I covered the Nephilim in a previous video not too long ago and it seemed to spark quite the discussion in the comment section so today I'm hoping to give you something else to argue about Melchizedek he was a man who served as the king of Salem later known as Jerusalem his name means king of righteousness and his position is not only King but also priest of the god most higher his one physical appearance in scripture is very interesting and what is said about him later in scripture adds more depth to the mystery to begin to
unravel the true identity of Melchizedek we need to look at these three important portions of scripture and evaluate what they're trying to tell us about this man he first appears in Genesis 14 his one and only physical appearance then he's mentioned A Thousand Years Later by David in Psalm 110 and another Thousand Years Later by the author of Hebrews with seemingly no trace of him anywhere in between despite appearing in less than 25 Bible verses Scholars theologians and historians argue over his identity more than anyone else in the Old Testament there seems to be three
main theories on who Melchizedek was which I want to discuss today many believe he falls into one or more of the following categories a type of Christ someone who represents an aspect of Jesus but is still a regular human a christophany a pre-incarnation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament or just a regular historical figure before we can get into the theories we need to get to know the man himself let's dive into his first appearance in scripture in Genesis 14 18 to 20. Abraham had just rescued his nephew lot from a band of Allied
Kings and he'd received a bunch of plunder keep that in mind because after the battle he went to meet with the king of Sodom but the passage seems to be interrupted by these three verses 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 higher 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 the next verse goes right back to the
king of Sodom making these few verses seem strangely disconnected but what do we learn from them well he's called the king of Salem later known as Jerusalem Salem also being another word for peace so he's the king of peace and the priest of God most high now King and priest are two distinct titles with very important meanings they are a reflection of God's character as Creator and deliverer it says that Melchizedek blessed Abraham now remember this because it'll be very important later on Melchizedek affirms that God blessed Abraham with his victory and as a response
Abraham tithes to Melchizedek meaning that he gave him 10 of the plunder he won from Battle most of us will be familiar with the levitical priesthood established about 600 years later through Moses and Aaron the Israelites were required to tithe 10 to support the Levites who would carry out the job of priest after this exchange melchizedek's name is not mentioned for about a thousand years until he resurfaces in a single verse of a single psalm Psalm 110 is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament and there's a good reason why it's a prophetic Psalm
describing God the Father talking to Jesus the son verse 4 says the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek this passage acts as a bridge connecting Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7. for the first time in a thousand years it mentions melchizedek's name and his name is tied to none other than Jesus Christ himself now let's talk about Hebrews 7 because this passage is the reason we're discussing Melchizedek at all Hebrews 7 opens by summarizing the account in Genesis 14. it then begins to unpack
it most notably verse 3 saying without father or mother without genealogy without beginning of days or end of life resembling the Son of God he remains a priest forever other key things we learned about Melchizedek are that he did not Trace his priesthood from Levi and he was greater than Abraham now both of these would have been huge Shockers for the Jewish audience to hear I mean every priest they've ever known has come from the line of Levi and above Levi says the father himself Abraham but the Hebrew author here seems to be saying that
by blessing Abraham Melchizedek is greater than him and by receiving a tithe from Abraham he's above the aaronic order of priests meaning that he has his own separate and greater priesthood than the levitical Lion a priesthood shared by none other than Jesus himself so based on what we have in scripture what can we conclude about Melchizedek I think we can safely cross out the regular historical figure as he's clearly much more than just a normal person so it seems that Melchizedek was either a type of Christ or an actual appearance of Jesus let's look at
the reasons supporting the christophany argument the most controversial verse on Melchizedek is also the strongest evidence for his pre-incarnation the verse claims that he had no father or mother no genealogy and remains a priest forever not only that he is also described as resembling the son of God [Music] The Bread and Wine offered to Abraham in Genesis 14 is a clear symbol representing the communion emblems celebrated in the New Covenant some believe that Jesus was revealing how he would sacrifice himself thousands of years before it actually happened the Israelites understood that priests who worshiped the
true and living God Yahweh must stem from the line of Levi however both Melchizedek and Jesus do not originate from the Levites yet are called priests forever they're both part of the same order of priests and since there's no lineage between them they are the only two individuals in the order and by saying that Melchizedek is Jesus Jesus then owns and occupies the entire order of priests exclusively commonly understood by Jews that the only person who could be greater than their father Abraham was the Messiah himself and Melchizedek proved his superiority over Abraham by blessing
him as Hebrews says leading some to conclude that Melchizedek couldn't have been anything less than an appearance of the Messiah now you may be convinced already but wait until you hear the end of this argument because it may completely change your mind now a type is a prophetic symbolism generally highlighting something from the Old Testament and connecting it with something in the new for example the flood in Noah's time is the type of baptism symbolizing the washing of evil and the new start for the believer people argued that Melchizedek was a type of Christ meaning
he represented Jesus in one way or another the type argument implicitly affirms that if Melchizedek was a type of Christ he wasn't a christophany and the strongest argument for his typology is oddly enough the Silence of scripture Alastair beg while discussing Melchizedek said the Silence of scripture is pregnant with meaning some people believe that certain types of Christ are written in specific Ways by the Holy Spirit to enhance their typology or to tie them to Christ more clearly and directly those who hold to the type of you will testify that Melchizedek did in fact have
a mother and father he was born and he did die but this contradicts what said about him in Hebrews the reason this can be possible is simply because those background details weren't included in the Genesis account when the author of Hebrews is referring to Melchizedek he is speaking based on the information we have in Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. in Genesis 14 he is without father and mother the absence of these things makes him a stronger and more pronounced type of Christ when the Hebrew author addresses Melchizedek it helps his readers understand how exactly Jesus
priesthood works and who he is as a deity so the exclusion of that information is the reason the Hebrew author spoke so much about Melchizedek because the way he's presented makes for an excellent type of Christ but there's one incredibly important thing we need to know about Melchizedek the most important fact the reason he's in the Bible at all let me read this passage to you now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office but because Jesus lives forever he is a permanent priesthood therefore he is able to
save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them melchizedek's priesthood has created for us a perfect and eternal high priest a high priest who truly meets our needs one who is Holy blameless pure set apart from Sinners exalted above all Heavens unlike the other priests he didn't need to bring countless sacrifices day after day instead he sacrificed himself so that our sins may be cleansed once for all we do have such an amazing high priest foreign [Music]
