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CHAPTER
20
CHAPTER
TWENTY
A
PRIEST IN THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK
The
LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are
a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
(Psalm
110, verse 4).
Melchizedek,
whose name means ‘king of righteousness,’ was the king
of Salem (Jerusalem) back in the days of Abraham. He
was also a priest of Almighty God:
Then
Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.
He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abraham-----
(Genesis
chapter 14, verses 18-19).
Hardly
anything is known of this mysterious figure. In the
New Testament we learn a little more about him, but
not much:
This
Melchizedek was king of Salem 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. First his name means “king of righteousness”;
then also “king of Salem” means “king of peace”. Without
father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning
of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains
a priest for ever.
(Hebrews
chapter 7, verses 1-3).
Because
there was and is no record of Melchizedek’s genealogy,
which is very unusual with significant biblical figures,
it would seem that he appears in Scripture mainly as
a foreshadowing, a representation, of Christ. The idea
of him being eternal is given, which we know is an attribute
of the Son of God; he is the ‘king of righteousness’
and the ‘king of peace’, which Jesus surely is; he was
a priest of God Most High, again so is Jesus; his qualifications
for the priesthood did not come from the lawful genealogical
line of priests (Aaron, his sons, and the tribe of Levi).
Melchizedek was before Moses, but there was still no
priestly line to or from him, and neither was Jesus
from such a line, He was of the tribe of Judah. Melchizedek
was simply called to the priesthood by God’s specific
call, as was Jesus. The continual sacrifices by the
High Priests did not come until the time of the Mosaic
Law, so Melchizedek did not offer continual sacrifices
for the sins of the people, and neither did the High
Priest Jesus who offered Himself as the one and final
sacrifice. Jesus became our ultimate High Priest, who,
because of His eternal life, is always able to intercede
with God for us; and His own perfect sacrifice ended
forever the poor shadow of the need for continual animal
sacrifices; the blood of animals could never take away
sin---the blood of Jesus the High Priest could wash
the foulest clean.
And
Jesus is still our High Priest. We come to God through
Him alone. There is no other mediator between God and
man:
For
there is one God and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for
all men-----
(1
Timothy chapter 2, verses 5-6).
Our
great High Priest took on flesh, He became man, that
we might see, know and understand the Father. Our great
High Priest took on frail flesh and took that flesh
to the agony of the cross, that we might know the love
of God. Our glorious High priest took on a body of frail
flesh and bled that body on the cruel cross, that by
His shed blood sinners could be saved. Our magnificent
High Priest suffered all because we are filthy with
sin and haters of God; He did it that we might look
upon His outstretched arms, His viciously wounded body,
and that we might say, as did the Roman centurion at
the foot of the cross, ‘Surely this man was the Son
of God!’ And He did it that we might mourn over our
sin and beg God’s forgiveness. And He did it that His
Father could justly forgive all who truly repent and
believe on this great High Priest.
‘But,
wait a minute! You say I am black with sin and hate
God. Isn’t that a bit strong? Just because I don’t believe,
doesn’t mean I hate God.’
Unbelief
is a choice; we choose to love sin, and to hate righteousness;
to love ourselves, and to hate God. Or, we choose to
hate sin, and to love righteousness; to hate ourselves
(our sinful hearts), and to love God. What makes it
difficult, is that when we do love sin, it has a way
of blinding us to our true state, and we play along
with it in order to make ourselves feel more comfortable.
It becomes a vicious circle, and we get to the point
where we are proud of our unbelief---even to the point
where we might mock and revile those who do believe.
------concerning
the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God
before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.
(Psalm
36, verses 1-2).
Our
mouths can utter all kinds of seeming sincerities and
apologetics, but if we love our sins and are content
with our unbelief, then God is not fooled---He knows
we hate Him.
Dear
reader, have you been to the foot of the cross of Jesus?
Are you sitting on an aeroplane, a train, or a ship?
Are you in your living-room, bedroom or bed-sit? Are
you in a hotel or a hospital? Are you in prison? Wherever
you might be, Jesus is as near as breath itself, and
He stands with open arms and nail-torn hands, and He
says, ‘Come to Me, and you will find rest for your soul.’
Maybe
you feel you’re not fit to come, maybe you’ve made a
terrible mess of your life, maybe you’ve wrecked yourself,
your family, or others, through violent behaviour, through
drug-taking, through any type of sinful, selfish action,
and maybe you’ve done so for years and years. Maybe
you think a holy God would never have anything to do
with you, that you are just too filthy and disgusting
in His sight. Don’t you realise, you might be closer
to God than one who is so satisfied with his life that
he feels he is good enough not to need a Saviour? You
might be closer to God than one who doesn’t even recognise
he is a sinner. Don’t you realise the cleansing power
of the blood which ran out of the wounds of the Son
of God? Ten thousand lifetimes of committing the
worst sins you can imagine cannot stand against the
cleansing power of one drop of Christ’s blood. It is
the cure of all sin; but you must take the cure---a
broken and repentant heart towards God begins the cleansing
-----a
broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
(Psalm
51, verse 17).
If,
by God’s grace, you feel the need of a Saviour Jesus,
you can come to the foot of the cross of Christ right
now. Confess you are a sinner; ask God’s forgiveness;
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes,
it is so simple. It can be so easy for us---but it was
so hard for our Saviour.
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