I don’t know if it would nail the various views that claim Jesus must reign on this earth, but it certainly does give them significant grief.<\/p>\n
The phrase “if he were on earth” serves as a contrast to the writer’s earlier statement, “We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens<\/em>” (Hebrews 8:1). Jesus is High Priest in heaven, if he were on earth he would not even be a lowly priest since he is not of the tribe of Levi.<\/p>\n Scofield, a stanch dispensationalist and popular with the premillennialists, does not even comment on this particular passage. He does mention in his comments on Hebrews 5:6 that Jesus was not made a High Priest by men but by God. Thus, I would conclude that Scofield avoids the literal meaning of this verse and only sees it as a statement of who appointed Jesus to the priesthood.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I wanted to ask you about one other scripture: Hebrews 8:4 states: “For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law.”\u00a0 Would this verse not be a nail in the coffin of millennialists whether they be historical, pre, or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[73,344],"class_list":["post-25820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-jesus","tag-premillennialism"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38409,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/king-and-high-priest-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":25820,"position":0},"title":"King and High Priest Now","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Premillennial thinking is that Jesus was not able to set up His kingdom in the first century like He planned, postponed that plan, and will come back again later to set up His kingdom on earth and reign for 1000 years. That is a mistaken view.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39931,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/high-priest-before-ad-70\/","url_meta":{"origin":25820,"position":1},"title":"High Priest Before AD 70","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Our AD 70 Hyper Preterists claim that the kingdom came in AD 70 and that Jesus did not begin His reign until that point in time when the temple was destroyed in Jerusalem in AD 70. Further, they have two laws and two systems operating from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16693,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-significance-of-the-veil-being-torn-at-jesus-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":25820,"position":2},"title":"What is the significance of the veil being torn at Jesus’ death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Just after Jesus died on the cross in Matthew 27:51 it says \"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;...\" What is the significance of the temple being torn in two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69991,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-authority-of-scripture\/","url_meta":{"origin":25820,"position":3},"title":"The Authority of Scripture","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Two fundamental and opposite approaches to biblical authority are common today: View #1: Everything is permissible unless the Bible expressly forbids it. If the Bible does not say not to, then we can. View #2: We can do nothing unless the Bible permits it, and we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-great-high-priest\/","url_meta":{"origin":25820,"position":4},"title":"Jesus, the Great High Priest","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer When God brought Israel out of Egypt and established a covenant, He also established a priesthood through the levitical family of Aaron. Aaron and his sons were anointed and consecrated through sacrifice, with Aaron as the first High Priest. The tent of meeting was made so that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54909,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-melchizedek\/","url_meta":{"origin":25820,"position":5},"title":"Who is Melchizedek?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who is Melchizedek in the Bible? Some argue he is the pre-incarnate Christ, others believe the Hebrews author is speaking figuratively. If he wasn't Jesus, then how did he rank spiritually higher than Abraham to the point of Abraham giving him tithes? 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