A Study of Melchizedek
Hello everyone! Who is the most mysterious character in the Bible? It might be this man who shows up near the beginning of Scripture; then in the very middle; and then near the end. His name is Melchizedek, and I want to talk about him today as a sidebar to our series of studies into the book of Zechariah.
Let’s begin in Zechariah 6, which is near the end of the Old Testament.
After the Babylonian captivity, a large number of Jews returned to the land of Abraham to try to repopulate Judah, restore the city of Jerusalem, and rebuild the temple. The most important spiritual leader of the time was with them. His name was Joshua, and he was the High Priest of Israel.
Let me read this passage from the Living Bible, which puts it so simply, starting at Zechariah 6, verse 10:
“Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah will bring gifts of silver and gold from the Jews exiled in Babylon. The same day they arrive, meet them at the home of Josiah (son of Zephaniah), where they will stay. Accept their gifts and make from them a crown from the silver and gold. Then put the crown on the head of Joshua (son of Josedech) the High Priest. Tell him that the Lord Almighty says, ‘You represent the Man who will come, whose name is “The Branch”—he will grow up from himself—and will build the Temple of the Lord. 13 To him belongs the royal title. He will rule both as King and as Priest, with perfect harmony between the two!’
In the history of Israel, the priesthood and the kingship were separate branches of national life. Both King Saul and King Uzziah were punished by God when they tried to usurp the office of priest. Keeping these two offices separate was an important system of checks and balances in the theocracy of Israel. But this paragraph in Zechariah 6 is a symbolic prophecy about the coming Messiah—the one whom Isaiah and Jeremiah called the Branch—who would combine both offices in Himself.
So this is a messianic prediction that Jesus would be both priest and king. He would combine both offices in Himself and there would be harmony between the two.
I can’t leave this teaching without my thoughts running to the only other person in the Bible who was both priest and king, and who was certainly a forerunner and prototype of Christ. Melchizedek is the most mysterious character in the Bible. So let’s see how his story harmonizes with what we’ve read in Zechariah 6.
Genesis 14
Let’s begin with the book of Genesis and look at a story that takes place in chapter 14. In this chapter, the great patriarch Abraham puts together something very similar to a commando unit to rescue his nephew Lot, who had been kidnapped by some area warlords. Let’s begin reading with Genesis 14:14:
When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as (the city of) Dan. During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
After Abraham returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
Then Melchizedek, king of Salam brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying: Blessed be Abraham by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.
Then Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.
From this passage we can pull out several facts.
1. This mysterious man whom Abraham met as he returned from his commando raid was named Melchizedek. That name has a very significant meaning in the Hebrew language. It means King of Righteousness. In other words, if you wanted to say the words “King of Righteousness” in the Hebrew language, it would be the word Melchizedek.
2. He is also referred to as King of Salam. The word “Salam” is related to the Hebrew word “shalom,” which means peace. So he is not only king of righteousness, but he is king of peace.
3. The name “Salam” was the name of the city over which this man was king, and this was the city that later was called Jerusalem. Notice the word: Jeru – Salem, which literally means “City of Salem.” This is the first time that Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible.
4. This man was not only a king, but he was a priest. Like the symbol in Zechariah 6, Melchizedek occupied a dual role—both priest and king.
5. Melchizedek met Abraham and served him with the two elements that we now identify with what we call the Lord’s Supper—bread and wine, which speak of the atoning death of our Lord Jesus.
6. Melchizedek bestowed a blessing on Abraham.
7. Abraham offered a tenth of all his plunder to Melchizedek, which is the first reference to tithing in the Bible. Abraham rendered tithes to this King-Priest.
Psalm 110
Now, armed with those seven observations, let’s turn to the middle of the Bible, to Psalm 110, which is the next time we see the name Melchizedek in the Bible. This is a Messianic psalm, one that is frequently quoted in the New Testament as being fulfilled in Christ.
The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Lord will extend Your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” Your troops will be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, Your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
As I said, this is a Messianic Psalm, a predictive Psalm, talking about the coming Messiah. We’re told that God the Father will say to God the Son, “I will make your enemies a footstool for Your feet; You will rule from Zion; You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
Hebrews 7
Now let’s turn to Hebrews 7 near the end of the Bible, which was written over a thousand years after the passages in Genesis and Psalms. The writer ends chapter 6 by telling us that Jesus Christ has become our great high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Now he is going to go on to explain what he means. Let’s begin reading with Hebrews 7:1 and I’ll annotate it along the way:
This Melchizedek was king of Salam and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.
Now he is going to explain some of the same things I explained to you from Genesis 14.
First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salam” means “king of peace.”
Now look at what the writer of Hebrews says in verse 3:
Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
This does not necessarily mean that Melchizedek had no father or mother or genealogy or beginning of days or end of life. It means that the writer of Genesis didn’t give us any genealogical listing for him. He’s a mystery in the Bible. Genesis is a book of genealogies and we often come to lists of names in various family trees. But not with this man. We don’t know where he came from or what happened to him. He is a mystery, but in all these ways he resembles the Son of God.
Let’s read on with verse 4:
Just think of how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!
Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham. This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater.
This man was greater than Abraham; he blessed Abraham.
In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.
In other words, Abraham represented the entire Jewish people. All of Judaism was in his body, in his loins as the older translations put it. This is the man honored by Abraham, who was representing all the Jewish people yet to be born.
Now he goes on to say in verse 11:
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
This would have been a very important point to the Jewish Christians to whom the book of Hebrews was originally addressed. The writer here is devoting chapter after chapter to Christ being our great High Priest, but that presents a serious problem. According to the Old Testament, the high priesthood belonged to the descendants of Aaron, who was the first high priest and who was of the tribe of Levi. Jesus Christ wasn’t a descendent of Aaron and He wasn’t a Levite. He had come from the line and the tribe of Judah.
But the writer of Hebrews is saying here: That is not a problem. Jesus is not our high priest after the order of Aaron and the Levites. He is our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He belongs to a different line of priests. In fact, there are only two people in this entire line – Melchizedek and Jesus Christ.
Someone might say. “Well, that’s a clever argument you invented. That’s a fine way of twisting things around.” But, no, it’s not just a clever invention of the writer of the book of Hebrews. This is what the Psalmist prophesied and predicted in Psalm 110. Look at verse 15:
And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
The writer quotes Psalm 110, where God the Father said to God the Son: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet… You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
Now let’s read the last of this chapter, Hebrews 7, beginning with verse 18:
The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we can draw near to God. And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, but He became a priest with an oath when God said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.
Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself. For the laws appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
So, answer this question. Who am I talking about?
In the Bible there is a man who is:
- King of Righteousness;
- King of Peace;
- King of Jerusalem;
- Both King and Priest;
- Priest of God Most High;
- Who receives tithes and tribute;
- Who is mysterious, without beginning of days or end of life;
- Who is a priest on the basis of an indestructible life;
- Who is greater than Abraham;
- Who bestows blessings;
- And who holds in His hands the elements of bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper
You’d be correct if you said Melchizedek; but you’d be even more complete if you said Jesus Christ. Melchizedek was a type or foreshadowing of Christ. Some people believe that Melchizedek was even a pre-incarnation appearance of Christ Himself. But I prefer the wording here in the Bible—that Melchizedek resembled the Son of God as our high priest forever.
So What?
All of that brings us to the “so what” question. Why is this so important? There are three reasons.
First, it’s important to us spiritually. Look at verse 25: Therefore He (Christ) is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He ever lives to intercede for them.
In His role of our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus shed His blood and offered it as a full substitutionary sacrifice for us and for our sins, entering into the Most Holy Place of heaven where He continually represents us before God the Father.
Romans 8:33-34 says: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
First John 2:1 says: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
When you receive Jesus Christ into your life as Savior and Lord, He saves you completely—to the uttermost—and He ever lives to intercede on your behalf, to be your advocate before the greatest Throne in the universe.
Second, it’s important to us emotionally. Look at verse 26: Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
Because our Lord serves as our great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, He fills a void in our lives that only He can fill. He meets a need that only He can meet.
Third, it’s important to us intellectually. This brings us back to the way I began this message. We need a faith system that’s intellectually credible, that is logical and reasonable. Many people have the idea that faith is believing in something despite evidence to the contrary. But genuine faith is believing in something because it is rational and logical and reasonable to do so.
Christian faith is an intellectual decision to trust in the credibility of evidence that God has provided. And one of those is the way in which the Old Testament predicted with indisputable accuracy the coming of Jesus Christ. Melchizedek is only one of literally hundreds of examples in the Old Testament, but the writer of Hebrews uses him as an example. He was King of righteousness, king of peace, king of Jerusalem, both king and priest, a mysterious figure who bestowed blessings, received tithes, and handed the elements of bread and wine. All that we learn in the first book of the Bible. In the book of Psalms we’re told that another person is coming like that. And then in Hebrews we learn the identity of that person—it’s Jesus Christ.
If there were only two or three of these types and prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament, I could explain them away; but there are hundreds of them.
Before he died, Dr. D. James Kennedy of Fort Lauderdale had a conversation with a man who wasn’t a Christian, wasn’t a believer at all. This man thought the Bible was simply a collection of religious documents compiled by human beings, just like any other book. Dr. Kennedy replied, “That’s very interesting. I would like to read some statements to you about someone and have you tell me, assuredly, without question, about whom I am reading.” The man agreed, and Dr. Kennedy began reading to him statements about Jesus Christ. He read him one statement after another, on and on. Then he asked the man, “About whom did I read?”
The man said, “Well, you obviously read of the life and ministry and suffering and death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.”
“Is there any question in your mind about that?”
“No,” said the man, “(the statements you read) could refer to no one else.”
“Well then,” said Dr. Kennedy, “I would want you to understand that all of the Scriptures I just read to you are taken from the Old Testament, which was completed some four hundred years before Jesus was born. No critic, no atheist has ever once claimed that any one of those writings was written after His birth. In fact, they were translated from Hebrew into Greek in Alexandria some 150 years before He was born. If this is merely a book written by men, would you please explain to me how these words were written?”
The man said, “I haven’t the faintest idea.”
If I’m every tempted to doubt the truthfulness of Christianity, there are several strong areas of evidence of which I remind myself, but very high on the list is fulfilled prophecy, especially the Old Testament’s flood of predictions about the coming of Christ, our Melchizedek, who is our great high priest, not based on ancestry but on the power of an indestructible life. King of righteousness. King of peace. Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, he remains a priest forever, and such a high priest truly meets our needs because he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, for He ever lives to make intercession for His people.
And all of that simply implies what we read in Zechariah 6.
Next week we’ll press on to Zechariah 7 and 8, and we’ll increasingly come into a galaxy of prophetic details about the Last Days.