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Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Kirsten. I'm Caleb. I'm Chris. And we are talking about Hebrews 7 today. This is like a... This is easy stuff. Easy stuff, right? It's titled The Priestly Order of Metvith. So let me start with this question. Lots of rich stuff here. How does this chapter impact how we see Jesus? Because that's, I think, the spirit of this is to impact how we see Jesus. Well, I need some help from you guys because this is a hot question for me, at least. Who is Melchizedek? Because they're saying a lot of stuff like, if I remember correctly, they say he's the king of peace, king of righteousness, something like that. Like he resembles the son of God. Doesn't have a lineage. Right. What doesn't have a beginning. Is this a cameo of Jesus in Old Testament? Does that happen? I need you guys' help. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's some hot takes about this, but personally, I think it could be what we might call a pre-incarnate theophany, which is a fancy way of saying this is Jesus showing up before Bethlehem, right? So way back, first book of the Bible, Genesis, Abraham, the beginning of God's people, encounters this king named Melchizedek. We don't know where he came from, where he's going, no beginning, no end. But Abraham responds in worship to him by giving him 10% of all of his stuff, money, sheep, cattle, whatever. And recognizing this is someone who is not like me. This is someone who is worthy of worship. Giving things away is a way that we worship. And so the writer of Hebrews is drawing a connection between this mysterious priest from the first book of the Bible and what we know who Jesus is. Yeah. Okay. Welcome Kayla. Brought in a ringer today. So what I'm hearing is yes, that is Jesus. I think so. I completely agree with that. I completely agree with that. And I actually think this is one of several of those pre-incarnate theophanies. I mean, we're not going to have to get into all the other ones, but like, I do think this is Jesus showing up before Bethlehem. And remember, like we don't know who wrote Hebrews, but we do know they wrote it to the Hebrews. They wrote it to people who would have been deeply steeped in all of that religious tradition, all of that. So all of this stuff that we're reading, Melchizedek, the order of these are people who would have been like, oh yeah, I always had that question. I had that question when I learned it when I was five, you know, they would have had that context. And so the thing that I love about this chapter though, is he uses this language. And I think this is the heart of it, new and better. I think what this is meant to point us to in Jesus is that Jesus is a new and better something, a new and better priest with a new and better covenant. And I think that's the spirit of

what he's trying to communicate here. So as you think about that, like, how does that help us have confidence in approaching Jesus to know that he's a new and better kind of priest or a new and better kind of covenant? Yeah. Yeah. I think that the thing that I'm wrestling with, finding peace in is the fact that, yeah, I'm happy that there's a new and better covenant because the first one was really hard. I think it says like, it could not be perfected. Like it just, it wasn't possible. And so that brings me a lot of peace because I cannot be perfect. It's just, I've tried. It's not possible. We've all been there, tried that, failed miserably. But with Jesus, it's still thousands of years ago. So I find it beautiful that if this is the better and final covenant in Jesus, like we found it. We've found the way. And I also see in my life and I think the world, we're still always looking for a better way. So I think it's really good that whenever I'm like, oh, well, maybe this way of the world is better than Jesus. I can be like, no, this was the fix. This was the perfecter, the final. And so that's where I'm at when I'm thinking of how long it's been since this was written and being like, okay, we're still good. We're still not needing to be perfect or do crazy things. It's just, it's just Jesus. So that's what I think of. Yeah. It's crazy because you're talking about lineage and like Genesis, the first lineage, Adam and Eve, their response to like when they mess up badly is like, we got to hide. And that's like still my response when I mess up today. It's just like, I got to, I cannot show God this thing. But like this new high priest that they're talking about with Jesus, like he eliminates that need to like, we need to have someone pay some penalty. for us or like we need to keep sacrificing or doing the thing like there is, we're granted entrance to be able to talk with him and receive grace. But like, yeah, that's like I just, I'm doing the same thing that the day one people were doing. I'm just hiding whenever I mess up with anything. Yeah. Yeah, I think, for me, I rarely think of Jesus as a priest first. Thinking of him as a teacher, miracle worker,

you know, sacrifice, whatever. I don't usually think of priest. I grew up in a Protestant tradition, so I know some cool priests now, but growing up, you know, priest is like stuffy, he's got a uniform, whatever, like he's maybe just all about the rules or whatever, but like the priest really is intended to be the connective tissue between the people and God. That's right. Right, like the go between, and that's what this is saying. Jesus is for us the perfect priest that connects us back to God. Yeah. The crazy thing about like Jesus being Melchizedek or whatever is like, that's always been the plan. From the first book of the Bible, Jesus is the plan. Yes. That's true. Man, it's so good. I think about what you say, too. He is. Like, read the tenses matter in the Bible, right? Verb tenses matter, and in this one, it doesn't say, and because of that, Jesus was, he is, right now, able to make intercession between us and God. So right now, he's acting in that office of the priest for Caleb, for Kirsten, for Chuck, for Chris, for you. He's acting in that office right now.

So there's like this, it's always been the plan, and now it will be the reality for all of eternity that I can be right with God because Jesus is the connective tissue. I love that language. It's so good. So as you think about like, what's the practical takeaway? Like, you know, for me, one of the practical takeaways is I think if I understand this, and first of all, I want to admit, I don't fully understand. There's a bit of this that's just like, if I told you intellectually I have all these dots connected, I'm lying, but there is, and it's coming, and Hebrews will hear it, but like, there is a boldness that I can have in talking with God because the fix, I love your language, because the fix is completed in Jesus. And man, you know, I mean, I'm probably the only person who sometimes when I come before God, the only thing I'm thinking about is all the crap that I've done, all the shame I have about those things. And I'm talking about just things I passed it. I'm talking about the things that I did last night. I'm talking about the things like that are actively still broken in me. And man, there's just a confidence and a hope this gives me that, you know what? I can still come before God because I have an active priest who's the connective tissue. Yeah, I got some advice from someone

that's been mentoring me. And she said that when she's just feeling really chaotic and needs Jesus to tend to her, she used this example. She lays on the ground. I have two kids, three and one and a half. Like the idea of just having quiet times like I used to is out of the question. And it actually makes me really sad and mad and all the feelings. But she was like, have you tried? Like I would just lay on the ground and set the Bible on my chest. And I would be like, Jesus, you got to work through osmosis today, because I need your word and I don't have it in me. Like you gotta do something here. And so I think from the simple, the most simple version of this is like, he hears that and he tends to me in those moments. And it's good to call out on my behalf through osmosis. Like as silly as that word is, but it was the first thing that came to mind. I was like, thank goodness that Jesus has like this title, because I couldn't imagine needing, if I can't even open my Bible in the morning and study the word, I'm not putting on a backpack, hiking across town to find a priest in a temple and give him all my things. Like I would hope I would, and I'm in awe of people that did in scripture,

but like, man, what a gift to have that. Yeah, that's good. To me, that gives me permission to quickly turn to Jesus in the midst of any kind of trouble or like sin I fall into where as opposed to like, okay, what are the seven steps I have to take to get right with just some way of cleaning myself up before coming to him. But like him as the high priest, I mean, it means he knows everything about me, knows me way more than I know myself, which is like good and bad news. So he's like, I'm like, I know I'm pretty messed up, but he knows way more about how I'm actually messed up I am. And he still invites me to come to him. And like, there's just no delay period of like, okay, dust yourself off, take a shower, take 20 minutes, take three days, and then you can return to me. It's like, no, it's 24 seven accessible to bring anything we have to God, which is. like not what I'm used to and maybe relationships where it's like I need to I need to do my time I need to wait a little bit before I can approach this person again. Yeah earlier in Hebrews we're reading about how we can approach the throne of grace with confidence the reason we can is because Jesus is our advocate right he's the priest that goes before God on my behalf so it's like it's like if I'm playing a pickup game of basketball I have Michael Jordan on my team or LeBron you know pick your pick pick your goat whatever but it's like if I'm playing a pickup game of basketball I'm not worried if I got freaking Michael Jordan on my team right even if I miss that's right I'm I'm

terrible basketball I'm a baseball guy right but like wow that surprises me I'm not worried about him because he's got it every time right so it's like I'm good before God because Jesus wants me on his team yeah it's a big deal it's a big big deal. Hey thanks for coming we'll see you tomorrow.