Heb.7:15-17 – And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is attested of Him,
“YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER
ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.”
This may mean nothing to some who have no concept of eternal or divine life. The power of the heavenly ministry of Jesus is found in His two natures. He can relate to us and minister to us because He became one of us. He is absolutely a man. He has the power to minister to us because He is eternal, He has always been from the days of eternity. He has no beginning and no end, He ministers from the power of an endless life. Here is how Andrew Murray describes the importance of Christ being an eternal priest for us.
“To understand what eternal means we must connect it with God, the eternal One. Eternity is an attribute of Deity and of the divine life, and has its true existence only in the fellowship of that life in God where there is no change, or aging, or fading; He is all that He is in an ever-fresh, never-changing, youth. As some one has said: “He is the Ancient of Days, and yet the youngest of all, for He lives ever in the freshness of the eternal strength that knows no past”. The eternal life is that which always remains the same, because it is always in God. And when God speaks to His Son, Thou art Priest for ever, it not only means that the priesthood will never cease, but it points to what is the root and cause of this; it roots in the life and strength of God. Christ is become a Priest after the power of an endless life. Unceasingly, without one moment’s cessation, in unbroken continuity, He lives and works in the power of the divine life.”
This is impossible for natural people to understand. Living inside the realm of time, eternity doesn’t even make sense. We can kind of understand eternity future but eternity past just doesn’t compute. From our perspective everything had a beginning. But in actuality Jesus didn’t have a beginning, He is eternal and has always been. It’s not only that He is a priest for all time, His eternal nature describes what kind of priest He is, beyond comprehension.
