Melchizedek Who?

Hebrews 7

We come to a passage of Scripture this morning that we have been building up to for a while

And it’s in this passage that this author really starts asking us to think

And it’s going to become apparent that we are going to have to dig a little deeper if we are going to understand where this preacher is taking us

So, 3 times now, in our study of Hebrews, we have read these words:

“the preacher” saying that Jesus is a High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek

5:6

5:10

6:20

When the preacher says this, he is, in fact, quoting Psalm 110:4 “4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.””

What is up with Melchizedek?

I mean, when we think about the Bible, we rarely think about Melchizedek

Have you ever been outside on a dark night and suddenly

There is a flash of light streaking across the sky—a shooting star

It’s a very brief flash of light—you may just see it out of your peripheral vision. And just like that, it’s gone

But you remember it. And you go inside thinking, “Man, that was really cool!”

That is the way that I hope you come to think of this man Melchizedek

Melchizedek—this strange, mysterious figure. One who hardly ever gets talked about or thought about in the whole breadth of Scripture

He flashes into view back in the book of Genesis, and just like that is gone again

And yet, one who clearly, at least in the mind of this preacher in Hebrews, was extremely significant as we are striving to understand the significance of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ

Put your finger in Hebrews 7, and turn all the way back to to Genesis 14.

It’s in this chapter that we read a story of Abraham

Abraham had a nephew named Lot.

And in this story, there was a coalition of kings that was formed, and they came in and attacked the kings of the area where Lot was living, near Sodom and Gomorrah

Well, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, and their allies were defeated

And many of their people were taken captive

Including Lot, Abraham’s nephew

And Lot and his family and possessions were taken captive.

Well, someone in this skirmish escaped and came and told Abraham about what had happened

And so Abraham gathered up all his trained men , the Bible says, 318 of them, and went after that coalition of kings, and defeated them, rescued his nephew and all his possessions and brought them back home

And then we get to this little tiny short story—Melchizedek flashes on to the scene:

Genesis 14:17–20 “17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”

And it’s this brief little story

A small paragraph that, when we are reading the book of Genesis, we may tend to just skim over

Or we read it and think, “Hmm, that’s odd”, and we keep going

It’s this story that the preacher is thinking about when he says, “Jesus is a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”

And he begins to explain himself in this passage as he makes a comparison between Jesus and Melchizedek

Important: We need to keep in mind that the preacher is not comparing Jesus to Melchizedek. He is not saying that Jesus is like Melch

Rather, he is saying that Melch is like Jesus.

He is saying that Melch is a type of Christ

A “type” is something or someone that represents something or someone much greater

Looking at Melch should remind us of Jesus

So, keep that in mind when we read this passage

PRAY

Hebrews 6:19–20 “19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 7:1–10 “1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. 4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.”

So, what do we know about Melch, and what is the point?

Remember, again, as we look at this comparison, it is important to remember that the author is comparing Melch to Christ

He is not comparing Christ to Melch.

What do we know about Melchizedek

Priesthood

Melchizedek, it says in Genesis was a priest

in fact, The passage in Genesis, and the preacher in Hebrews say this of Melch: He was a priest of “the Most High God”

We probably usually think of the priesthood as beginning with Aaron, the first high priest

But there were priests before Aaron

A lot of them were probably priests of false gods, false religions

But there were other priests

Because the bible leaves no doubt about what kind of priest Melch is.

He is a priest of The Most High God

He is not a priest of the pagan gods. He is a priest of the One True God. The God above all gods

And he comes out and meets Abram, and we see him acting in a very priestly way. Look what is says that Melchizedek does. Gen 14.

Vs. 18—He brought out bread and wine

This was probably a friendly gesture of hospitality

But as we compare Melch to Jesus, and as we think about Jesus being the High Priest of the New Covenant,

The bread and the wine is pretty significant, isn’t it

It seems like a very priestly thing for him to do

This is a symbol that we look back on with our NT eyes and say, “Wow, that is significant. That sounds like what Jesus did when He invited His disciples to eat the bread and drink the cup with Him

And He told them what it meant in the New Covenant

He blessed Abram

again, a very priestly thing to do

Numbers 6 Aaron and his sons were to bless the people of Israel

24  The LORD bless you and keep you; 25  the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26  the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

He received tithes

Abram gave to Melch a tenth of the spoil

Again, a privilege reserved for a priest

And this is a very important point that the preacher in Hebrews grabs hold of

Melchizedek is a priest

And so is Jesus. This point has already been made. That Jesus is our faithful high priest

But the preacher wants us to know that Jesus is not the same kind of high priests that the Levitical priests were

He is NOT after the order of Levi, or after the order of Aaron, the first High Priest

But, in fact, he is a High Priest after a much older, much greater order

And we are going to see more clearly what he is saying as we go along

His Kingship

Melchizedek, the preacher says, was a king

But not just any old king. Not just a king of a country or some territory

But a very special kind of king which makes him a legitimate comparison to Jesus

His name, Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness”

And He is the King of Salem (Jerusalem), which translated means “King of Peace”

Melchizedek was the king of righteousness and peace

Again, this is all we are told about him. We are not told exactly HOW he was king of righteousness and king of peace.

We are not told exactly how he earned those titles

But what we do know is how these titles point toward a King much, much greater than Melchizedek

Isaiah prophecies of a child who would be born

6  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

Jesus fulfilled, is fulfilling, and will continue to fulfill this promise

He is the ultimate King of Peace because He founded a way for mankind of be at peace with their Heavenly Father

He is the ultimate King of Righteousness because He gives us His righteousness

His Uniqueness

Here is where we start to get a peek into the mind of this preacher in Hebrews...how he is thinking about Jesus

In verse 3, he draws our attention to the fact that we know nothing about the genealogy of Melchizedek.

vs. 3“he is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever”

Melchizedek is unique because Genesis is a book that is full of genealogies.

so and so begat so and so, and he begat so and so

Even Abraham, we know who his father and grandfather were

but here is this remarkable interaction between Abraham and Melch, and we know nothing about his family line

Now, I don’t believe for a moment that this preacher is implying that just because

Melch’s parents aren’t mentioned that they didn’t exist

even though he says, “He is without father or mother or genealogy”

And he is not implying that because his birth and death aren’t mentioned that Melch just always was and always will be

even though he says, “having neither beginning of days nor end of life

He’s not saying that at all!

He is simply making the point that nothing is said about these things

FF Bruce says about this: “In the silences as well as in the statements, Melchizedek is a fitting type of Christ

He is using this omission of Scripture to provide us a copy of which Jesus is the original

Again, remember, he is not comparing Jesus to Melchizedek

Rather, he is saying, Melchizedek is an interesting character from history whom we hold in high regard

But it’s not him that we should be focusing on

Because he is only a copy of someone much greater

He is comparing Melch to Jesus who gives us the reality

His Superiority

Here, again, is another interesting and deep argument that the preacher uses to show that Jesus is indeed superior to anyone who came before Him

His argument is wrapped up in this phrase in verse 7: “It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior”.

and it’s meant to support his argument that Jesus is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek

Here’s his argument:

Melchizedek came out and blessed Abraham

Melch also received tithes from Abraham

Conclusion? Melch is greater than Abraham

Abraham is the father or ancestor of Levi.

Levi is the father or ancestor of Aaron, the first high priest, and the whole priestly line

So here’s what he is saying

The entire Hebrew nation paid their tithes to the priests.

that is how the priests were supported

And he says in verse 9, “You might even say this: that Levi, who receives the tithes, in a sense, paid his tithe to Melchizedek, because he was still in the loins of his ancestor (Abraham), when Melchizedek met him

Are you following him so far?

The Hebrew nation paid their tithes to the priests

who paid their tithes to Levi

Who paid his tithes to Abraham

Who paid his tithes to Melchizedek

Meaning that Melchizedek is much greater than any other Jewish person

this opens a window on how the Hebrew people understood family, community, and inheritance

If your forefather or ancestor was blessed, you inherited his blessing.

if your ancestor sinned, or was cursed, you inherited his guilt

And this is why we talk about inheriting the sin of Adam, and inheriting the righteousness of Christ

But he says, in his way of thinking, Levi the father of the priesthood paid his tithes to Melch through Abraham

His point is this

if Jesus was descended from the line of Levi, He would be basically another priest, and in a sense would be inferior to Abraham and would be inferior to Melch

But Jesus is not descended from Levi. He is not after the order of Levi

Jesus is after the order of Melch. He is the fulfillment or reality of the picture that Melch give us

And so, therefore, if Jesus is the reality, that means that Abraham, Levi, the priests, and all who follow them, are inferior to Jesus!

Conclusion

Does Jesus have your focus this morning?

The Hebrews could have been tempted to worship Melchizedek and hold him up as someone to be worshipped or revered

But he wasn’t one to be worshipped.

Have you experienced Him in His fullness?

There are many things that war to take the place of Jesus in our lives

Some of them are good things. But they are mere copies, mere reflections of the real thing

Church

church is a good thing, a sacred thing

And we want to get it right

But the institution of church is supposed to point us toward a much greater reality

The Person and Work of Jesus Christ

Do you know the reality of Jesus this morning?

King of Peace

King of Righteousness

The question for you and for all of us this morning is, “Have you experienced Jesus as the King of Peace?

this is not a given

just because we are all sitting in church does not automatically mean that we are all at peace with God

It does not automatically mean that we are experiencing His peace in us and

Tithing-the recognition of all belonging to God

does your tithing and giving testify that you believe that Jesus is worthy of all

Abraham, the founder, the father of the Jews

he brought back plunder and spoil from the battle; plunder that he had gained by his own blood and sweat, by putting his own life on the line

you would have thought that his attitude would have been, “Hey, nobody else was willing to go out and do what I did. I’m keeping this stuff!”

But no! The very first thing that he does is to take a tenth off the top of that spoil and give it to Melch.

Not only that, but the King of Sodom was there.

He told Abraham, “Hey, as long as you let the people you rescued come back home to Sodom, you can keep the rest of the stuff.”

Sounds tempting!

But that’s not what Abraham did. He said, “No, I’m not going to have you going around saying, “Hey I made Abraham rich”

I’m simply going to walk away with the food that my men have eaten and you can take the rest of this stuff and give it to the other kings

Abraham gives us an example of someone who understands material wealth and has his priorities in the right place

The question for us, is what about us? What is your attitude toward giving and material wealth?

I don’t ask to see giving records at church. and who gives what

But I trust that I am speaking to a body of believers who believe in giving at least a tenth to the Lord’s service

If Abraham, the father of the Jews tithed to Melch who is only a picture of the reality of Jesus, should not we, the family of Jesus, willingly and freely and regularly bring at least a tenth of our firstfruits to Him

And should we not give without strings attached? I trust that we don’t first look at where the offering is going on a Sunday before I decide if I’m going to give or not

I trust that out of a heart of love for Jesus we prayerfully bring our tithes to Him, as an act of worship

So, this is the challenge that I want to leave with you this morning

Let us continue to seek the reality that is Jesus

And to trust Him for His righteousness and peace

And to live our lives freely and openly before Him

English Standard Version Chapter 6

24  The LORD bless you and keep you;

25  the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26  the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.