The Mystery of Melchizedek
Hebrews 7
Read vv. 1-2, 15-16, 22
Intro
The OT in many ways is a book of many prophetic snap shots. You could call it a photo album. It is a collection of snapshots of real people, with real lives, and real circumstances, and it also serves to give us a glimpse into the future.
If you remember two weeks ago we talked about Abraham and how God instructed Abraham to take Isaac his promised son to Mt. Moriah to be sacrificed. Both were real people, and Mt. Moriah was a real place. It was also a picture of what was to come. Soon another Father would lead his son up to another mountain, Mt. Calvary to sacrifice his son, for the sins of the world. God spared Isaac, but He didn’t spare Jesus. Do you also know that Mt. Moriah, had it is names changed by the Romans, and it came to be known as Mount Calvary.
Think about Gen 6-7, Noah is instructed to built a ark and put his family in it. So when God’s judgment came, Noah and his family would be saved. Noah was a real person with a real family, and a great flood did take place. But this too was also a snapshot of something to else. It is a snapshot of Jesus Christ and how the family that comes to him will be saved from the judgment will be brought to this earth.
The OT has snapshots of things to come. You maybe asking yourself, “Why does he keep mentioning that?” Because in Chapter 7 of Hebrews, Melchizedek (A real person) he meets Abraham and Melchizedek blesses Abraham. Abraham in response bows to Melchizedek and give him a tithe. Melchizedek is a picture of something else. He was a king and priest. He gave Abraham blessings and communion. Melchizedek is a picture of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who one day would come and become the high priest and offer his people communion.
There are three things that I want us to look at tonight, as we take a look at Melchizedek, who is an Old Testament snapshot of Jesus Christ.
I. A Mystery Resolved (vv. 1-3)
a. He is only mentioned twice in the Old Testament.
b. Gen 14, he is there to welcome home the soldiers returning from battle to give them blessing.
c. Then he disappears.
i. How is it that he just disappears after this?
ii. Why is it that he offers communion to Abraham when the cross is still thousands of years away?
iii. The church is thousands of years in the future.
iv. But Melchizedek still offers communion.
d. Why does Abraham offer him a tithe and bow before him.
i. It is all a mystery to most.
ii. But if you look at it, seeing Melchizedek as a snapshot of Jesus Christ to can start to understand why this took place.
iii. He is not Jesus Christ, but he is a picture of Jesus.
e. Wasn’t Jesus’ appearance on earth a mystery?
i. His birth
ii. His resurrection.
iii. His ascension
iv. It is all a mystery, but I accounted it as real because it is God’s word.
f. The point is this, the coming and going of Jesus Christ is a mystery, but it still took place.
g. Melchizedek was a king of righteous and a priest of peace
i. In the coming law, no one could be both king and priest.
1. Priest were to come from the tribe of Levi
2. Kings were to come from the tribe of Judah
3. You couldn’t be both.
4. If they tried to be both, God would put them aside.
ii. But Melchizedek was both, because he was a picture of Jesus Christ the King of Kings and the true High Priest.
h. Some of you are saying wait a minute pastor, “God made Melchizedek a king and priest and God made Jesus Christ a king and priest.”
i. God broke his own law.
ii. No God made the law and He has the right to change to law.
i. You will not understand the mystery of Melchizedek, if you don’t look at him as a snapshot of the King and Priest to come. Jesus Christ.
II. A Ministry Revealed (vv. 1-3)
a. Melchizedek was a picture of Jesus Christ not only as a king and priest, but also in his ministry towards Abraham.
b. He “meet” Abraham”
i. He comes to Abraham offers communion and then blesses him.
ii. He reveals the ministry of Jesus to us.
iii. First, Melchizedek came to Abraham
1. You don’t just come to Jesus Christ when you feel like it.
2. You don’t come at all.
3. We are all like sheep that have gone astray and don’t desire him.
4. But Jesus Christ comes to us to rescue us.
5. In 1979, when I meet Jesus Christ. I was not seeking him that day. But he was coming for me that day.
iv. Second, he offered communion to Abraham
1. He didn’t force Abraham to take it.
a. He asks him if he wanted to take it.
b. Abraham could have said, yes or no.
2. Jesus comes and offers us salvation
a. You can say yes or no also.
b. Abraham was offered communion, just as we are offered the cross.
v. Third, he gave a blessing to Abraham
1. I believe he gave him peace, seeing that he was the king of peace.
2. When you come to Jesus Christ, he gives us two things.
a. Righteousness
b. Peace
III. A Majesty Rejoiced (v. 3)
a. “He remains a priest perpetually”
b. I have noticed that we all get older. Like it or not.
i. A lot of us don’t like change either.
ii. We like things to stay the same.
iii. I like having one doctor, that knows me and knows how to treat me. Instead of switching doctors and having to start all over again.
1. I wish I could keep that one doctor forever.
c. I like the fact that my pastor is still here.
i. He knows my name
ii. He remembers when I was licensed and ordained into the ministry.
iii. He is there for my when I need him.
d. But you know what is wrong with my doctor and pastor.
i. They are human beings; they are going to die one day.
ii. I am going to have to find a new one and start all over again.
iii. We live in a world of change.
e. But are you glad that there is one thing that never changes.
i. We serve a God that never changes.
ii. Our high priest and king forever.
iii. He is forever, he never dies, he is eternal
iv. v. 24, “he continues forever.”
v. v. 25, “he able to save forever”
vi. v. 26, “he is consecrated”
1. We live in a world that is full of filth
2. But we have a God that is always Holy
vii. v.27, “he need not daily”
1. There are people today that feel that Jesus Christ needs to be crucified over and over again.
2. The Jesus of the Bible that died on the cross of Calvary finished it all forevermore.
Closing
Heads bowed and eyes closed. I can remember in 1979, when Jesus Christ called my name. He forgave me of all my sins and gave me righteousness and peace. He also gave me hope for tomorrow. Can you remember that day in your life? Because it is not about what someone else has done, but rather what you did with Christ that one day he came to you.
