Who Is Melchizedek?

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace. Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

This is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

We have a very interesting passage today, as we continue through the book of Hebrews. After mentioning the priesthood of Melchizedek, the author of Hebrews is finally going to start describing this mysterious priest and why he matters. We will see the different ways that Melchizedek resembles what Christ would be when he came to this earth.

There are some who believe that Melchizedek was a “Christophany,” an appearance of Jesus before he came to this earth as a baby in Bethlehem. One example that people believe is a Christophany is the burning bush. Many theologians say that God speaking to Moses through the bush was Jesus speaking to Moses, since Jesus is called in many areas of Scripture as the Word of God.

Another possible Christophany was when the Commander of the Lord’s Armies appeared to Joshua just outside the city of Jericho. When this man told Joshua who he was, Joshua bowed to him, and this man told Joshua to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground, just like Moses was told to do.

However, I believe, like many theologians, that Melchizedek was an actual person like David or Joshua. And also, like David and Joshua, Melchizedek was an example of what Jesus would be or do when he came to this earth in human form.

Big Idea: Melchizedek was an example of Christ.

Hebrews 7:1

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings…

The first thing that we see the author of Hebrews tell us about Melchizedek is that:

Mechizedek was a king.

The particular place that he was king of was Salem. You may be wondering where this Salem actually was. We get a glimpse of where this place was in the opening verses of Psalm 76. This psalm was written by Asaph. He was David’s appointed leader of worship before the Lord, working with David in writing songs and psalms for the purpose of praising God.

Psalm 76:1-2

God is known in Judah;his name is great in Israel.His tent is in Salem,his dwelling place in Zion.

The psalmist mentions Salem as a place where the Lord dwells. Now, Asaph is using the literary device of parallelism to convey his idea. When he says that God is both known in Judah and his name is great in Israel, he is describing the same place. Judah refers to the specific territory that the tribe of Judah received from the Lord along with its people when the Israelites came into the Promised Land.

There was a specific city in the land of Judah, though, that was of great prominence in Scripture: Jerusalem. Here in this psalm, Asaph refers to the city of Jerusalem as simply Salem. He parallels that with Zion. In Scripture, “Zion” is a geographical hill in Jerusalem, but the name expands to refer to the whole city, the people, the land, and finally the heavenly Jerusalem. Most study Bibles point to the mention of Salem in Genesis 14 as matching Psalm 76.

So Melchizedek was likely one of the first kings of the city of Jerusalem. Most kings during this time were not kings of massive countries, though there were kings who ruled over large areas. Most kings were over city-states. These were self-governed cities that were not under an overarching ruler of an entire country. So, we see Melchizedek is a king.

The second thing we notice here about Melchizedek is that:

Melchizedek was a priest to God.

We see in the law of Moses that Israelite priests had to be from the tribe of Levi.

Numbers 3:5-10

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them to the priest Aaron to assist him. They are to perform duties for him and the entire community before the tent of meeting by attending to the service of the tabernacle. They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and perform duties for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle. Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been assigned exclusively to him from the Israelites. You are to appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out their priestly responsibilities, but any unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”

God said that only the Levites were to serve in the tabernacle. He commissioned them to help Aaron and his sons in serving the Lord with their priestly duties. God also stated that any unauthorized person would be put to death if they came near the sanctuary.

Melchizedek was established as a priest before the priesthood of Aaron was ever established. He was not a Levite, obviously, since Levi was the great-grandson of Abraham. Even so, this Melchizedek is called a priest to the Most High God. He served the God of creation. I wonder if he was called to this priesthood, much like Abraham was called to leave the land of his father and brother. With the flood happening during Noah’s lifetime, wiping out all of humanity except for Noah’s family, we know that both Abraham and Melchizedek are descendants of Noah. With Abraham, we can actually see that lineage traced in Scripture. But with Melchizedek, as we will see later in our passage, there is no genealogical record of how we get from Noah to him.

The third thing we can see about Melchizedek is that:

Melchizedek acted as a prophet.

It says here in Hebrews 7:1 that he met and blessed Abraham when he returned from defeating these evil kings.

In our modern-day context, we tend to think of prophecy as telling the future. We look to the books of Daniel and Revelation as they describe possible future events, and think that is what all prophecy is. This is why we see so many Christian “prophets” online, talking about prosperity for the church and for Christians. But you will also notice that 99% of those online prophecies are positive, talking about blessings, prosperity, and taking dominion. However, most “future” looking prophesies were actually warnings of curses from God if the people did not leave behind their evil ways and seek the Lord.

In Scripture, the prophet’s job was to speak to the people on behalf of God. Though there were some forward-looking prophecies, most of the prophets would usually give a word of the Lord in one of two ways. The first way was by pronouncing a “woe” upon someone. A “woe” was the same thing as pronouncing a curse. When Jesus told the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in Matthew 23, “Woe to you Pharisees and teachers of the law! Hypocrites!” He was actually saying, “Cursed are you Pharisees and teachers of the Law.”

The other main way that a prophet gave a word from the Lord to the people was through blessing. In Genesis 14, we have a story of a group of 4 kings led by King Chedorlaomer. They have asserted their dominance over another group of kings in the area for 12 years. This lesser group of 5 kings decides to rebel and gathers their forces to try to take on the oppressive group of Kings. The rebellion fails, and the 5 lesser kings retreat. The army of the 4 greater kings then sweeps through the area, taking plunder of livestock, people, and possessions.

One of those lesser kings was the King of Sodom. Abraham’s nephew Lot lived in Sodom and was taken away by this invading army as they pillaged the land. So Abraham takes his 318 trained men (that's how Scripture describes his little army), and chases down these 4 kings, defeats them, and continues to pursue them over 250 miles north of where many scholars believe the city of Sodom was. Abraham gets his nephew back, along with all the goods that were stolen, as well as the people who had been taken hostage.

When Abraham returns, he is met by one of the lesser kings and this mysterious Melchizedek. We can actually see the specific blessing that Melchizedek gave to Abraham.

Genesis 14:17-20a

After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley). Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High. He blessed him and said:

Abram is blessed by God Most High,Creator of heaven and earth,and blessed be God Most Highwho has handed over your enemies to you.

So Abraham returns victorious, and Melchizedek is there with bread and wine to meet him. This priest then pronounces a blessing over Abraham, saying that he is blessed because God has given Abraham the victory over his enemies. Melchizedek then blesses God by giving credit to the “Creator of heaven and earth” for the victory that Abraham achieved.

Notice that this prophetic blessing toward Abraham was about Abraham’s current state of being. Melchizedek did not say Abraham was blessed, or will be blessed. He said Abraham is blessed. And that blessing is not because of Abraham’s doing. He did not earn that blessing. Abraham is blessed because God delivered the enemies to him. Abraham was victorious because God said, “Here you go!”

We see now that Melchizedek performs the duties of a king, a priest, and a prophet. When we started the book of Hebrews six months ago, we saw the opening three verses of the book describe Jesus as a prophet, priest, and king. Now we can start to see more of why the author of Hebrews is making this comparison of Jesus and Melchizedek.

Let’s move on so we can see even more ways that Melchizedek points to Jesus.

Hebrews 7:2a

…and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace.

When we look at the passage in Genesis 14 where Abraham receives this blessing from Melchizedek, we also see his response.

Genesis 14:19-20

He blessed him and said:

Abram is blessed by God Most High,Creator of heaven and earth,and blessed be God Most Highwho has handed over your enemies to you.

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Abraham gave Melchizedek one-tenth of all the plunder he took from getting his nephew Lot back. He tithed to this mysterious priest.

I know that there is probably someone in here thinking, “Oh, great! Now the pastor is going to start talking about giving to the church and tithing!” Well, I have said that I do not go out of my way to bring up certain subjects, but when we get to passages that bring up a topic, that means God is saying to speak on it.

Abraham was not required to give this offering to Melchizedek. There was no Mosaic Law yet, requiring the giving of a certain percentage of your crops, or flock, or earnings toward the tabernacle in order to sustain the priests. This was a free will offering. Abraham gave this ten percent out of honor and respect to a man who pronounced a blessing over him from God.

I do not want to dig into this topic too much, but Abraham gives a great example of how we should respond to God’s blessing in our lives. When we see God providing for us, taking care of us, and meeting needs that we saw no way for them to be met, one way that we can honor God is by giving back to him.

If God has blessed you financially, then one way to honor how God has blessed you is by giving to God financially. You may ask, “How much am I supposed to give?” That is between you and God. Most people use the tithe (or the one-tenth) as their benchmark. Emily and I give 10% of what we earn back to God by tithing to the ministry of Living Word. But this is not a hard and fast rule.

Giving back to God is not about money.

In an area where inflation and taxes can make it very difficult to pay for the day-to-day things in life, like a mortgage or rent, food, transportation, etc., it may not always feel like there is 10% of your income left to give. Perhaps you could give time to helping with different things around the church. Maybe God has given you talents that can help people in their walk with God.

As we move into 2026, I want to see Living Word Community Church grow. I want our spiritual roots to go deeper into the soil of the Word of God. I want to see this church reaching out to the community to help those in need. I want families who come to visit for the first time to be excited to come back because the kids loved being in Kids Church, and the parents felt welcomed and encouraged by the congregation. I want people to come to a service on Sunday and feel the presence of God because we, as a congregation, have been on our knees praying for God transform our lives and the lives of everyone who comes here.

None of these things can happen if it all rests on my shoulders, or on the shoulders of me, Sam, and Craig. We have gifts and talents that God has given us to grow his kingdom, and we are doing our best to give of those things to the work of Christ. But Living Word will not grow without your help. We want parents and other congregants to be willing to help out in Kids Church so that we always have multiple adults to watch over our children. We want people willing to stand at a door and greet folks and provide a warm welcome as they come into the building. We want a welcome team that will help first-time guests to the church get acquainted with who we are and direct them to whatever resources our church can provide for them.

Next Step: I will ask God how I can give back to Him.

I will always encourage financial giving. The church pays rent for the building, pays for electricity and water, garbage service, and more. We need money to do that. But I will also encourage giving in other ways too, like giving of your time, gifts, and talents.

Hebrews 7:2b

First, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace.

The author of Hebrews then digs into the meaning of the name of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek - “king of righteousness” or “righteous king”

In Hebrew:“Melek” - king“Tsedek” - righteousness

The name actually means “king of righteousness,” or “righteous king.” We can see in Hebrew that the word “melek” means king, and “tsedek,” which means righteousness.

This title, obviously, is also an appropriate title for Christ. I have mentioned many times that we cannot earn our salvation. We cannot do enough good works to merit righteousness. The only wage that we earn is death through our acts of sin. But Jesus, who lived the perfect, righteous life, offers us that righteousness when we repent of our sins, turning from our former way of living, and submit our lives to him. Jesus has the righteousness we need to come to the Father.

Isaiah 32:1

Indeed, a king will reign righteously,and rulers will rule justly.

Throughout Isaiah, the prophet is speaking to the sins of Israel, while also pointing to the coming King, the one whose birth we just celebrated this past week with Christmas, who would be the righteous ruler over all.

Melchizedek was also the king of Salem. Salem in Hebrew is the word “Shalom,” or peace. And so Melchizedek is also the king of peace. At the end of that passage in Isaiah 32, we see the prophet describe what righteousness leads to.

Isaiah 32:17-18

The result of righteousness will be peace;the effect of righteousnesswill be quiet confidence forever.Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place,in safe and secure dwellings.

Righteousness leads to peace. When we live in a way that is righteous before God, it can give us peace, knowing that we are obeying our Creator, but it will also lead to the peace of living with God for all eternity when we leave this life.

In Isaiah 9, we see one of the more famous passages in the Old Testament that describes the coming of Jesus. This particular passage was made famous by George Frideric Handel, who wrote the famous orchestration called “The Messiah.”

Isaiah 9:6-7

For a child will be born for us,a son will be given to us,and the government will be on his shoulders.He will be namedWonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.The dominion will be vast,and its prosperity will never end.He will reign on the throne of Davidand over his kingdom,to establish and sustain itwith justice and righteousness from now on and forever.The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

Jesus, the righteous judge, the Prince of Peace, has a vast dominion. The prosperity of the kingdom of God will have no end. Christ reigns over his people with justice and righteousness. His kingdom will go on forever.

Hebrews 7:3

Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

This verse is where we tend to see some theologians try to make the assertion that Melchizedek was a “Christophany,” or an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. As I stated earlier, there was no genealogy for Melchizedek in the Old Testament. Outside of Hebrews and the Psalms, all we know of Mechizedek comes from four verses in Genesis 14. This lack of known lineage does not mean that Melchizedek was an appearance of Jesus, though.

When the author of Hebrews says that Melchizedek did not have a beginning of days or an end of life, he is only stating that we don’t know who his parents were or when he died. The picture that the author is trying to show us is how Melchizedek pointed to what would come in Christ. Just as David killing Goliath was a type, or early example, of how Christ would triumph over sin and death, Melchizedek, not having a genealogy or descendants listed in Scripture, is a type, or example, of Jesus being eternal, not having a beginning or end.

So when the author of Hebrews says that Jesus is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, he means that because we don’t know when Melchizedek’s priesthood started or ended, he was showing us a picture of Jesus, whose priesthood had no beginning and will have no end.

The great Welsh preacher D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones talked about this passage in a sermon titled “Our Great High Priest.”

“Our high priest is not one that comes and goes, renders his service and then dies, and then you have to appoint a new one…(But) because he is the Son of God, because of the fullness of the Godhead that is in him, he is everlasting and eternal.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Lloyd-Jones goes on to say that human priests come and go because they are not eternal. However, Jesus’ priesthood lasts forever. It is unchangeable. Jesus always is, always has been, and always will be, making his priesthood unchangeable. As I have already said, his priesthood has no beginning and no end.

This should give Christian believers great encouragement! We have a priest forever, petitioning the Father on our behalf. The role of the priest in Scripture was to go before God on behalf of the people. The Son of God, who earned his righteousness on this earth through his perfect, sinless life, offered himself as a sacrifice for sins, presenting himself to the Father for our sake as part of his priestly duty. And now, he is before the Father, bringing our requests to God as our glorious, great high priest.

In Romans 8:34, Paul tells us this very thing.

Romans 8:34

…Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.

And Christ will not neglect his people. He will not forget those who are submitted to him, whom he saved through the shedding of his blood on the cross. Last week, I stated that God’s love is the reason Jesus was sent to this earth to die for our sins. He did this to reconcile us to himself through the sacrifice of his son. A couple of verses later in Romans 8, Paul tells us just how loved we are by God.

Romans 8:38-39

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is how strong God’s love is for his people! Nothing can separate those who have submitted their lives to Christ from the love of the Father. Death cannot separate us from him. As a matter of fact, death just brings us closer! There is no chasm too wide because God has already bridged that chasm in Christ.

Do you need that assurance in your life today? Do you want to experience that love of God that cannot be defeated, which nothing in this world can separate us from? Today is the day. All it takes is submitting your life to Christ. Repent and turn from your sins. Follow Jesus, denying yourself of the troubles this world has to offer. Ask the Holy Spirit to work in your heart and mind, transforming you into the likeness of Christ. In doing so, you will have a high priest in Jesus, who has already given the sacrifice for your sins, advocating for you. You will have a Father who loves you. And you will have the Holy Spirit showing you how to serve God in grace and truth. Do not wait!

Next Step: I will repent and submit my life to Christ.

Let us pray.

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