Today we read of a "better hope.” Hope is a powerful thing. People need hope for when people are hope "less," despair comes. We read today of Melchizedek. We first meet Melchizedek in Genesis 14. No mention of his genealogy, neither father or mother is mentioned, unlike Levi who would come later. So it is fitting that Jesus, who would be a better high priest than Levi would come not after the Levitical priesthood but after a better one, after the order of Melchizedek, king of righteousness, king of Salem, king of peace. It is interesting that this phrase “a better hope" is introduced ( v. 19). This better hope is Jesus. For it is through Him and Him alone that we can hope to “draw near to God.” We can try on our own, by our own works, or even by the use of the old covenant, but it will ultimately be hopeless. For the old priests after Levi had to make sacrifice not only for others but also for themselves (v. 27). No, we have a better hope, through One who is sinless, the Lord Jesus Christ. Of all the hope that is out there for people to grasp on to, this is the greatest hope that is needed - to have your sins truly forgiven. You and I need this hope because, like Levi, we sin, daily. So we look not to ourselves, but to the One who is a priest forever. And thus “consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (v. 25). And therein lies our great and better hope. Hope in Christ.
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