Christ, Our Priest
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the November 23, 2013
Sabbath School Lesson
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem
brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed
Abram, saying, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.’ Then
Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” Genesis 14:18-20, NIV
Melchizedek
is an enigmatic figure in Genesis. The passage looks almost like it doesn’t
belong there. We do not see expected transitions in either verse 17 or verse 21
between this section and the main narrative. Who is this Melchizedek and where
does he come from? Other than this brief passage, the name only occurs one other
time in the Hebrew Scriptures in the Psalms,[i]
in an apparent Messianic context. Then after so much silence, the name seems to
explode into significance in the New Testament in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Why? Maybe we can find some clues.
Perhaps the
most titillating bit of evidence is the bread and the wine. As Christians,
these items have special significance for us as elements of the Eucharist where
they represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Was this prefiguring the
symbolism of the Last Supper? Perhaps, we will find with further evidence, it
was hinting at even more.
If we consider
the name Melchizedek and what it means in Hebrew, we can find yet another piece
of evidence. Melchi means “my king,”
and zedek means “righteous” or “righteousness.”
Therefore we might translate the name as “my king is righteous,” or “my king is
righteousness.” Since the bible maintains that men are not righteous,[ii]
and righteousness is instead an attribute of God,[iii]
maybe we have another link of evidence that connects this early priest with
Jesus. His identity as “King of Salem” or “King of Peace” may also be a
Christological reference roughly equivalent to “Prince of Peace,” a messianic
title proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah.[iv]
In the
Epistle to the Hebrews, the author tells us that there is yet another link
discerned not by what is written but rather by silence in the text. There is no
mention of where this individual came from or went to. Every significant
character in the Old Testament is identified by his or her genealogy.
Strangely, no family is presented for Melchizedek. This, the author of the
epistle feels, is enough for a link to be made in Hebrews between Melchizedek
and Christ.[v]
We might call it a similarity (Greek:
aphomoiao). However, Isaiah goes even
further with parallel titles that help us to identify Melchizedek. In addition
to describing the Messiah with the title “Prince of Peace” that we have already
identified, Isaiah calls Him, in the same verse, “Mighty God.” This perhaps
helps us to see that “Prince” in Isaiah is probably the same as “King” in
Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek. After all, if the Messiah is “Prince” and
also “Mighty God,” what king could have greater authority? Some might say that
Jesus is the Prince, but God the Father is the King. But this is not supported
by Isaiah, who also refers in the same verse to the Messiah as “the Everlasting
Father.”
In any
event, we would have a hard row to hoe if we asserted that Melchizedek was God
the Father as opposed to his being Christ. This is not only because of Isaiah’s
passage which equates the two, but because Jesus equated Himself to the Father.[vi]
This is a difficult concept for us to grasp from our three dimensional
perspective. To our way of thinking, everything must have a corporeal
existence. Yet we must admit that no one has ever seen a bodily manifestation
of God outside of what Jesus claimed to be. Jesus prayed to the Father,[vii]
and we can partially understand that from our limited perspective, but we have
difficulty when we try to perceive of that two-way communication between Jesus
and the Father without a physical presence at both ends. Our minds naturally
want to conceive of some God, perhaps in form similar to what Michelangelo
painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, floating about somewhere in the
sky waiting for a prayer “phone call” from Jesus, or one of His followers.
Atheists
have made fun of this idea with reference to a “Flying Spaghetti Monster” (FSM)
that Christians pray to. In a sense, they are right, as the idea of a bodily
presence floating about in the clouds is about as sensible as the FSM. If we
are going to impose a limited concept of existence on God, perhaps we would be
just as well to make the shape out of spaghetti. Maybe our failure to recognize
the transcendence of God is why we have so much trouble with concepts like
trinitarianism.
These
failures of understanding cause us to ask ridiculous questions like, “Can God
create a rock so big He cannot move it?” But I suggest that this transcendence is
the very definition of God’s existence. Without that, He would simply be a more
powerful person, perhaps some sort of super hero in the sky, with physical limitations
and perhaps unable to move that rock.
Why is
understanding the concept of transcendence important in regards to Melchizedek?
It helps us when we seek for the ordination of Jesus. If we understand that
Christ is, as Hebrews tells us, a high priest in the Melchizedekian order, then
He must have been ordained to that order. To know when this took place, we need
to discern what ordination is. It is a commissioning to priestly orders with
water, oil and blood. When the Levitical[viii]
priesthood was established, Moses ordained Aaron and his sons. He washed them,
anointed them and placed blood on them.[ix]
Jesus was also washed in baptism.[x]
He was then anointed by the Holy Spirit[xi]
which is symbolized by oil.[xii]
However, His ordination as priest required one more thing: blood. That blood
would be provided at the cross where He would fulfil the dual role of the
sacrificial Lamb that provides the blood and the priest who requires the blood
for His ordination.
At this
point some might ask how could Jesus complete His ordination at the cross, yet
be priest many centuries earlier as Melchizedek, who met Abraham? This is only
a problem when we forget the concept of transcendence. Transcendence as applied
to the God of the Bible is not just physical but temporal as well. This means
that ordination at any point in time transcends every point in time, because to
God the present is every moment no matter when. This means the concepts of past
and future are meaningless. Therefore Jesus’ ordination and also His
incarnation could have taken place at any point in time from God’s perspective.
Perhaps this is why Jesus’ ministry of grace is efficacious to all mankind,
past, present and future.
However, we
dwell within dimensional time and space and cannot transcend it, at least not
now.[xiii]
Therefore, God entered our dimension at a place and time that was propitious
for us.[xiv]
After He received his ordination as High Priest Melchizedek, He offers ordination
to His followers in that same priestly order. Whoever turns toward Him and
recognizes Him as High Priest capable of purifying them through His blood
receives that ordination. They are washed in baptism and receive the Holy
Spirit.[xv]
Christ’s blood is applied to them for their purification and through faith they
are made priests of God and able to offer the same ordination to others through
the cleansing of baptism, the purification through Christ’s blood and the
empowering of the Holy Spirit.
This is not
a mundane priesthood as Aaron and his sons enjoyed. As evidenced by the titles
of “King” and “Prince” applied to Melchizedek and the Messiah, it is a royal
priesthood, which is higher than the Levitical, just as the blood of Christ is
so much more adequate than that of lambs, goats and bulls.[xvi]
Peter, who called people to this ordination at Pentecost, realized the significance
of this. He recognized that the royal priesthood was a higher calling that came
through Christ.[xvii]
What defines
priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek as opposed to the Levitical Priesthood? First
it is an order based on the blood of Christ as opposed to the blood of animals.
Second, the washing with water is typically a death-like immersion, replicating
the death of Christ. Third, the anointing is the actual Holy Spirit and not
simply a symbolic application of oil. Fourth, it is an eternal priesthood,[xviii]
evidence and a surety of eternal life to come. Fifth, it is a universal
priesthood of all believers, as many as will accept the terms of such an
ordination. No one is excluded, no matter what their earthly genealogy.[xix]
How can we
be sure of these things? Perhaps because Christ is the High Priest of the Order
of Melchizedek[xx]
The title, “High Priest,” implies an order that He is ascendant over. After all
one cannot be “high” over nothing, otherwise the title would simply be Priest
without the superlative. As prefigured by the Levitical Order, those who would
be members of a biblical priestly order might be expected to also have a
familial relationship. And according to the Pauline perspective found in his
Epistle to the Romans, this is so, for he calls us children and joint heirs
with Christ,[xxi]
sons and daughters of God. We are surely so by creation and later by
redemption, adopted back into the family we had abandoned. Perhaps it would be
wise to not take lightly an opportunity with so much potential.
