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It’s the Lord’s providence that the topic for the Youth DNOW weekend was “Un-Identify”. The burden is for the students to “unidentify” with the World and to “Identify” with Christ. My message for us today will I hope harmonize closely with this.
Last Sunday Daniel left us with a challenge: Take a couple minutes a day and claim the promises God has given us: the call to a homeland, a people and a promise.
In the rest of Scripture Abraham is set before us as the father of our faith, because he believed the things God told him and what’s more is he lived accordingly—he trusted God with his life.
Today we’re going to look at how Abram trusted the Lord as he encountered some very significant moments in his life. How he laid claim to the promises God made him.
Now we get to the part of the text that we read. And this is where we’ll camp out for the rest of the sermon.
If you haven’t spent a lot of time in the Bible, his name may not jump out at you—he may not mean much.
However D.A. Carson has said,
...the figure Melchizedek turns out to be one of the most instructive figures in the Bible for helping us put our Bibles together
A lot of time has been spent by fans of the Bible and by skeptics wondering and offering possible answers to who he is and what is significant about him.
I’m going to try to help us understand his significance of Melchizedek by answer two questions for us; these are our two points:
Our text (Gen 14:17-24) gives us all we need to answer these questions.
In contrast to all the kings that we see in the rest of the narrative here is a king who is just and righteous.
He comes and offers an invitation of fellowship to Abram. He brings out his best for Abram—welcoming him and celebrating with him.
If he is the king of Jerusalem he certainly would have known about Abram if for no other reason than proximity. Abram would have also known him. It’s not an accident that Abram went just outside his city on his return, rather than going to Sodom.
In the context of what we already have heard about God’s interactions with Abram, we know that Abram is a follower. He has made some significant life changes in his pursuit to trust the Lord. It’s easy for us to not really consider the impact of the choice Abram made to follow the Lord up to this point.
He’s left his father’s house, moved again from comfort into a foreign land to live a nomadic lifestyle.
It’s not insignificant that Melchizedek’s blessing here is first reiterating that God is with him—having delivered the foreign kings into his hand.
Abram acted like the land was his. Going to reclaim what was his and drive out foreign invaders
But the Key is that God is claiming ultimate credit for this blessing. It is his right to do so, because he is God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth.
Abram is a guest in this country, even though it’s been promised to him. He is not a king, nor is he a priest in a formal sense. But Melchizedek is both, thus he has a superiority to Abram in his station. This blessing is also a blessing from him.
Abram’s response to this blessing is to tithe a tenth of what he had recovered to Melchizedek. We should see this as Abram’s recognition that all he has is from the Lord and that he is living in the blessing and care of the God Most High.
Tithing is first and foremost an act of worship. It reminds the giver that they owe everything to the receiver.
It doesn’t come from a place of debt, it comes from a place of gratitude and joy.
But it speaks a lot more in the case of Abram in light of the King of Sodom’s offer to reward him for his effort. Abram doesn’t want anything to do with Sodom—even to take what may be rightfully his. Instead he make the statement that he can’t be bought and he owns no-one anything, but owes God everything.
From the Trinity Confession of Faith, Chapter 25.1 & 2
An oath is a part of religious worship, in which a person swearing in truth, righteousness, and judgment, solemnly calls God to witness what he promises and to judge him according to the truth or falseness of it.
The name of God is the only name by which men ought to swear. It is to be used with all holy fear and reverence. Therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful and to be abhorred. Yet, in matters of great significance an oath is warranted by the word of God, under the New Testament as well as under the Old. So an oath being imposed by lawful authority in such matters ought to be taken.
We are not to take oaths carelessly—as we are asking the Lord to judge us according to how well we keep our word. We are inviting him to hold us accountable to our choice.
Hebrews 6:16—"For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation."
I’ve already described how he was disassociating with anything to do with the world around him, but I can’t make it more emphatic that the text demonstrates to us. This language is strong and certain.
So when we consider why Melchizedek was significant to Abram—simply from the perspective of this story, we can see why he mattered, and why Abram treats him the way that he does. But there is more to the story I think.
He was significant to Abram, so he is important to us—but for a more significant reason than just what we see in the text. The Bible has more to say about him. To do this we are going to zoom in on Abram. Like a scene from a movie where we get a glimpse into what the protagonist is thinking and it zooms out into a big picture view. So, buckle up, we’re going to 30 thousand feet!
First of, because in a series called, Right from the Start it’s worth pointing out that this is the first mention of a priest we see in Scripture—in all of Genesis actually. Well, unless you want to count the Egyptian priest of On father-in-law of Joseph. But I don’t.
The next priest that we see interact with in Scripture, that we want to count is Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. There are some very interesting parallels between Jethro and Melchizedek, which we’ll get to, but later.
Melchizedek is referenced only two other times in Scripture—three times total.
Here in Gen 14, in Ps 110 and in the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 5-7.
Ps 110:1, 4 — "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever After the order of Melchizedek.'The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath."
This passage was actually used by Jesus to challenge the Pharisees on who they believed the Messiah was. They said he was the Son of David. And Jesus challenges them to answer how is it that David could call the one who was descended from him, “My Lord”. Peter brings this up later in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, remember that Jesus made this comparison of himself to David. The greater son, the Lord.
Heb 7:1-4 — "For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!"
In a sermon on Psalm 110 titled ‘Getting Excited about Melchizedek’, D. A. Carson says this:
Most of the controlling themes in the Bible do not resonate very well with the dominant secular culture of the West—and for that matter with many other cultures as well. Think through many of the controlling categories: Covenant, Priest, Sacrifice, Blood offering, Passover, Messiah, King, Day of Atonement, Year of Jubilee.
As Carson explains, priesthood and kingship are among Scripture’s many controlling themes that ‘do not resonate’ with Western culture. Priesthood is a strange notion to secular sensibilities. Moreover, kingship, particularly Scripture’s notion of kingship, is mostly a foreign concept in a postmodern, anti-institutional, autonomy-loving society.[1]"
In his book on the “The Royal Priest” Matthew H. Emadi quotes Crispin Fletcher-Louis who says:
Priesthood has been marginalized in modern biblical studies.’ …For the modern age of Kantian rationalism, the cultic affairs of priestcraft were nothing more than an ancient fiction. In a world of electric light and radios (still more, mobile phones and the internet), an office that claims access to the divine realm had to be the product of an unenlightened age or the attempt of power-hungry individuals using religious affairs to gain power in society.”[2]
The theology of priesthood in the Bible has taken a backseat to its history.’[3]
So as people who live in a postmodern, anti-institutional, autonomy-loving society we need to understand the significance of Priests and Kings.
Someone who represents God, ministers on behalf of God, a mediator between God and man.
As we see in Genesis, Adam was the first person to fill this position in history. He’s never called a priest in scripture, but he was made in the image of God, representing him in creation and given a task to mediate his command; fill the earth with the glory of God, both in his image and in bringing order to creation.
We know Adam failed to perform his duties and from then the role of priest changed. Rather than all humans being priests, only those ordained by God were able to represent him—and that as much to represent man to God as to represent God to man.It took on a mediatorial role. The next most obvious people to fill this role are Noah and Abram. We see Noah offer sacrifices and Abram build altars… they are fulfilling the Adamic command to go out and make a world that worships (alters) the Lord.
The Lord gives them a covenant, sending them out into a place where he promises to them and commands them to make his name great.
We see a very similar interaction in Exodus with Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, the Priest of Midian. He performs a similar act to Mechizedek after Moses and Joshua return from escaping Egypt (Ex 18:9-11)
In a very real way, we even see the official division between Priest and King immediately after this—beginning with Moses and Aaron. Moses was the Judge the Magisterial King figure and Aaron was the first high priest.
It’s important to note that Moses was not a king. He was very clearly not a king of Israel. But it was in God’s covenant with his people that he claimed they would be a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation”.
Ex 19:5-6 — “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel”
This is a call back to the Garden and the original intentions that God had for Adam and his offspring. He wants a direct relationship with all his people. All men are mankind are his image-bearers and he wants direct access to them.
However, it is under Moses and Aaron that we see most starkly that while this is God’s end coal is to have direct relationships with humanity, his covenant with his people requires extreme measures must be taken to protect them from his presence in their midst. This is a huge step for mankind. God is choosing to dwell in their midst—in the midst of his chosen people. He sojourns with them, presented as a Cloud and Pillar of Fire. Here God establishes for himself a priesthood to mediate the covenant between God and his people.
He also instructs the tabernacle to be built. This, we learn in Hebrews is a shadow of the heavenly tabernacle, where God lives. This earthly tabernacle was as much a shield for the people, the curtain of the Holy of Holies and the Mercy seat guarded by multiple entrances to ensure that no one would enter unworthily and be killed because of their sin in his Holy presence.
Deut 18:1-5 — “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the Lord’s food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time."
The Levites are chosen as a tithe from the people, a special people from within the special people, to minister to the Lord on the people's behalf. The Lord gives his share, his tithe, to them as an inheritance and also gives them himself. This represents what what God wants for all his people.
So we see how God instituted a priesthood, but what about the role of king?
A King is a person who has authority to lead a people, in civil, judicial and martial decisions.
The Lord did make an allowance for the role of a human king among his people.
Deut 17:14-15 — “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother."
While the Lord did make this consession for a human king in Israel, God’s design intention seems to be for himself to be their king and for there to be Judges. Moses, being the first. However we learn later that Israel's appeal for a human king is a rejection of God as King
1 Sam 8:7-9 — "And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
“A judge over us, go before us and fight out battles” (replacing the Judges). Samuel warns Israel about taking a king, that it was a rejection of Yahweh as their King, and there will be unwanted consequences to a human king. Nonetheless, Saul is selected and given to them as their first king.
From a historical standpoint, there is no evidence that any of Israel’s kings also held the office of the priesthood. The Mosaic and Davidic covenants separated the offices of priesthood and kingship, not allowing the king and the priests to encroach upon each other’s jurisdiction (1 Chr. 16:16–23). The union of these offices in Psalm 110 appears to be a novelty in the biblical record, leading some scholars to conclude that David received this information as a new special revelation from God.[4]
Saul attempted it and was punished.
1 Sa 13:9, 12-14 — "So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, “What have you done?". And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Uzziah, did well until he decided to offer incense in the temple to the Lord.
So we may ask, where in the world did David get the idea that a priest king was a good idea? And why in the world would he look at Melchizedek? God promised David that his son would build the temple
1 Ch 17:11–14 — "When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, 14 but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’"
Is this what inspired David to write Ps 110? We know that David's son Solomon would build the first temple in Jerusalem, but did David only have him in mind? I think not. I think that he realized that there was more to it. He realized that the role was more than just a king building a house for God; it was for a king who would also be a priest—a priest-king.
Later we see that the Lord reaffirms just this thing to Israel after they return from their Babylonian captiviity. A captivity by the same people that Abram routed from the land in our text from Genesis 14.
Zec 3:8–9 — "Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day."
Then again, a couple chapters later:
Zec 6:11–14 — "Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” ’ And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah."
This is the promise given to Isreal, just before the 400 years of silence that precedes the arrival of Jesus, of whom the author of Hebrews tells us. The crown will be in the temple of the Lord. In that day the Branch will come and in that day the iniquity of the people will be removed in a single day. Who comes on the scene of history referred to as the Branch of David, the one who will rebuild the temple in three days, who removes the iniquity of the people.
Heb 4:14–5:10 — "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek"
Jesus is the fulfillment of these promises. He is the decendent of Abram, the offspring of David who is greater than him and a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. It is he who now rules from the throne, in the temple of the Lord, who removes the iniquity of the people and mediates on their behalf. Representing man to God and God to the man.
Now a way has been made to restore man to a priest relationship with him. Remember his covenant to Israel: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (Ex 19:5-6)
Consider the new covenant he makes with them?
Jeremiah 31:31 — “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Here what Peter says to the believers after the resurrected Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father: "We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people for his own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Pet 2:9, 11)
Carson answers again, ‘(it is)precisely because is both king and priest, the figure Melchizedek turns out to be one of the most instructive figures in the Bible for helping us put our Bibles together’.[5]
Because Melchizedek is the first and best example of who the Messiah will be. He is the King of Righteousness, the Priest forever. He represents a restored nation where everyone is a priest king alongside the High Priest, King Jesus.
Heb 5:7-10 — "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek."
It matters because we have a great high priest who intercedes for us from the throne in the true temple. A godly judge, under the law, a holy minister, advocate and mediator of God’s judgment. Jesus as your king and your great high priest. The Temple curtain torn from heaven to earth. The world flooded with the Holy of Holies.
Heb 10:19 — "We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus"
He is our strong and perfect plea. Just like the Levites, just like Abram, our inheritance is Christ, God himself. What tongue could bid us hence depart. Jesus is the proclamation of God’s love for the world and we are chosen and invited to be a kingdom of priests to our God (Rev 1:6)
We are now one with him as he prayed on the night of his Crucifixion—that we would be one as he is one. That night he also gave his people bread and wine as a victor’s meal. He has left that for us as a fellowship meal, inviting us to celebrate the victory he has won, the lives he has saved and fellowship and blessing he wants us to share with him. So therefore, in the words of Heb 4:16:
"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people for his own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Let us as a people of God, with his Law on our hearts, a holy people, a royal priesthood proclaim the excellencies of him who a King and Priest, after the order of Melchizedek!
[1] Matthew H. Emadi, The Royal Priest: Psalm 110 in Biblical Theology, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 60, New Studies in Biblical Theology (London; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022),
[2] Matthew H. Emadi, The Royal Priest: Psalm 110 in Biblical Theology, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 60, New Studies in Biblical Theology (London; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022), 3.
[3] Matthew H. Emadi, The Royal Priest: Psalm 110 in Biblical Theology, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 60, New Studies in Biblical Theology (London; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022), 4.
[4] Matthew H. Emadi, The Royal Priest: Psalm 110 in Biblical Theology, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 60, New Studies in Biblical Theology (London; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022), 2.
[5] Matthew H. Emadi, The Royal Priest: Psalm 110 in Biblical Theology, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 60, New Studies in Biblical Theology (London; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022), 2.
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