Hebrews 5:6a
"As he said also in another place,…"
That’s in Psalms where it says "thou art a priest forever not after the order of Aaron but after the order of (who?) Melchizedek." What a difference that makes!
We pointed this out in our Genesis study. Most people have forgotten it or they’ve never seen it in the first place. Alright, let’s go back to Genesis because if Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a spiritual priesthood having NO beginning and NO end, instead of after the order of Aaron, the priesthood of an external or material realm. Then let’s go back and establish this Melchizedek. Genesis chapter 14, and for a little background remember that Lot had taken up residence near or in Sodom and Gomorrah and some enemy kings had overrun Sodom and took the Sodomites as well as Lot and his family captive. And when Abram got wind of that he raised up his own little private army and pursued them and utterly defeated them and took the spoils. Alright, then verse 17.
Genesis 14:17-18a
"And the king of Sodom (whom of course, Abram had rescued) went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of the Chedorlaomer, (that is the one’s who had overrun Sodom) and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh which is the king’s dale. And Melchizedek (this is the first time he’s mentioned in Scripture) the king of Salem…"
We think most of you know what we’re referring to but in case you don’t. S-A-L-E-M is the last letters of what city? Jerusalem! And Jerusalem in Scripture is the city of what? Peace! And friendly, made ready. It has never yet known peace nor has it yet been made ready but one day it will. One day the Palestinian problem will be completely taken care of. One day the world won’t have to wring their hands over the Middle East. Because when the Prince of Peace comes and the city of Jerusalem becomes His capital then it will finally reach that epitome of the capital of peace. Alright, but it’s been known as the city of peace from day one, as this according to legion is one and the same city as it sits on mount Zion. Though a little later you'll see mount Zion as the spiritual mount of God, the place of the New Jerusalem’s resting. And so this Melchizedek, verse 18 again:
Genesis 14:18a
"And Melchizedek king of Salem (the city of peace, friendly and made ready) brought forth bread and wine:"
Now we covered that when we were in our Genesis tour, you see, bread and wine as such were not sacrifices in Temple worship. Bread and wine were never really introduced into the Scriptures until, Melchizedek and then by Jesus. Who used them as symbols of His body and blood of the what? New Covenant. Then Paul in I Corinthians chapter 11 explains it as what most of us now call the Lord’s Supper. And the Lord’s Supper, as Paul explains it so graphically, had only one purpose. And what was it? A Memorial! That’s what he says "and when you do this in memory." So you see it’s a memorial service and a reminder of Christ’s both the exchange of our nature (Adam-Satan nature for the God-child nature or Newness of Life) through death, burial and resurrection and our part with Him in it and that’s what the bread and the wine signifies. Now the elements as used by Israel those being a roasted leg of lamb, biter herbs, sweet savory fruit and salty water all speak of Christ. Christ as the Lamb of God or son of man in mans humility and shame as the flesh of the lamb, the biter herbs for His grief of sufferings, the salty water for His tears in the garden and the sweet savory for His resurrect and ascension through He would bring many sons to God in His Faith and righteousness. In and by the Spirit of Holiness. The bread spoke of His broken body and the wine speaks of His resurrection in the power of an Endless Life, the Endless Life which His blood contained and so whenever we partake of those two, the bread and the wine, it is simply a means of reminding us of His death, burial and resurrection. And here God is giving a little preview of it way back in the life of Abram. But that’s not the point we want to make. Verse 18, the last part. After he had brought forth the bread and wine, which was indicative of the coming death, burial and resurrection of Israel’s Messiah and suffering King.
Genesis 14:18b
"…and He was the priest of (Yhovah? No it doesn’t say that? But what?) the Most High God."
Melchizedek is a gentile priest of the gentile version of Israel's God who they knew as the Most High God because the pagan gentiles had many gods and goddesses of all kinds. Most of them steaming back from the Tower of Babel (which are in all actuality fallen spirits and angels, but that"s for another time and teaching). Now we have to realize there is only one God in Scripture but there are many names which are actually titles for Him and that confuses people. But you see, we have all these different titles of God to signify a particular role in His being God or as we'll see are His Grace activities. In His attributes. And so for example, when Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac, and God withheld him. What was in the thicket behind him? Well, the ram! Who put it there? God did! And we always emphasize, you see, that ram was a wild ram. Remember Abraham was already three days journey from where he lived, so it was not a household pet like somebody tried to tell us one time. He was three days journey from home, so that ram in the thicket was not the family pet or of his livestock, it was a wild one. But, did Abraham and Isaac have any trouble getting that animal on the altar? None. Why? It was provided and it was docile, and it was a willing sacrifice. They didn’t have to struggle with it and consequently, what did Abraham call the place? Yhovah-yireh which simply meant ‘God provides.’ Alright, so that was a title of Yhovah, Yhovah-yireh – He provides! It was just a distinctive attribute of God's Fatherly nature.
Psalms 23 is probably another one of the easiest ones. In the Hebrew it’s Yhovah-rayah, which simply means, I AM your shepherd. Well, any Hebrew could understand what it was like to be the sheep under the guidance and protection of a shepherd. Well, those are the various names or titles of Yhovah to just simply explain how God would fill all these various needs of the human race. Now back to Melchizedek.
Now, the same way then with this priest Melchizedek. He was a priest of – not Yhovah – but of the Most High God, known as the Ancient of Days. The only way of defining that from Scripture in a real easy way is to turn to Daniel. Turn to Daniel chapter 4 and all the way through, periodically, but in chapter 4 we’ve got a couple that are real easy to pick out. And if you know anything of Bible study at all, Daniel is written of course, by the Hebrew, Daniel, but he deals almost exclusively with Gentile empires. Right? The Babylonians. The Medes and the Persians. And the Greeks and the Romans. All Gentiles.
Alright now, if we’re dealing with Gentiles, then it stands to reason that we’re not going to use the name of God that Israel claimed which was Yhovah. But we’re going to use the term "The Most High God" because that’s how the Gentiles referred to Him. Here it is. Daniel chapter 4 starting at verse 1. Now this is the way you have to study the Scriptures.
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