I am not trying to deflect but who wrote Hebrews? It is attributed to Paul, but it is doubtful that he was the author..
I will try and explain. During the time of Moses, God gave to Israel two orders of priesthoods. One was the Levitical order, and the other was the Aaronic order. The levitical order was given to the Levites as their inheritance.. Each of the eleven other tribes had one twelfth of the tribe of Levi to carryon the physical ministrants of Israel. The Aaronic order was given to those that could do work in the Holies of Holies in the Tabernacle. It was a higher priesthood calling. Moses had an even Higher priesthood which he had gotten from his Father in law who was a Midianite from the linage of Abraham. So Moses was a Levite, yet he also held a higher priesthood.
The first two lower priesthood were given to Israel as a preparatory priesthood and was given to Israel because they were not willing to live in a higher order. If you remember when Moses went to Mt. Sinai to get the law. When Moses returned, Israel had got wild. Moses destroyed those laws, and went to get a lower law, or the spoon fed laws from God. The Ten Commandments. He then introduced the priesthood to Israel. At one time they had the Priesthood because Jacob received it from his father who had gotten it from his father who paid tithes to Melchizedec a High Priest.
Before Jesus started his ministry, he went to a man by the name of John the Baptist. Why? Baptism is unto repentance. Jesus was perfect and had not disobeyed God, and therefore did not need to be Baptized unto repentance. John said that it was he who needed to be baptized of him. And Jesus said that he needed to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. John was not a High priest after the order of Melchizedec. He was a literal descendant of Aaron because his father was a high Priest after the order of Aaron or the Aaronic Priesthood. Only the literal descendants of Aaron could offer sacrifice in the Temple. What is interesting is that a member of the higher lower Priesthood could administer in the lower, but the lower could not administer in the higher.
When Christ was working his ministry, he was a High Priest after the order of Melchizedec. He is the highest High Priest in that order. That does not mean that the order is done away with here on earth. It existed from the time of Adam to Moses, and from Moses to Jesus Christ. Christ then laid his hands upon his disciples and gave them the Priesthood to act in God's name and to teach the world about the gospel.
In 1829, While Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were translating the final chapters of the Book of Mormon, they had inquired to the Lord about Baptism. While in Prayer, an Angel appeared who identified himself as John, the same one that was called John the Baptist. He was a resurrected being and placed his hands upon both Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and conferred the Aaronic Priesthood upon them which also included the Levitical order. Not long after that, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were in running along the Susquehanna River, trying to elude the law which had placed them in Jail on trumped up charges in which the Jail keeper had released them. As the were running, they stopped to get their breath along the river and knelt down in Prayer when three angels appeared to them. They identified themselves as Peter, James and John. The told Joseph Smith that he and Oliver were to be ordained after the order of Melchizedec. We believe that all the priesthood authority has been restored to the earth, and those who are worthy can obtain these priesthoods.
I know that you are not going to accept this, but this is what we truly believe happened.
