of His priesthood. Jesus’ ministry as a priest is better because it’s located in heaven. You see that in verse 2?

“We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.”

What is he talking about? Where does Jesus do His priestly ministry? In the holy place in heaven. 

Did you know there is a sanctuary in heaven? I don’t know if that’s more metaphor or if there is something literally in the heavenlies like that. It’s hard to think in those categories.

Regardless, it’s more real than what we consider real.

Jesus serves as our great high priest in the “true tabernacle,” the true worship tent that was pitched–not by Moses and his team at the end of Exodus but–by God Himself! Jesus serves as a great high priest in the very presence of God. What does our memory verse say? He “has gone through the heavens...”

And He takes with Him an offering. That’s what high priests do. Look at verse 3.

“Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.”

Every high priest does. What was the sacrifice He brought? Was it the blood of bulls and goats?

No. What did we read last week in chapter 7, verse 27? “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” We’re going to learn more about that in chapter 9. 

Verse 4 keeps us focused on the location of Jesus’ ministry. Verse 4.

“If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.”

Think about that for a second. He says that Jesus if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest in the temple. Did you ever think about how Jesus never went into the temple as a priest? He never went into the holy of holies.

He could have! He belonged there! He cleaned out the temple and said it was His house. His Father’s house. He cleaned house. But He didn’t take in the blood of bulls and goats or spotless lambs into the Most Holy Place. No, He died on earth, making Himself an offering, and then He passed through the heavens and into the heavenly tabernacle and presented His blood directly in God’s presence.  

In the realest temple in the universe! The tabernacle on earth and the temple were just shadows of the one in heaven. That’s what he says in verse 5.

“They [Team Aaron’s priests] serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain’” (vv.5-6).

That’s Exodus chapter 25, verse 40. And it’s mind-blowing. Apparently, Moses was shown a pattern, a blueprint(?), a template, or map of some kind on top of Mount Sinai of what it’s like (so to speak) in the heavenly temple and he was to build the tabernacle (the mobile temple) according to that pattern.

So that we could catch a glimpse of what it was like in heaven!

That means that tabernacle and the temple were special for their day, but they were just a “copy and shadow.”

Which is better: the copy or the original?

Which is better: the shadow or the substance?

The original. The substance.

So why would we cling to the shadow? Why would be cling to the copy?

He’s going to say more about this in chapter 9, but you can feel how many more contrasts he’s making here for us to see how much better Jesus is as our great high priest.

Let’s fill out the chart.

Levitical priests minister on earth. Jesus serves in heaven!

Levitical priests minister in a sanctuary that men built (by God’s design!) but Jesus ministers in the sanctuary that the Lord build by Himself!

Levitical priests minister in a copy or shadow temple. Jesus serves in the true tabernacle.

Which one is better? It’s really no contest.

The only thing that might be a little better about the one on the left is that they could see it. You have to be reminded where Jesus is. We don’t see Him right now. We have to remind each other. 

Church, where is Jesus? He’s seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. Which is SO much better. Verse 6.

“But the [great high priest] ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs [Aaron’s sons] as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.”

#2. BETTER PROMISES.

Now here, the writer is not leaving the subject of Jesus’s priesthood. He’s got a lot more to say on that. But he’s going to switch the focus a little bit from what kind of a priest Jesus to what kind of a covenant His priesthood is connected to.

You see his logic? Look at verse 6 again.

“But the [high priestly] ministry Jesus has received is as superior [contrast word “better”] to theirs [the Levitical priests] as the covenant [that word showed up for the first time last chapter, but it’s going to get a lot of treatment in the next few chapters] of which he is mediator is superior [better] to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.”

So Jesus’ priesthood is better.

The covenant He represents is better.

And it’s better because the promises of the covenant are better.

Now, what’s a covenant? A covenant is like a contract. It’s a binding agreement on two or more parties. And in the ancient Near East it was a big deal.

The Bible is full of covenants. Covenants between humans. And covenants between and God and humans.

We have learned over the years about the Abrahamic Covenant.  Genesis 12, 15, 17 and so forth.

And we have learned about the Davidic Covenant. 2 Samuel 7. What do we typically call the covenant that was connected to the Levitical Priesthood?

We call it the Mosaic Covenant because it came with the Law of Moses. Another name for it is the Old Covenant. Or here it’s called (v.7) “that first covenant.” And we’ll see why in a second.

Let me ask you a question:

Was the Mosaic Covenant good or bad? Was it a good deal for God’s people or a bad one?

It was very good! The Mosaic Law Covenant was a gracious gift to a sinful people.  It came after God rescued His people from Egypt, and when they understood that He was making a covenant with them and providing them with a priesthood to safely represent them to Him in a holy sanctuary, they were being given a tremendous gift!

They were being told what God is like and what He likes! They were given His Law which is a wonderful thing. Read Psalm 119 to find out just how precious the Law was. To know what God wants!  To have priests with sacrifices to safely represent you to God when you sin against His law.

What a tremendous gift the Old Covenant was!

But it was also weak. It was also...what did he call it two weeks ago in chapter 7, verse 19? “Weak and useless.” It was ineffective. It was inadequate.  It was good, but it wasn’t good enough.

And that was on purpose. Because God always had a plan for another covenant, another binding agreement, another big deal. Look at verse 7.

“[Jesus’ covenant of which He is the mediator is superior...] For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. [But there was something wrong with it.] But God found fault with the people and said: ‘The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (vv.7-8).

This is what Keagan read to us from Jeremiah chapter 31:31-34. In fact, this is the longest quotation from the Old Testament copied and pasted into the New Testament. The writer to the Hebrews is switching over from explaining and expounding on Psalm 110 to explaining and expounding on Jeremiah 31.

The promise of the “new covenant.”

How many remember when we studied the Prophecy of Jeremiah in 2022 and 2023?

I went back this week and listened to my message on Jeremiah 31 in that series to give me a refresher. 

Jeremiah was a broken record about the broken covenant. Remember that? For forty years, Jeremiah was a broken record about how the nation of Judah had broken their covenant with God. They had spiraled into idolatry again and again. And they were going into exile. That’s why Daniel takes place in Babylon and Esther takes place in Persia.

The Old Covenant, as glorious as it was, did not transform the people of God. They needed something...better.

And God promised to send it. “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”

Do you remember that phrase, “the time is coming” or “the days are coming?”

It was far in the future for Jeremiah. But God had promised it, and it was sure to come. He promised it to Israel (Israel and Judah). He isn’t starting over with a whole new group, though we find out in the New Testament that the Gentiles get grafted into this promise, too (see Romans 11). We are included even if we aren’t Jews. We get to be a part of the better covenant. Different from the first one. Verse 9.

“It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.”

There’s some scary words. “I turned away from them, declares the Lord.”

This new covenant will be one where the Lord never turns away from His people.  And where His people never turn away from Him. Look at verse 10.

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (vv.10-12).

That’s the new covenant. And it’s got better promises for God’s people. Can you see them? I noted at least three.

- DEEPER CHANGE.

In the new covenant, God promises not just to give them His law, but to embed it in their minds and their hearts. Inside the minds and hearts of every true member of the New Covenant.

In the Old Covenant, you could be a member of the covenant community and not be transformed by the covenant. But in the New Covenant, every genuine member of the new covenant community gets a new heart! The Holy Spirit takes up residence inside of us and gives us a new heart and begins the inevitable transformation of our hearts and minds.

The New Covenant guarantees true life change. It doesn’t happen all at once, and it doesn’t happen in a straight line. But it happens for all true New Covenant members. Guaranteed.

Isn’t that encouraging? Won’t that get you out of bed?! That will keep you going. 

The LORD has promised to change you from the inside out and conform you into the image of your great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And not just some of us, but all of us who are believers.  Deeper change.

- WIDER KNOWLEDGE.

“I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest” (vv.10b-11).

Now, that doesn’t mean that we don’t have teachers in the New Covenant. It means that every single person who is a New Covenant member has the Lord inside of us teaching us. And that all who belong to Him know Him personally. From the littlest kid who believes to the oldest Christian who lives.

And there are no class distinctions. It’s not just the priests or the pastors who know God. It’s every one of us in this room.

Sometimes, people joke with me about the weather. They’ll say, “Can’t you do something about the weather. You have that special connection with God, you know?” And they are joking about whether or not I can change the weather.

But I always say, “You can have the knowledge of God that I do.”

Every single true Christians knows God. And one day, everyone everywhere that lives on the earth will know Him in that way, too. The knowledge of the LORD will cover the globe like the waters cover the sea!

That day is coming. That’s a better promise. And that’ll get you out of bed. That will keep you going.

And here’s why we can know Him this way:

Because our sin will not stand in our way.

Deeper change.

Wider knowledge.

- FULL FORGIVENESS.

Look at verse 12. It’s from Jeremiah 31:34.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

This was said to Jeremiah during some of the darkest days of Judah. God was turning away from His people and sending them into exile. But He had a plan to provide a new covenant that was full of superior promises include the promise of full forgiveness for all of God’s people.

And now that covenant has come. The last days have come (Heb 1:1-3)!

Jesus Christ is the mediator (the guarantee and the go-between) of the new covenant. He is the great high priest of the new covenant. And all of these better promises are being fulfilled for us through Him.

Isn’t that encouraging? How do we apply this passage to our lives today?

The author doesn’t directly say in the passage we’re studying today. But it’s clear from the rest of the book how he wants us to respond to it. I can think of three applications right off the top of my head:

- Be Encouraged

- Be Steadfast

- Be Thankful

Just thinking about how great a high priest Jesus is and how great these promises are is so encouraging to me. This is what I need to hear. I am going to be changed. I know the Lord and I am His, and I am forgiven. That will keep you going. Especially when you realize that these promises are strong as Jesus’ life is strong. As long as Jesus continues to live, these promises will be true for His people. And He will never die again. Be encouraged.

Be steadfast. What does our memory verse say? “Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess” (Hebrews 4:14).

Hold firmly. Don’t go backwards. Don’t let go. That’s the point of verse 13 as we round out the chapter. Verse 13.

“By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.”

The Old Covenant was going to disappear. It was temporary. It was being phased out. The New Covenant is here now, so the Old Covenant is old. You can’t go back to it. But why would you want to 

The New Covenant is so much better. Fix your eyes on the high priest of the New Covenant and don’t let go.

And guess what? He will hold you fast. Deeper change. Wider knowledge. Full forgiveness.

Because of Jesus. 

Be thankful.

Our better high priest offered Himself once for all so that the better promises of the New Covenant would all be fulfilled for us. What can we say but, “Thank you?!”

***

Messages in this Series:

01. "The Son" - Hebrews 1:1-4
02. "Superior to the Angels" - Hebrews 1:5-14
03. "Such a Great Salvation" - Hebrews 2:1-4
04. "We See Jesus" - Hebrews 2:5-9
05. "Flesh and Blood" - Hebrews 2:10-18
06. "Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus" - Hebrews 3:1-6
07. “Today, If You Hear His Voice” - Hebrews 3:7-19
Bonus Historical Message: The Gift of My Rest - A Fictional Letter of Sabbath Theology
08. "A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God" - Hebrews 4:1-13
09. "Great High Priest" - Hebrews 4:14-16
10. "The Source of Eternal Salvation" - Hebrews 5:1-10
11. "On To Maturity" - Hebrews 5:11-6:3
12. "We Speak Like This" - Hebrews 6:4-12
13. "An Anchor for the Soul" - Hebrews 6:13-20
Bonus Message: "Fix Your Eyes on Jesus" - 2026 West Branch Baccalaureate
14. "In the Order of Melchizedek" - Hebrews 7:1-19
15. "A Priest Forever" - Hebrews 7:20-28

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“A Priest Forever” [Matt's Messages]

“A Priest Forever”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

The Letter to the Hebrews

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

June 28, 2026 :: Hebrews 7:20-28  

Fix your eyes on our great high priest. His name is Jesus.

We’ve reached the heart of the book of Hebrews where the writer is dwelling on the subject of the high priesthood of Jesus Christ.

He’s mentioned it all along, and he’s tried to get his readers to focus on it, but he had to grab back their attention a few times. Now he’s got us focused on it.

Jesus is our great high priest. We don’t think about that enough today. We don’t realize how important it really is. Last year, as a church, we focused on the kingship of Jesus. We studied the Book of Daniel that presented Jesus as the coming Son of Man Who was coming as the King of Kings (see Daniel 7:14).

And He is! That’s right for us to focus upon His kingship. Jesus is Lord!

But He is not just a king. He is also a priest. He is not just our ruler. He is our representative. He safely represents us before a holy God. Jesus is our great high priest.  He’s not just the King of Kings. He’s the Priest of Priests.

We all need a high priest. We all need a human being that safely represents us before a holy God. 

You don’t want to go alone before a holy God. Not if you are a sinner. If you are a sinner, you want a priest and you want an atoning sacrifice being presented by that priest so that you can approach a holy God. 

The original readers of this letter knew that. We often don’t realize it, but it was ingrained in them by their Bibles (the Old Testament) and by the priesthood that they were familiar with. The Levitical Priesthood. The priests that came from the Israelite tribe of Levi–specifically the sons of Aaron, Moses’ brother, the first high priest of Israel. 

They knew all about priests because they lived with them. They knew that we need a priest. But they needed convinced (or at least reminded again) that Jesus was the priest that we need. They were tempted to fall back on the Levitical priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood. Team Levi. Team Aaron. Maybe they were good enough?

“I’m not so sure about whether or not we need to stick with Jesus.”

Especially because sticking with Jesus means sticking your neck out. Sticking with Jesus will get you into hot water. And it might cost you your life. Is sticking with Jesus worth that?

This pastor is trying to convince them (and therefore us) that He is. Jesus is greater than Aaron and his sons ever were or ever could ever be.

Jesus is the priest we need, and Jesus is our priest...forever.

“A Priest Forever”

I said last week that that will be our title for today. “A Priest Forever.” 

Where do those words come from? They come from Psalm 110. The Psalm that Hannah just read for us. That Psalm (we learned last week) starts out as a prophetic promise to the coming Messiah that He be victorious. Great David’s greatest Son will be invited to sit at God’s right hand until the LORD makes all of his enemies a footstool for His feet (Psalm 110:1-3).

He will be a conquering king. But He will not be just a king. He’s also going to be a priest.

Psalm 110:4 says, “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

A priest forever. 

Now, last week, we focused on that last part, “in the order of Melchizedek.” 

We learned that the Messiah to come will be on Team Melchizedek. And we talked a lot about what that means. I won’t repeat it all today. If you weren’t here, you might want to go back and listen, watch, or read last week’s message.

The basic idea is that Team Melchizedek is greater than Team Levi or Team Aaron. There’s a lot of reasons for that; read the first part of the chapter.  Team Melchizedek is greater than Team Levi or Team Aaron. And Jesus is going to be on Team Melchizedek.

His priesthood is better, and that also means we get a better law (v.12) and a better hope by which we draw near to God (v.19).

And a big part of what makes Team Melchizedek better is that his priesthood is forever.

The original Melchizedek in Genesis was a shadowy figure that showed up and then disappeared with no genealogy. No record of his birth or his death. And so his priesthood was kind of open-ended. If he didn’t get marked down as dead, you could kind of say that his priesthood was still active.

And Psalm 110 predicted that Jesus’s priesthood would be open-ended like Melchizedek’s priesthood. 

He will be a priest forever. It says this in Psalm 110, and then five more times those words are repeated in your Bible–all five times in the Letter to the Hebrews (5:6, 6:20, 7:3, 7:17, 7:21)! Three of them in this chapter. Jesus is a priest forever.

Because Jesus lives forever. Jesus died on the Cross, making atonement for our sins. But He came back to life, and now He is indestructible. Verse 16 says He is a priest based on “the power of an indestructible life.”

If you shot Jesus right now, point blank, He would not die. Not if you shot Him with a nuke. He cannot die. Jesus lives in the power of an indestructible life. And so He’s (Psalm 110!) “A priest forever.”

Just think about what that means! That means that He won’t change. Whatever kind of a priest He is He is forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. And that’s what this last part of the chapter focuses on today.

I have three points this morning to summarize what I think verses 20 to 28 have to say about Jesus’ eternal priesthood, and here’s the first one:

#1. PROMISED FOREVER.

All three of these are the best news ever. Any one of them is enough to get you out of bed and keep you going as a Christian. 

Jesus is promised forever as our great high priest. Look at verse 20. He comes back to the idea he brought up before in chapter 6 of an oath (see 6:16-18). Verse 20.

“And it [Jesus’ priesthood] was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever.'’”

Here’s what he’s saying. He’s pointing out another difference between the Levitical High Priests and Jesus’ High Priesthood.

Did God ever promise Aaron with a solemn oath that he and his sons will be priests forever? The answer is “almost.” God did call Aaron and his sons to be priests in an ongoing priesthood, generation after generation (see Exodus 28:1, 29:9,28). But, no, He never made an oath to Aaron. He never promised to not change things up. He never promised that Aaron would be a priest forever.

But in Psalm 110, verse 4, He did make such an oath to Jesus. “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’” God swore! He didn’t have to. Just Him saying it would make it true. But the LORD went on to swear it, to make an oath to the Son. In other words, God is saying, “If I don’t keep this promise, then I will die.”

And here’s the promise: “You are a priest forever.”

You see how important that is? Here’s what that means for you and me. You and I don’t ever have to be afraid that God is going to change the deal on us. We don’t have to worry that the deal is going to change.

I don’t know about you, but I hate it when the deal changes for the worse, and I have no power over it. 

“Well, yeah, that was the rule then, but this is the rule now. And you just have to live with it.”

“Well, we’ve got someone new in charge, and they want to do it this way. And you just have to live with it.”

It’s bad enough for small stuff (like terms and conditions or tech stuff that I didn’t ask to change but here it’s changed anyway), but what about important stuff?

How do we know that our deal with God is safe and secure? Look at verse 22.

“Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.”

The guarantee. Jesus is the guarantee. He’s the security deposit. He’s the surety. He’s the guarantor.

You would have to kill Jesus again to undo this covenant. That’s what he’s saying. You would have to somehow kill Jesus to undo this covenant. And Jesus cannot be killed again. He’s indestructible. That’s how safe our deal is!  That’s how secure it is. That’s how sure our hope is. That’s why it’s an anchor for the soul, right? 

Nothing on Earth can change the terms of our covenant with God because God has made an oath that Jesus is a priest forever.

How does that make you feel? Does that help you to carry on? Fix your eyes on your great high priest. 

“I know that while in heaven he stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart.”

- Charitie Lees (Smith) Bancroft

And He’s a priest forever. Can you see how much greater Jesus is than Aaron? And how much greater is the new covenant! Did you notice that language in verse 22? “Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.”

That’s the first time the word “covenant” is used in the Letter to the Hebrews. It will not be the last. Actually, it’s shows up 16 more times in this letter.  The next three chapters are going to be demonstrate for the Hebrews and for us that the New Covenant is much better than the Old Covenant. And the Old Covenant was good! It was given by God. But the New Covenant is so much better. And one of the reasons is that the priesthood of the New Covenant is eternal is because the High Priest of the New Covenant was promised forever by God’s own oath.

#2. PLACED FOREVER.

Jesus is placed forever as the high priest. Look at verse 23. He’s going to carry on the comparison between the two kinds of priests. Verse 23.

“Now there have been many of those priests [Levitical priests, Aaronic priests], since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood” (vv.23-24).

You see the contrast? Maybe make a comparison chart on your bulletin?

Levitical, no oath. Jesus, oath!

Levitical, many priests. Jesus, one priest. 

Why were there so many Levitical priests? The historian Josephus counted up at least 83 high priests from Aaron to the destruction of the temple in AD 70. The Talmud estimated there were over 318!

It’s because they all died, right? Aaron died. And his son Eleazar because high priest. Eleazar died and his son Phinehas became high priest.  And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died.  And when they died, they were no longer the high priest.

This is a fragile system, isn’t it? What if they didn’t have any sons? What if they all died? What happens to the people if all of the high priests died?

We think, “No big deal. We can do without priests.” But that’s wrong. We need a high priest. That leaves us sinner alone with a holy God. You don’t want to be alone with a holy God if you are a sinner.

What happens to the people if all of the priest die?

Here’s the principle: Dead priests do not save. Dead priests make terrible priests before God.

V.23, “Death prevented them from continuing in office.” But! V.24 “...but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.” 

Permanent! He’s placed in this position forever. Your great high priest cannot be dislodged. To take away His priesthood, you would have to somehow kill Jesus again. And that cannot happen. He’s indestructible. 

And that means that He doesn’t need a successor. There don’t need to be any more great high priests. We have the final one. The Pope in Rome is not our great high priest. And neither is anyone else that might claim to take Jesus’ place. 

Including anyone that we’d like to take His place.  Sometimes, we’d like to have a different priest. That’s how we act. As if someone else could represent us better. But Jesus will have no successors. You and I will never have another high priest. Jesus is placed forever. 

He is our priest yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 does say, “Jesus Christ is the same.” Our permanent priest.

And here’s what that means for us today. Look at verse 25. It may be the most encouraging thing you hear all week. Verse 25.

“Therefore [because Jesus lives forever] he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Isn’t that good news?! Doesn’t that fill your heart with a song? Isn’t that a perpetual motion machine? That will keep you going! 

Because Jesus lives forever “he is able to save completely those who come to God through him...”

Completely! Some versions say, “to the uttermost!” To the fullest extent. Both in quality and duration. That means that there will be nothing about us that isn’t saved. Body and soul. And forever!

There isn’t going to be this one little corner of our lives that isn’t redeemed. Everything gets a makeover and everything gets rescued! “Rescued, reconciled, and renewed.” Forever!

We aren’t going to be saved by half. We aren’t going to be saved by 75%. We are going to be 100% saved for 100% of eternity. Because Jesus is 100% alive!

Dead priests don’t save, but ever-living priests save completely. Jesus will always, always, always be your great high priest. [Thank you, Michael Kruger for saying, “always, always, always” on page 104 of your commentary.]

Jesus will always, always, always, always, always be your great high priest.

Look at verse 25 again. Jesus “is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Church, where is Jesus right now? He’s at the right hand of Majesty on High.

Church, what is Jesus doing right now? He’s interceding for us. He’s praying for us. He’s pleading the merits of His own blood for us.

“Before the throne of God above

I have a strong a perfect plea;

A great High Priest whose name is Love,

Who ever lives and pleads for me.”

- Charitie Lees (Smith) Bancroft

Ever, ever, ever. Always, always, always.

You see why I say we don’t think about His priesthood enough?

You are never going to be on your own. You never have to go before a holy God on your own. Jesus is alive, and He never stops interceding for you. To stop Jesus from interceding for you, Christian, someone would have to kill Jesus again, and that is impossible. He is indestructible. He is able to save completely (and He is saving completely) those who come to God through Him.

Have you come to God through Jesus? There is no better way. There is no other way. Jesus is the way.  Come to God through Jesus. You are invited. Draw near. Repent of your sins. Repent of your saviors. Your false saviors. Including yourself. And come to God through Jesus.

He will save you completely. Because He never fails. He never falters. He never falls asleep. I fall asleep while praying all of the time. But our priest never falls asleep at the wheel. He always, always, always lives to intercede for us.

Jesus is the high priest we need. Look at verse 26.

“Such a high priest meets our need–one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”

What soaring language! Keith put that one on the front of our bulletins this morning. He says that “such a high priest meets our needs.” It literally says that this kind of high priest is fitting or appropriate for us. Not because we deserve a high priest like this. We certainly don’t, but because this is precisely the kind of high priest we need. What kind? A perfect one.

#3. PERFECT FOREVER.

He piles up words to describe how perfect Jesus is.

“Holy, blameless, pure.” Some versions have “innocent and undefiled.” “Unstained.”

There is nothing wrong with Jesus, and there never will be. He is set apart from sinners. He’s in a class of His own. He is holy, holy, holy. And He is “exalted above the heavens.”  He’s passed through the heavens (4:14) and is now at the highest place.

At the right hand of the Majesty on High. And He belongs there. He’s this perfect...and He always will be!

That’s not true of the other high priests.  Look at verse 27.

“Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”

Aaron and his sons were sinful just like those they represented. They had to offer a sacrifice for themselves before they could offer a sacrifice for the people, And they had to do it again and again and again.

But our great high priest (v.27), “sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”

Wow. There is so much there.  The author of this letter thinks so, too. He’s going to repeat these ideas again and again over the next few chapters (9:12, 26, 10:2, 10:10, etc.). He wants us to hear those words, “once for all,” until they are embedded in our souls.

We don’t need many sacrifices today. Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient. Once for all. And His sacrifice is not just sufficient. It is personal.

Our great high priest did not simply sacrifice a perfect spotless lamb. He was the perfect spotless lamb of God. He offered Himself.

You see how much better our great high priest is than the other priests ever could be?

They were great! But they were weak. Look verse 28.

“For the law [the Mosaic law] appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, [Psalm 110, verse 4] appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.”

The Son (Hebrews 1:1-4)! The Son of God was appointed by God to become our Great High Priest.

And He was made perfect. Not because He was imperfect before. But because He became a human and suffered. And suffering (when you do it right) perfects you (cf. Heb 5:9). It completes you. It consecrates you.

Suffering made Jesus the perfectly qualified high priest. And He will be forever.

Because after He suffered, He suffers no more. What suffering made Him cannot be undone. To take away Jesus’ perfection (holy, blameless, pure, set apart), you would have to kill him all over again.

And, church, that’s never going to happen! Jesus is perfect forever, which means your salvation is perfect forever. His sacrifice is never going to run out of efficacy.

You have nothing to worry about forever! 

Jesus is exactly the kind of priest we need, and we are going to have Him forever and ever and ever and ever.

Jesus is a priest forever. Fix your eyes on Him.

***

Messages in this Series:

01. "The Son" - Hebrews 1:1-4
02. "Superior to the Angels" - Hebrews 1:5-14
03. "Such a Great Salvation" - Hebrews 2:1-4
04. "We See Jesus" - Hebrews 2:5-9
05. "Flesh and Blood" - Hebrews 2:10-18
06. "Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus" - Hebrews 3:1-6
07. “Today, If You Hear His Voice” - Hebrews 3:7-19
Bonus Historical Message: The Gift of My Rest - A Fictional Letter of Sabbath Theology
08. "A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God" - Hebrews 4:1-13
09. "Great High Priest" - Hebrews 4:14-16
10. "The Source of Eternal Salvation" - Hebrews 5:1-10
11. "On To Maturity" - Hebrews 5:11-6:3
12. "We Speak Like This" - Hebrews 6:4-12
13. "An Anchor for the Soul" - Hebrews 6:13-20
Bonus Message: "Fix Your Eyes on Jesus" - 2026 West Branch Baccalaureate
14. "In the Order of Melchizedek" - Hebrews 7:1-19

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“In the Order of Melchizedek” [Matt's Messages]

“In the Order of Melchizedek”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

The Letter to the Hebrews

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

June 21, 2026 :: Hebrews 7:1-19  

Fix your eyes on...Melchizedek.

No. The author of Hebrews does not say that! He does not say “Fix your eyes on Melchizedek.” He says to fix our eyes on Whom? Jesus. That’s the theme of this whole letter.  

We should fix our eyes, our spiritual eyes, on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He is better than anyone or anything else. He is greater than anyone or anything else. He is worthier than anyone or anything else.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.

The Christians that this letter was written to–who were apparently primarily Jewish (hence the name Hebrews)–were getting scared. They were being threatened with persecution. None of them had died yet, but it was getting really hard to follow Jesus.

And they were being tempted to quit following Jesus. To quit trusting Him. To quit identifying with Him. To quit meeting together as followers of Jesus. And to fall back on just being Jews. To fall back on the familiar. To  fall back on the Old Covenant worship that they had known all of their lives. 

And this pastor who cared about them so much knew that they were tempted to quit, and so he wrote them this letter to encourage them to stay focused on Jesus Christ. 

And we need that, too!

What keeps you going as a Christian? What keeps you on track? What keeps you following Jesus when there are so many temptations to fall out of the race?

This writer tried to focus their attention on how just how great Jesus is. 

He started with that explosive paragraph in chapter 1 about Who Jesus is as God’s Son, the final and fullest revelation of God to human beings. And then he started comparing and contrasting Jesus with all of these great things in the Old Testament and showing how Jesus is greater.

Jesus is greater than the angels (as amazing as they are!). (Chapters 1&2.)

Jesus is greater than Moses (as faithful as he was). (Chapter 3.)

Jesus is greater than Joshua (and gives a greater rest than Joshua did for his people). (Also chapter 3.)

And in this middle section, in the heart of the letter (chapters 4 through 10!), he sets out to show how Jesus is greater than Aaron the Priest and all of Aaron’s sons in the Levitical Priesthood.

Jesus is our Great High Priest.

Remember that? We said that those three words might sum up chapters 4 through 10. Great High Priest.

Or we might say, “Greater High Priest.” Because Jesus isn’t just great at being our High Priest. His priesthood is greater than any other. Amen?!

I know that you already believe this. We all agree with this, but this is the big place in the Bible that explains and expounds and explores this crucial truth about Who Jesus is.

He’s our great high priest. He’s like all the other high priests in the Bible. He’s human in nature. He’s subject to weakness. And He’s called by God, and He represents us to God.

But He’s also unlike any other high priest.  He’s a different kind. He’s part of a different order.

He’s a priest, “In the Order of Melchizedek.”

What’s a “Melchizedek?” 

Well, first off, what’s an “order?” This used to be harder to explain because we don’t tend to use that language of “order” to mean a “class, category, kind, rank, or species,” but those in this generation who have read The Order of the Phoenix have a better idea of what that means, “an order.”

It’s a grouping. It’s kind of like a team that someone is on of people that are something like them. And the Bible says that Jesus is “In the Order of Melchizedek.” 

Hebrews has already said this in chapter 5 (verse 6), chapter 5 (verse 10), and chapter 6 (verse 20)–the immediate verse right before our passage for today! And he’s going to say it two more times in this section (v.11 and v.17). Jesus is “In the Order of Melchizedek.”

In chapter 6, the author said that he had much more to say about this Melchizedek thing, but he wasn’t sure they were listening. Remember that?

Remember how he scolded them and then warned them to pay attention, to grow up, to fix their eyes on Jesus before it was too late for them to repent? To not fall away. To wake up!

And then he encouraged these folks that he fully expected them to pull up and keep focusing on the hope we have in Jesus. The anchor for our souls.

Well, having said all of that, he’s ready now to take them deeper in their understanding of Jesus’ great high priestly role in the order of Melchizedek.

Now, again, what is a Melchizedek? It’s not a “what;” it’s a who.

Melchizedek was a person. He shows up only three times in our Bibles. Once towards the beginning in the book of Genesis, about 2000 BC. Then again towards the middle of the Bible, the book of Psalms, about 1,000 years later. Copper read it to us. And then here towards the end of our Bibles about a 1,000 years after that. Here in the Book of Hebrews.

The Mysterious Mr. Melchizedek. 

The writer thinks that if we think about him some more, we will be encouraged to keep going as followers of Jesus Christ. So let’s do that. Look at chapter 7, verses 1 through 4.

“This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means ‘king of righteousness’; then also, ‘king of Salem’ means ‘king of peace.’ Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!” (Hebrews 7:1-4).

There is a lot there about the mysterious Mr. Melchizedek. And it’s all stuff from Genesis chapter 14. You might want to read that chapter this afternoon. Genesis 14.

It’s another story from the life of Father Abraham. Last time, it was the story of when Abraham had to take his son Isaac up the mountain to sacrifice Him, and then God intervened.

This is a time before that when Abraham (at about 75 years old) led a crack team of commandos against a superior force and beat them. Abraham’s nephew Lot had been taken hostage by 4 major kings with big armies, and Abraham had saddled up a plucky group of special forces, 318 soldiers, and they routed the 4 kings and their armies. God’s blessing all around!

And then when he came back from that victory, Abe was met by this man named Melchizedek who was both a king and a priest. In fact, he was the first person in the whole the Bible who is called a priest.

And note this: he is both a king and a priest (which for Israel was unusual, to say the least). He’s the king of Salem which was probably eventually Jerusalem, and he was also a priest of God Most High (that’s the real God). How he became such, we don’t know.

We don’t know much about him at all! We know that he showed up. He blessed Abraham. And Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder. He recognized Melchizedek as the real thing and gave him a tithe. And then we know that he disappeared. He doesn’t come again into the story of Genesis. He never shows up again the storyline.

And we don’t know who his momma was. Or his daddy. We don’t know when he was born or when he died. Or even if he died. He probably did, but we have no record. Which is weird! Genesis is chock full of genealogies. For all of the godly characters, we know who at least one of their parents are. And we know most of when they were born and when they died.

But not the mysterious Mr. Melchizedek!

We know what his name means, “Melchi” (king) “Zedek” (righteousness). “Salem” (peace)–names with qualities that remind us of the Messiah to come. 

But we don’t know where he came from or where he went. I think that’s what verse 3 means when it says that he was “without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life.” I don’t think that it means that he was supernatural. Some people have thought that. Some people have thought he was an angel. And some have even thought that He was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

But verse 4 says, that he is “like” the Son of God. He “resembles” the Son of God. So I don’t think he was the Son of God. I think he was a “type” or “proto-type” or “prefigurement” of the Son of God.

And when it says that he had no mom or dad, it doesn’t mean that he never could celebrate Father’s Day. It means that we don’t know who his dad was (because he doesn’t have a genealogy), and that it didn’t matter for becoming the priest.

Is it important for the Levitical priests to know who their daddy was?

You know what I mean by Levitical priests? That’s the main “order” of priest in the Bible. The ones we are most familiar with. The ones that are the children of Levi (one of the 12 tribes Israel) and specifically the children Aaron who was the first official high priest of Israel. The order of Levi. Team Levi.

Was it important to know your genealogy to serve on Team Levi as a priest? You bet it was! It was one of the chief qualifications! They had to be from the tribe of Levi.

But not this guy. Not the mysterious Mr. Melchizedek. And you don’t have to be from his line to be in his order. (For all we know Melchizedek never had any sons!)

And his priesthood is open-ended in some way. Because his death is not recorded, the end of his priesthood is not recorded either. He probably did die, but it’s not recorded so there is an open-endedness to his priesthood. Verse 3 says, “he remains a priest forever.” His priesthood is still in effect.

And it says that this is like Jesus. “Like the Son of God.” (And I think it’s actually saying that Melchizedek is modeled in some ways after the Son of God! Jesus is actually the model of Melchizedek who is then the model of priesthood for Jesus!) “Like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.”

That’s going to become really important as the chapter goes on. “A priest forever.”  Stick those words in your mind. And chew on them. 

Those words “a priest forever” come from Psalm 110, verse 4. In Psalm 110, King David was meditating deeply on Genesis 14, and he was given a prophetic word about his greatest Son (David’s greatest Son), a king Who would one day come and sit at the LORD’s right hand until He made all of His enemies a footstool for his feet (see Psalm 110:1-3). 

And we know that was a prophecy of King Jesus. (Jesus made that clear Himself (see Matthew 22) and so has the letter to the Hebrews. See 1:13!)

And then King David wrote this prophecy in His song to this conquering king to come, “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek’” (Psalm 110:4).

The Messiah would not just be the conquering king of kings. He would also be “a priest forever” just like the mysterious Mr. Melchizedek. Not just King Jesus but Priest Jesus.

This morning, I have two points of application that I think we should make from this passage today. And here’s the first one:

#1. JUST THINK HOW GREAT JESUS IS!

Just think about how great Jesus is! That’s what this whole letter is trying to do to us. To get our minds focused on Jesus and how awesome He is. All of these complicated arguments that the author is making are aimed at raising our gaze so that we consider the all surpassing greatness of our Lord. Look at what He says in verse 4.

“Just think how great he was!”

And who’s he talking about? Melchizedek! He wants us–to fix our eyes for just a second to contemplate the greatness of Melchizedek. Why?

Because Jesus is like Melchizedek! And the more we see how great Melchizedek is, the more we’ll see how great Jesus is.

So how great was Melchizedek?

Let me ask you this question. Who is greater in stature: Melchizedek or Abraham?

Is that a tough one? We have one passage and one passage alone for Melchizedek, and we have so much about Father Abraham. The Father of Faith! The Father of Isaac and then of Jacob. The one all of those promises were given. Offspring, Land, and Blessing. Which one?

It’s the mysterious Mr. Melchizedek. Look again at verse 4.

“Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!”

Abraham recognized that he was supposed to give him a tenth. Melchizedek had not fought in the battle. This was not a payment for service render. He was just representing God. But he was representing God! He was the priest of the Most High. So Abraham gave him a tenth. 

Now, the Hebrews reading this letter might have said, “Well, yeah, but the Levites also receive a tithe.”

Because the real question for this letter is which is greater:

“Team Melchizedek or Team Levi?”

“Team Melchizedek or Team Aaron?”

Which order of these is greater? Which team wins the World Cup for High Priests?

Someone might say they are equals. Both of them receive a tithe. Look at verse 5.

“Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people–that is, their brothers–even though their brothers are descended from Abraham.”

That’s true. The Levites had a kind of priority over the other sons of Israel. Verse 6.

“This man [Melchizedek], however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.”

Do you see the point he’s making? This pastor was a great theologian. He thought long and deep about his Bible. He read Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 over and over again until it showed him amazing things about Jesus! 

Melchizedek got a tithe from Abraham and blessed Abraham (who had the promises) and the unerring principle is that the lesser person is blessed by the greater; The one who is greater confers the blessing. Abraham gave the tithe. Melchizedek conferred the blessing. V.8

“In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die [Levites]; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living [Melchizedek, who kept on living according the records]. 

One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor” (vv.8-10).

That’s quite an argument! That’s some Hebrew logic there. It’s like saying that my sons here, Pete and Isaac, were in the body of my Dad Chuck over there. My hero. Levi (and Aaron in him) was still in the body of Abraham when Abraham paid the tithe, so if we’re trying to figure out who is greater: Melchizedek or Aaron, the answer is...

Melchizedek!

Team Melchizedek is greater than Team Aaron.

Because Melchizedek is greater than Father Abraham.

So Melchizedek is greater than his descendent Levi.

So Melchizedek is greater than his descendent Aaron.

And what does that matter? It matters because Jesus is a priest not like Aaron but like Melchizedek. Jesus is great because Jesus is on Team Melchizedek.

Does all of this sound too confusing and boring to you? It can be confusing, and I may be doing a poor job of untangling it for you. But it is anything but boring when you understand it. Jesus is the greatest priest ever, and we need to fix our eyes on Him.

In verse 11, the author starts to explain why this is important to the Hebrews.

Because if they thought they could just fall back on the Levitical priesthood and just stay Jews and not be Christians, they had another think coming. Because the whole Levitical priesthood was temporary. It was going away. Here’s how he knows...Psalm 110! Look at verse 11.

“If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another priest to come–one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?”

Do you see what he’s saying? Psalm 110 announced to the world that there was another priest coming. The priest we need!

And the priest we really need won’t be a Levite. He won’t be on Team Aaron. He’ll need to be on Team Melchizedek! If Team Aaron could pull it off, why would the LORD have sworn that he would make the Messiah a priest according to the order of Melchizedek?!

This is really important to understand. He’s going to camp on this idea in chapter 8 and chapter 9 and chapter 10. The Levitical Priesthood (as good as it was) was inadequate. It was insufficient. It was not enough. Aaron was not the priest we need!  Jesus is the priest we need. 

And He brings with Him the covenant we need. Did you see in verse 11 where it says, that the law was given on the basis of the Levitical priesthood? That’s not the way we normally think of it. We think of the Law as the basis for the Levitical priesthood (and that’s true as well) but the law covenant really springs up from whoever is the priesthood. That’s the point of verse 12.

“For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law.”

If there is a new kind of priest, we need a new kind law covenant. And we have a new kind of priest on the scene! Verse 13.

“He of whom these things are said [Jesus] belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. [Jesus was not a Levite. V.14] For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 

And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.

For it is declared: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’” (vv.13-17).

It’s all becoming clear now.

There is a new sheriff in town. 

There’s a new high priest in town.

And He’s not like the old ones.

He’s like...Melchizedek!

He’s not from Levi. He’s not from Aaron. He’s from the tribe of Judah (see Matthew 1, Luke 3, 1 Timothy 5, Revelation 5:5). He’s the long expected lion of the tribe of Judah.

He’s a king! And He’s a priest at the same time! He doesn’t get His priesthood from his earthly daddy. He gets His priesthood from the power of an indestructible life.

Wow. What a thought that is! Jesus did die. He died on the Cross making atonement for our sins. But He came back to life. And now He cannot die again. Jesus cannot die again.

Just think about that for a hot minute. Jesus cannot die again. He is indestructible, so that whatever kind of a priest He is... means that that’s the kind of priest He is forever! We’ll think about that more next week.

But think about it this week! Just think about how great Jesus is.

How much do you know about your salvation? We should want to know as much as we possible can about our salvation. If this Melchizedek stuff seems to weird to you, don’t stop pondering it until it shows you how great your Savior is so you know how great your salvation is.

Your salvation is forever because your high priest is forever! Jesus is the priest we need. And because of that, He brings the covenant we need and the hope we need. Look at verse 18.

“The former regulation [the Old Covenant] is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God” (vv.18-19).

That’s point number two. Our last point.

#2. DRAW NEAR TO GOD THROUGH JESUS.

He’s saying some pretty strong stuff about the Old Covenant, isn’t he?

“Weak and useless.”

Does that mean that Old Covenant was bad? No, of course not. It was from God. It was good.  But it was temporary, it was passing, and it was just showing them their need for something even better. And now that better hope is introduced (see 6:18-20 again).

The law made nothing perfect, but now Jesus has come to perfect us! He has made the perfect way for us to draw near to God. He is the way to draw near to God.

So, therefore, church, let us draw near to God!

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess... Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:14 and 16).

Come to God.

Don’t turn from Him.

Don’t run from Him.

Don’t fall way from Him.

Come to Him.

You’re invited!

You’re welcome!

You’re safe!

You’re accepted.

You’re perfected.

Approach the throne.

Draw near!

You have a great high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

***

Messages in this Series:

01. "The Son" - Hebrews 1:1-4
02. "Superior to the Angels" - Hebrews 1:5-14
03. "Such a Great Salvation" - Hebrews 2:1-4
04. "We See Jesus" - Hebrews 2:5-9
05. "Flesh and Blood" - Hebrews 2:10-18
06. "Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus" - Hebrews 3:1-6
07. “Today, If You Hear His Voice” - Hebrews 3:7-19
Bonus Historical Message: The Gift of My Rest - A Fictional Letter of Sabbath Theology
08. "A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God" - Hebrews 4:1-13
09. "Great High Priest" - Hebrews 4:14-16
10. "The Source of Eternal Salvation" - Hebrews 5:1-10
11. "On To Maturity" - Hebrews 5:11-6:3
12. "We Speak Like This" - Hebrews 6:4-12
13. "An Anchor for the Soul" - Hebrews 6:13-20

Bonus Message: "Fix Your Eyes on Jesus" - 2026 West Branch Baccalaureate

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32 Years of Favor

"He who finds a wife finds what is good 

and receives favor from the LORD." 

-Proverbs 18:22

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“Putting Us In Our Place” [Matt's Messages] Family Bible Week 2026

“Putting Us In Our Place”

Illumination Station :: Family Bible Week 2026

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

June 14, 2026 :: Psalm 8  

I have seen so many humans in the last two weeks!

I have seen so many humans in the last two weeks as I helped our daughter Robin move across the country to Vancouver Washington in the Pacific Northwest.

Robin and I jumped into her 2003 Ford Ranger stuffed to the gills with her tortoise, her gecko, and her three exotic frogs in the backseat, and we traveled 3,000 miles (with no air conditioning) crossing over 11 states in 6 days. 

We saw a lot of America the Beautiful! The spacious skies and amber waves of grain in Nebraska, the towering mountains of Colorado, the high desert mesas of Utah, and the green forests of Oregon ending up on the Columbia River as it empties into the Pacific Ocean. 

Robin now lives on the north side of the Columbia across from Portland in the beautiful city of Vancouver in the shadow of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens. Tomorrow is her first day of work as a Vet Tech. We got her all set up in her new apartment, and thank you for praying that her stuff that we sent ahead arrived ahead of time so that I could help her unload it and unpack it before coming home this week. A wonderful answer to prayer!

I started flying home on Thursday and got as far as Chicago when a major storm canceled flights out of Chicago and into State College. So I had to spend the night in a hotel near O’Hare, and there was a tornado sighting nearby, sirens going off and everything. It was a little too exciting traveling back. But I got home, and eventually my luggage did, too!

So I have been traveling a lot in the last two weeks, and in my travels, I have a seen so many human beings!

And they come in all sorts. Big ones and small ones. Rich ones and poor ones. Red and yellow and black, brown, and white. Some with lots of hair of all kinds of color, some with no hair, much like the top of my head. Men and women and girls and boys. Speaking different languages. Different accents. Different ways of dressing. Human beings in all of their splendid diversity.

I love people-watching, especially in rest areas and hotel lobbies and airports. And as I watched all of these beautiful human beings, I thought about the theology class I’m teaching this year for Family Bible Week.

This, by the way, is the first lesson in the class. Tomorrow night, we’ll have the second lesson. My class is for the adults who are not going to the parents’ class and for the older teens who are not helping with a little kids’ class. Everybody is welcome, and welcome to the first class!

We’re in a ten-year series of classes on systematic theology. In 2024, we studied from article 1 of our EFCA Statement of Faith, the doctrine of God. Last year in 2025, we studied from article 2 of our EFCA Statement of Faith, the doctrine of the Bible. This year, hopefully not surprisingly, we’re studying article 3 of our Statement of Faith, the doctrine of humanity, what we believe about the  human condition. Let’s say it together as our Worship in Unity this week. It’s in your worship bulletin, and I also have it up here on the screen:

“We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.”

That’s our topic for the next 5 days. There’s a lot there! 

The image of God!

Adam and Eve. Men and women. Male and female.

Satan, temptation, sin.

And salvation through Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. 

If you haven’t planned to come yet, please plan now to join us. Dinner is at 5:30 tomorrow night. There will be plenty for everyone. The program starts at 6:15. This is for you. 

We’re going to be learning about what it means to be human. To be a human being created in the image of God. All of those humans I saw in my travels were created in the image of God.

Cody referenced that big idea in his message two Sundays ago. Thank you, Cody, for teaching us God’s Word–how and why to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! That’s why we are made. That’s what humans are for. We are made with a special connection to God and are intended to reflect Him to the world. Humans are made to be like mirrors reflecting the glory of God for the world to see.

God is the light (Psalm 27:1, John 8:12). And we are intended to be little mirrors reflecting that light.

And as I was thinking about where to go in holy Scripture to kick off our study of what it means to be a human, part of mankind, my mind kept coming back again and again to Psalm 8.

Especially because in verse 4, King David writes the question into his song:

“What is man?" What is a human being? What does it mean for us to be human?

And King David directs that question at God Himself. Because that’s where we are going to get the real answer to that question.

Everybody has an answer to that question, “What is man?” but so many are just plain wrong. 

And what I love about Psalm 8 is that it puts us humans in our place in all the right ways. Psalm 8 puts me in my place. 

Psalm 8 is about God. It's an amazing song about our amazing God. It starts and ends with magnificent praise to God, and the middle is full of worship, too. And while King David is leading us in worshipful praise of our magnificent God, he is also, at the very same time, masterfully putting us in our place in all the right ways.

I don't know about you, but I often need to be to put in my place.

I need to be told where I belong, where I fit in the grand scheme of things. So that I don't get too big for my britches. (Or too small for them either.) Psalm 8, while praising God, puts us in our place in all the right ways. Let me show you what I mean. Psalm 8, verse 1.

“For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David. 

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.”

Here's my place:

#1. LOOKING UP AT OUR LORD'S MAJESTY.

King David wrote this song “according to gittith.” We don't know what that means. Maybe it's a song for people from Gath or maybe a “gittith” is a musical instrument or musical style. We don't know. But David wrote it and gave it to the director of music for the temple for God's people to sing their hearts out.

And for people who were in church of a certain age, there’s a song that immediately jumps to mind by Michael W. Smith. Anita played it as the prelude this morning.

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.”

You can just feel the praise pulsing through the psalm! David is joyfully overwhelmed with the glory of God. 

He names God here. He uses God's covenant name: YHWH. Whenever you see that capital L-O-R-D in your English Bible, the covenant name for God revealed most gloriously at the burning bush is standing behind it. Yahweh. "O YHWH, our Lord," our sovereign. 

King David is singing about His Heavenly King and claiming Him as his. You see that little word “our?” That's a relationship word, isn't it? He isn't just saying, “God, you are majestic.” He is saying, “Our God is majestic.” The one we belong to. The one we are in relationship with.

“O Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

Do you feel it? That word “majestic” means "awesome, magnificent, splendid, beautiful, grand, exalted.”  “High and lifted up!”

King David is enthralled by how dazzling, awe-inspiring, sensational, and glorious God is! His name (His reputation, His glory, His name) is majestic, not just here but everywhere, “in all the earth.” Wherever you go, God's glory fills the earth.

And above! “You have set your glory above the heavens.” All creation (in heaven and earth) is a testimony to the glory of God. All things point to the majesty of the name of the LORD. God is transcendent over all.

That puts us in our place, doesn't it? Looking up at the majesty of our God. He is worthy of our worship. 

That's one reason why we need to set aside time every day and especially every week just to worship. We come together as a congregation this morning to worship, to declare the majesty of the name of Yahweh. His name deserves our praise. His name deserves our singing! He is transcendent and glorious over all. Amen?

And then, verse 2 is a real surprise to me. It calls for more praise, but the people praising are the surprise. Verse 2.

“From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, but I never see those kids coming in this psalm. The Lord's name is majestic over everything, and He has ordained praise from the lips of children and infants. 

From the smallest and the weakest. I guess he's putting us in our place. He doesn't start with the great and the strong. He starts with the humble and weak. When the humble and the weak praise God, there is strength. 

That word for “praise” there in verse 2 is literally, “strength.” Strength of praise is the general idea, I think. And when the weakest lift up the name of the LORD, they shame the supposedly strong. They silence the foe and the avenger, the enemies of God.

Remember when Jesus quoted this verse? It was Palm Sunday when Jesus came into town riding on a donkey, the little children praised Him. And it enraged the Pharisees, but Jesus said, in a mic-drop moment, “Haven't you read Psalm 8? That's what the little kids are supposed to do.”

God loves to humble the proud by using the praises of the humble. I love it when the stage up here gets filled with little kids praising God. God loves to humble the proud by using the praises of the humble. Because He deserves it.

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

How are you doing at looking up at the majesty of our God? Are you worshiping the Lord every single day? Are you seeing how majestic He is in all of the earth? Not just on Sundays when we're singing in here, but on Mondays when you're slogging it out at work?

It helps to get out into creation. I saw a lot of beauty in the last two weeks. Snow-capped mountains. Rushing rivers. The vast ocean. Huge trees. Water falls. Even the high mesas with their massive piles of sand and stone were beautiful in their own way. These all reflect the majesty of God. He made them! In just a minute, we’re going to sing:

“The mountains are His!

The valleys are His!

The stars are His handiwork, too!”

That line comes from Psalm 8. I think that David probably wrote this song at nighttime reflecting on sleepless nights on guard duty as a shepherd on the hillside looking up at the night sky filled with stars and thinking, “My God made those.” Which is very humbling, but also very exhilarating, isn't it?

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

And then verse 3 is surprising, too. In fact, even David is surprised by it! Look at verse 3.

“When I consider your heavens [YOUR heavens], the work of your fingers [handiwork, like my wife's knitting], the moon and the stars [it's nighttime], which you have set in place...what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

Do you see David's question? The Lord is not just majestic. He is mindful!

He is mindful of David and other human beings. That's what “son of man” means here, it means humanity, humankind, probably represented by the first man, Adam.

When I look up at the Milky Way, I think, how is it that that majestic God would even have one thought about me? Little old me!

Do you feel the amazement? Do you get a sense of the wonder that David is singing about? This song really puts us in our place. It humbles us, but in a thrilling way.

And then it humbles us again by telling us that we are not insignificant. Yes, we are small, but we are not insignificant. You would think that we are less than a speck. When you think about God and Who God is in all of His majesty and splendor and beauty and glory and magnificence. And then you think about who you are...

And then you think, “God thinks about who I am? I am in God's mind? God cares for me?”

What dignity! What significance! What meaning that gives to our lives!

The world will not tell you this. The world will either tell you that you are the greatest, you are a god, and you deserve all of your wildest dreams to come true. Or the world will tell you that you are worthless, a nothing, a meaningless speck, a cog in the machine, here today and gone tomorrow.

Neither are true, because of Who God is.

God is majestic over all creation, and God is mindful of His special creation, humankind.

And even more mindful, if you can say it that way, of His own children, those who belong to Jesus Christ.

Remember when Jesus said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:29-31).

This majestic God is mindful of you.

And we know even better than King David how big the universe is.

One author I read said it this way, “On a clear night David could likely see 2,000-3,000 stars. What if he'd had a good pair of binoculars? Up to 100,000 [stars]. What if David knew...that if the Milky Way galaxy were the size of the entire continent of North America [which I traveled across last week], our solar system [!] would fit in a coffee cup, and that the Milky Way is one of perhaps 100 billion such galaxies in the universe? [David] would have been even more staggered than he was–but he had enough to stagger him, to be impressed with the massive vastness of his world over against his apparent insignificance...When he exclaims, ‘What is man?' he is speaking in baffled wonder and perplexed joy! Only the condescension of God can hold together astronomical vastness and individual concern. It gives David liturgical goose-bumps" (Dale Ralph Davis, "The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life, pg. 97-98).

David breaks out in song, and so should we!

This majestic God is mindful of you.

Do you need to hear that today? God's mind is on you.

He sees you.

He knows you.

He knows what's on your mind.

He knows what's on your plate.

He knows what's coming this week.

And you matter to Him.

Not because you're so grand. He's so grand!

But because you're His. And because He made you to represent Him.

That's where David goes next in verse 5. He goes back to the creation account in Genesis 1 and sings about that. Look at verse 5.

“You made him [Adam, the Son of Man] a little lower than the heavenly beings [or literally, “a little lower than God”] and crowned him with glory and honor.”

The majestic and mindful King of the World made us...little kings and queens of the world.

Remember what God said in Genesis 1? 

This will be what we will focus in class on tomorrow night, and I’m sure it was rolling around in David’s head as he wrote this song. Genesis 1:26-28.

God says, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. [Rule.] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

The image of God and rulership go hand in hand. God made us to represent Him and together to rule the world as those made in His image.

He put a crown on our heads! How's that for putting us in our place? Didn't see that coming!

The shepherd boy who became a king knew that He was tiny and made out of dust and yet was also made to wear a crown and help rule the world for God!

Did you know that you were made to wear a crown?

Verse 6. “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.”

We were made to rule all of that. Just think about everything in those categories.

Here's your place: Looking Up at Our Majestic God. But also:

#2. LOOKING OVER THE REST OF CREATION.

As one of our God's faithful representative rulers.

Humans were meant to be a kind of royalty. If you've ever read the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis was a master at creatively communicating that truth. King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy learn of their royalty that comes as a gift of the Christ-mirroring Aslan and the Emperor Over the Sea. And they learn to rule as representatives.

How are you doing at representing God in this world? You may not rule over very much right now.

I have a little 5 acres I’m responsible over in Lanse. And for 28 years, I have had a leadership role here though I’m certainly not the ruler of Lanse Free Church and don’t ever want to be. I don't rule over very much. But how am I doing at representing the God in whose image I am supposed to rule?

What do you rule over?

It was fun to see Robin setting up her home in her apartment in Vancouver. To see Fritz the Tortoise and Winona the gecko and the three frogs, one of them is Dolly and another is Dex, and I think the other one is Mustachio. And she cares for them. She feeds and waters them. And makes sure they have light and heat. I’m not sure how you can tell a tortoise is happy, but I think those animals are pretty happy there in Robin’s domain.

What do you rule over? And how are you doing at representing God there?

Maybe in a workplace?

Maybe in a household?

Maybe in a community?

What's your dominion?

We were made to look up to the majesty of God, and (amazingly) in the mindfulness of God, we are also made to look over the rest of creation and represent our Lord to it as responsible rulers.

And of course, as an entire race, we are not doing a very good job it. We have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And our rule over the world God made has been despotic, and disappointing, and disastrous. That's why we have wars and violence and rioting and racial injustice and even hurricanes and raging forest fires and raging epidemics. Because, as the human race, we have dropped the ball.

Only one human has ever lived up to the promise of Psalm 8. And it sure wasn't David. David could see it, and he could sing it, but he couldn't live it out the way it should be.

Do you know where this Psalm gets sung again in the New Testament? You should. We just studied it a couple of months ago!

It's the Letter to the Hebrews chapter 2. Listen to this:

“But there is a place where someone has testified: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.' [Sound familiar? Hebrews says...] In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. [Things are not the way they are supposed to be.] But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (vv.6-9).

Psalm 8 puts us in our place. Here's our place:

#3. LOOKING FORWARD TO JESUS.

Looking forward to Jesus, because of His death and resurrection and present session, putting everything back to the way it was always supposed to be.

“We see Jesus...now crowned with glory and honor.” Fulfilling Psalm 8, being everything we were always supposed to be. And, one day, making everything new. Majestic, Mindful, Messiah.

What’s the application of that?

“Fix your eyes on Jesus!”

He is the image of God. He “is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being...” (Hebrews 1:3).

The radiance of God’s glory! Or another way of saying, He is the Light of the World. 

No wonder, David returns in the last line to the first.

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

***

Note: Astute readers with long memories will recognize that a hefty portion of the message has been adapted from a previous sermon I preached during covid, “Majestic and Mindful,” August 30, 2020.

The major difference is that I have been sharpened in my understanding of the image of God, especially by reading Dignity and Destiny by John Kilner. I no longer believe that the image of God has been lost or even damaged by our sin. All humans (lost and found) are still made in the image of God with a special connection and substantial reflection of God. It’s because of that status that sin is so grievous and salvation so glorious.

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