1 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, 2 and 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.
4 Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! 5 Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, their brothers—even though their brothers are descended from Abraham. 6 This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater. 8 In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. 9 One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, 10 because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.
There is a sermon by John MacArthur called Melchizedek: A Type of Christ that goes into detail of the hows and whys this reference to Melchizedek is included in the book of Hebrews. The book is written to the Jews, right? They have priests. There are all kinds of rules about priesthood.
The priests had to be able to trace their genealogy back to Aaron, etc. It was hereditary, and they were priests only to the Jews. Now the Gospel is saying the Messiah is not ONLY for the Jews, but for the Gentiles as well. A Jewish priest cannot be a priest for the Gentiles. So Jesus could not be a priest in the order of Levi or Aaron, or whatever the correct terminology is, because then salvation would still only be for the Jews. There had to be another order, another "type" (as MacArthur puts it) for Jesus to belong to so that he could be the High Priest for ALL the people.
So Jehovah's not really the name of God. It's only that name which Israel came up with in an effort not to say Yahweh, and yet express who they wanted to express. So it's a combination word, Jehovah, and it deals strictly with Israel; and watch this. Aaron's priests were priests of Jehovah.
...but, watch this, it does not say that Melchizedek was the priest of Jehovah. It says he was the priest of what? The Most High God. Now, that is a universal name for God, El Elyon; and it reaches everywhere and everything in heaven and earth. It is the universal name of God that includes Jew and Gentile - far broader than the Jewish term Jehovah.
So whereas Aaron's priesthood related just to Israel, Melchizedek's was broader than that and related to all men. Now, when the Holy Spirit says Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, do you see the significance? The significance is this. Jesus is not just the Messiah of Israel, but of the world; so it is very important to establish Melchizedek's priesthood as universal if you're going to say Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Pretty cool, huh? There is a lot more information and detail in the sermon, if you'd like to read it for yourself. Have a great day.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Hebrews 7:11-17.
5 comments:
Definitely some neat information there! I'm going to go listen/read that sermon now.
Great summary right here...
He presented to us five ways that the priesthood of Melchizedek is better than Aaron's. First, it was a universal priesthood, and you'll remember that Aaron's was national. Secondly, it was a royal priesthood. He was a priest king. Aaron's was subject to kings. Thirdly, it was a righteousness and peace priesthood. Aaron's could not provide either righteousness or peace. Fourth, it was a personal priesthood. It was based on Melchizedek's own character. Aaron's was based on descent and heredity and had nothing to do with character. Fifth, it was an eternal priesthood, and Aarons was definitely limited by time.
So in those five ways, we saw that the priesthood of Melchizedek is a superior priesthood to that of Aaron.
Nice summary! Is that from the same sermon? I didn't read the whole thing carefully.
It's from the next one actually. He often has summaries of the previous sermon in the next one - I always check for that :)
Good to know!
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