READ GENESIS 14:17-20. Melchizedek appears and then disappears, never to be heard of again until Psalm 110:4, when the writer says that the Messiah would be a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. So there is some connection between the Messiah and Melchizedek. That the Messiah will be a priest like Melchizedek.
And that’s it. That’s all our Old Testament says about the guy. Of all the obscure references and things that would be missed, Melchizedek takes the cake. We kind of wonder, just who is this guy and what is so important about him? Why would the Messiah be like him? What makes him so special?
When we begin to read our New Testament and we make it to the book of Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews (whoever that is), shows us why he is so important. READ Hebrews 5:8-10.
The writer says that Jesus was designated by God to be a high priest in the order of Melchizedek. And everyone says, “Oh… I don’t get it…” If that’s where you are or what you are thinking, don’t feel bad - it’s where the readers of Hebrews were as well - they didn’t get it.
Maybe some background will help. Hebrews is written at a time when the church is under intense persecution. People are being martyred left and right because of their faith and it seems that these Jewish believers were being offered a way out of the persecution if they would simply return back to their Jewish roots and practices. The author is writing to them to warn them NOT to do this. He explains to them that through Jesus, God has now established a new covenant by which people can belong to Him. It is this new covenant that actually explains and fulfills the purpose of the covenant that God had instituted through Moses (we’ll talk more about covenants next week). The writer argues - very well, I might add - that to leave the new way for the old would be to leave a greater way for a lesser way for the sake of maybe alleviating suffering temporarily and it would be a tragedy to do so. This letter, then, is him pleading with these people to not give up and turn away, because the way of Jesus was better, more perfect, and the fulfillment of what they were looking for.
It is in this context that he tells them that Jesus is like Melchizedek - a high priest unlike the high priests of Old. Listen to what is written in chapter 7 READ 7:1-10. That’s a lot to pull from 2 mentions in the Old Testament, no? Let’s look closely at what he is saying. About Melchizedek, he is saying that what makes him special is that:
He was both a King and a Priest - no one else ever held both offices, but he did.
He had a significant Name - Melek = King and Zedek = Righteousness “King of Righteousness” and he was the king of “Salem” which means “peace,” shalom, so he was also the “King of Peace”
He Received Tithes from Abraham which means that Abraham - the father of those the author is writing to - acknowledged the authority of Melchizedek. Not only did Abraham recognize the authrority of Melchizedek, but he was blessed by him in a special way. Then, the author argues, that if you want to get down to it, the tithes were in a way from Levi - the son of Israel that the priests of the Old Way were from - because Levi and his descendants were in the “loins of Abraham.” This is the idea of racial solidarity - which the Jews believed in. So the paying of tithes involved not only Abraham, but also the unborn generations in his loins.
When it came to his Family, he was significant. Now, obviously he had mother and father, but according to the record there is no genealogy recorded of him. This makes him different from most other OT great persons recorded. It’s almost like that from a written perspective, he had no beginning and no end either, as his death is not recorded.
You add all these things together, says the author, and Melchizedek is far greater than the first high priest, Aaron and as they pointed out earlier, Jesus is in the order of Melchizedek.
In 11-25, he argues that not only is he greater than Aaron, but he has replaced Aaron. Why would God do this?
Because the Priesthood and the Law were imperfect. The priests were imperfect men, performing imperfect sacrifices, until they died and then someone else stepped in. No one could handle it forever. With the Law, if you break it (commission or omission) - you’re condemned. If you follow all the rules, you’ll end up thinking highly of yourself (see Pharisees, the) and end up condemned because of self-righteousness and pride. Either way, you’re condemned. It’s a perfect system for revealing our need for God.
The writer then shows us that Jesus is like Melchizedek because he is a priest not based on the Law or his ancestry, but because he has an indestructible life (v. 16) and that Jesus is a better hope than the old way. Then we arrive at verse 25 where he says with great authority: Therefore he (Jesus) is able to save COMPLETELY those who come to God through him, because he ALWAYS lives to intercede for them.
He is able to SAVE. Too often we just think of a rapture like salvation of being whisked away, but that’s not the idea of saved, it’s being made whole, restoring, or healing. Because Jesus lives forever, because He is in the order of Melchizedek, he is able to make us whole. Whole in relationship with God. Whole in relationship with others. To bring healing where there is hatred. He is able to save. Saved NOW not just at the end.
To save COMPLETELY those who come to God through him. Such an interesting word, completely. Another way to say it would be that He saves to the Uttermost. Literally it would to All the End. When Jesus saves you - he saves all of you. He is able to save all of you.
He is also interceding for those he saves. Here the idea is running up to. That Jesus is running up to God for us. In the negative sense, to intercede is to take a complaint to someone. You call your Representative to intercede. Now, Jesus isn’t complaining to God about you, but going to God for you on your behalf.
Put it all together, and we have Jesus, who, like Melchizedek, is a king and priest of righteousness and peace, who truly has no beginning and no end, who has a significant name - Jesus means God saves - and who is greater than Abraham. Then, we see that Jesus is about making us completely whole - rescuing us from a lack of meaning and purpose and condemnation.
How can we know that this is God’s plan for all of us? It all sounds too good to be true. How can we know it’s true? Verse 22 we find our comfort in knowing that Jesus, himself, guarantees that the terms of God’s covenant will be fulfilled completely.
Jesus offers himself as the guarantee.
We can trust Him.
To the recipients of this letter, this is the point: you can trust following Jesus. The writer is saying, “I know things are rough right now, but don’t give up and go back - you can trust Jesus.”
Here’s how I would phrase it today, “We can trust Him.” Do we trust him in everything? Salvation - are we trusting him for our salvation or are we secretly banking on our good works and morality? I’ll tell you today - we can trust him to save you completely.
Just like the writer of Hebrews knew that times were rough for his church, I know that times are rough for those in this church. Some are having crises of faith and thinking about giving it all up, that it’s not worth it. You’re in pain - some of it is self-inflected, some is not - but you don’t know what to do with the pain. Don’t give up and go back - Jesus can be trusted with your pain.
Others are watching their entire lives crumble right before them - what used to be life is now shambles - and you don’t know what to do. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Jesus can be trusted.
Others just need work - flat out. Economically things are hard now and from what it seems, not getting better any time soon. It’s hit this church hard, too. I watch the giving numbers and see where they are - and it breaks my heart because I know that people want to give to God, but for some there is just not much too give and for others they are just swamped by fear of what is coming next and whether you will be able to pay the light bill. You can trust Jesus with your light bill - with anything.
It’s far too easy just to say, “trust Jesus,” in so many of these things and it sounds too simple or even insensitive - but it’s the only place where I know I can point all of us to. I’m not saying that trusting Jesus will remove all these struggles or even make them easier to bear, frankly. But I know that in trusting Jesus, I am trusting in someone who is the guarantee of something much better, no matter what this world may bring.
Maybe where we find Mel is simply in the fact that He points to Jesus. He is the ultimate example of a sign post. There are a lot of things in this world, that if we just looked we would see, that point to Jesus. Even though Melchizedek is an obscure person, the author could see Jesus. Sometimes we need to look at this world the same way, looking for Jesus even in the remotest of places. Not because we are naive, or hopeful without cause, but because his fingerprints are everywhere.
