Jesus is ours, and we are His

Hebrews 7:8-10 In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. The author was contrasting two orders of priests, the order of Aaron and the order of Melchizedek. In these verses, he made the point that the Levitical priests, who descended from Aaron, received tithes from the descendants of Abraham. However, when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, Levi positionally paid tithes to him because he was Abraham’s descendent. The word of God witnesses about Melchizedek that he lives on; he had no age of death and therefore is a priest perpetually (vs. 3). His point was that the order of the Levitical priesthood was inferior to the order of Melchizedek’s priesthood. He went on to unpack this point in subsequent verses. If Melchizedek’s was superior to Levi, then Jesus’ is also greater. This reminds us of how blessed we are to have Jesus as our high priest—forever. As our intercessor, He brings us to God and brings God to us. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus’ disciple, Matthew, writing about Jesus’ birth, wrote, “Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘GOD WITH US.'" (Matt. 1:22-23). Jesus brings God to us in Himself. This means we have constant daily access to the only source of true love in the universe. God’s love is defined as the sustained direction of the will toward the highest good of another, no matter what the cost, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God. His love has been poured out in the hearts of all who know Him (Rom. 5:5), and the source of His love, Jesus Christ, Himself, dwells within them. Therefore, we who believe in Jesus may express the love of God who lives with us as long as we are abiding in Him, who not only is our high priest in God’s temple in heaven, but is a living intercessor inside us, God’s temple on earth. Jesus is ours, and we are His. Amazing!