Thought for Thursday
As He saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Hebrews 5:6
Today’s text is referring to Psalm 110:4, which says, ‘The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec’. The verse is describing the priesthood of the Lord Jesus, and it identifies three wonderful things about that priesthood. First, the priesthood is established by an oath and declaration of God Almighty. Second, the priesthood is forever. Third, the priesthood is after the order of Melchisedec.
Being established by an oath of God makes Christ’s priesthood so much more valid than any priesthood established by men. It also shows how permanent this priesthood is, because an oath of God is immutable – that is just a big word that says that God cannot change His word or His oath.
A priest forever! That means our great High Priest is never to be replaced by another. This is different from the Aaronic high priesthood, in which high priests served in their office until they died, and were replaced by somebody else. That cannot happen with Christ; He is our high priest now, and will be so forever.
The third aspect of this priesthood is that of being after the order of Melchisedec. That is important, because the former Aaronic priesthood served the law, but Christ’s priesthood serves grace and truth (John 1:17). But why Melchisedec? We don’t really know much about this man. His encounter with the patriarch Abraham is described in only three verses in Genesis 14. In fact, we learn far more about him in the book of Hebrews than in Genesis. Like Melchisedec, Christ is both a priest and a king. As a king, Christ is like Melchisedec, whose name means king of righteousness. As a king, Christ is also like Melchisedec, who was king of Salem, which means king of peace. In fact, Isaiah 9:5 identifies the Lord Jesus as King of peace. Like Melchisedec, Christ is greater than Abraham, and therefore greater than all who came from Abraham’s loins, including Levi and the Aaronic priesthood.
Take a moment today to consider the greatness of our High Priest. That He is of the order of Melchisedec forever is pretty special! -Jim MacIntosh