Vision Logo Circle
Vision Logo Circle

Comparison Of Priesthoods Pt 1

by | Mon, Feb 28 2022

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We’re going to spend a couple of programs looking at the role of the priesthood, in particular the person of Melchizedek and how he compares to Jesus and then we’ll compare the priesthood of Melchizedek and Aaron and learn why they were so important.

First of all, who was Melchizedek? In truth, there’s no way we can actually be certain of his true identity because there’s very little information about him, and even with the information we have, we can still only speculate. There are varying opinions about him and the arguments for them are all good, but we still have to be honest and conclude that we’re really not sure. Was he a pre-incarnate revelation of Jesus – a theophany – or was he only a type of Christ-like priest and king? He was definitely the latter but we’re really not sure about the former.

There are only two places in the Old Covenant that mention Melchizedek…Genesis 14 and Psalm 110.

Genesis 14 is the account of Abraham following after the kings who had raided and conquered Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities because they’d taken all the citizens captive, including his nephew Lot and his family. So Abraham pursued them, conquered the conquerors and rescued his family. On his way home, he stopped at the city of Salem and that’s where the priest/king Melchizedek ruled. Melchizedek was a high priest to the One True God, so he was not only a believer in Ya-hovah – God – but he was a high priest…in that specific place where the city of Jerusalem would eventually be established and at the time of Melchizedek, the city was named Salem which means ‘peace’.

In Psalm 110, David was prophesying about the Messiah and in verse 4 it says, ‘The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”’

Now David wasn’t talking about himself, he was a king, but Israeli law forbade kings from being priests and visa versa, it’s the main reason king Saul was rejected by God because he presumptuously performed the role of the priest when he should have waited for Samuel instead, whose role it was to perform the sacrifices. (1 Samuel 13:5-14)

So when David was talking about the Messiah who would be a priest and king forever according to the order of Melchizedek who held both roles. This means that the Messiah would be both a king and a priest and He would be eternal in those roles. The Messiah – prophesied in Psalm 110 – would be in the order of Melchizedek who was both a king and a High Priest.

What are the other characteristics of Melchizedek? Hebrews 7 lists some things for us.

  • King of Salem (which means king of peace) [v 1-2]
  • Priest of the Most High God [v 1]
  • His name means ‘king of righteousness’ [v 2]
  • No mother, no father & no family lineage [v 3]
  • No beginning and no end [v 3]
  • Is a perpetual priest before God (eternal) [v 3]
  • Held the right to receive tithes [v 4-8]
  • Was a priest before the establishment of Aaron’s priestly family line [v 9-11]
  • There was no Temple in Salem, and there’s no mention of sacrifices but there could have been – speculation
  • He is the only priest before the One True God mentioned, there’s no mention of other priests serving alongside or with him

So is Melchizedek a theophany…a pre-incarnate revelation or appearing of Jesus in the Old Covenant? If you look at those criteria you might say yes, he ticks all the boxes, what about verse 15?

Hebrews 7:15, ‘And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek…’

‘Another’ means ‘one not of the same nature, form, class, kind…different’.

‘Likeness’ like or similitude, something similar, resembling or corresponding to.

So there’s no clear cut answer as to whether Melchizedek is Jesus or not, but what we do know is that Jesus is qualified to fill the role of the same priestly ministry that Melchizedek filled as well as the role of a king, like Melchizedek did.

The book of Hebrews is primarily about the superiority of Jesus priestly role over that of the Aaronic priestly role. As briefly mentioned earlier, Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek which meant that Melchizedek was in the role and held the authority to receive those tithes. However, at the time, Aaron hadn’t been born. Aaron wasn’t born until hundreds of years later after Abraham had died and the Hebrews had been living in and enslaved to the Egyptians for 400+ years and the priesthood hadn’t even been established. So, Aaron – as yet unborn and not even thought of – was still in Abraham’s loins so to speak. But Melchizedek was alive and had always been alive.

The One who would be in the likeness of Melchizedek wasn’t in the loins of Abraham because He had to be eternal, already existent.

Yes, I know that Jesus is of the family line of king David, but remember that His conception was miraculous, not through the normal course of human conception but by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Jesus actually admitted that He was not of the genetic line of Abraham when He said…

John 8:58, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I Am.”

Jesus paternal human genealogy comes through His being a step-son to Joseph, but by birth through Mary and both family lines belong to the family of David.

So whether Jesus was Melchizedek or simply in the likeness of Melchizedek, He qualifies for both the role of Priest and King of the Most High God.

Next time we’ll do a comparison of the different priesthoods.

 

Shalom

Mandy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based on an article from chosenpeople.com