{"id":90853,"date":"2021-03-12T18:33:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T23:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/melchizedek\/"},"modified":"2023-10-07T21:46:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T01:46:29","slug":"melchizedek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/melchizedek\/","title":{"rendered":"Melchizedek"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Genesis\n14:18: And Melchizedek king of Salem\nbrought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">What or who was Melchizedek?\u00a0Mentioned only three times in Scripture \u2013 each reference 1,000 years apart (which, by the way, speaks to the unity of Scripture despite its disparate authorship timeline) \u2013 a debate has raged about the nature of this figure and, based upon that nature, the significance of his mention.\u00a0This proves to be one of the thorniest points of inquiry given both about what we know and what we don\u2019t know.\u00a0Was this a real person?\u00a0 Was he part of the Levitical priesthood?\u00a0What about His ties to the Canaanites?\u00a0Why is Abraham\u2019s reaction to Melchizedek so important to us today? For the Scriptural answer, we examine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">&nbsp;<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Historical Context: Written\nbetween 1440 and 1400 B.C. by Moses, the\nBook of Genesis has sometimes been called the &#8220;seed-plot&#8221; of the\nentire Bible. Most of the major doctrines in the Bible are introduced in\n&#8220;seed&#8221; form in the Book of Genesis. Along with the fall of man, God&#8217;s\npromise of salvation is recorded (Genesis 3:15). The doctrines of creation,\nimputation of sin, justification, atonement, depravity, wrath, grace,\nsovereignty, responsibility, and many more are all addressed in this book of\norigins called Genesis.&nbsp; It is no\naccident that someone on the order of Melchizedek would be included within\nGenesis as He proves the \u201cfirst\u201d or \u201cKing\u201d with respect to righteousness.&nbsp; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Grammatical Usage:&nbsp; The term \u201cMelchizedek\u201c\nis a transliteration of two Hebrew words:<em> melek<\/em> and<em> tsedeq<\/em>. The\nHebrew <em>melek<\/em> means kiing and <em>tsedeq<\/em> means righteousness.\nTherefore, the term &#8220;melchizedek&#8221; means literally, &#8220;king of\nrighteousness.&#8221;; \u201cSalem\u201d is \u201cShalem\u201d in\nHebrew referring to Jerusalem\nas well as peace; \u201cpriest\u201d or \u201cKohen\u201d refers to the \u201cchief ruler\u201d which, in\ncontext, means both Chief Priest and King; \u201cGod\u201d is \u201cJehovah\u201d or &#8220;the\nexisting One&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Literal Application: And\nthe King of Righteousness, King of Jerusalem, offered both bread and wine as the\nChief Priest of the only existing and one true God.<br>\n&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contextual\nInterpretation: Melchizedek is not so\nmuch a name as it is a title or designation.&nbsp;\nIt is a position or office that has to be filled by a <em>worthy<\/em> candidate. Because a king is\nalways preeminent in his jurisdiction, Melchizedek had to be preeminent in\nrighteousness. He had to be the &#8220;king&#8221; of righteousness.&nbsp; In fact, 4 specific references to Jesus\ninclude:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Righteous Branch:\nJeremiah 23:5\n<ul>\n<li>Righteous Judge:\n2 Timothy 4:8<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Righteous\nServant: Isaiah 53:11<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Righteousness: 1\nCorinthians 1:30<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Scriptural Comparison: The\ndebate as to the true identity of Melchizedek comes down to was it a \u201cChristophany\u201d\nor a typology?&nbsp; Was this person actually\nthe 2<sup>nd<\/sup> member of the Trinity or merely a type or forerunner of the\nChrist analogues to John the Baptist?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>The Point of Righteousness<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Continuing this critical reference to righteousness, God described three men &#8211; Noah, Daniel, and Job as\nbeing righteous. But, God said that their righteousness could not be extended\nor imputed to others (Ezekiel 14:14-16). Not one of the three was a source of\nrighteousness for others, and God never referred to any one of the three as\nbeing the King of Righteousness.&nbsp; Since &#8220;Melchizedek&#8221;\nwas the epitome of righteousness, and no human including Noah, Daniel, and Job\nis inherently righteous, it is evident that the King of Righteousness could not\nhave been human. Had He been human, Melchizedek would have been the same as\nAaron or anyone else, i.e. a sinner.&nbsp; He\nis described as \u201cking of righteousness, and \u201cking of Salem,\u201d\nthe ancient name for Jerusalem\nwhich was also attributed \u201cKing of Peace\u201d in Hebrews 7:2.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Malachi said that the Sun\nof Righteousness would arise with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2). Malachi\nwas precluded from using the word &#8220;son&#8221; because that would have\nimplied that the One who became Jesus was someone other than Melchizedek. The\nterm &#8220;Son&#8221; would have suggested that Jesus was in some way a son or a\ndescendant of Melchizedek. Linguistically then, the prophetic Sun of\nRighteousness and the King of Righteousness proves the same person, Jesus\nChrist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>The Point of Genealogy <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In Hebrews 7:3, Paul says\nthat Melchizedek was without father or mother, i.e. He had no parents. Paul&#8217;s\nstatement should be taken literally because he was, in fact, emphasizing the\ndeity of Melchizedek.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Every human, including\nAdam, has had a father (Luke 3:38). All the angels have the same father as\nAdam, and they are referred to many times in Scripture as sons of God. The One\nwho became Jesus Christ is the father of all life except for one human life,\nHis own. The Most High God is the Father of Jesus (Luke 1:32). But, God WAS NOT\nthe father of Melchizedek. Paul is clearly saying that Melchizedek, like the\nMost High God, was without parents. Neither of them had beginning of days nor\nend of life. The two of them had always lived and there had never been a time\nthat each of them had not lived. Melchizedek had always possessed life\ninherent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Michah said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201c<strong>But\nyou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little\namong the thousands of Judah,\nyet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from\nof old, from everlasting.<\/strong>\u201d (Micah 5:2, NKJV). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">However, Melchizedek\nwas willing to relinquish His immortality (John 10:18) so that He could become\nnot only the King of Righteousness, but also the Lamb of God. Jesus succinctly\nput it this way, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;<strong>Jesus\nsaid to them, &#8216;Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM&#8217; <\/strong>\u201d\n(John 8:58, NKJV). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In order to serve as\nGod&#8217;s Priest, Melchizedek presented Himself in a form similar to what would\nlater be His human form (Hebrews 7:3). Before His birth, however, He was not\nthe Son of God. He looked like the Son of God would later look, but He was not\nthe Son of God until He became human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Jesus&#8217; human conception\nwas the fulfillment of prophecy (Psalm 2:7, Hebrews 1:5). Because the Son\npromoted God&#8217;s righteousness and hated iniquity, God said to Him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;<strong>&#8216;Your\nthrone, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter <\/strong>(symbol)\n<strong>of Your kingdom.&#8217;<\/strong> &#8221; (Hebrews 1:8-9, NKJV). &nbsp;Melchizedek, who had been the King of\nRighteousness, became the Son of God fulfilling of the scepter promise of\nGenesis 49:10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">He\nis also said to be \u201cwithout father or mother, without genealogy, without\nbeginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest\nperpetually\u201d (Heb. 7:3).&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">On this point, some commentators advance the argument that Melchizedek&#8217;s existence shows that there were people other than Abraham and his family who served the one true God.&nbsp; This would mean Melchizedek was a Canaanite.&nbsp; The question arises, however, given the Canaanites were involved in bestiality, incest, molestation, homosexuality, prostitution \u2014 and if that\u2019s not enough, they even sacrificed their children to idols, could this forerunner of a holy priesthood be associated with such?&nbsp; It\u2019s clear from history that God gave them ample time to repent, but they refused ( Gen. 15:16; Deut. 7:22). And as a consequence, God used Israel to bring judgement upon them. And lest anyone accuse God of being unfair, there is ample Biblical evidence that if there were any righteous in the land, God would have spared them just like He spared Rahab when Jericho was destroyed (Josh. 6:25; Gen. 182; Num. 31:35).&nbsp; Clearly, they did not repent (continuing in their cultural ways) which indicates that, just as clearly, none were forthcoming as a Rahab which negates the argument of a righteous Canaanite faction. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Point of Priesthood<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In fact, in Hebrews\n7:1-28 the author points out the <em>superiority<\/em>\nof his priesthood to that of Aaron and the Levites in these respects: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">1.\nEven Abraham paid him tithes<br>\n2. He blessed Abraham <br>\n3. He is the type of a Priest who lives for ever<br>\n4. Levi, yet unborn, paid him tithes in the person of Abraham<br>\n5. The permanence of his priesthood in Christ foreshadowed the Levitical system<br>\n6. He was a priest without an oath <br>\n7. His priesthood can neither be transmitted nor interrupted by death: &#8220;Now\nthere have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from\ncontinuing in office; <strong><sup>24<\/sup><\/strong>but because Jesus lives forever, he\nhas a permanent priesthood. <strong><sup>25<\/sup><\/strong>Therefore he is able to save\ncompletely<sup>[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Hebrews%207:1-28&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-30074c#fen-NIV-30074c\">c<\/a>]<\/sup> those\nwho come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.\u201d\n(Hebrews 7:23, 24)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">As\nwe have already reviewed, the Bible not only designates Melchizedek as \u201cking of\nrighteousness,\u201d and \u201cking of peace,\u201d but overtly tells us that he is without\nfather or mother, he is without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of\nlife, and that like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. So though he\ndid not trace his descent from Levi, yet the Bible tells us that Melchizedek\ncollected a tenth from Abraham, and then blessed Abraham who had the promises (Heb.\n7:2, 4); without a doubt the lesser person\u2014Abraham\u2014is blessed by the greater\nperson\u2014Melchizedek. In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die and\nin the other case by him who is declared to be the living, so note that in\ncontrast to men, who die, Melchizedek is declared to be the living (Heb.\n7:5-10).&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Point of Firsts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Interestingly, when\nAbraham and Melchizedek met it was a meeting of Biblical &#8220;firsts\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Melchizedek is\nthe first person in the Bible called a PRIEST. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Abraham is the\nfirst person the Bible calls a PROPHET, a title God himself revealed to King\nAbimelech (Genesis 20:7). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Melchizedek (also\nspelled Melchizedec) is first mentioned in chapter 14 of Genesis, verses 18 to\n20 surrendering the first tithe to a priest demonstrating honor (Proverbs 3:9).\nThe Biblical account here informs us that this illustrious personage was the\nKing of Salem (Jerusalem),\nPriest of God Most High (God the Father):<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;<strong>Then Melchizedek\nking of Salem\nbrought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. &nbsp;And he\nblessed him and said: &#8216;Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven\nand earth. &nbsp;And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies\ninto your hand.&#8217; &nbsp;And he<\/strong> (Abraham) <strong>gave him a tithe of all.<\/strong>&#8221;\n(Genesis 14:18-20, NKJV and emphasis throughout)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>The bringing out\nof &#8220;<strong>bread and wine<\/strong>&#8221; by the FIRST person called a priest of God\nis undoubtedly a foreshadowing or type of a later ordinance which became part\nof Jesus&#8217; memorial ceremony at Passover. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>The Point of the Timeline<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Roughly one thousand\nyears after Abraham meets with Melchizedek we find out some more information\nabout this person in Psalm 110. This Scripture was quoted by Jesus, (another\none thousand years later) to the consternation of the Jewish audience who was\nbaffled and speechless. This has to do with the triune nature of God, contrary\nto the belief of Judaism, that maintains that God is only one person.&nbsp; Verse 1 of Psalm 110 says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;<strong>The\nLord said to my Lord, &#8216;Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your\nfootstool&#8217;. <\/strong>&#8221; (Psalm 110:1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">King David was saying\nthat the <strong>Lord<\/strong>, (God the Father) said to <strong>MY LORD<\/strong>, (the Word that\nlater became Jesus), &#8220;<strong>sit at My right hand till I make Your enemies\nYour footstool<\/strong> &#8220;, which is a prophecy about Christ, the Messiah to be\nfulfilled in the future. It continues with verse 4 identifying who this &#8220;<strong>my\nLord<\/strong>&#8221; is: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8221; <strong>. . . &#8216;You are\na priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.&#8217;<\/strong>&#8221; (Psalm\n110:4) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In the New Testament the\nApostle Paul elaborates further on Melchizedek in the book of Hebrews, chapters\n5, 6, 7. Hebrews 5:6 is a quotation of Psalm 110:4. In Hebrews 6:20 the Apostle\nPaul links Melchizedek to CHRIST. Chapter 7 of the book of Hebrews offers more\ndetailed information about the identity of Melchizedek who was: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;<strong>\n. . . without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither\nbeginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest\ncontinually.<\/strong>&#8221; (Hebrews 7:3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Clearly, Melchizedek\ncould NOT have been a human being like you and I, since all of us have come\ninto existence through the process of procreation. Christ ONLY is the Son of\nGod and a priest continually. The Bible labels Jesus our High Priest (Hebrews\n6:20). There can be no doubt that the Melchizedek of the Old Testament is\n&#8220;<strong>the word<\/strong>&#8221; (John 1:1) spoken of in the New Testament that\nbecame Jesus Christ: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;<strong>In\nthe beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS GOD.\n&nbsp;He was in the beginning with God. &nbsp;ALL THINGS were made through Him,\nand without Him nothing was made that was made.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;<strong>He was in the\nworld, and the world was made THROUGH HIM, and the world did not know Him. . .\n. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;<strong>And the Word\nBECAME FLESH and dwelt among us . . . <\/strong>&#8221; (John 1:1-3, 10, 14, NKJV,\nemphasis provided)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">There\u2019s\nlittle doubt in my mind in reading Hebrews 7, the great coronation Psalm 110 in\nwhich Melchizedek is also mentioned, and then the Genesis passage where\nMelchizedek appears to Abraham that this is a preincarnate appearance of Jesus\nChrist. It\u2019s a Christophany very much like the Angel of the Lord appearing in\nthe Old Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>The Point of Grammar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Despite\nof all the evidence, of course, over the years one word caused many to question\nMelchizedek as a Christophany or a preincarnate appearance of Christ. That word\nfound in Hebrews 7:3 is \u201clike.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWithout father, without mother, without descent, having neither\nbeginning of days, nor end of life; but made <strong>like<\/strong> unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Many\ninsist this an analogy for Christ or a type of Christ. But upon linguistic\nreview, I think not. That particular Greek word, \u201cAphomoioo\u201d which means, \u201cto\ncause a model, to pass off, to express itself\u201d is only used once in the\nentirety of the New Testament. (I\u2019m not saying \u201clike\u201d in English, but the Greek\nWord that was translated \u201clike\u201d in this particular context.) Therefore, I think\nit is unwise to be dogmatic about the definition of that word as translated\ninto the English language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This\ndefinition coupled with the language of the Dead Sea Scrolls, where the Melchizedek\nScroll is a classic case in point where you find Melchizedek and the Almighty\nas words that are interchanged by the Essenes, demonstrates a Christophany. So\nas they studied the Old Testament, they viewed Melchizedek very clearly as the\nAlmighty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If\n\u201clike\u201d is properly translated it doesn\u2019t negate the notion of Melchizedek as a\nChristophany. All you have to do is look at the words of Daniel, where Daniel says,\n\u201cIn my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,\ncoming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led\ninto his presence\u201d (Dan. 7:13).&nbsp; And then\ncontemplate the reality that despite the word \u201clike\u201d in that passage, Jesus\ncombined this very passage with Psalm 110, which is that great coronation\npsalm, in evidence of the fact that He was in fact divine. And He used that\nargument before Caiaphas and the court that was condemning Him to death. So, again,\nthe fact that the word \u201clike\u201d is there, shouldn\u2019t cloud our understanding of\nthe passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Interpreting\nScripture in light of Scripture, I think that it is very clear that Melchizedek\nis in fact a Christophany. He is in fact a preincarnate appearance of Jesus\nChrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Conclusion: There are eight critical\npoints regarding Melchizedek which, taken as whole, indicate His essence as the\n2<sup>nd<\/sup> member of the Trinity:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>King\nof Righteousness <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>King of Peace <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eternal in nature <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gives blessing <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Receives submission &amp; sacrifice <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provides bread and wine <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jesus is from Judah:\nqualified to be King <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jesus is Melchizedek: qualified to be High Priest<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Coming as He did in the\nlife of Abraham and then in His incarnation provides a perfect picture of how\nJesus comes to our aid and rescue when we need Him. &nbsp;Jesus is our sympathetic High Priest in a\nunique order; there is no one like Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The work of Christ as\nour great high priest is fulfilled in two major aspects: first, His work in His\nsacrifice on the cross; and, second, His work of intercession which includes\nHis ministry as our Advocate. In His sacrifice, Christ is both the sacrificer\nand the sacrifice as He is both the Lamb and the Priest. As all of His priestly\nwork depended upon His sacrifice, it is most important that this be carefully\nexamined and the nature of His offering be fully realized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Genesis 14:18: And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. What or who was Melchizedek?\u00a0Mentioned only three times in Scripture \u2013 each reference 1,000 years apart (which, by the way, speaks to the unity of Scripture despite its disparate authorship timeline) \u2013 a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[535],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Melchizedek - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Melchizedek - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Genesis 14:18: And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. 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