Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Melchizedek Priesthood** *

Hebrews 7:1-7:28 (NIV, NIRV, TNIV, KJV)

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.

\\ \\ And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand."

And he gave him a tenth of all.

(Genesis 14:15-20).

\\ \\ Genesis 14 is a chapter from the family history of the origins of Israel.

It tells the story of how Abraham’s nephew, Lot, was swept up into the military doings of the ancient world and of how Abraham himself played a role in that history.

\\ \\ Lot and Abraham had parted company.

Uncle Abraham had given Lot free reign to choose whichever part of the land he wished and he chose the Valley of Siddum, known today as the Dead Sea.

But it was not dead in that day.

Rather it was a lush, fertile valley, reminiscent of the Garden of Eden.

Lot settled in Sodom, the sin city of antiquity.

\\ \\ And then a day came when a messenger arrived at the tent of Abraham with terrible news.

A coalition of kings from the east had invaded and had taken Sodom and enslaved all of its inhabitants — including Lot.

Abraham immediately organized a rescue party.

In a brazen display of faith and courage, he caught up with the raiders and attacked them by night, putting them to route and recovering not only his nephew, but all of the wealth and citizens of Sodom.

\\ \\ However the most unusual part of this tale took place on the return journey.

It was here that Abraham was met by a new figure; a mysterious priest-king known as Melchizedek.

The Scriptures tell us that they met, that Melchizedek brought bread and wine and a blessing, and that Abraham rewarded him with a tenth of all.

And that is all.

Melchizedek is not mentioned again in the rest of Genesis nor anywhere in any of the historical books of the Old Testament.

And although there is a veiled prophecy in the Psalm concerning him, the significance of this figure is an unsolved mystery.

Until now.

\\ \\ The writer to the Hebrews has already made mention of Melchizedek and that Jesus is a priest after that ancient order (Hebrews 5:6; 5:10: 6:20).

The last such mention was in the last verse of the previous chapter.

And this time, the writer will explain fully what he means.

\\ \\   \\ \\ INTRODUCING MELCHIZEDEK \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ 1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.

\\ \\ 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

(Hebrews 7:1-3).

\\ \\ The theme of the epistle to the Hebrews is that Jesus is better.

He is better than the prophets and He is better than the angels and He is better than Moses and He provides a better rest than that which was promised by Joshua.

In the last several chapters, we have seen that Jesus is a better high priest.

This automatically brings a objection: How can Jesus be a better priest if He is from the tribe of Judah?

All priests in the Old Testament were required to be of the tribe of Levi and specifically from the descendants of Aaron.

The answer to this objection will be that Jesus is of a priesthood which predates that of Aaron — one which goes back all the way to Abraham.

\\ \\ We don’t know a lot about Melchizedek.

He emerges from the pages of antiquity to have his brief encounter with Abraham, he pronounces a blessing, accept Abraham’s gift, and then once again disappears into the pages of history.

We don’t know much about Melchizedek, but there are several things that we do know.

\\ \\ 1.

His name: By the translation of his name, king of righteousness (7:2).

\\ \\ \\ The name "Melchizedek" is a compound of two Hebrew words which have been joined together.

\\ \\ \\ \\ Melech is the Hebrew word for "king."

\\ \\ Zedek means "righteousness."

\\ \\ \\ What’s in a name?

When we name children, it is often only because we like the sound of it.

But names in the ancient world were full of meaning, especially among the Jews.

Names were given to tell something about the character of the person.

\\ \\ This is why you occasionally see a person whose name is changed.

This was the case of Abraham - his name was changed from Abram ("father of high places") to Abraham ("father of a multitude").

\\ \\ \\ 2. His Domain: King of Salem, which is king of peace (7:2).

\\ \\ \\ "Salem" was evidently one of the ancient names for the city of Jerusalem.

Before this city became the capital of Israel, it belonged to a people known as the Jebusites.

Their city was alternately known as "Jebus" and "Salem."

Its name today reflects a composite of these two names: Jeru-salem.

\\ \\ But remember, names have meaning.

And the meaning of which we are reminded is the fact that it was named as a city of peace.

\\ \\ Now that is an interesting name for Jerusalem, for the history of this city has been a history of war and of conquest.

It has been anything but a city of peace — with one notable exception.

It was the city where the Prince of Peace came to present Himself.

It was the city where the God of Peace located His temple.

\\ \\ Here is the point.

The kingship of Israel could only trace their roots back to David.

The priesthood of Israel could only trace their roots back to Aaron.

But there was a priest-king residing in Jerusalem, the city of God, long before the time of either David or Aaron.

And He is a pattern of God’s true priest-king, Jesus Christ.

\\ \\ \\ 3. His Genealogy: Without father, without mother, without genealogy… (7:3).

\\ \\ \\ The past kings of Israel before the Babylonian captivity traced their genealogy back to king David.

The priests of Israel traced their genealogy back to Aaron — those priests returning from Babylon who could no longer give evidence of their genealogy were not permitted to serve any longer as priests.

\\ \\ But the first priest-king had no genealogy.

He appears from obscurity out of the pages of history.

We know nothing of his origins and we know nothing of his death.

And in like this, he is likened to the Son of God.

\\ \\ \\ \\ You might be thinking, "Wait a minute, Jesus had a genealogy!

How can you say that Jesus is like Melchizedek because he has no genealogy?"

The answer is found in the pre-existence of Jesus.

Though he has a human genealogy, He also existed before He was born.

He appears in the very beginning: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).

\\ \\ \\ Here is the point.

The priesthood of Jesus is a better priesthood because He never had a beginning and His priesthood has no end.

He will ALWAYS be our high priest.

He will always be the basis for our forgiveness and our fellowship with God.

\\ \\ This is the basis for our disagreement with Islam.

Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet from God, but that they have a better prophet in Mohammed.

But the Bible teaches us that the priesthood of Jesus is an eternal priesthood.

It will never go out of date.

It will never be superseded the way that the Old Testament priesthood has been superseded.

\\ \\   \\ \\ \\ MELCHIZEDEK AND THE TENTH \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ 4 Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils.

\\ \\ 5 And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham.

\\ \\ 6 But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.

\\ \\ 7 But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.

\\ \\ 8 In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on.

\\ \\ 9 And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, 10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

(Hebrews 7:4-10).

\\ \\ The superiority of the Melchizedek priesthood is evidenced by the fact that Abraham gave a tithe — a tenth of all the spoils of war.

Why did Abraham give this offering to Melchizedek?

It was because Abraham recognized in Melchizedek a priest of the Most High God.

\\ \\ Now we come to the point of comparison.

Both Melchizedek and the Aaronic priesthood are legitimate priests of God.

But the most that you could say about the Levitical priests is that they receive tithes from the children of Abraham.

They never received tithes from Abraham himself.