{"id":28863,"date":"2023-11-23T22:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T05:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/hebrews-6_13-20-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-11-14T12:30:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T19:30:40","slug":"hebrews-7_1-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/hebrews-7_1-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Melchizedek?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hebrews 7:1-10 <\/strong>\u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s passage is\u00a0Hebrews\u00a07:1-10.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Hebrews 7:1-4 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-4:\u00a0\u00a0A few times already the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0has mentioned Melchizedek, saying that Jesus is a priest \u201cin the order of Melchizedek\u201d (for example, Hebrews 5:10; 6:20).\u00a0\u00a0Now who is Melchizedek?\u00a0\u00a0Melchizedek is a mysterious figure who is first mentioned in Genesis 14 where Abram has just returned from victoriously battling a number of kings.\u00a0\u00a0All of a sudden, Melchizedek king of Salem appears, bringing bread and wine (Genesis 14:18).\u00a0\u00a0In addition to being a king, Melchizedek is also called \u201cpriest of God Most High\u201d (Genesis 14:18) and blesses Abram (Genesis 14:19).\u00a0\u00a0Did you notice the parallels between Melchizedek and Jesus Christ?\u00a0\u00a0For example:<\/p>\n

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  • Melchizedek is simultaneously a king and a priest.\u00a0\u00a0In fact the first mention of \u201cpriest\u201d in the Bible is with reference to Melchizedek.\u00a0\u00a0Similarly, Jesus is both our king of kings and our great high priest.<\/li>\n
  • Melchizedek brings out bread and wine (Genesis\u00a014:18).\u00a0\u00a0This points forward to the Last Supper where Jesus likens his soon-to-be-crucified body to bread and his soon-to-be-shed blood to wine and tells his disciples to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of Him.<\/li>\n
  • Melchizedek\u2019s name means \u201cking of righteousness\u201d (v2).\u00a0\u00a0His title \u201cking of Salem\u201d, literally means \u201cking of peace\u201d (v2).\u00a0\u00a0Likewise, Jesus is our king of righteousness and peace.<\/li>\n
  • Melchizedek\u2019s family tree, including his father and mother, are not mentioned.\u00a0\u00a0There is also no mention of his death.\u00a0 Given how he is described on paper, Melchizedek is \u201cwithout beginning of days or end of life\u201d and in this way \u201cremains a priest forever\u201d (v3).<\/li>\n
  • Abraham gives to Melchizedek a tithe (one tenth) of everything he received (v4), just as we are to pay a tithe, a tenth of everything we receive, to Jesus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    In all these ways, Melchizedek is \u201clike the Son of God\u201d (v3).\u00a0\u00a0So is Melchizedek actually Jesus?\u00a0\u00a0Some scholars consider Melchizedek to be Jesus Christ Himself.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another interpretation is that Melchizedek is a \u201ctype of Christ\u201d, that is, a person or thing that symbolizes and points forward to the person and work of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

    Why is this significant?\u00a0\u00a0It shows that\u00a0many centuries before Jesus was born into this world, the Old Testament was already speaking about the person and work of Jesus Christ<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0From this we also learn that\u00a0Jesus is our perfect priest forever, whose existence and priesthood have no beginning and no end<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Hebrews 7:5-10 (NIV)<\/strong>
    \n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people–that is, their brothers–even though their brothers are descended from Abraham.
    \n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.
    \n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.
    \n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living.
    \n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham,
    \n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.<\/em><\/p>\n

    On verses 5-10:\u00a0\u00a0After pointing out that Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek in verse 4, the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0dedicates the next 5 verses to talking about that fact in more detail.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because Abraham tithing to Melchizedek teaches us a number of truths:<\/p>\n

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    • Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, for the one who gives the tithe is servant to the one who receives the tithe.\u00a0\u00a0When you tithe, you\u2019re acknowledging that Jesus, the one you\u2019re tithing to, is greater than you;<\/li>\n
    • Melchizedek\u2019s priesthood is greater than the priesthood of Levi, Abraham\u2019s great grandson.\u00a0 That’s because Melchizedek was a priest long before Levi was even born (v10) and Melchizedek was apparently still around after Levi had passed away (v8).\u00a0\u00a0Also, the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0suggests that Levi effectively tithed to Melchizedek by paying it through Abraham (v9), since Levi \u201cwas still in the body of his ancestor\u201d Abraham (v10) when Abraham paid the tithe to Melchizedek.<\/li>\n
    • Tithing is not something that came from the law of Moses, since Abraham was tithing long before Moses instituted tithing.\u00a0\u00a0Do you tithe to God faithfully?\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t let anyone fool you when they say \u201cwe are no longer subject to tithing because we are no longer subject to the law of Moses\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Here we see that tithing preceded the law of Moses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Just as Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, we as children of Abraham by faith ought to tithe to our Melchizedek; His name is Jesus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Father, thank You for how Melchizedek points us to our perfect and eternal high priest forever, Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Abraham faithfully tithed to Melchizedek, may I faithfully tithe to my King of righteousness and peace, Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0I recognize today that whatever I give You is nothing compared to all that You have given to me.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      <\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n

      Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

      Today\u2019s passage is\u00a0Hebrews\u00a07:1-10.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

      Hebrews 7:1-4 (NIV)
      \n1\u00a0\u00a0This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him,
      \n2\u00a0\u00a0and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.”
      \n3\u00a0\u00a0Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
      \n4\u00a0\u00a0Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!<\/p>\n

      On verses\u00a01-4:\u00a0\u00a0A few times already the writer of\u00a0Hebrews\u00a0has mentioned Melchizedek, saying that Jesus is a priest \u201cin the order of Melchizedek\u201d (for example, Hebrews 5:10; 6:20).\u00a0\u00a0Now who is Melchizedek?\u00a0\u00a0Melchizedek is a mysterious figure who is first mentioned in Genesis 14 where Abram has just returned from victoriously battling a number of kings.\u00a0\u00a0All of a sudden, Melchizedek king of Salem appears, bringing bread and wine (Genesis 14:18).\u00a0\u00a0In addition to being a king, Melchizedek is also called \u201cpriest of God Most High\u201d (Genesis 14:18) and blesses Abram (Genesis 14:19).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28863"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28867,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28863\/revisions\/28867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}