Jesus was Melchizedek the Priest of the Most High God - A Theophany

Jesus was Melchizedek the Priest of the Most High God

(A Theophany)

 

A basic concept that Christians and other Bible students have come to understand is that of the “Theophany”.  See: https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Theophany ; and  https://www.gotquestions.org/theophany-Christophany.html

In this post I’d like to highlight what I believe is a very important Theophany that doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves, especially among Christian believers.

While reading and studying the Bible we sometimes encounter an unfamiliar person whose name (and probably whose “Title”) is unlike others we’ve previously experienced. One such example for many Christians and other Bible students was “Melchizedek, the Priest of the Most High God.” Especially in this case, the lack of familiarity in no way diminishes the importance of that person. In fact, in this instance even many knowledgeable Christians have failed to recognize his role that the “Priest of the Most High God” has had in affecting our faith.

The name “Melchizedek” first appeared in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 14. When I looked for more information on him, I turned to the Hebrew Dictionary (#4442) in my reference Strong’s Expanded Concordance. The results were sparse, indicating only that he was “an early king in Palestine”; that his name appeared only twice in the Old Testament (as noted in Genesis Chapter 14, and again in Psalm 110). That reference then referred me to a related one (#6664) using the terms “righteousness, just, justice”. The initial reference was adjacent to the Greek Dictionary entry (#3198), in which the New Testament spelling was “Melchisedek”. There the only descriptive term was “a patriarch”, and that name appeared only in the Book of Hebrews, Chapters 5 (twice), 6 (once) and 7 (six times).

I provide those details to help orient you to the relevance of this man Melchizedek’s history and significance to the Nation of Israel, and ultimately to the Gentile world. For a more complete context, I encourage you to read Genesis Chapter 14 in its entirety. But I’d like to highlight  specific verses to explain His priestly role for both Jews and Gentiles.

By definition, it is not clear that Melchizedek is indeed our Lord Jesus, but there are “clues” to His identity from the outset.

Genesis 14: 18: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.”  (Bold Emphasis added.)  One of my teachers (Les Feldick Ministries) pointed out that this was the first occurrence in the Scripture of the pairing of the combination of “bread and wine”.  That combination would prove of particular significance to those who believe in our Lord Jesus.  Remember that near the end of His Earthly Ministry our Lord Jesus gave bread and wine to His Disciples to eat, to symbolize His body and blood which He would sacrifice for those who believed in Him. (Matthew 26: 26-30; Mark 14: 22-26; Luke 22: 14-20)  Among Gentile believers, even today that is how we also share Communion with our Heavenly Savior. (1 Corinthians 10: 16-17)

It is also noteworthy that Melchizedek was the “king of Salem”  In His Incarnate form, Jesus came as Israel’s long-awaited King / Messiah, and His future Kingdom will be established in Jerusalem. (Note the reference to “Salem” in “Jerusalem”.)

Genesis 14: 19: “And He (Melchizedek) blessed him (Abram), and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and Earth:”  (Bold Emphasis added)  Note that Genesis 14: 22, refers to “the LORD (Jehovah), the most high God, the possessor of heaven and Earth.” (Bold Emphasis added)  For more context, remember from the Scriptures that there was only one Creator, and therefore “possessor of heaven and the Earth”, and that was our Lord Jesus.  (Genesis 1: 1; John 1: 1-3, 10; Colossians 1: 12-17) 

There are no further Bible references to Melchizedek until many thousands of years later when the writer of the Book of Hebrews provides more information related to his identity.  Key to this discussion is the relationship of our Lord Jesus to the role of Melchisedec as “Priest of the Most High God”.  The writer of Hebrews provided this perspective:

Hebrews 4: 14-15: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  (Bold Emphasis added) (Matthew 4: 1-11; Mark 1: 9-13; Luke 4: 1-13)
Hebrews 5: 5-6,10:   ⁵ So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.  ⁶ As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec  (Bold Emphasis added)  

I’ve been highlighting the role of our Lord Jesus as “Priest”, because many Christians, especially Protestants, do not exercise their faith through the “involvement of a priest”. However, even though many believers (Jew and Gentile) might not be aware of it, our “Priest” is our Ascended Lord Jesus Christ.

I offer the following perspective for His role by drawing on the Old Testament description of the role of Israel’s High Priest, Aaron. As we have learned from earlier studies, most of what we know today is based on understanding what went before. (Romans 15: 4)

One of the most significant functions of the High Priest of Israel took place on the annual observance of the Day of Atonement.  (Leviticus 16: 11-19; 23: 26-32)  During that observance the High Priest took the blood of the sacrificed animal behind the vail of the Temple into the Holy of Holies, where the blood was sprinkled before and on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. What most people don’t understand is that the animal blood served only as a temporary “cover” of the sins of the people of Israel . It did not erase their sins.  The animal blood only served as a forerunner to the Holy Blood of our Lord Jesus, which would be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in Heaven. The Book of Hebrews provides an excellent analysis of this process. (Hebrews Chapter Nine, 10: 1-22)  See also: https://www.gotquestions.org/mercy-seat.html

Again, remember that shortly after His Resurrection our Lord Jesus met Mary outside of the tomb in which He had been laid. As she approached Him, “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20: 17) (Highlight added) As our High Priest, He had to remain “uncontaminated” by human contact until He had carried His Holy Blood to the Mercy Seat in Heaven. (Exodus 26: 30-34; Hebrews 8: 1-5)

In this manner our Lord Jesus confirmed that He was and is the Priest of the Most High God for all mankind. (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15)  Regrettably, only those who truly believe what He has done for us through His death, burial and resurrection will receive complete remission for their sins. (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13).

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com 

Why the Apostle Paul Was Forbidden to Preach in Asia

Why the Apostle Paul Was Forbidden to Preach in Asia*

(*Note “Asia” refers to the Region of “Asia Minor” that borders on the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas)

 

While studying in the Book of Acts, I was challenged by the meaning of a couple of verses. I learned a couple of lessons while trying to decipher them, so I’m sharing them now.

Background: The  verses in question are part of the Scripture that describes the Second Missionary Journey of the Apostle Paul who was travelling to spread the Gospel of Grace. Paul had recently returned from a trip to Jerusalem during which he had met with Peter, James and others of the leadership of the Church there. That was the historic meeting known as the “Jerusalem Council”.  After a contentious debate,  it was agreed that the Jerusalem followers of Jesus would continue to evangelize the other members of the Nation of Israel under the Gospel of the Kingdom, and they would not interfere with Paul’s sharing the Gospel of Jesus’ Grace to the Gentiles.   (Acts Chapter 15; Galatians 2: 1-10)  

Then, as Paul and his supporters began their trip to territories that bordered on the Mediterranean Sea, the Scripture recorded the following in Acts 16: 4-7:   ⁴ And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.  ⁵ And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

⁶ Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,  ⁷ After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.   (Underline added).

My question was “Why was Paul forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel in Asia?” There was no apparent explanation given. The term “assayed” in Verse Six meant that they tried to test whether they were truly “forbidden”, but the Spirit was persistent. (See Strong’s Concordance Greek Dictionary # 3984 and 3985)

As Paul continued his journey bypassing Asia he came to Troas / Troy.  The Scripture then says in Verses 9 and 10: : “⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.  ¹⁰ And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. (Underline added.)

From that Scripture, it seemed that perhaps logically God saw a higher priority in Paul’s message reaching Greece, rather than moving into Asia / Asia Minor. Then I remembered a point raised by one of my teachers (Les Feldick Ministries), that the insistence of the Holy Spirit that Paul take his message Westward to Greece was to serve a different purpose. Pastor Feldick opined that it was the first step towards moving the Gospel to Europe, following the trail of the generations of Noah’s son Japeth, where Christianity would flourish and later spread to the Americas.

I then attempted to compare the maps of the migrations of the generations of Noah’s sons (Shem, Ham and Japeth) to a map of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey. See:

https://bible-history.com/images/common/desc-shem-ham-japheth.jpg ; and

https://bible-history.com/images/common/acts-pauls-second-missionary-journey.png

The comparison of the maps confirmed that both the descendants of Japeth, and the Apostle Paul travelled North and West around the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. However, the detail of the map of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey was less than I preferred, so I searched for another.  The result showed a pleasant surprise. See:

https://www.conformingtojesus.com/images/webpages/apostle_paul_second_missionary_journey_map1.jpg

 

If you look closely at the region of the map labelled “Asia”, you will find seven small yellow circles / markers. Each identifies one of the “Seven Churches of Asia” highlighted in the Book of Revelation, Chapters One through Three. It was in that Scripture that the Ascended Lord Jesus gave the revelation to His former Disciple, the Apostle John.  John was imprisoned on the nearby Isle of Patmos, where the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas meet.  It was there that the Lord Jesus gave His critique  of each of the seven churches and their leaders.  His  reviews were recorded by the Holy Spirit for our learning. I strongly encourage you to read these three chapters at your convenience.

All this caused me to reconsider and question again “why the Apostle Paul was forbidden to preach in Asia”.  Although it wasn’t highlighted in the Lord’s words, I’d like to provide some additional context. 

The Seven Churches of Asia were not composed of  Gentile believers. Their congregants were members or relatives of the Nation of Israel who had been scattered from the Jerusalem Church. Note the numerous references in the Scripture to the “golden candlesticks” / Menorah, kings, priests, kingdom, etc.  They all had significance to Jewish believers related to the Gospel of the Kingdom, but not to Paul’s Gentile believers.  Israel’s Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.  John wrote the Book of Revelation circa 95 A.D.   By the time of the Ascended Lord’s revelation to John, Paul’s journeys had been completed, and he had been martyred circa 65-68 A.D.

By forbidding Paul to preach in Asia, it could have been that the Holy Spirit wanted to maintain the unity of the message being given to the Seven Churches. The Churches had been established under the common bond of believing the Gospel of the Kingdom, with the Lord Jesus as their Messiah and future King.  Further, per the agreement of the Jerusalem Council, Paul was to limit his preaching of the Gospel of Grace to the Gentiles.

On the other hand, the Holy Spirit might have wanted to make the priority of moving the Gospel Westward to Greece as suggested above. 

Or perhaps there was another reason. 

That is part of what makes Bible study so interesting. God keeps things secret until He is ready to reveal them.  (Deuteronomy 29: 29) .  It is also why we must continue reading the entire Bible to better understand what He has revealed. (2 Timothy 3: 16)   

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com