Three leadership positions were
extremely important in the tiny nation of Israel. They were the
positions of Israel's prophets, high priest and
her king. The Bible reveals that Jesus Christ is going
to be king of all the earth. He was born with the credentials
necessary for this office. The Bible also teaches that Jesus
Christ was the Great Prophet, and finally he is to be the High
Priest.
Setting the Stage
God became a man in the person of
Jesus Christ in order to die for our sin on the cross. He then
rose from the dead in order to assume the roles of the eternal
King and High Priest. Both of these official roles are
prophesied for Him in the Old Testament. Our Lord's kingdom
will be tied to the Jewish tribe of Judah.
"The scepter shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh
comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people." (Gen.
49:10)
His role as high priest is
predicted in Psalms.
"The Lord has sworn and will not
relent, 'You are a priest forever According to the order of
Melchizedek.'" (Psa. 110:4)
The Melchizedekian priesthood of
Jesus Christ is one of the mysteries of the Bible. But it proves
that God is the ultimate genius and that He has a foreordained
plan for His creation. In order to understand Melchizedek, we
must realize that the Jew was familiar with just one kind of
priesthood-the Levitical priesthood.
Old Testament Priests Came From
Levi
Leviticus speaks of the Levitical
priesthood and describes many of its ceremonies. The Jews became
very comfortable with the priestly family of Levi and the role
of the high priest. However, our Lord's future role as an
eternal High Priest is based on a totally different priesthood,
not connected in any way to Levi.
The Jews knew that Jesus Christ
had the credentials to be their King, but they also realized
that He did not have the credentials necessary to become their
High Priest.
In Genesis 14, Moses gives us a
snapshot of a meeting between Abraham and a strange character
named Melchizedek. Returning from an amazing victory over some
of the most ruthless kings of ancient history, Abraham was met
by a man who simply appeared from nowhere.
"Then Melchizedek king of Salem
brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of the God Most
High. And he blessed him and said: Blessed be Abraham of God
Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And Blessed be God
Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he
gave him a tenth of all he had." (Gen. 14:18-20)
That's it! That's all the
information that Genesis gives us. The writer of Hebrews is
given the responsibility of explaining to Jewish Christians, and
to us, the rest of the story. What exactly happened in this
short meeting that gives our Lord the credentials to be a High
Priest? He is to be a priest, not in an earthly, temporal way,
but in a higher, eternal, superior way. Let’s begin to unravel
some of the details.
Hebrews 7
"For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also
Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated 'king
of righteousness,' and then also 'king of Salem,' meaning king
of peace, without father without mother without genealogy,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like
the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Now consider how
great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a
tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of
Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive
tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their
brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but
he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from
Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all
contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal
men receive tithes but there he receives them, of whom it is
witnessed that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes paid
tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the
loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.” (Heb. 7:1-10)
One Man - Both Offices
Notice first of all that
Melchizedek held both the offices of king of Salem and priest of
the highest God. One man holding two offices was not unusual in
the Old Testament. Several men did so. Ezekiel, for instance,
was both a priest and a prophet. The same was true with
Zechariah.
But God made sure that no
priest in Israel could ever become king. How? The
kings had to come from the family of Judah (Gen. 49:10).
God also made sure that no king
could ever be priest. How? Because the priests had to come from
the family of Levi (Ex. 28:1).
If you were not from the family
line of Levi, you were automatically disqualified from ever
becoming a priest. If you were not from Judah, then you could
never become the king.
One man in the Old Testament
attempted to tamper with this law, and he lived to regret it.
King Saul temporarily performed the role of high priest. Samuel,
the high priest of Israel, was late in offering an important
sacrifice. Saul became impatient and offered the sacrifice
himself. For this simple, seemingly trivial act, God declared
that he (Saul) was finished as the king of Israel and that not
one member of his family would ever reign as king. God took the
special role of priest/king very seriously and protected it
tenaciously.
God used this short glimpse of
Melchizedek to explain to us that one day a very unique person
is going to possess both the office of king and the office of
high priest.
Melchizedek’s Name
The name Melchizedek means "king
of righteousness" because Jesus Christ is the righteousness of
God. Jeremiah 23:6 says that Christ is to be the king of
righteousness. Melchizedek is also called king of Salem. Salem
is the old city of Jerusalem. Jesus Christ will one day rule the
earth from a city called the New Jerusalem - which means city of
peace (He is the Prince of Peace, Isa. 9:6).
Superior Blesses the Inferior
In the Bible the superior
person always blesses the inferior person, never the
other way around. In the Genesis 14 snapshot, Melchizedek
“blessed Abraham.” The one giving the blessing must have
the spiritual clout to do so. Melchizedek had a mysterious
spiritual superiority over Abraham, even though Abraham was a
special patriarch who had received a most important promise from
God (Gen. 12:1-3).
Superior Receives Tithes
The superiority of Melchizedek is
also pictured by the paying of tithes. The spiritually inferior
always pays tithes to the superior. "To whom also Abraham gave a
tenth part of all" (vs. 2). It would seem that Abraham was the
spiritual giant. But in Genesis 14 that was not the case!
No Past, No Future, No Beginning,
No End
No record is given of
Melchizedek’s physical parents in the Genesis passage. He was
"without father and without mother" (Heb. 7:3). This
meant that Melchizedek's priesthood was not based on a family
line of priests before him. In order for anyone to serve as a
priest in Israel, both parents had to have been in the correct
priestly line. In fact, if anyone were to go back through a
priest's family line and find someone there who was not of Aaron
or Levi, that priest would automatically be disqualified.
Christ’s priesthood did not
involve such a family tree. His priestly office did not come as
a result of having a long family line of priests. He would just
appear on the scene already functioning as a priest.
Melchizedek’s meeting with
Abraham also did not contain any record of a future
genealogical line of priests that would come after him. He
had no beginning and no end. There is no record of his growing
up as a boy priest and no record of his death (Heb. 7:3). As
far as the record shows in Genesis, Melchizedek is still
functioning as a priest today.
Christ’s claim to His priesthood
would have any human connection whatsoever. He did not come from
a line of priests before Him, nor would he produce a line after
Him. He is to be an eternal Priest with no beginning and no end.
He is the eternal self-existent one (Jn. 1:1-2).
Levi in Abraham Submitted to
Christ
The real glimpse of God’s grace
now becomes clear. The Levitical priesthood is mysteriously
pictured submitting itself to the greater priesthood of
Melchizedek. Think about this! We see Abraham submitting
himself to Melchizedek, but where is the Levitical priesthood?
The Levitical priesthood was in the physical genes of Abraham.
“And, so to speak,
through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for
he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met
him” (Heb. 7:9-10).
The Levitical priesthood was
there! Every Levitical priest that would ever serve was in
Abraham. So when Abraham submitted himself to Melchizedek, his
great grandchildren (the Levites) also symbolically submitted
themselves to the future priesthood of Jesus Christ. Here is a
magnificent glimpse into the wonder of God’s grace. Is Christ
to be a priest? Yes, He is! But whose line is He to come
through? The line of Melchizedek! Did God recognize Melchizedek
as a priestly line? Absolutely! In fact, the record shows that
Christ’s priesthood based on Melchizedek will be superior to
that of Levi.
No Death Certificate
And finally, the Levitical
priests all died. And then the sons who followed them, all died!
But what happened to Melchizedek? There is no record of his
death. As far as we know, he is still alive and still carrying
out his duties as a priest. This is a glimpse into the
everlasting priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is to become
our everlasting King-Priest.
“The Lord has sworn and will
not change His mind, ‘You are a priest forever according to
the order of Melchizedek.” (Psa. 110:4)
Sources
New
American Standard Bible
Dwight Pentecost
J.
Vernon McGee
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