Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters as we continue our Trinitarian Commentary in the book of Hebrews. Before doing that however, I of course wish to thank everyone who is continuing to pray for me. It is an ongoing quest for truth and finding out, as I go along, that there’s more than just right arguments that really matter and I believe this experience is being used to help shape me into the man God desires me to be. Tonight, however, to get to the text, we will be looking at the first three verses of Hebrews 7:
1This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” 3Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
We’ve been bouncing around the idea of how Melchizedek is a type of Christ and tonight, we’re going to really look into that. In the historical narrative, Melchizedek is a strange figure who shows up in Genesis 14 after Abraham defeats some evil kings to free his nephew Lot. Melchizedek comes to Abraham as a priest of God Most High.
Abraham gives Melchizedek a tithe, indicating that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham was. Also, Melchizedek was the one who was bestowing the blessing on Abraham, once again indicating that Abraham was the lesser as the lesser is always blessed by the greater.
Melchizedek was also the king over Salem and Salem means peace. His name also means he is a king of righteousness. Thus, Melchizedek is both a king of peace (Or maybe we could say a Prince) and he is a king of righteousness. In both of these ways, he is like Christ.
Now it’s important to keep this in mind. Christ is not like Melchizedek. Melchizedek is like Christ. Christ is the prototype. Melchizedek is the one meant to point us to Christ. In what ways then is Melchizedek like Christ the savior?
First, he shows up in the narrative and there’s no record of his ancestry. Who are his parents? We do not know, something very rare in a culture where you were identified by your parents and whose family you were. However, we do not see this for Melchizedek.
In the same way, Jesus in his nature does not have mother and father in the biological sense. He has always been. He is begotten of the Father, yes, but again, it is not in a biological sense. In essence, his existence is not explained through natural means.
As for genealogy, Melchizedek has none. Jesus also doesn’t in his deity.He has always been meaning you cannot say that there was a line of deities through which Jesus came, as you could in say a system such as the Mormon system where God was once a man and became God.
Instead, Melchizedek is said to be without beginning of days or end of life. He is a priest forever. The same is said of Jesus. Jesus did not have beginning of days nor does he have end of life. Once again, keep in mind that Melchizedek is like the Son of God. The writer wants that to be shown for Jesus is greater than Melchizedek and is a greater mediator.
We shall continue our look in Hebrews tomorrow.
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