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Now our apostle is come to his last argument, by which he proves the excellency of Christ's priesthood above that of Aaron. The Levitical priests, he says, were many and mortal: their mortality was the cause of their multitude: they were cut off by death, and suceeded one another; but Christ is one and the same to his church, yesterday, today and for ever; he had no partner, has no successor, but executes an everlasting unchangeable priesthood in his own person.
Note here, 1. That the multiplication of priests, particularly of high priests under the legal dispensation, was a manifest evidence of the imperfection of it; from Aaron the first High Priest, unto Phineas the last, who was destroyed with the temple, are reckoned fourscore and three high priests, who succeeded one another: of these, thirteen are said to live under the tabernacle, eighteen under the first temple built by Solomon, and all the rest under the second temple: The ground of which multiplication of priests was this, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
Learn, 1. That the priesthood of Christ, as unchangeably exercised in his own person, is perpetual; and its perpetuity is a principal part of the glory of that office. He continueth for ever, having and unchangeable priesthood.
Question But did not Christ, our great High Priest, die as well as Aaron and other high priests?
Answer Yes, he died as a priest, they died from being priests; he died as a priest, because he was also to be a sacrifice.
The apostle doth not say, that he did not die, but that he always abideth: he abode a priest even in the state of death, and after his resurrection he became immortal, never to die more; he ever liveth, he dieth no more, death has no more dominion over him. See how he describes himself, I am he that liveth, and was dead: and behold I am alive for evermore; and have the keys of hell and death. Rev_1:18