25 So that he is fully able to be the saviour of all who come to God through him, because he is ever living to make prayer to God for them.
Who will give a decision against us? It is Christ Jesus who not only was put to death, but came again from the dead, who is now at the right hand of God, taking our part.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may be without sin. And if any man is a sinner, we have a friend and helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, the upright one: He is the offering for our sins; and not for ours only, but for all the world.
(Because the law made nothing complete), and in its place there is a better hope, through which we come near to God.
For there is one God and one peacemaker between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
By whom we come near to God without fear through faith in him.
For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers.
And I will make prayer to the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you for ever,
Because through him the two of us are able to come near in one Spirit to the Father.
Who in the days of his flesh, having sent up prayers and requests with strong crying and weeping to him who was able to give him salvation from death, had his prayer answered because of his fear of God.
For Christ did not go into a holy place which had been made by men's hands as the copy of the true one; but he went into heaven itself, and now takes his place before the face of God for us.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to give you a place in his glory, free from all evil, with great joy,
And on that day you will put no questions to me. Truly I say to you, Whatever request you make to the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Up to now you have made no request in my name: do so, and it will be answered, so that your hearts may be full of joy.
And another angel came and took his place at the altar, having a gold vessel for burning perfume; and there was given to him much perfume, so that he might put it with the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar which was before the high seat. And the smoke of the perfume, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand.
And without faith it is not possible to be well-pleasing to him, for it is necessary for anyone who comes to God to have the belief that God is, and that he is a rewarder of all those who make a serious search for him.
That is to say, not made by a law based on the flesh, but by the power of a life without end:
Now to him who is able to do in full measure more than all our desires or thoughts, through the power which is working in us,
And the Father himself who sent me has given witness about me. Not one of you has ever given ear to his voice; his form you have not seen. And you have not kept his word in your hearts, because you have not faith in him whom he has sent. You make search in the holy Writings, in the belief that through them you get eternal life; and it is those Writings which give witness about me. And still you have no desire to come to me so that you may have life.
If our God, whose servants we are, is able to keep us safe from the burning and flaming fire, and from your hands, O King, he will keep us safe.
Come back, you children who have been turned away, and I will take away your desire for wandering. See, we have come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
And he saw that there was no man, and was surprised that there was no one to take up their cause: so his arm gave salvation, and he made righteousness his support.
Let your hearts be turned to me, so that you may have salvation, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other.
My prayer is for them: my prayer is not for the world, but for those whom you have given to me, because they are yours (All mine are yours, and yours are mine) and I have glory in them. And now I will be no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given to me, so that they may be one even as we are one. While I was with them I kept them safe in your name which you have given to me: I took care of them and not one of them has come to destruction, but only the son of destruction, so that the Writings might come true. And now I come to you; and these things I say in the world so that they may have my joy complete in them. I have given your word to them; and they are hated by the world, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. My prayer is not that you will take them out of the world, but that you will keep them from the Evil One. They are not of the world any more than I am of the world. Make them holy by the true word: your word is the true word. Even as you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for them I make myself holy, so that they may be made truly holy. My prayer is not for them only, but for all who will have faith in me through their word; May they all be one! Even as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so let them be in us, so that all men may come to have faith that you sent me. And the glory which you have given to me I have given to them, so that they may be one even as we are one; I in them, and you in me, so that they may be made completely one, and so that it may become clear to all men that you have sent me and that they are loved by you as I am loved by you. Father, it is my desire that these whom you have given to me may be by my side where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given to me, because you had love for me before the world came into being. Father of righteousness, I have knowledge of you, though the world has not; and to these it is clear that you sent me; And I have given to them knowledge of your name, and will give it, so that the love which you have for me may be in them and I in them.
But this priest, because his life goes on for ever, is unchanging.
Only in the Lord will Jacob overcome and be strong: together all those who were angry with him will be put to shame and come to destruction.
Now if you are ready, on hearing the sound of the horn, pipe, harp, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all sorts of instruments, to go down on your faces in worship before the image which I have made, it is well: but if you will not give worship, that same hour you will be put into a burning and flaming fire; and what god is there who will be able to take you out of my hands?
O Lord, because of your righteousness, let your wrath and your passion be turned away from your town Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because, through our sins and the evil-doing of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a cause of shame to all who are round about us.
That which my Father has given to me has more value than all; and no one is able to take anything out of the Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
Now at the present time, men over whom death has power take the tenth; but then it was taken by one of whom it is witnessed that he is living.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 7
Commentary on Hebrews 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
The doctrine of the priestly office of Christ is so excellent in itself, and so essential a part of the Christian faith, that the apostle loves to dwell upon it. Nothing made the Jews so fond of the Levitical dispensation as the high esteem they had of their priesthood, and it was doubtless a sacred and most excellent institution; it was a very severe threatening denounced against the Jews (Hos. 3:4), that the children of Israel should abide many days without a prince or priest, and without a sacrifice, and with an ephod, and without teraphim. Now the apostle assures them that by receiving the Lord Jesus they would have a much better high priest, a priesthood of a higher order, and consequently a better dispensation or covenant, a better law and testament; this he shows in this chapter, where,
Hbr 7:1-10
The foregoing chapter ended with a repetition of what had been cited once and again before out of Ps. 110:4, Jesus, a high priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec. Now this chapter is as a sermon upon that text; here the apostle sets before them some of the strong meat he had spoken of before, hoping they would by greater diligence be better prepared to digest it.
Hbr 7:11-28
Observe the necessity there was of raising up another priest, after the order of Melchisedec and not after the order of Aaron, by whom that perfection should come which could not come by the Levitical priesthood, which therefore must be changed, and the whole economy with it, v. 11, 12, etc. Here,