“Melchizedek”
[Hebrews 7:1-3]
September 9, 2012 Second Reformed Church
Three times now in the book of
Hebrews, we have read the author of Hebrews state that Jesus is “a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
We've understood from the author of Hebrews that Jesus is our Forerunner
– our Leader – into salvation because He is “a high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek.” And we understood from last week's description of an
anchor that the forerunner was the person who went out in a boat to tie the
ship to the anchor – so we understand that Jesus has secured our salvation by Himself.
Our salvation is entirely Jesus’ Work and we can be assured of our salvation
because He has tied it to His Gospel which is immovable. Yet, we have not seen
what it means that Jesus is “a high priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek.” I hope that makes us
wonder “who was Melchizedek?” and “what does it mean to be a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek?”
One of the most important general lessons
we need to learn from this morning’s Scripture is that when we reach a portion
of Scripture that is difficult or confusing, we ought not to skip over it. When
we come to a Scripture that doesn't make sense or doesn't seem to fit or
confuses us in some way, we ought to ask questions that help us clarify it.
There may be times when we can't reach a conclusion – at least not immediately
– but if there is a Scripture that you don't understand, you ought to go back
to it and go back to it and go back to it until you have some understanding of
it – until it makes sense within the whole context of the Scripture. (We ought to also ask each other what we
understand, and we ought to look to good Christian writers throughout the ages
to see what their understanding of difficult passages has been.)
Something else we ought to understand
from this morning’s Scripture – and this is not the first time this was true
for me in the book of Hebrews – as we continue to study the Word of God and
understand it better, our understanding of the text might change. Some of you will remember that I wrote about
Melchizedek in our newsletter a couple of years ago and I said something very
different in that newsletter than what I am going to say this morning – and I
hope you will understand why.
We need to keep in mind that the
author of Hebrews was addressing a group of people who were questioning whether
Jesus is the Savior or not. They had confessed their faith in Him, but they had
begun to doubt under persecution. They had begun to wonder if they should
return to the sacrificial system. At this point in the letter of Hebrews, the
author addresses his main point: Jesus is greater than Levi – Jesus is greater
than the approved priesthood of the Old Testament. And the author of Hebrews is
going to take some time explaining why this is true – and if it is true that
Jesus is greater than Levi, then it is ridiculous to return to the Old
Testament sacrifices because they are something inferior to the Work of Jesus.
We have heard our Scripture read
this morning, and we do well to look at the one other Scripture that tells us
something about Melchizedek as we try to understand who he was. (There is one psalm that mentions him as
well, but it does not add any historical information.) Almost everything we
know about Melchizedek comes from the history recorded in Genesis about his
meeting with Abram:
“In the days of Amraphel king of
Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of
Goiim, these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah,
Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is,
Zoar). And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt
Sea). Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year
they rebelled. In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with
him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the
Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far
as El-paran on the border of the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to
En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites,
and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon-tamar.
“Then the king of Sodom, the king of
Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that
is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim with
Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and
Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. Now the Valley of Siddim was
full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell
into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. So the enemy took all the
possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their
way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom,
and his possessions, and went their way.
“Then one who had escaped came and
told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother
of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his
kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his
house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his
forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and
pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the
possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and
the women and the people.
“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). And Melchizedek
king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And
he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of
heaven and earth; and blessed be God
Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’
“And Abram gave him a tenth of
everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give me the persons, but take
the goods for yourself.’ But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have lifted my
hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would
not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should
say, “I have made Abram rich.” I will take nothing but what the young men have
eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre
take their share’” (Genesis 14, ESV).
God had called Abram out of the land
of Ur and promised to make a great people from him – one whose seed would bless
all the nations. God told Abram to leave and to travel to Canaan and to take
the land that God would give him.
Initially, Abram and his nephew, Lot, travel together.
The time came when their flocks had
grown so large that they needed to divide and separate in order to keep the
flocks alive. Abram gave Lot the choice, and he chose to live in Sodom and to
raise his flocks there.
The
time came when a group of kings created an alliance and attacked Sodom, and the
king of Sodom formed an alliance of kings to fight alongside of him, but the
king of Sodom and his forces lost, and Lot and his family and his possessions
were taken into captivity.
One
member of Lot’s household escaped and ran to tell Abram. Abram gathered 318 of
his soldiers together and set out against the kings. He chased them as far as
the north of Damascus, and there he slaughtered them, and saved his nephew, his
family, and his possessions.
When
Abram returned, the king of Sodom went to meet him and also the king of Salem,
Melchizedek, came to meet him – and Melchizedek offered him bread and wine. And
the text tells us that Melchizedek was the high priest to El Shaddai – to God Most
High. Abram received the bread and wine from Melchizedek, and Melchizedek
blessed Abram in the Name of God Most High, and Abram offered Melchizedek 10%
of everything that he won in his battle against the kings.
The
history ends with the king of Sodom saying that he would not take anything from
Abram, but Abram refused and said that those who helped fight in the war would
each receive their share because he would not let it be said that the king of
Sodom made him rich.
All
clear now, isn't it?
Here our text again: “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest
of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and
blessed him, 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. 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.”
We have a king who lived during the
time of Abram. He is mentioned once in history and never again. He offered
bread and wine to Abram and blessed him, and he accepted the offering of the
tithe. The name, “Melchizedek,” means “the king of righteousness.” His title
was “the king of Salem,” which means “the king of peace.” And we are told that
he had no parents, no children, no beginning and no end, but he was like the
Son of God and his priesthood continues forever. Who is Melchizedek?
If you look at the discussions over
the centuries, there are many candidates: it has been argued that Melchizedek
is an incarnation of the Holy Spirit, Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Rahab,
a pre-incarnate visitation of Jesus, the Son of God, or the true earthly father
of Jesus. There are really only two possibilities that hold water: a
pre-incarnate visitation of Jesus, the Son of God, or a man named Melchizedek,
who was king of Salem.
There are in theology two concepts –
one called a theophany and another called a Christophany. A theophany is an
appearing of God, in a visible way other than the Incarnation of the Son of God
– an example of this could be the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on Jesus
at His Baptism. A Christophany is a pre-incarnate visible appearing of the Son
of God before the Incarnation – some people have argued that Melchizedek was a
Christophany – that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate visible appearing of the Son
of God before the Incarnation – that is what I had argued in the newsletter –
after all, we have someone who is called the king of righteousness and peace,
the text tells us he has no forerunners and no descendants, he gave bread and
wine and receive the tithe. That certainly sounds like someone who is more than
human – and the symbols are very much of God.
However, I am now convinced that
that is a mistaken opinion – Melchizedek was not a Christophany – Melchizedek
was not a pre-incarnate visible appearing of the Son of God before the Incarnation.
As I read through commentaries on this passage this week and studied the text,
one argument above all others, has driven me to the other major conclusion
about who Melchizedek was – that he was a man named Melchizedek, the king of
Salem – that reason is God requires a priest to be human. If Melchizedek was
Christophany, then he could not have been the priest of God Most High, because
he would not have been human. If Melchizedek was the priest of God Most High,
then he must have been human and could not have been God.
Other
points to notice in the text that indicate that Melchizedek was a human is that
there is absolutely nothing that specifically states that he is divine. Also,
the text does say that Melchizedek “resembled” the Son of God – he was “like”
the Son of God – it does not say he “was” the Son of God.
So
how do we understand Melchizedek and what is said about him?
Melchizedek's
name means “the king of righteousness.”
“Righteous” does not mean holy – even if we take Melchizedek's name to
be an actual description of who he was, we have examples of other people in the
Bible who are called righteous relative to the general community. For example,
Noah is said to be righteous (Genesis 6:9), yet we are told, “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one;’” (Romans
3:10, ESV). So we can understand
Melchizedek to be righteous in the sense of compared with the rest of the
people around him.
He
is also the king of Salem – that is, the king of peace. Again, this could be
symbolic of how well he followed God in comparison with the other people of his
age. It may also simply be the name of the city. The city of Salem is what
became, “Jerusalem.”
Perhaps
most difficult is how to understand his having no mother or father or children.
This can be understood when we look at the genealogies throughout the Bible.
Almost always, when we have a major figure appearing in the Scripture something
is said it least about their parents – nothing is said about Melchizedek. That
does not necessarily mean that Melchizedek did not have parents or children –
what it means is that we have this odd circumstance where no genealogy – no
parents – are listed. So he is effectively – as far as the history is concerned
– without parents and children.
And
then we are told that he resembles or he is like the Son of God – he continues
a priest forever. Three things we need to consider here are: First, Melchizedek was priest to God Most High
before Israel existed – before the Jews existed – before the Sacrificial Law
was given. Second, since the Sacrificial Law had not been given and there was
no family line of priests – because after Aaron all of the priests came from
the same family – we need to understand Melchizedek as having been called to be
priest by God. And third, after the Sacrificial
Law was given, the priest served a term, and the high priest served until his
death, but before the law, God called a priest forever – there were no
boundaries set on his time of service.
All
of this is not to say that Melchizedek did not foreshadow Jesus – that he was
not a type of Jesus – that he did not exemplify in mere human terms what the
Savior was to be. Melchizedek certainly was a foreshadowing of the Savior that
God would send – (interestingly, Melchizedek was called from the Gentiles,
because there were no Jews yet).
In
fact, we find nine ways that Melchizedek foreshadowed Jesus – nine points at
which we find parallel between Melchizedek and Jesus – although in Jesus we see
the perfection in the highest degree of these attributes.
First,
as we have seen, Melchizedek is the king of righteousness and the king of
peace. In Jesus we find the fulfillment of righteousness and peace. As Isaiah
prophesied, “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” (Isaiah 9:6, ESV).
Melchizedek lived a life striving toward righteousness, presiding over
the City of Peace, but Jesus is Himself Holy, Holy, Holy – making His people
righteous – and giving a peace which passes all understanding (Philippians
4:7).
Second,
Melchizedek was called by God to be the priest of the Most High God – El
Shaddai. Melchizedek received offerings and offered up sacrifices to God on
behalf of the people. But Jesus is the Perfect
High Priest – a priest who did not have to offer up a sacrifice for His own
sin, because He is sinless – but presided at the offering up of His Very Self
that He might pay the debt for all of the sins of all of His people and credit
each one of those with His Righteous and Holy Life – having kept all of the
Commandments of God perfectly. As Jesus
said, “For
this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it
up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have
authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge
I have received from my Father” (John 10:17-18, ESV).
Third,
Melchizedek blessed Abram – Melchizedek blessed the people of God Most High. To
an even greater degree, Jesus blesses His people – not only in this life, but
ultimately in the life to come. As Jesus promised He would say on the Day of
Judgment, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34b, ESV). All those who
believe in the Savior that God Most High has sent will be blessed by Him in
this life and eternally.
Fourth,
Melchizedek received homage from the people of God Most High – Abram paid him
the tithe, since Melchizedek was the priest of God Most High, Abram worshiped
God Most High by giving 10% of everything that he had received, as an offering
to God through His servant Melchizedek. Similarly, God receives homage from us
as we give thanks to Him by giving our tithes. We show that we have faith and
hope only because of Jesus and the Work that He is done, as we give back 10% of
our gross income, and then more, as God makes us joyful to do so and we
recognize that nothing we have is our own.
Fifth,
Melchizedek is said not to have parents, and we have the miraculous history of
the Incarnation – of a virgin woman becoming with child by the Workings of the
Holy Spirit – which is the greater mystery? Are we not amazed even in September
that God became man through a human being without the normal course of events?
Sixth,
Melchizedek is said to be without genealogy. We have no record of any sons of
Melchizedek entering the priesthood – and we know that the day came when God
appointed only the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi to be the priests of God
Most High. Jesus also left no children after His time on earth – despite what
movies like “The da Vinci Code,” and other such nonsense might try the report –
there is not one piece of responsibly received evidence to back up theories of
Jesus' marriage and rearing children. And yet we have this promise from God
that we are the sons and daughters of God – brothers and sisters of Jesus – “I
will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. Therefore go
out from the[] midst [of idolaters], and be separate from them, says the Lord, and
touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty” (2
Corinthians 6:16b-18, ESV).
Seventh,
Melchizedek is said to have no beginning and no end – in so far as his serving
as the high priest of God Most High is concerned. Melchizedek, the human being,
had a beginning and an end, but the high priest of God Most High is without
beginning and without end – the office is eternal. And so when we talk about
Jesus, the Son of God, we understand that the human, Jesus, was born in time
and He was murdered in time, but, being the Son of God, He is and was and will
forever be and holds the office of high priest. In His Divinity, Jesus has held
the office of high priest from before the beginning and forevermore.
Eighth,
Melchizedek was like the Son of God. As high priest, Melchizedek stood between
God and man, and he offered up sacrifices to God from the people that the
people might be right with God again. Melchizedek spoke to God on behalf of the
people and God forgave them through Melchizedek and their sacrifices and their
hope in the One Perfect Sacrifice to come. We have already considered the fact
that Jesus functions as high priest for His people – and that as high priest,
Jesus offered up Himself, the Sacrifice for our sins – and since His Sacrifice
was of a perfect and holy life, and since He was at the same time a real human
being and the Almighty God, He was able to receive the horrifying penalty of
God's Wrath for our sin and then stand up in the grave, alive, and walk out
victorious.
Nine,
Melchizedek was a priest forever – since the office of priesthood was given to
him by God and was not passed down from father to son, he never lost his
office. Jesus, the Son of God, also received His call to be high priest by God
from all eternity, and since this priesthood – the priesthood of Melchizedek –
is not handed down from father to son, but remains with the priest forever, so
it also remains with Jesus forever.
If
the Lord is willing, over the next few weeks, we will look at what it means and
why it is so vitally important that the high priesthood of Jesus is the
priesthood of Melchizedek and that it is a priesthood that endures forever.
Understand for today that Melchizedek foreshadowed Jesus – there were many
things about Melchizedek and his priesthood that showed what Jesus and His
Priesthood would be like. Let us meditate on these things as we continue to
consider this chapter of the book of Hebrews and the importance of Jesus being
high priest.
In
a moment, we will be communing with Jesus – remembering the high priestly and
sacrificial work that He did. We will receive the elements of the bread and the
cup, and we will remember that God did come to earth, live a perfect life, and
was put to death on the cross for the sins of everyone who would ever believe.
But He rose from the dead in that same body, and ascended back to His throne
and one day He will return – the clouds will part, and Jesus will return to
earth just as those men saw Him leave 2000 years ago. Yet we are not without
access to Him now: as we receive the bread and the cup, Jesus communes with us
in this very moment – He ministers to us – He gives us the grace that we need,
and for that we ought to be grateful.
Let
us pray:
Almighty God and Father,
we thank You for the example of Melchizedek – a man who believed in You and
lived according to Your Law – far above the people of his age. We thank You
that we can understand something of the High Priestly Ministry of Jesus through
the foreshadowing of Melchizedek. We ask that the Holy Spirit would help us to
continue to understand and to apply these ideas,, and we ask now that Jesus
would meet with us in the elements that we would see the Gospel through them,
and that we would be enabled by Jesus, Himself, to do what You have put before
us. Lord, make us thankful. In Jesus’ Name,
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