Hebrew 7:19-28 New King James Version

 19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him:

“The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
‘You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek’ ”),

22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.

23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

 First Impression?

• A perfect hope.

Verse 19 – I am on a roll. Nothing perfect, bringing in a better hope, draw near. Contrast the old hope and the new hope!

• The old hope is probably meant to be the law where the new hope is Christ. The old hope was to point out the need, the new hope was to fill it. Either way, the only hope was to recognize that only God could fix our situation.

 Verse 20 – What does it mean for one be a priest without an oath?

• My guess is that each priest served out of a duty passed on from generation to generation and there was no qualification other than who his parents were. They could be evil or good or somewhere in between. Yet no matter how good, no one else could join.

 Verse 21 – The same quote repeated? Does the swearing of an oath by God have new meaning this week after we discussed it before?

• I still feel I am missing something, but this oath is about the new covenant where Christ was sacrificed for our sin and no other event in all of time is significant enough for God to need to do something so extraordinary.

 Verse 22 – Jesus a surety. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. On this rock. Is this a logical lineup you support?

• I do. Our lives as Christians should be a steady increase from new believer to strong maturity. This is only one of many examples.

 Verse 23 – People die. What prevents people from dying?

• God and God alone.

 Verse 24 – My cat Cheez-it has gotten into my inbox again. Or as in as he can get while laying down. Do we recognize the difference between who we are now and who we were when we became Christian? Or are we content to sit where we are and ignore the progress?

• I have not been particularly good at self-assessment. It apparently was not a talent God thought I needed. There is a phrase like the unexamined life is not worth living. I am sure that person thought so, but I see it as a falsehood none the less. I do want to get better, to be better, and I suppose there is a benefit to knowing I am better, but the difference between confidence in God and arrogance about oneself is too thin for me and I try to stay fully on the confidence in not me side.

 Verse 25 – To the uttermost. What does that mean? Christ will forever by our intercessor to God. Even life in heaven will be impacted by this. Does this change your view of heaven and your place in it?

• This was a fun discussion. Other translations used complete, which is accurate enough, but uttermost is “the end of infinity” as one person put it. This describes God. His actions are not just good enough, they are as perfect as perfect can be. When we weave the awesomeness of God and our reverence for it into our lives, we live better lives.

 Verse 26 and 27 – Once for all. I assume this means Christ paid the penalty for the sins of those who rejected Him. Is this than for just the sins of those who received?

• He paid the price for all sins, especially those who never accept Him.

 Verse 28 – If God wrote the law in the first five books, how is his oath different?

• I align this with His promise to bless us if we bring in the tithe. He makes a lot of promises, but except for the tithe, we are not to test God. His promise to save us through Christ is the ultimate promise and the one for which all of history was made. If we only believe this one thing, it is the one thing to believe. This oath just highlights how special it is.