April 27, 2022
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)
Theophany is the word used to describe a meeting between man and God – a physical, natural-world meeting – not ‘spiritual’ meeting. When reading the Old Testament, you’ll come across different verses that make you think of Jesus and a lot of times you’ll be correct.
Such is the case with Melchizedek (variant spelling Melchisedec). Although you’ll not find any resource that will state categorically that Melchizedek IS Jesus, there is a parallel understanding of the two as Jesus is referred to as the Father’s “first-born”. (Hebrews 1:6) The description of Melchizedek alone gives us a hint:
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
Prophet, priest, and King. Jesus.
Words on the Word 