In one of my favorite clips in the movie The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo in a training program that the sentient programs “live” in a world based on rules, and because of this, they will never be as strong or as fast as he can be. Neo’s somewhat sarcastic comment of, “What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?” would later find fulfillment when he literally changes the rules inside the matrix, bringing a new order and a new type of salvation with him to the world.In Hebrews, Jesus is similarly shown to be a harbinger of a new order—a priestly order, to be exact—in the order of Melchizedek, and from the tribe of Judah. Without going into much detail about these complex matters here, his major point was to show scripturally how Jesus resembled someone greater than Levi (the “father” of old covenant priests), and actually descended from a tribe that Moses never associated with priestly activity. Because of this, not only does the priesthood change, but the law changes with it, for “when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well” (Heb 7:12).
So, just like ultimate deliverance in The Matrix did not come through the rules and laws that constituted the matrix, but rather through a man who brought new order and laws into it, so, biblically, does ultimate deliverance not come through adherence to laws, but through Christ, who has not come in the line and order of old covenant priests (who were associated with rules, and regulations), but on the basis of a divine oath (Psalm 110:4), “by the power of an indestructible life,” and in this, he fundamentally changes the way mankind is mediated with God. Christ fulfills the old law, and in so doing, surpasses it and establishes a new one. Christ is the law, hence Paul’s use of the phrases “law of Christ” and "obey the gospel" in the New Testament. The gospel serves as a much more effective means by which we are saved, for under the old system “nothing was made perfect” (Heb 7:19).
Or to put it another way, more simply: we’re saved by God’s grace, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, through faith, not by works (Eph 2:8-9).
Many times as Christians we are quick to believe that a change in the priesthood has come with Jesus Christ, but we are slow to believe (and practice) the fact that a change in the law has occurred as well. This connection between priesthood and law is somewhat foreign to us. We believe the gospel, but then quickly go back to the law as if it were still required to keep in order to please God.
The more we embrace this change-in-the-law-idea, and see it in the glory of gospel of Christ, the more gospel-motivated zealousness we will have to continue in belief, repentance, and good works. We have a perfect high priest who has fully atoned for sin, fully deterred the wrath of God, and ever lives to make intercession for those who seek to draw near to God through him.
Ask yourself this continually: in my efforts to pursue spiritual growth and maturity, am I striving to do things to please God, as if Jesus Christ were not a priest of a different order, but one who brings us right back to the old laws that could never make anything perfect? Or am I striving to know the gospel more—the new law—ushered in by a new kind of priest? Am I the source of my own good works (law), or is Jesus Christ the source of them (grace, Eph 2:10)? When people ask me how I'm doing spiritually, does the gist of my answer hang on what I am currently doing, or in whom I am currently believing.
Our answer to this last question speaks volumes about our present state of spiritual maturity.
May God help us to believe in a holistic gospel—one that not only saves, but empowers us for love and good deeds, and transforms us daily into the image of his Son...something the first covenant could never do!
Chris
