The Entire Story of the Bible is about Jesus, Part 3 :: By Sean Gooding

Genesis 14:19:20

“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he gave him a tithe of all.”

Hebrews 7:1-10

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,  to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.

Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.

Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.”

We continue our journey in the Old Testament, showing places where Jesus shows up in various ways. Last week, we looked at the account of the Ark and made the point that all that was required for people to live through the Flood was to be IN the Ark. In the same manner, all that is required for eternal life is that we be IN Christ. He is our salvation and the only means of being saved.

Today, we will look at one of the most interesting and intriguing characters of the Bible. We first meet him in Genesis 14, and then He shows up in various passages all through the Scriptures, and we find a final mention of Him in Hebrews.

We find him in Psalm 110:4, and we find that He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. In this passage, David is making a prophecy about Jesus. Jesus refers to this Psalm once when challenging the Pharisees about Himself. IN Matthew 22:42-46, Jesus challenges the Pharisees about Jesus’ deity; he points out that David calls Him Lord, even though, as a human, he is David’s son. This is an example of Jesus showing that He existed long before He was born of a woman. Then in the same passage, God, called LORD, shows that Jesus, Lord, will be a priest ‘forever’ after the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus is NOT a priest after the order of Levi; why? Because what Levi was, through Aaron, was a temporary thing. The sacrifices were temporary; the Old Covenant was temporary, and there was a New Covenant coming in the Person of Jesus.

When we meet Melchizedek, he is coming out to meet Abram, who is returning from a military victory. You should take the time to read the whole chapter if possible. As Abram is returning, he is met by the Man, who we are told in Hebrews is the King of Righteousness and that He is the King of Salem, which is translated the King of Peace. Both of these names are names for Jesus. In Hebrews 1:8, we see this promise from God to Jesus,

“But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy Kingdom.”

A scepter is one of the instruments of the King. IN Genesis 49:10, we have this promise to the tribe of Judah, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Thus, we can clearly see that Jesus is the King of Righteousness.

In Isaiah 9:6, we see this prophecy written about 750 years before Jesus was born, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

The Prince of Peace is another name for King of Peace, so we see here that the child that is born is the King of Peace. In addition to these, we see in Hebrews that Melchizedek has neither mother nor father, he has no genealogy, and he has “neither beginning of days nor end of life.” These are all attributes of God. Thus, we can conclude that Melchizedek is God, Jesus in the flesh, who came out to meet Abram on his return from the war. To add more credence, we see that Melchizedek was the King of Salem.

A little history will tell you that when Abram entered the land of Canaan, there was an ancient city of the Jebusites called Salem (Generationword.com). The name was at one time ‘Yerushalem,’ which means the foundation stone of Shalem or the cornerstone of peace. Many believe that this is where the original cornerstone of the earth was laid by God when He formed the earth. David captured the city around 1005 BC (2 Samuel 5:6-7:9), and it has been associated with the Jews ever since. It is still the capital city of Israel to this day. So, Melchizedek, the King of Jerusalem, the King of Righteousness, and the King of Peace came out to meet Abram. He fed him bread and wine, ‘Lord Supper,’ before the Passover ever existed, and blessed Abram.

Lastly, and it is important to note that both in Genesis and in Hebrews, this is mentioned: Abram paid tithes to the King of Salem. Tithing existed BEFORE the Law of Moses. Abram gave tithes to Melchizedek, and it is noted that Aaron, or Levi, paid tithes through Abram to Melchizedek. Abram paid Him, Melchizedek, from the profits of all he brought back from winning the battle. Tithing of our profit has been and continues to be a principle of those that are Abram’s children and that serve Jesus the King. We are told that Abraham is the ‘father of all who believe’ in Romans 4:11.

Once again, we see Jesus in the Old Testament, showing up as the King of Jerusalem and blessing Abram. Jesus is everywhere in the Bible; the entire story of the Bible is about Him. He is the first and the last, the Creator and the Sustainer of all, and He is both the beginning of the story and the end. Jesus, it is all about Him.

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