Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1597
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, May 1, 1881
“And inasmuch as not without an oath He was made Priest, (for those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by Him that said unto Him, The Lord swore and will not repent, You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec), by so much more was Jesus made a surety of a better Testament.” Hebrews 7:20-22.
THOSE Of you who read Scripture carefully will have noticed that the word, “better,” is one of the key words of the Epistle to the Hebrews. You are constantly meeting with it. In the opening chapter we read that our Lord Jesus Christ is “made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Look a little further and you are taught that He is better than Moses, inasmuch as Moses was faithful as a servant in the Lord’s house, but Christ, as a Son over His own house. Further on we find our blessed Lord described as better than Aaron, while His blood is mentioned as speaking better things than that of Abel. And He is declared, in our text, to be the Surety of a better Testament, of which it is said that it is established upon better promises.
It would be a very delightful subject to work out the betterness of Christ, of His blood, of His Covenant and to show that however good other things may be, they must all yield in excellence to Him. It is implied in the use of the word, “better,” that the ordinances of the ceremonial Law were good, in their place, but Jesus is better than the best of all visible things—the eternal Christ is better than the best of all the temporal arrangements which God has made for the good of man. How much better what heart shall conceive? “If the ministration of condemnation is glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For if that which is done away with was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.”
It behooves us, my dear Brothers and Sisters, to have a firmer faith than Old Testament saints because we see more clearly our ground of trust. Those who lived in the comparative darkness of the previous dispensation were saved by faith and among them there were not a few eminent Believers—surely we, also, ought to excel in our confidence in God! Let the 11th chapter of Hebrews stand as a triumphal arch with the names of ancient Believers recorded—these all died in faith and they were no mean men—but inasmuch as we enjoy a brighter light and are living under a better economy, we are called upon to be their superiors in faith! Our faith should be clearer, calmer, stronger, more effectual in working— we should do greater things than these, in the name of Jesus.
We need practical results, this morning, and no practical result will content us but this—that you believe on Jesus Christ whom God has sent! To this end were the Scriptures written, as says the Evangelist John, “These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that, believing, you might have life through His name.” The objective of the written Word of God is also the objective of the spoken Word of God—we would have you hear,
believe and live! Vain are your reading and hearing unless they lead you to a sincere reception of the witness of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ!
Oh that you may not, on this occasion, hear in vain! To our text, then—and may the Spirit of God graciously be with us in speaking upon it.
I. Men should believe in Jesus Christ with their whole heart and rely upon Him with unstaggering confidence, first, because of OUR LORD’S SPECIAL ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD. The Lord Jesus Christ was ordained to the priesthood, according to the 110th Psalm, in a manner distinct from all others. His ordination was unique, for neither Aaron, nor his sons, nor any of the priests of the tribe of Levi were ever ordained by an oath. Ceremonies most important, imposing, instructive and impressive were performed—but there was no oath. God gave promises to the house of Levi, but He expressly stopped short of anything like an oath to them—not because His promise can be broken—but because that promise was conditional and must not be confirmed by an oath, as though it constituted a perpetual engagement.
But our Savior is made a Priest by an oath and it is written, as if to make it exceedingly sure, “The Lord swore and will not repent.” Not because God ever can or does repent, or run back from His oath in any case, but for the confirmation of our faith in the Immutability of His Word—for it is expressly added, “He will not repent.” By an oath which stands fast forevermore, Christ is made a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. But why, my Brethren, an oath for Jesus and none for other priests? First, because of the greater dignity of Christ above all other priests that ever were, for He is the Son of the Highest, and they were not. They were men that had infirmity, but He is sinless. They lived and died and so were changed, but, “Your Throne, O God, is forever and ever.” They were ordained to be types and emblems, serving for the time of Israel’s infancy, but He came as the, “I AM,” the substance of the whole!