Melchizedek

Overview

Melchizedek: The Mystery Man Who Points Us to Christ

Few figures in Scripture appear as briefly—or as significantly—as Melchizedek. He steps onto the stage in Genesis 14:18-20, where he meets Abram returning from rescuing Lot. Identified as both "King of Salem" and "priest of God Most High," Melchizedek brings out bread and wine, blesses Abram, and receives a tenth of everything. After this brief encounter, he disappears from the Old Testament narrative, returning only as a passing reference in Psalm 110. Just who is this man of mystery?

The writer of Hebrews helps us see what makes Melchizedek so striking. In Hebrews 7:1-3, we learn his name means "king of righteousness," and as king of Salem he is "king of peace." He is "without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life… he remains a priest forever." This doesn't mean Melchizedek had no earthly parents, but rather that Scripture deliberately records no genealogy for him. This is remarkable because under the Levitical system, priesthood was strictly tied to genealogy—you had to descend from Levi—and it was temporary, serving from age 25 to 50. Day after day, Levitical priests offered sacrifices that, as Hebrews 10:11 reminds us, could never take away sins; they only made worshippers ceremonially clean.

Melchizedek functions as a type—a person, practice, or ceremony in the Old Testament that points forward to its fulfillment in the New. Just as the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness Numbers 21:5-9 became the very image Jesus used to describe His own crucifixion in John 3:14-15, and just as the sacrificial lambs pointed ahead to the Lamb of God, Melchizedek prefigures Christ. Jesus is our King of Righteousness and King of Peace. He is a priest whose office is not bound to Levi—He came from the tribe of Judah—but whose priesthood is permanent. As Hebrews 7:24-25 declares, "He holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."

Here is the pastoral heart of the matter: unlike Levitical priests who offered animal sacrifices, Jesus offered Himself. On the cross He took our sin upon Himself and clothed us in His righteousness—what Luther called the Great Exchange. Because His tomb is empty and He lives and reigns, we have peace with God. The separation caused by sin has been healed; we are reconciled to the Father through the Son. Melchizedek may remain a man of mystery, but the One he points to is no mystery at all. In Jesus, there is no doubt about how deeply you are loved.

Transcript

Let's open up our Bibles, please, to the seventh chapter of the book of Hebrews this 1s

morning for our study. 7s

Hebrews the seventh chapter for our study. 9s

Game shows. 15s

The article said that the greatest game show of all time is jeopardy. 17s

And as you went down the list and they put a numerical ranking with regard to all the game shows, 25s

number six on the list was a show called What's My Line. 30s

It's had several different versions over the decades. 37s

The premise is very, very simple. 41s

You had a group of celebrities, a panelist, and you had a contestant. 44s

And the panelist had to guess the occupation of the contestant. 48s

They could only ask questions that could be answered with a yes or no. 55s

And if they got 10 noes, well, that would mean that the panelists had been stumped by 62s

the contestants. 70s

It's an interesting show. 71s

And the highlight of the show, each week, was the mystery guest. 73s

The panelists would all put on these blindfolds and the mystery guest would come in. 79s

They would sign on the board their name and then take their seat. 85s

And usually they'd have to disguise their voice because they were recognizable if they 91s

would be seen. 95s

It was the same rules. 96s

They would do the questions and if there were 10 noes, then the mystery guest would be 98s

the one that would have stumped them. 104s

As we study today, we have a mystery guest of mystery man, Mel Kizaddek. 109s

Just who is this guy? 120s

Who is this mystery man, Mel Kizaddek? 124s

The mystery starts a long way back. 131s

All the way back into the 14th chapter of Genesis. 134s

So if you keep your finger in Hebrews 7th chapter, if you were going to return there, 138s

let's start in Genesis the 14th chapter because that's where the mystery starts. 143s

Just a little backdrop. 150s

This section of Scripture talks about a man by the name of Abraham. 153s

God would later change his name to Abraham. 157s

But here in the story, he's still Abraham. 161s

Abraham had a nephew by the name of Lot who lived in Sodom. 166s

There was a conflict and Lot was taken captive. 170s

Abraham then went to rescue his nephew. 174s

When the rescue was complete, Abraham came with the people and the possessions and brought 180s

them to the king of Sodom. 187s

But when that exchange was going to occur, there was also another king present. 192s

King Mel Kizaddek. 201s

King Mel Kizaddek. 204s

Picking up in Genesis the 14th chapter verse 18, we read this. 207s

And King Mel Kizaddek of Salem brought out bread in wine. 214s

He was priest of God most high. 218s

He blessed him and said, the lesson be Abraham by God most high, maker of heaven and 221s

earth. 228s

And blessed be God most high who has delivered your enemies into your hands. 230s

Here's the thing. 238s

This section is the last that we hear of Mel Kizaddek in the entire Old Testament. 242s

There's only one other reference in the Old Testament to Mel Kizaddek and that's in 250s

Psalm 110. 255s

But this little exchange where there's King Mel Kizaddek with King Sodom and Abram. 258s

This little exchange is the only reference outside of the quick little glance on his name 267s

in Psalm 110. 273s

It's the only reference in the entire Old Testament. 275s

So just who is he? 282s

Anyway, who is this man of mystery? 286s

Well, let's go to Hebrews 7th chapter. 295s

Hebrews 7th chapter verse 1. 300s

We read this. 303s

This King Mel Kizaddek of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham as he was 305s

returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. 313s

So just exactly what we read in Genesis 14th chapter. 316s

And to Abraham, a portioned one tenth of everything. 321s

His name in the first place means King of righteousness. 325s

Next, he's also King of Salem that is King of peace. 331s

Then verse 3, without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning 339s

of days nor end of life. 350s

But resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. 354s

Man of mystery. 384s

Indeed, let's get a little backdrop to this now. 393s

Jacob in the Bible had 12 boys. 400s

These 12 boys became the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. 404s

Notice where it says he remained a priest forever. 412s

Well, in ancient day, all of the priests came out of the tribe of Levi, one of Jacob's 418s

sons. 425s

So if you were priest, you came out of the tribe of Levi. 426s

What did the priests do? 433s

They offered sacrifices. 435s

Day after day after day, after day, animal sacrifices. 438s

In Hebrews 10th chapter, it says this. 446s

And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same 452s

sacrifices that can never take away sins. 460s

So in the morning and the evening, these priests would be offering the sacrifices. 468s

These priests from the tribe of Levi. 472s

But the thing is, those sacrifices could never ever take away the sins. 476s

It could never bring about the forgiveness of sins. 481s

So what did the sacrifices do then? 485s

The sacrifices made the people clean on the outside, made them ceremonially clean. 489s

But they could never ever take away sin. 497s

And here's also an aspect of the priesthood. 506s

It was temporary. 510s

You became a priest when you were 25 and at 50, you were done being a priest. 513s

So 25 years, start at 25 and at 50, you were done being a priest. 518s

It was temporary. 523s

Let's go back now to verse 3. 528s

It says, without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of 533s

days nor end of life. 543s

And at the very end, then, a verse 3, it says, he remains a priest forever. 546s

Well, certainly he had a father and a mother, he was a human being. 554s

What the Bible is telling us here is there's no recorded genealogy with regard to Melchizedek. 561s

In other words, there wasn't a, this is who his father was, this is the mother, 568s

here coming out of the line of Levi, he was a priest. 573s

No, he wasn't in the line of Levi. 578s

There's no genealogy that's given. 584s

Again, it says without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning 589s

of days nor end of life. 594s

In other words, his priesthood was not connected with his genealogy. 599s

It wasn't that, well, here's his genealogical line, he comes out of the tribe of Levi. 609s

Therefore, you see, he is a priest. 614s

No, his priesthood was not connected to his genealogy. 617s

So, he wasn't temporary, he was a priest forever. 625s

Okay, so he's a king, he's a priest, doesn't come from the Levitical line and his priesthood 635s

is forever. 649s

Man of mystery. 653s

Indeed. 659s

Well, let's keep digging here. 663s

Let's go, please, to numbers chapter 21, the book of numbers in the Old Testament. 666s

Numbers chapter 21. 673s

And we're going to pick up in verse 5 of numbers 21. 676s

There, the scripture says this, the people spoke against God and against Moses. 682s

Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? 691s

For there's no food and no water and we did test this miserable food. 695s

Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many 701s

Israelites died. 708s

The people came to Moses and said, we have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you, 710s

pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us. 717s

So, Moses prayed for the people and the Lord said to Moses. 722s

Make a poisonous serpent and set it on a pole and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live. 729s

So, Moses made a serpent of bronze, put it on a pole and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. 739s

Jesus takes this imagery. 755s

This imagery from this story and he refers to it in John 3 chapter. 759s

Jesus says this, and just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, 764s

that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 776s

He takes that image in the Old Testament and he uses that image and he applies it to himself. 783s

This is what is called a type, a type. 796s

A type is a person, it's a practice or it's a ceremony that we see in the Old Testament, that has a counterpoint in the New Testament. 802s

So, just as that story about the serpent on the pole and looking and the people then were spared, 815s

so also Jesus lifted up on the cross and all who look unto him, all who believe in him, heavy eternal life. 823s

You see the story in the Old Testament was a type, a type looks ahead, it points ahead to something that will come. 835s

Another example is sacrificial lambs, all the lambs that were sacrificed in the Old Testament. 846s

Well, those sacrificial lambs were a type, a type of the lamb of God who would come and bear the sin of the world. 856s

Could it be that this man of mystery, this smell, kizadek, could it be that he's a type that he's a type? 869s

The very last show of the original version of what's my line. 895s

The very last show they came to the mystery guest time. 902s

The host then said, now we'll have the mystery guest, so please put on your blindfolds and all the panelists put on their blindfolds. 908s

Then the host said, mystery guest, please sign in. 916s

Right after he said that he quickly got up, he went behind the curtain, came out the other side of the curtain and signed his own name in. 923s

And then went to sit down as the mystery guest. 934s

He of course was disguising his voice. 938s

The panelists started to ask the questions. 941s

So there were several questions. 944s

But the panel, the panel wasn't stumped. 948s

Because before they reached the limit of the ten-no answers, one of the panelists said, 953s

are you the host of what's my line? 961s

He had been figured out, all of the questions, all of the clues it had become obvious. 969s

Keep asking the questions. 985s

Keep following the clues and it becomes obvious with who our mystery man is. 988s

Let's go back now to Hebrews, but seventh chapter. 1004s

So we know he was a king. 1009s

We know he was a priest. 1012s

Look at the second part of verse two. 1015s

His name in the first place means king of righteousness. 1018s

Next, he is also king of Salem. 1025s

That is king of peace. 1029s

So he's a king. 1034s

He's a priest. 1037s

His name means righteousness. 1039s

His name means peace. 1042s

Then into that verse three, without faith, without father, without mother, without genealogy, 1046s

having neither beginning of days nor end of life. 1053s

So his priesthood was not linked to his genealogy, and then the very last part of verse three. 1058s

But resembling the son of God, he remains a priest forever. 1066s

Jesus is the king of kings and lord of lords. 1081s

Jesus is the priest. 1093s

But this priest, Jesus doesn't offer the animal sacrifice. 1098s

This priest, Jesus, offers himself on the cross, 1103s

shedding his own blood for our sin, 1111s

winning for us for given us. 1116s

This Jesus is righteous. 1122s

Luther talked about the Great Exchange, where Jesus takes our sin upon himself and gives to us of his perfect life, 1127s

his righteous garment. 1139s

Jesus is peace because of the sacrifice on the cross. 1142s

Because the sacrifice has been accepted because his tomb is empty, 1150s

and Jesus lives and reigns, we have peace with God. 1154s

Sin had separated us from God Almighty. 1163s

This goal had happened because of our sin, and Jesus comes, 1168s

God in the flesh to deal with that broken relationship, 1173s

reconciling us unto God. 1179s

And his priesthood is not linked to his genealogy. 1186s

Because Jesus didn't come out of the tribe of Levi. 1194s

Jesus came out of the tribe of Judah. 1202s

The scripture tells us in verse 24, 1210s

it says, He holds speaking of Jesus, 1216s

His priesthood permanently, 1220s

because He continues forever. 1223s

Consequently, He is able for all types of things. 1227s

He is the time to save those who approach God through Him, 1230s

since He always lives to make intercession for them. 1235s

Who is this Melchizedek? 1246s

He's a type that pointed ahead to Jesus Christ. 1250s

Melchizedek, man of mystery. 1261s

Well, no, He was a type, a type pointing to Jesus. 1266s

And when it comes to Jesus, there's just no mystery. 1278s

About how much He loves you. 1288s