A new law—the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus

Hebrews 7:12-14 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. According to the Law, the descendants of Levi were required to serve as priests in the temple. It was a requirement based on a physical reality, being born into the tribe of Levi. When God appointed Jesus to serve as our high priest in the heavenly temple of God, it meant that God had changed the Law by which priests were appointed. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, about whom Moses in the Law had not authorized any priestly duties. The author concluded that if God appointed Jesus as a priest forever, then that meant that God had also changed the laws governing relationship with Him. For that we can be grateful! Praise be to God; He has changed the law upon which your relationship with Him is based! Up until the time of Christ, no one from the tribe of Judah ever served in the temple. But when Jesus Christ came, He inaugurated a new relationship between God and man, not based on the Law of Moses. Melchizedek showing up in the life of Abraham as a priest of the Most High God, who was not from any earthly tribe, was like a movie trailer introducing something great to come. The interesting thing about Melchizedek was that he was both a priest and king. The Law of Moses had no such office. There were other indicators pointing to a priest and ruler from Judah, such as Jacob’s blessing of Judah in Gen. 49:10. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Our encouragement today is that we are not under the old Levitical law but are under a new law. The apostle Paul spoke of the new law in Romans 8:2–5. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. We are governed by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The idea of law in this verse is that of assignment, just like God assigned Jesus as our high priest. He has assigned the Spirit of Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit, to bear fruit for God in our lives for His glory. God magnifies His name in us as we live to love with Him in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s walk by the Spirit, abiding in the life of Jesus who abides in us.