Melchizedek

FITZGEREL@aol.com (FITZGEREL@aol.com)
Fri, 7 Nov 1997 02:33:08 -0500 (EST)


In a message dated 97-11-06 01:04:14 EST, you write:
Bro. Jonathan McNair writes:  and I concur:
<< 
 First, the writer identifies Melchizedek as a type of Christ (vv. 3,
 15). He was both king and priest, and so is Jesus. No priest in Aaron’s
 line ever sat on a throne. In fact, the Aaronic priests did not sit down
 at all (spiritually speaking), for their work was never done. There were
 no chairs in the tabernacle or temple! See Heb. 10:11-14. Furthermore,
 Melchizedek was king of Salem, which means “peace”; and Jesus is our
 King of Peace, our Prince of Peace. The name “Melchizedek” means “king
 of righteousness,” a name which certainly applies to Christ, God’s
 Righteous King. So, in his name and his offices, Melchizedek is a
 beautiful likeness of Christ.
 
 But Melchizedek also resembles Christ in his origin. The Bible contains
 no record of his birth or his death. Of course, this does not mean that
 Melchizedek had no parents or that he never died. It simply means that
 the OT record is silent on these matters. Thus Melchizedek, like Christ,
 is “without beginning of days or end of life”—his priesthood is eternal.
 His priesthood did not depend on earthly successors, while the Aaronic
 priests had to defend their office by family records (see Neh. 7:64).
 Every high priest that descended from Aaron died, but Christ, like
 Melchizedek, holds His priesthood permanently (vv. 8, 16, 24-25).
 
 Having identified Christ with the order of Melchizedek, the writer now
 explains that Melchizedek is superior to Aaron, for Aaron paid tithes to
 Melchizedek while yet unborn in the loins of Abraham. And when
 Melchizedek blessed Abraham, he was blessing the house of Levi as well;
 and certainly “the lesser is blessed by the better” (v. 7). On earth, in
 the Jewish temple, the priests received tithes; but in Genesis 14, the
 priests (in Abraham’s loins) gave tithes to Melchizedek. This event
 clearly showed the inferiority of the Aaronic priesthood.
  >>

What is written here is consistent with scripture as a beautiful type of our
High Priest and His priestly office is revealed to us.  The subject is
plainly the Priesthood, not the man Melchizedek.  More here is said about the
office of this Priesthood by what is left out about the man Melchizedek than
what is said about him. Its beautiful.

Pastor Fitzgerel