Run if they have all the answer

 

Hebrews 5:1-10

Over the years I’ve grown wise to those who seem to always have an answer to every mystery.  The Bible is full of mystery, and many seem to have no understanding, they seem to be without any reasoning, any equation, it seems as if we must choose to believe or not believe.  Is it possible to explain God by anything but faith?  Some might say yes, we see God in creation, in the order of the universe, and in the birth of a child, and I would agree with that, but that still does not explain God.   God has stated clearly in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”   And if that was not so you would not need faith, and you would not need God.  Today I am looking at one of those mysteries found in Hebrews 5:1-10, who can explain this person Melchizedek?

Melchizedek is addressed in Scripture ten times, and seven of them are in the book of Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1,10,11,15,17.  He is also referred to in Genesis 14:18; and Psalms 110: 4.  Beginning in Genesis 14:18, you find Abram, long before God changed his name to Abraham, coming back from rescuing his nephew Lot, and the women and the people and the kings of Sodom when out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh.  Verse 18, “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)  And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”  So we have this information, Melchizedek was a king of Salem, a priest of God Most High and he blessed Abram.  He also makes it clear that Abram with 318 men did not defeat this army of kings, but it was the unseen God who delivered them into his hands.

In Psalm 110 we have king David giving a prophetic statement about Christ and verse 4 injects this insight; “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”  It is noteworthy to mention that the time line from Abraham to Moses was about 540 years and it is over 80 years from that time before we see Aaron being appointed by God as a priest.  So we add to the puzzle this fact that Melchizedek is a priest of God, some 620 years before a priestly line was established on the earth.

In fifth chapter of Hebrews we have this introduction of how and why a high priest is chosen.  “For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”  Moving to verse 5, “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 said also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”  Verse 10, referring to Jesus, “being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”  So what is the order of Melchizedek?  Chapter seven gives some light on the subject, but you will never understand Melchizedek any more than you will God unless you address it by faith.

Hebrews 7:1-3, “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.”  After reading that you must come to the understanding that this Melchizedek is not a created being, he had no beginning or end, he is like God, and there in opens a can of worms that is impossible to understand using logic, it will require faith. 

I do not have to understand nor do you these deep truths of God, but we do have to choose by faith to believe this; “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  (Hebrews 11:6)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice