Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO The priesthood of Jesus Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA October 26, 2003 Main Scripture text: Hebrews 7:11-28. The writer of Hebrews spends the better part of three chapters explaining the concept that Jesus is "a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." Why is this truth so important? In every culture on the earth, there is some concept of God, and people seem to instinctively understand that there is something wrong in their relationship to Him. They know they have offended a power that is more powerful than they. The role of the priest was to carry out the various religious rituals offered to gain favor with the offended deity. He represented the people before God, or before the gods. In some instances in the Old Testament, such as with Moses, the priest was also a prophet, meaning that he also represented God to the people. In other words, he was a mediator between a Holy God and the sinful people. Once a year in Israel, the High Priest would take two goats. One was sacrificed, the other was the "scapegoat." The sins of the people were ceremonially transferred to the scapegoat and it was sent out into the wilderness. The image was that the people's sins were being taken away. Jesus is a priest, but not like these priests who did the Old Testament sacrifices. By God's command, those priests were all from the tribe of Levi. They had to be descendants of Aaron. But Jesus is not from that tribe. He is descended from the tribe of Judah. Jesus is a priest from a different order. He is not from the order of Aaron, but from the order of Melchizedek. This Melchizedek is mentioned in Genesis 14. He was a priest long before Aaron, and he also a king -- the king of a city/state called Salem. So Jesus' priesthood is a) not ancestral, and b) is joined to His kingship. Indeed, Jesus is priest, prophet, and king all rolled into one. Hebrews 7 says Jesus' priesthood is a permanent priesthood. All previous High Priests died and others took their place. But the priesthood of Jesus is forever, based upon "the power of an indestructible life." Jesus went into the heavenly Holy Of Holies and poured out His own blood on the mercy seat for the atonement of the sins of the whole world. He then was raised from the dead, given all authority in heaven and earth and then He ascended to the Father's right hand. "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." He is standing between us sinners and our holy God, mediating our salvation through the New Covenant in His blood. Supporting texts: Psalm 110:4 | Genesis 14:17-20 | Genesis 12:7 | Genesis 13:18 | Genesis 26:25 | Genesis 33:20 | Genesis 35:1-3 | Psalm 76:2 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here. (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of this sermon is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 031026a: The Priesthood of Jesus. © 2003 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us