Scripture: Hebrews 7:11-28 (NIV)

If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared:

“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
‘You are a priest forever.’”

Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

The admirals, generals, and intelligence officers in the room were stunned by what they heard. No Senate? Even if it wasn’t functioning, it was still the form of the government. The Emperor was able to impress his will via the senators and the military. Without people to oversee each planet, how would this work? Didn’t there need to be some sort of bureaucracy to make sure there was order? After all, if there was anything the Empire could be said to stand for to have any sort of legitimacy, it was order.

The Emperor, however, had decided to go with a new approach. With the powerful Death Star at his command, he didn’t need a senator to appease a populace. He could just drive up the DS-1, point the laser at the planet, and they’d either behave or wouldn’t exist. Either way, the problem was taken care of. The mechanisms of power and order had become much different than they were even months ago.

God kinda did the same thing, though without the threat of planetary annihilation. Before Christ, there was this order of priests who had certain rituals that they had to do in order to wipe away the sins of the populace. There were animal sacrifices, there were certain prayers, there was ritual cleaning, all sorts of things that had to be done. Obviously, these priests were human and as such were imperfect, not only needing to absolve the people’s sins but their own as well.

That’s what they did. People came to the Temple to offer sacrifices for their sins and to worship God and the priests took care of a lot of the heavy lifting. It started with Aaron in the desert and it continued even past the time of Christ. It was the way things went and it was the way people knew to relate to God.

Jesus brought a different way. He took over the priestly duties by offering the sacrifice of His own blood. Being that He had defeated death, He could be the permanent high priest. Other sacrifices weren’t needed as His had taken care of everything. There will never be a need for another high priest. Jesus has the job for all time.

We don’t know all the mechanics of everything that involves our faith. There’s not a person on earth that can fully understand and explain how the Trinity works, for instance. What we do know, however, is that God did something new through Jesus Christ and that newness continues to bless and redeem us. God’s power in us is different than it was for the people before Christ, even the examples like David, Daniel, and Samuel. It brings us closer to Him without more layers of bureaucracy in between. Take advantage of that closeness!