He first showed up in Genesis chapter 14. There had been a war between the king of Sodom (where Lot had chosen to live) and his alliance, and a stronger four king alliance. The stronger alliance, of course, won, and carried the people and goods of Sodom away. Abraham (then called Abram), would not have been concerned except for the fact that they had taken captive his nephew, Lot, and his family. He organized the men of his own household along with some men from Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Long story short, they conquered the stronger alliance of kings and got all the people and goods back.
All of a sudden, this guy shows up by the name of Melchizedek, who was a priest of God. Now, bear in mind, this was a few hundred years before God ever set up the priesthood in Israel under Moses. Melchizedek is a mysterious fellow because not much is said about him in the Bible. We have this incident in Genesis, a verse in Psalms and a comparison of him and Christ in the New Testament book of Hebrews. The mystery of Melchizedek is in the fact that nothing is said of his genealogy. We are told that he was the king of Salem (which was ancient Jerusalem). He brought bread and wine to the people that had been conquered and to Abram and his crew, as nourishment for them after the battle. We are told in Genesis 14:20 that Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils of war because of his thoughtfulness and generosity.
Next, we read in Psalm 110:4, “The LORD has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’” This was said in reference to David (even though this Psalm does not identify its author, Jesus quoted a part of it in Mathew 22:44, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42, and Luke also quoted it in Acts 2:34, all confirming that David was the author). Jesus further established in these passages that David was talking about the Christ. The deduction is that David was even then comparing Jesus Christ to Melchizedek.
Then, the writer of Hebrews has several things to say regarding the comparison of Jesus Christ to Melchizedek. He quotes Psalm 110:4 in Hebrews 5:6. Hebrews 5:9 says, “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest ‘according to the order of Melchizedek.’” Hebrews 6:20 continues the thought by saying that Jesus became our everlasting High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7 really gets into the matter of Christ and Melchizedek. Take a moment and read this chapter. In a nutshell, the writer of Hebrews is telling us that, symbolically Melchizedek had no genealogy (even though he did, but it is not recorded). The writer is using this omission of information to represent the eternality of Jesus Christ. Jesus was with God from the beginning we are told in scripture. So, neither does He have a genealogy other than coming from God and in that train of thought He is indeed the Son of God.
The comparison further argues that, when Abram gave tithes to Melchizedek, that, because the Levites were in his loins – would come from his seed – that in essence, the priests of Israel who received tithes from the people gave tithes in Abraham when he gave to Melchizedek. Now this isn’t a teaching about tithing as some would assume. The tithe is an Old Testament practice ordained by God for the Jewish people. It was how they were assigned to support the priesthood. What the teaching in Hebrews is really about is to tell us more deeply that Jesus is the real High Priest. All the order of priests in Israeli history, and yet today, was only a type and example of His Priesthood. The difference is that the priests of Israel could only give and present animal and, in some instances, grain sacrifices on behalf of the people.
But Jesus, the true High Priest gave Himself as a sacrifice for all who will come to Him. He did this once for all when He offered up Himself on the cross. Remember that Melchizedek brought bread and wine to Abram and those who had fought with him. On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus passed out the bread, and poured wine into a cup and passed it around. He told them to eat for it was His body, and drink for it was His blood (Luke 22:19-20). He wasn’t saying that the bread was His actual body or that the wine was His actual blood but that it was representative of His body and blood and that by eating and drinking, all disciples, at that time and today, were taking Him to themselves to nourish and give life to their spirits.
This entire teaching is simply to let us know just Who Jesus is, and what He did to give us the option of salvation from eternal destruction and eternal death in hell. He became our High Priest; He became our Mediator, the one who pleads our case and our innocence because our guilt, our death sentence, has been paid for by His own body and blood. He is the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
So, we must make a choice. Will we give ourselves to this Eternal High Priest? Will we accept the free gift of salvation that He offers us by just believing – and believing to the point that we are willing to completely change the direction of our lives from selfishness, greed, and sin and reverse our course to follow Him? That’s who this Guy is. None other than the Savior of the world, my Savior, and yours too, if you will let Him. What will you do with this King of Righteousness, King of Peace?
By Jerry D. Ousley
Jerry D. Ousley is the author of “Soul Challenge”, “Soul Journey”, “Ordeal”, “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional” and his first novel “The Shoe Tree.” Newer books include “Finality” and “Dividing God’s Church.” Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge