CityView Magazine

12 | October 2015 earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you." en Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered. (Genesis 14.) So what is the significance of Melchizedek? And what are we to make of his offering of bread and wine? Let's review the evidence. Melchiz- edek's name is translated as "King of Righteousness" (Hebrews 7:2). e Prophet Isaiah said about Christ, "Be- hold, a King will reign in righteous- ness…" (Isaiah 32:1). Melchizedek was "made like the Son of God" (Hebrew 7:3). Christ is the only begotten Son of God: "We have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" (Hebrew 4:14). Melchizedek "had neither begin- ning of days nor an end of life" (Hebrew 7:3). Christ has no beginning of days or end of life because He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, eternal and everlasting (Revelation 1:8). Melchizedek blessed Abraham (Gen- esis 14:19), which indicates he is great- er than Abraham because the lesser is blessed by the superior (Hebrew 7:7). Christ is the great High Priest, and His greatness exceeds both Abraham's and Melchizedek's: "For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin- ners, and has become higher than the heavens" (Hebrew 7:26). We are told that Melchizedek is the King of Salem (Salem is related to the word shalom and it means "peace"). Likewise, Jesus is the Price of Peace. Melchizedek was both a king and a priest. is was unprecedented. e only other biblical figure who held both of these offices was…Jesus. faith Ancient Clues One such "mystery" is the elusive character Melchizedek. We first en- counter him in Genesis Chapter 14. "Melchizedek, the king of Sa- lem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: 'Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and BY BOB HACKENDORF "Professor Plum did it with the lead pipe in the conservatory." Many of us have fond memories of rainy days spent playing the board game "Clue." e game involves gath- ering clues in order to solve a fictitious murder mystery. Sometimes, the Scrip- tures contain captivating mysteries as well. How the figure of Melchizedek in Genesis is representative of Jesus Christ Abraham and Melchizedek by Thomas Christian Wink (1738-1797). The Priest-King Melchizedek offers bread and wine and blesses Abraham. From this evidence, it is clear that Melchizedek represents Jesus Christ. He is a foreshadow and picture of the Messiah that was coming.

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