Gary Gleans

For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.     For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.     For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:     I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.     And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.       For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”     In ...

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.     For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.     Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.     They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”     But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.     F...

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?     For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.     For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.     For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.     This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.     For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”   ...

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.     He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.     See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!     And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.     But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.     It is beyon...