# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1928_S27
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1928. 27

attention is drawn to the glorious statements in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
which we have in part already heard, according to which an eternal,
imperishable priesthood is ascribed to Jesus. That the sacred writer, when he
cites the Psalm word "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedek" and thereby presents Melchizedek as the type of Jesus, also has
precisely the eternity of Jesus' high priesthood in view, is clear from
chapter 7:1-3. The last words could be rendered more exactly thus: So he is
made like unto the Son of God and remains a priest for ever. We have here a
remarkable expression. Melchizedek, it says, had no father, no mother, no
descent, that is, no genealogy, neither beginning of days nor end of life. How
are we to understand this? In the Old Testament, where the story of
Melchizedek is told to us, not a word is said that he is an eternal, hence a
divine, being, without beginning and without end. Now, what the author wants to
set before us is not that Melchizedek is a divine being, but only that in the
narrative in the first book of Moses nothing is said of the parents of
Melchizedek, nor anything of his own birth and death. His person appears
suddenly in the story, and suddenly it vanishes again. The curtain rises, we see
the exalted priest-king, the servant of the most high God, for a few moments,
and then the curtain falls again and remains down. How beautiful in this
respect also is Melchizedek as a type of Jesus! the author wants to say, as it
were. Scripture reports nothing of the coming and going of this ancient priest,
of his birth and his dying. That reminds us that Jesus is the true High Priest,
who is at the same time King of Salem, the King of Peace, and that Melchizedek,
the King of Righteousness, is without beginning and without end. Yes, Jesus, the
Son of God, is eternal. Melchizedek is made like to him, in that nothing is said
of his beginning of life and end of life. And again, just as this Melchizedek
stands before us, as it were, as a perpetual priest, because nothing at all is
told of his departure from this office, so Jesus has a perpetual priesthood.
To be sure, what Melchizedek has only in appearance, Jesus has in reality.

In the discussions of this matter we find the words that we heard a moment ago,
Heb. 7:23-25. Then also v. 28: "For the law maketh men high priests which have
infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son,
who is consecrated for evermore." Accordingly it is established that Scripture
teaches that Jesus' high priesthood is an unceasing one. His office he will not
lay down, death will not knock at his door and tear him from his calling. No
worthier one will appear to whom he would have to make room. Even when this
world has sunk away and the elect of God rejoice in the new heaven and the new
earth, he will still bear this title. In the new Jerusalem, as the Revelation
of St. John relates, there will be no temple, for the Lord God Almighty is the
temple of it, and the Lamb, and the city has no need of the sun, neither of
the moon, for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Yes, as the Lamb, that is our sacrificial Lamb, and accordingly as our High
Priest, Jesus will be with us for all eternity.

These are not merely fine-sounding doctrines for the schoolroom, but Scripture
shows that they have the greatest significance for our eternal salvation.
Because Jesus is an eternal High Priest