Hebrews 7:18

Hebrews 7:18 says, For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.  The earthly priesthood could not save mankind and was limited in its scope.  There were certain rules and regulations that were to be followed before the priest, even the high priest, could approach God on behalf of the people.  Jesus did away with that requirement.  We, as followers of Christ, can approach the heavenly Father at any time and in any place.  

Verse nineteen adds, For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.  The law of God never could and never will make anyone perfect, because we fail to live up to that law.  Only One, Jesus Christ, ever lived up to the law perfectly, and He is the only One capable of being our high Priest.  This is our better hope.  

Verse twenty continues, And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:  Those earthly priests were made so by birth.  

Verse twenty-one declares, (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)  Though the priesthood may have been established by God's command, He never declared it to be an eternal priesthood.  Christ alone fulfills that role.  

Verse twenty-two adds, By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.  It is by the oath of the heavenly Father that Jesus is made a surety of the new testament, based not on the law, but on faith in Christ alone.  

Verse twenty-three continues, And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:  There was a need for many high priests over the generations under the law, because no matter how good or bad they may have been, they all were limited by death.  None could fulfill the role of everlasting Priest.  Jesus Christ alone was and is qualified.  

Verse twenty-four states, But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.  Unlike earthly priests who died and had to be replaced, Jesus is an eternal Priest.  

Verse twenty-five adds, Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.  Christ saves those who come to God through Him to the uttermost.  He is alive today making intercession with the heavenly Father on the behalf of those who follow Him.  

Verse twenty-six continues, For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;  This speaks of the unique nature of Christ.  He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.  Jesus is the only begotten Son of God and the only One qualified to be our high Priest.  

Verse twenty-seven says, Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.  Unlike earthly priests, Christ does not need to offer up sacrifices daily for those that follow Him.  He never had to offer a sacrifice for Himself as do earthly priests, as He is without sin.  Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for all sins for all time.  It is sad that so many will go away to eternal punishment because they refuse to accept the forgiveness that has already been made available through Christ.  

Verse twenty-eight adds, For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.  All other high priests were under the law and failed to keep it.  Christ came to fulfill the law and was made our high Priest by the oath of God, Who had proclaimed Jesus His only begotten Son and the only One capable of bringing salvation to mankind.

Hebrews 7:9

Hebrews 7:9 says, And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.  Levi also payed tithes to Melchisdec.  He did not stand in self-pride refusing to acknowledge the superiority of Melchisedec.  We cannot allow self-pride to prevent us from acknowledging the work that others do for God.  If we are true followers of Christ, then we must do all for His glory.  

Verse ten adds, For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.  I believe that this is once more pointing out that our earthly status does not mean that we are superior to anyone else in the eyes of God.  As a matter of fact, we may find ourselves in a position of being less than some other believer, no matter our earthly credentials.  

Verse eleven continues, If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?  Levi was a priest of the law, the old testament between man and God.  The question is if this keeping of the law of God could bring salvation, why would we need another priest?  We know that the law could not redeem us, so we had the need of a high Priest Who could.  

Verse twelve states, For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.  When the priesthood changed, so did the law.  We no longer look to the law of God for salvation, but to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross to fulfill that law.  We become a pert of the priesthood of believers when we accept Christ as Savior and Lord.  We can go directly to God without the need of a priest to represent us before God.  

Verse thirteen adds, For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.  The priesthood would come not from the tribe of Levi, but from the tribe of Judah.  Christ, the only One able to fulfill the law, would become our high Priest forever by our faith in Him.  

Verse fourteen continues, For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.  Jesus is not our high Priest because of His physical birth, but because of His heavenly calling.  The Levitical priest were often corrupt, even though they were physically born into the priesthood.  Our birth does not determine our relationship with God, but our rebirth through Christ does.  

Verse fifteen says, And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,  Jesus is said to be after the order of Melchisedec, who was not of the earthly order of priests.  

Verse sixteen adds, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.  Jesus Christ is our eternal Priest, not made so by the carnal law that required a person's total obedience for salvation, but by the power of His endless life and power over sin and death.  

Verse seventeen continues, For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.  This simply restates the eternal nature of the priesthood of Christ.  He is the once, now and forever Priest, or go between, for man and God.  Christ is the only One qualified to be our everlasting Priest.

Hebrews 7:1

Hebrews 7:1 says, For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;  Melchisedec is first spoken of in Genesis 14:18 and the following verses, and again mentioned in Psalms 110:4.  There are varying opinions as to who Melchisedec was, but we can say without a doubt that he was a real person.  His priesthood did not come from by birth into the earthly priesthood, but he was appointed a priest by God.  If we had needed to know more about him, then I believe that the Bible would tell us more.  

Verse two adds, To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;  We know that Abraham offered a tithe to Melchisedec.  Abraham recognized Melchisedec as a King of peace.  When comparing Christ to Melchisedec, we know that Chist is the King of everlasting peace.  

Verse three continues, Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.  Of this verse Matthew Henry says, "This must not be understood according to the letter; but the scripture has chosen to set him forth as an extraordinary person, without giving us his genealogy, that he might be a fitter type of Christ, who as man was without father, as God without mother; whose priesthood is without descent, did not descend to him from another, nor from him to another, but is personal and perpetual."  Melchisedec did not arise from a physical birth into the priesthood, nor did he have descendants who followed him into the priesthood.  

Verse four states, Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.  Abraham, the father of faith, recognized the superiority of Melchisedec as a priest, even offering him a tithe.  

Verse five adds, And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:  The sons of Levi, the tribe of priests, were told to take a tithe of the people, even though they were descendants of Abraham.  

Verse six continues, But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.  Melchisedec, who was not of the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, blessed Abraham.  He could do this because he was appointed by God.  Today, a person is not a preacher because that person is the descendant of a preacher, but is so because of a calling from God.  

Verse seven says, And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.  Melchisedec would be the better in this case, and Abraham, the heir of the promise of God, would be the less.  We, as followers of Christ, though we may be blessed by God, will always be the lesser in our relationship to Him. 

Verse eight adds, And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.  We may receive tithes as the church, but we still die.  The One that the tithes are for though, Christ, will live forever.  Though Christ died a physical death for our sins, He is the eternal Savior Who reigns forever.

Hebrews 6:16

Hebrews 6:16 says, For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.  We swear an oath by the greater, which is God.  This is confirmation of our salvation.  Salvation is never based on our goodness or ability, but it is based on our belief in and acceptance of Christ as Savior and Lord.  Since God is the author of our salvation, we need never debate the reality of it.  There is but one way to be saved, and that is through faith in Christ.  

Verse seventeen adds, Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:  We can be certain that our salvation through Christ will never be taken away, because God has made this promise based on His word.  We may not always be able to put our faith in the word of another individual, but we can always trust the word of God.  As followers of Christ, our word should be just as trustworthy, but often it is not.  

Verse eighteen continues, That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:  We have God's council to us based on His unchangeable word.  What God tells us is true and always will be.  God will never tell us to do anything that contradicts His word.  For example, since God tells us to love our neighbor, He is not going to suddenly change that command to hate our neighbor when things aren't going our way.  Even if we disagree with them, we are to do so out of love.  

Verse nineteen declares. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;  Our faith in Christ is indeed an anchor for our soul.  This hope should be both sure and steadfast.  Our faith should never waiver, because it is anchored in Christ.  

Verse twenty adds, Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.  Jesus removed the veil between God and mankind.  We can now go directly to God with nothing standing between us.  Christ is our high Priest forever, and we need no one else to bring our concerns to God.

Hebrews 6:9

Hebrews 6:9 says, But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.  The writer states that they, which would be those believers with him and he himself, were sure of better things of the Hebrew Christians than the falling away from their faith.  No matter where we live today, our fellow followers of Christ should expect us to live by faith in Christ.  

Verse ten adds, For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.  Though we do not work for salvation, once we accept salvation through Christ, we are to work that God might be glorified.  God will not forget the work that we do for Him.  Since each believer is given at least one talent, or gift of the Holy Spirit, then each believer must be faithful in utilizing that talent or those talents that have been given to them.  We cannot do anything of our own ability, so it is important that we rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal and develop our talents.  

Verse eleven continues, And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:  We are called on to give our full diligence to God.  We cannot allow God to be a sideline in our lives.  We need to be diligent in our work for God's kingdom.  When we are, then we can have full assurance of hope until the end.  We do this labor for God not for reward but out of love for Him.  

Verse twelve states, That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.  God does not expect us to be lazy in our work for Him.  We are to work faithfully and patiently to fulfill the will of God.  Though we inherit the promise of God through faith in Christ, our faith is evident by our works.  Just as God created mankind for a purpose, He redeems them for a purpose as well.  

Verse thirteen adds, For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,  God's promise to Abraham was assured because God based it on His own righteousness and not the righteousness of Abraham.  The reason that we can have salvation and hope is because of the righteousness of God, through which He gives us salvation if we will only accept it by faith in Christ.  

Verse fourteen continues, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.  Abraham was blessed by his faith in God.  He did become the father of a great nation because of God working through Him.  

Verse fifteen concludes, And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.  We might argue that Abraham did not patiently endure, but even so he had to wait until God fulfilled His promise.  We as followers of Christ must patiently endure until the fulfillment of the promise of the return of Christ.  We can do nothing to hurry it up.  Our calling is to faithfully rest in God's promise as we continue to do what He has called us to do.

Hebrews 6:1

Hebrews 6:1 says, Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,  This applies to those who have accepted Christ already.  When we accept Christ as our Savior, we can then move on to making Him the Lord of our lives.  Once we accept salvation, we do not need to daily go back and accept Him once more.  We are to daily build on the foundation of Christ.  I believe that when we are witnessing that our message will always be Jesus Christ, crucified, resurrected, and Lord, but when we are studying, either alone or as a group of believers, that we need to learn what it means to be a growing child of God.  

Verse two adds, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.  One of the ordinances that Christ instituted is baptism, and we need to understand what this really means.  Baptism of itself does not bring salvation, but is merely symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  Still, baptism identifies us as a follower of Christ.  I believe the laying on of hands has more to do with ministers welcoming another person into the ministry.  Matthew Henry states that some see this as transferring the Holy Spirit to a new believer, but I do not see this as being the case.  The Holy Spirit is not ours to give.  Once we accept Christ as Savior, then we are immediately filled with the Holy Spirit to help us make Christ Lord.  

Verse three continues, And this will we do, if God permit.  The writer said that was what he and those who had grown in Christ, those more mature Christians, would do, if God permitted it.  We cannot do God's work without His call and blessing.  We must be attuned to God's will through the guidance of the Holy Spirit at all times.  

Verse four states, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,  I believe that this means that once we are saved we are always saved.  We need not go back and question our salvation if we are truly saved by faith in Christ.  

Verse five adds, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,  

Verse six continues, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.  Once we are saved, we have indeed tasted the word of God and are a part of the world to come.  Still, it is possible to fall away, or to allow sin back in our lives.  If we do we need to repent.  Though Christ died once for all sins, in effect He died for each person's sins individually.  If we fall away into sin and repent, we in effect crucify Christ again and put Him to open shame.  

Verse seven says, For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:  

Verse eight adds, But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.  Both the good fruit and the bad may grow from the rain, but the bad will be burned or destroyed.  The redemption of Christ rains down on every person, but those who refuse to accept Him will be sent away into everlasting punishment.

Hebrews 5:11

Hebrews 5:11 says, Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.  The writer here states that there was much more that could be said about either Christ or Melchisedec, depending on which was meant by the words "of whom."  Whomever was referred to, the writer did not say more because the people, those who called themselves followers of Christ, were slow to hear.  There have been many times throughout history, and there are still times today, when God's people are slow to hear.  

Verse twelve adds, For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.  We as followers of Christ should be teaching the world about Him, but we often need teachers to once again teach us about what God's word says.  We begin to live by the dictates of the world and our own selfishness desires instead of living by the teachings of the word of God.  We cannot serve two masters.  We either serve Christ, and grow in our faith, or we serve the world and let our faith wither.  We need to always remember the basics of our faith, beginning with Jesus Christ, crucified, resurrected, and Lord.  Sometimes we tend to forget the Lord part, and after accepting Christ as Savior fail to grow in our faith by failing to make Him Lord of our life.  

Verse thirteen continues, For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  This does not mean drinking milk with meals, but living off milk because someone has not matured and started to eat solid food.  If we remain babes in Christ, never attempting to learn the more meaty things of God, we will not be very effective followers of Christ.  We must grow in our faith if we are to be effective witnesses for Christ.  

Verse fourteen concludes, But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.  As we grow in Christ, just as a baby grows in the world, we can understand the difference between good and evil in the sight of God.  We might think this would be easy, but sometimes even things that look good in the eyes of the world and could even be viewed as good by God's people are still wrong in God's eyes.  If we do not grow in our faith, we may not be able to tell what is truly God's will.