Psalm 110:4
"The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Allow me give you a thought provoking question. How many years have passed by since Abraham was introduced to the priest of the Most High and David puts it here in the Psalms? About a thousand! A thousand years have gone by from Melchizedek’s introduction to Abraham until David. Now then, how many years went by from David until Paul brings him up again in Hebrews? Another thousand. A thousand year interval, that we are introduced to this high priest Melchizedek. Amazing isn’t it? But that in itself is not the amazing thing. What I find so amazing is the fact that our Lord uses the same elements to introduce the New Covenant which are symbolized by His flesh (the bread) and blood (the wine).
Alright let’s go back to Genesis and let’s just pick this apart a little further. This Melchizedek, the priest of the "Most High God," meets Abraham and he brought with him bread and wine. Now, number one, was it a practical gift? You don’t know what I’m driving at do you? How many people are in this particular little unit with Abraham at this time? How many soldiers did he take out of his hired help? Three hundred. So he’s had three hundred men who have just come back from battle and they’re famished and they’re thirsty and so in the physical realm, what does this Melchizedek provide? Food and water for Abraham’s troops? No!
But then it goes so much further than that. Where does bread and wine become a high point in the life of the believer? Well at the Lord’s table. The Lord’s table and what did it speak of? His shed Blood and His broken body (and when was His body broken? It was broken by Israel long before He came in physical manifestation. How? When they broke Covenant with God!). And so, all these things have ramifications. Now, we don’t see anything concerning Melchizedek in the operation of God in Israel because Melchizedek is not in the line of Levi and the priests of Israel. He’s the priest of "the Most High God." Who was not just the priest of Israel, he was the priest of all. And that’s what I want people to see. This Melchizedek was a high priest of "the Most High God."
Now we’ve done this before but let’s do it again. So turn with me now to Daniel because I want you to see that we have no references to Melchizedek’s priesthood throughout Israel’s history because Israel wasn’t connected per se with "the Most High God." Don’t take me too literal on this. Of course, "the Most High God" was the same God as Yhovah and El Shaddai and all that. But, in terms of language for our own understanding, we have these different names or rather they're titles of God. But the same God. They’re not different, they’re the same One, but in the role, in the operation or office, God has given us these different nomenclatures to show that He is dealing with the non-Hebrew as He is with the Nation of Israel. Alright here in Daniel chapter 4, start with verse 1.
Daniel 4:1a
"Nebuchadnezzar (Hebrew or Gentile? Gentile!) the king, unto all people, nations, and languages,…"
Is that just Israel? Now I think most of you, especially in the book of Acts, what do I stress? Is there any Gentile language in here? No, there isn’t any Gentile language in Acts chapters 2 ,3 or 4. It’s all Jewish. Now I can ask the same question in reverse. Are there any Hebrews in here? No. This is Gentile. And so he says:
Daniel 4:1b-2
"…that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. (He’s not talking directly to the Hebrew. He’s talking to the nations. So Nebuchadnezzar says) I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath shown toward me."
Who’s he talking about? "The Most High God" of Whom, Melchizedek was the high priest.
Come on over in that same chapter to verse 17. Now this isn’t by accident. This is by design, the intricacy again of the Scriptures. That everything is so intricately put together.
Daniel 4:17a
"This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand of the word by the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will,…" Drop down to verse 34:
Daniel 4:34
"And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar (the Gentile king) lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most high, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, (He’s the Most High God) and his kingdom is from generation to generation:"
Alright I’ve got one more while we’re in Daniel turn to chapter 5 - verse 18, because I want to drum into you that this is a term, title or a name of God as He is associated with the non-Jewish world. Now I probably should qualify that. The Hebrews are part of the whole bigger picture, but they are more concerned with Yhovah God and El Shaddai and some of those other titles, but "the Most High" is always connected with the non-Jewish world.
Daniel 5:18
"O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty and glory, and honour:"
We can go all the way through Scripture then, and whenever you have a reference to the "Most High God," we’re dealing with the non-Jewish world. And that’s why Paul speaks of it now with regard to the Melchizedek's priesthood back there in Hebrews that he was the priest of "the Most High God." Alright let’s come back to Genesis, because when the Scripture repeats and repeats and repeats, it’s for a reason. It’s not here just to fill the page.
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