Jesus: Better than angels, better than Moses, better than all former priests. (Hebrews 7:1-28)

In chapter 1 of Hebrews we saw that Jesus is better than angels, in chapter 3 we see that He's better than Moses, and now in chapter 7 we get to see how He is greater than all former orders of priests and how He is the final and perfect priest.

Let me first start in chapter 8:1 where it gives us a cheat sheet for the meaning of chapter 7 it says "Now the point in what we are saying in this: (I believe he refers to all of chapter 7 here) we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man." And in verse 5 "They (human priests) serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things"
So in short, chapter 7 tells us that Jesus is the "real thing" that that the human priests were a shadow of.

Now lets see this in chapter 7.
v.1-2a -Tells us the story of Melchizedek, how he blessed Abraham and how Abraham paid a tithe to him.
v. 2b-3- Compares Jesus and Melchizedek. It says that Melchizedek is 1. King of rightousness 2. King of peace. 3. Without genealogy or beginning or end. And thus he resembles CHRIST! Notice here that Jesus is not at all a picture of Melchizedek, but that Melchizedek is simply a picture to help us see Jesus more clearly. Jesus is the King of righteousness, the King of peace, and an eternal never beginning or ending Savior and priest.

V. 4-10 Basically tell us one thing. Melchizedek is better than Abraham, and thus he is better than all the levitical priests as well. We see this first in

V.7 "It is beyond dispute that he inferior is blessed by the superior."
And Abraham we blessed by Melchizedek making Melchizedek the superior.
Secondly we see in
V.9 that "One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him."
So Melchizedek is also better than Levi and all the priests that came after him.

And since Jesus is better than Melchizedek (we know this because Melchizedek was just a picture of Christ) then we can safely say that Jesus is also much better than Abraham, Levi, and all former priests as well. And chapter 7:11-28 is devoted to proving this.

V.11- "Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical Priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?" - The answer to this rhetorical question is that if the Levitical order had been perfect then there would be no need for another order, but there is a new order, so the Levitical order was not perfect.

V.12-17 The main point of this section is found in verse 12 "For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well."

V.13-17 Jesus was obviously from the tribe of Judah. The law says that priests can only be from Levi, so the fact that Jesus is now a priest shows that a massive change has been made not only in who the priest is, but also how He functions. It shows clearly that a new order has come.

V.18-25 Tells us that this is a better covenant because;

V.18-19 The former commandment was set aside because the law cannot make anything perfect, But the new one can!
V.20-21- The former order of priests were made such without an oath, but Jesus was  made a priest by an oath which guarantees that He will be such forever, which means that this is the perfect order because nothing will ever take it's place!

V.22 "This makes Jesus the Guarantor of a better covenant"

V.23-25- Jesus is better than the former order because He holds the office permanently, which enables Him to save to the uttermost, or to save completely because He is able to continuously make intercession for us without and end!

V.26-28- Are our recap of Chapter 7. Where the main point was to show how Jesus is the completion and perfection of the former priestly order.

V. 26- Unlike former priests Jesus is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
V. 27- Unlike former priests Jesus does not need to offer sacrifices daily because He made the sacrifice once and for all, that was sufficient for the sins of all the saints past and present.
V. 28- Unlike former priests Jesus is perfect, and He will remain our perfect priest forever.