GENESIS 14
In this chapter we get the first mention of priesthood, and, as usual when anything appears for the first time in Scripture, we have here the leading features of it. Melchisedec appears at an opportune moment for Abraham. The patriarch had been in conflict, and was returning victorious. The king of Sodom had gone out to meet him; he would honour the victor. Under such circumstances we are liable to give way, but the Priest appears and He enables us to refuse the offers of the world. Abraham was now the centre of God’s thoughts on earth and the priest was there to minister to him.
Melchisedec is a mystical person. The juncture at which he comes in, and the manner of his appearance and ministry, constitute him an adequate representative of Christ according to what He is personally as Priest. God had ordered things so that this remarkable type should exist. It is a great advantage to Christians to see the personal character of their Priest so strikingly presented, and this long before the earthly order of priesthood was instituted.
[p. 284] The greatness of Him who is Priest in Christianity is foreshadowed in Melchisedec, “Consider how great this man was”, Hebrews 7:4. Abraham was the greatest man on earth, yet Melchisedec was greater than he, for “the less is blessed of the better”, Hebrews 7:7. Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec through Abraham, showing that Christ’s priesthood is greater than Aaron’s. We may say that God had prepared Melchisedec, so that when Christ came, He could, through this type, set forth the superiority of the Lord’s priesthood; “he was made like unto the Son of God”, Hebrews 7:3. The order of Christ’s priesthood is first set forth in type, then He was designated by God as a Priest according to it. We can say nothing as to Melchisedec personally; his origin, death, etc., are withheld so that he should resemble the Son of God. He is king of righteousness and king of peace. The priesthood of Melchisedec is, in itself, millennial, for he was “priest of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth” Genesis 14:19; Aaron is, typically, the official priest, and the service of Christ now is carried on according to what he set forth. Aaron had charge of the testimony of God. He and his sons were to “abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the Lord”, Leviticus 8:35.
Christ could not be a priest in an official way before His death, for He was not of the tribe of Levi. He could not enter the holiest of all in the temple. Nevertheless He was engaged in priestly service while here on earth. A priest “is ordained for men in things pertaining to God”, Hebrews 5:1 and this was as true of the Lord in principle before His death as afterwards. Hebrews is contrast: if Christ were on earth “he should not be a priest” Hebrews 8:4; He is Priest in resurrection, “after the power of an endless life”, Hebrews 7:16.
Melchisedec is, figuratively, connected with another [p. 285] scene: he is king of righteousness and king of peace, and these elements were not found in the world out of which Abram had been called, and with which he had to do in his testimony. A man seeking to be here for God is in danger of being ensnared by the patronage of the world, but the priest brings to him the elements of another scene, and by these he is made superior to the offers of the world.
The epistle to the Hebrews lays great stress on the character of the Priest which Christians have. He is a new order of man entirely, and in another scene. As in the wilderness, and so experiencing all the exigencies and conflict which the maintenance of the testimony involves, it is wonderful to find the sympathy and support of Christ, the risen and heavenly Man. His greatness is pressed upon us, and we are affected by the atmosphere, so to speak, of the place in which He is. These things characterise our walk and testimony. Abraham owned Christ’s greatness in Melchisedec: he gave him tithes of all. Moreover, in speaking to the king of Sodom, he was in accord with that which Melchisedec represented: he says, “I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth”. Genesis 14:22. It must be remembered that, although the Lord is capable of entering into all our exercises as in the flesh, yet He can never be other than the Man typified by Melchisedec. Christ has been in our circumstances; He was tempted like as we are, and so can be touched with the feeling of our infirmity, but He is now in another condition and in another scene. The great gain to us is that He lifts us up to Himself where He is and as He is.