Heb 7

Warm-up: When your parents chose a name for you, do you know whether they paid any attention to its potential meaning?

Read Gen 14:18-20. Does anything in this short description of Melchizedek in Genesis strike you as unexpected?

What prompted the writer to compare Jesus to Melchizedek? cf Ps 110:1-4 and how it is quoted in Heb 5:6 =>
How did Jesus himself interpret (and quote) this ancient song? cf Mk 12:35-37 Why did Jesus emphasize that David wrote this song in the Holy Spirit? Hint:
- Why does it matter whether Scripture predicted such a drastic change in priesthood?
In what ways did this mysterious Melchizedek foreshadow Jesus? =>

What was the Levitical priesthood, and how did they ascend to such preeminence? cf Num 18:21; 25:12-13.
Why does v6 stress the fact that Melchizedek was no descendant of Levi?
- Hint: What does this imply about the Levitical priesthood and its legislation?
Were Pinehas and his offspring ‘kings of peace’, Num 25:12?
- What did this foretell about who will establish God’s covenant of peace?

v11 speaks of the need for another priest: How did the writer prove that God himself regarded the Levitical priesthood as flawed and insufficient?
- Hint: How did the quote of Ps 110:4 prove the need for a priest other than Levites?
vv12-14: If God’s word through David’s song prophesied that the priesthood will change, what else must change? => Why was this claim such a dynamite bombshell?
vv15-17 cites yet another line of evidence why the Levitical priesthood was not meant to last forever: Which one?
- Hint: How did the writer prove even to Jewish skeptics that the life of Messiah (and thus his priestly office) must be everlasting according to their own prophetic writings? Ps 110:4

By implication, what makes the new covenant so much better and stronger?
- v19: In what sense is this newly introduced hope a ‘better hope’? Is the Christian hope better because it is e.g. more optimistic, less gloomy,… – or what? cf Heb 6:19
- => what makes this hope so much more certain? 2Tim 1:9; Tit 3:5
v19: Why is such hope necessary to ‘draw near’?
v20: How could the writer be sure that God guaranteed this hope with an ‘oath’?
What difference does it make to know this, v22?

v25: Is this ‘uttermost salvation’ a project that Jesus is still ‘working on’? If so, in what sense?
When Jesus died on the cross, he cried: “It is finished!” What did Jesus finish ‘once and for all’ according to v26? [The priestly sacrifice]
Does this mean that now he is not doing anything? Why not? cf Heb 8:6 Does Hebrews link the righteousness/sanctification/salvation of believers to the sacrificial death of Jesus? Or to his appointment as our living high priest at his resurrection? vv25+28. Or both? [cf Heb 10:10,14; 13:12]
Does this agree with the teaching of Jesus? cf Jn 16:10?
- Why could (our) righteousness never be better than that of the Pharisees (Mt 5:17-20; Ja 2:8), were it not for the ascension of Jesus after his death to become a high priest who lives forever?
- Whether believers are sanctified by Christ’s death, or by his life, is this theological hair-splitting? Or is it the writer’s main point? cf Heb 8:1

What can we learn from this example in Hebrews about Melchizedek how to read the Old Testament?
For whom do you think are ‘types’ of Jesus in the OT such as Melchizedek relevant to know and understand? Why?
In your experience, what difference does it make to hear only that Jesus died for you, or also that he is now alive? Why?
Is Jesus alive for you as a mere spectator in heaven? Or as a coach? Or as… – what else?
As a disciple of Jesus, how do you cultivate an awareness that he is alive in you?
What undermined such awareness among the Hebrews addressed in this letter, and why did this lack of awareness put their spiritual well-being into such mortal danger?
How can you help each other to never forget this and to never be unaware?