Now open your Bibles with me
to Hebrews chapter 7. Just over a few pages from where
Brother Mark read. We're going to talk about this
man named Melchizedek. As I said last week, one of the
most interesting persons in the Bible. Let me just read, I'm
going to read first from Genesis 14. This is where Melchizedek
came on the scene historically. Abraham was returning from a
battle that he had won with his army. Actually, you might find
it strange, but actually in that battle he was defending the king
of Sodom. And of course we know later on
what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. But Abraham defended Sodom because
his nephew Lot lived there and his nephew Lot had been taken
captive by these this confederation of kings, and so he was returning
from that victory, and in Genesis 14 and verse 17, or verse 18,
it says, and Melchizedek. Now it's spelled a little differently
here, but that's because of the Hebrew. But it's the same one
that we're gonna read about in Hebrews 5 and Hebrews 7. It's
Melchizedek. That's not too hard to pronounce,
is it? Melchizedek, it's a beautiful name. You'll see that when we
talk about what it means. In fact, some of you young ladies
and young men, when you get married and have children, if you have
a boy, I would suggest if you want a biblical name, name him
Melchizedek. Why not? Melchizedek. King of Salem, it says in verse
18 of Genesis 14. He brought forth bread and wine.
Now that's, I don't think that's mentioned over here in Hebrews
7, but there's some significance there, but it may be, I don't
remember, but he says, and he was the priest of the Most High
God. He was the priest. And I want
you to understand that in the Old Testament, and especially
during the time of the Old Covenant, when we speak of the Old Covenant,
We're speaking of the time period between Mount Sinai, you know
the story of Moses on Mount Sinai. And it goes all the way up to
the time of Christ and his death on the cross. That's about a
1500 year period. But all through the Old Testament,
even before that, you know, there's a couple thousand years before
that in Genesis. And before we get to Moses in
Exodus. And so up until that time, everything
concerning a right relationship with God centered around the
priesthood. And so when a priest is mentioned,
what's that talking about? It's talking about someone who
represents God to people and people to God. It's a mediator. And of course there were human
priests and they were types, they were pictures. Well, this
Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God. And it says in
verse 19, he blessed Abraham. Melchizedek blessed Abraham and
said, blessed be Abram. This is before Abraham's name
was changed. Blessed be Abram of the Most
High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the
Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And Abraham gave Melchizedek tithes of all. That's worth,
you know, the tithe. it came down to supporting the
priesthood in Israel. And so look at Psalm 110. Psalm
110. Now this is the second mention
in the Old Testament of this man named Melchizedek. And this
is the Psalm of David, where he's talking about the kingdom
of Christ. And he shows that Christ is the
great high priest. Every high priest in the Old
Testament was a picture or a type or a symbol of Christ, Jesus
Christ, the one true great high priest of God's chosen people,
his church. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men. Their denominations, they have
men who are priests. Well, that's wrong. Every believer's
made a priest unto God. And what that means is we have
full access to God through the blood of Christ. Free access,
unlimited. That's what we read about in
Hebrews 4 there. We can worship God. That's what
we're doing this morning. We worship God, we praise God,
we sing our hymns. We live our lives for his glory. We pray to him. because we have
a great high priest, not humanly speaking, and not who went into
a tabernacle on earth, but who passed through into the heavens,
into the very presence of God, Jesus Christ. And so we don't
have human high priest today. We don't have men who are called
priest, and then you've got the priesthood and the clergy and
all that rot. Listen, if you're a believer,
You're made kings and priests unto God. You have the authority
of the king of kings and you have free access into the very
presence of God to pray, to worship, to live unto his glory. And so,
this is what David's talking about, but look at verse four
of Psalm 110. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's the second
time in Melchizedek. And then the rest we find in
the book of Hebrews. Hebrews five, and Hebrews six,
and now Hebrews seven. So the point is that the priest,
the high priest of Israel, the high priest, even Melchizedek
in his office as a high priest, He was ordained of God. See, a high priest, to be a proper
high priest, you had to be appointed of God. You're not appointed
by a conclave. You're not appointed by a board
of deacons. You're appointed by God. God
appointed the Israeli high priest through Aaron, the high priest.
Moses' brother, he was the first high priest under the old covenant.
But apparently this man named Melchizedek had already been
appointed a high priest. We don't know how, from whom,
or how it happened, but he just comes on the scene. And so we
know that if by the testimony of Scripture that he is a true
high priest and not some fake or charlatan, then it has to
be by the testimony of God. Well, can you get any greater
than the testimony of God, say that Christ is a high priest
after the order of Melchizedek? And he's talking about the order
now. What he's showing here is this.
The high priest of Israel under the Old Covenant was temporary,
and it had a beginning and an end, and everything in that Old
Covenant revolved around the priesthood. Even the way they
camped in the wilderness, the tribe of Levi, which included
the high priest and the other priests, they were in the center
of the camp. Then you had tribes north, south,
east, and west. And they all paid tithes to the
priesthood to support the priesthood. Actually, what they were doing
was paying tithes to God because that's what the priesthood was
for. It was to teach them about God and who God is and to point
them to Christ to come, the Messiah to come. And look at Hebrews
7, look at verse 12. Let me show you how important
that priesthood was. He says in verse 12, he says,
for the priesthood being changed. Now how has it changed? Christ
has come. So that earthly priesthood is
over. Christ said it's finished, and he's the great high priest
who passed through into the heavens. So that earthly human priesthood
is over. But now look what he says, how
important it was. For the priesthood being changed, there is made
of necessity a change also of the law. The whole law. That's how important the priesthood
was. So in other words, to be a proper high priest, you had
to be appointed of God, you had to be qualified, You had to have
a proper sacrifice. Remember what the high priest
of Israel brought? They brought the blood of a lamb
from off the altar. And they went into the Holy of
Holies, the holiest of all, one time a year, with that blood,
sprinkled it over the mercy seat. And all that's a picture of redemption
by the blood of Christ, salvation by the blood of Christ. Now how
Melchizedek did that in his day, we don't know. We're not given
all that information. But what information we have
is given right here mainly in Hebrews 7. Now remember what
Mark read there in Hebrews 5. He talked to these Hebrew believers.
And he said, now I wanna talk to you about Melchizedek. But
he says, you're not ready yet. Well something must have happened
between Hebrews 5 and Hebrews 7 because now he begins to talk
about Melchizedek. We don't know exactly what happened,
but I can tell you this. One of the most life-changing
truths in the life of a Jewish believer, especially back then,
was to come to a full realization that that old covenant and its
priesthood was done, finished, abolished, over. And I believe
that's what the writer of Hebrews is talking about. Back there
he says, I have a lot of things to say about Melchizedek, but
you're not ready yet. And so he goes through, going
back to the very rudiments of the gospel. Let's go back to
the very ABCs now, and let me show you what's happened here.
Salvation by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our
one and only great high priest, and you're to repent of dead
works? You who thought that your participation
in that old covenant was your recommendation unto God, you're
to repent of that? Now let's get that settled and
let's go on and let me prove to you how that old covenant
priesthood is over. He said, I'm gonna take it back
even further. Christ is a high priest after a different order.
And it's typified in a man named Melchizedek. So what about this
Melchizedek? Well, look over at Hebrews 7.
Who in the world is Melchizedek? Well, look at verse one. For
this Melchizedek, king of Salem. What is Salem? Well, the word
Salem basically means peace. It basically means peace. Some
scholars believe that this Salem was what was a city or a kingdom
that what was later to become Jerusalem, you know, the very
end of Jerusalem. And that's what it means, city
of peace. Well, if that's true, then this Melchizedek was a king
and a priest, and he sat on an earthly throne. And so, We don't know that that's
true. It may just be a title given
to him to set forth a truth, and we'll see that in a minute.
He's the priest of the Most High God. He met Abraham, returning
from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him. So Melchizedek
was a king priest. Now in that, he typifies Christ,
because who is Jesus Christ? He is the King of Kings. He's
the Lord of Lords. Or as Paul wrote in Timothy,
he's the potentate of potentates. What does that mean? It means
he's the most powerful. He's all powerful. But he's also
the high priest of his people, and he's the only high priest.
Understand that now. Talked about that last week.
We don't have a human high priest who's our bridge to God. Christ
is our only bridge to God. There's no saint who is our mediator. Mary is not our mediator. Christ
is our mediator. And it's blasphemy to say that
anyone else is. And so he blessed Abraham. And
this meeting of Abraham with Melchizedek moved David by the
power of the Spirit in Psalm 110 to write a song of a greater
Melchizedek And we're told here that David had in mind the Lord
Jesus Christ. When David wrote that Psalm 110,
he was talking about Christ. That's who he was pointing to. But look at verse two. It says,
to whom also Abraham gave a 10th part of all. Now we read that
in Genesis 14. Abraham gave tithes to support the priesthood. Now
it tells us what Melchizedek's name means. First, being by interpretation,
King of Righteousness. Melchi, that's King. Sedeq, Melchizedek,
that's Righteousness or Justice. What a beautiful name. King of
Righteousness. And after that also, King of
Salem, which means King of Peace. Now, who is this Melchizedek? Have you ever heard the term
Theophany or Christophany? What that is,
theologians use that term to describe a visitation on earth
by God or by Christ to his people on earth before Christ became
incarnate, before he was actually united to his humanity and walk
this earth. And you do have several of those.
For example, remember the three angels, the three messengers
that came to Abraham, and Abraham was trying to intercede for Sodom.
One of them was a theophany, a Christophany. One of them was
Christ, the true messenger of God. You also have one that probably
you're more familiar with is the fiery furnace, Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego. Remember they got into the furnace
and they opened it up and they saw a fourth man there. That
was Christ, that was a theophany, a Christophany. He appeared in
the Old Testament. I believe when Jacob wrestled
with the messenger, the angel, that's what messenger, angel
means. It was Christ. So you have pre-incarnate visitations. Well, there are some people who
believe that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate visitation of
Christ. And then some who contend, well,
no, he was just a type of Christ. He was an actual human being
who sat on an earthly throne, and he was a type of Christ.
Now, if Salem is referring to that place that became Jerusalem,
and it was an actual earthly throne, then I can tell you right
now, he wasn't a pre-incarnate visitation of Christ, he was
just a type of Christ, because Christ never sat on an earthly
throne. Did you know that? He's the king
of kings. Think about that. What a contradiction. Christ was the king of kings
and he never sat on an earthly throne and never will. His throne is in the glory of
heaven over all things. So you can think about that.
But some say the fact that Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek here
in verse two, indicates that Abraham worshipped him, but that's
no indication. The Hebrew, the Israelites gave
tithes to Levi. They're not worshipping Levi.
They worshipped God. And when people give tithes and
offerings, you're not to be worshipping the church or the pastor, you're
to be worshipping God. That's for the ministry, that's
for the glory of God. And if so, If Abraham was worshiping
him, he certainly was a Christophany because we're not to worship
anyone or anything. But God in the person of Christ
and based upon the merits of his righteousness imputed. Well, Melchizedek was king of
righteousness. What a picture, what a lesson
here. Who is Jesus Christ? Turn to
Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. I love this
passage This is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ And listen
to how it's put this right, you know in these two verses you
have the basics of the gospel message. Did you know that? The
very basics it tells us who Christ is and Tells us what he did,
what he accomplished, why he did it, and where he is now.
And he did it for a sinful people. His people, God's chosen people. And it says in verse 5 of Jeremiah
23, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch. Now, that's speaking of Christ's
humanity. Because he was made of the seed
of David according to the flesh. Now right away you notice something
that's different about that Old Covenant priesthood. The Old
Covenant priest came from Aaron and the tribe of Levi. And nobody
was qualified to be a priest under the Old Covenant unless
they had that pedigree. But Christ didn't come from the
tribe of Levi according to his humanity. He came from the tribe
of Judah. the royal tribe, the kingly tribe.
So he had, listen, think about this. That human priesthood under
the old covenant, which represented and symbolized and typified the
Lord Jesus Christ in his priesthood, he had no right to be a priest
under that old covenant. Now what does that tell you?
Why is that significant? Well, the law came by Moses. But grace and truth comes by
Jesus Christ. You're not gonna be saved by
the law. Your law keeping will not save you. First of all, you
don't keep the law. Neither do I. Because the law
says, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. Anybody
that you know who's trying to be saved by their works, here's
what you tell them. You've got it all to do. And
you must do it perfectly. And you're already behind the
eight ball, aren't you? You start out in the negative.
We fell in Adam. Ruined by the fall. We're born
spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. And no matter how new
and improved we try to get ourselves, no matter how many self-help,
self-improvement books we read, we can get no closer to the righteousness
that God requires. That's right, we can get no closer.
Salvation is not by works. The only way that we as sinners
are going to be righteous in God's sight is through the King
of righteousness. His righteousness being laid
to our charge. Finding the perfection of the
law can only be found in Christ. He kept it perfectly. And that's
who it's talking about here, a righteous branch. That's the
offshoot. And he says in verse five, a
king shall reign and prosper. He's not gonna fail. Christ didn't
fail to save the ones for whom he died. He shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth. Now how did he do that? He went
to the cross having the sins of his people charged to him. That's right. And he died, he
suffered unto death and drank their damnation dry. Drank the
cup of the wrath of God. That's what that lamb the high
priest brought into the holiest of all. That blood of the lamb,
the lamb had to die. The blood had to be sprinkled.
That's what it represents, the blood of the lamb of God on that
cross, suffering unto death, not for his own sins, but for
the sins of his people. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. the chastisement of our peace.
In other words, the punishment that it took to bring about peace
between me and God was upon him. And so it says in verse six,
listen, of Jeremiah 20, in his days Judah shall be saved and
Israel shall dwell safely. Judah, you know what Judah means,
that means praise. Who did he come to save? People
who are gonna end up praising God. And what does Israel mean,
as I told you earlier? It means those who have prevailed
with God. Now you ask yourself this question, how can I, a sinner,
prevail with God? There's not but one way, and
that's to plead the merits of his son. And he says, and this
is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Melchizedek, the king of righteousness. Christ is the Lord our righteousness.
And then back here in Hebrews 7 too, it says he's the King
of Salem, which is peace. Christ is the Prince of Peace.
Scripture says in Romans 5 and verse 1, having made peace with
God, having redeemed is having been justified before God. We
have peace through faith, we have peace with God. Peace was
brought about between God and his people by the blood of the
cross. So this Melchizedek typifies
Christ. And his name, his very name,
his very position is a revelation of gospel truth. There's no peace
between God and sinners if the principles of righteousness are
not met and full. There's no grace from God without
righteousness. Romans 5.21, as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You can't come, what
was the priest given for? Christ is in his priestly office. He was given to bring us to God. He can't bring us to God until
justice is satisfied. That's what Melchizedek's name
teaches about the Messiah. Back over in Genesis 14, 18,
it says he brought forth bread and wine. I don't believe that
they were taking the Lord's Supper back then, but those elements
certainly bring to mind, for us, the Lord's Supper, don't
they? Christ, the bread of life, the wine, which is the joy, the
blood of Christ, and the joy of the Spirit. That points to
another covenant. The priesthood of Melchizedek,
because of what is said about him, speaks of the spiritual
and eternal priesthood of Christ, which far exceeds that old covenant
human priesthood. And he's going to go into detail
in these verses on that. Those priests, they were men
who had to go in the holiest of all with blood, not just for
the sins of the people, but for their own sins. They were sinful
men. And that priesthood changed.
One, Aaron died, then somebody had to take his place. His son
died, his grandson died, and on down through the 1500 year
period, it kept changing hands because it was a human priesthood,
it was limited, but not Christ. Look over at verse 24 of Hebrews
7. It says in Hebrews 7 verse 24,
but this man, this person, Talking about Christ. Because he continueth
ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. Now let me tell you something
why that's significant. That's what you and I need. We don't
need a changeable priesthood, we need an unchangeable, we need
an everlasting, eternal high priest. To save us eternally. So this speaks of the spiritual
and eternal priesthood of Christ. He gave himself a ransom for
many. He was and is the only representative
of God's chosen people. He is our surety. He paid my
debt in full. He was and is the perfect sacrifice,
the lamb who bore our iniquities to the cross and satisfied the
justice of God and secured the eternal salvation of all whom
he represented. He was and is our mercy seat
upon which the blood was sprinkled. The blood means His death in
our place. He was our substitute, our redeemer. The blood means justice satisfied. The blood means redemption accomplished. The blood of Christ, not the
blood of animals. The blood of bulls and goats could never accomplish
this. The blood means righteousness
established. The blood means that God cannot
charge me with my sin. Think about that. Am I a sinner? Yes. But God says He will remember
my sins no more. What does that mean? Does that
mean God changes in His mind and forgets them? No. Does that
mean they don't exist? No. It means God will not hold
them against me in the court of His justice. That's what it means. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. I see all that in that one name,
Melchizedek. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. That's the basis. Yea, rather,
He's risen again. What does His resurrection mean?
It means He's the King of righteousness. It means peace is established.
It means His blood got the job done. It means sin's forgiven. It means peace and salvation
secured for all for whom He died and arose again. That's what his eternal priesthood.