"THE HOLIEST OF ALL" part L

MELCHIZEDEK MADE LIKE UNTO THE SON OF GOD.
Hebrews 7: 1-3  For this Melchizedek, King of Salem, Priest of the God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, King of Righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is, King of Peace; Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God), abides a Priest continually.

Fifth Section
Hebrews 7:1-28
The New Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek

BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY

In chapter 5 we read that Jesus was called of God, even as was Aaron. In many points Aaron was a type of Christ. But there were other respects in which the priesthood of Aaron utterly failed even to prefigure that of Christ. By a Special Divine provision the name of another is found, in whom, what was wanting in Aaron as a type, was foreshadowed. The difference between the priesthood of Aaron and Melchizedek is a radical one. In the right understanding of what that difference is, and in the knowledge of that in which Melchizedek has been made like unto the Son of God, lies the secret of this Epistle, and the secret of the Christian onto the Christ-like life in its power and perfection. The secret may be expressed in one word--- PRIEST FOREVER.

The whole place Melchizedek occupies in Sacred History is one of the most remarkable proofs of the inspiration and the unity of Scripture, as written under the direct supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. In the Book of Genesis (chapters 14 and 15) all we know of him is told in three short, very simple verses. A thousand years later we find a Psalm (110: 4) with just one single verse, in which God Himself is introduced, swearing to His Son that He is to be a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Another thousand years pass, and that single verse becomes the seed of the wondrous exposition, in this Epistle, of the whole work of Redemption is Revealed in Christ Jesus. All its most remarkable characteristics are found enveloped in the wondrous type. The more we study it the more we exclaim: This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. We see in it nothing less than a miracle of Divine Wisdom, guiding Melchizedek and Abraham with a view to what was to take place with the Son of God two thousand years later; revealing to the Psalmist the secret purpose of the Divine mind in the promise made to the Son in Heaven; and then, by the same Holy Spirit, guiding the writer of our Epistle to his Divinely-inspired exposition. To the believing mind no stronger proof of inspiration could possibly be given. It is indeed the Eternal Spirit, the Spirit of Christ Himself, through whom all was wrought and in due time recorded.

In the first three verses of our chapter we are reminded of the story of Melchizedek, and the exposition is given of his name and history. His name signifies--- King of righteousness. He is also called, from the city where he reigned, Salem, meaning Peace--- the King of peace. The two titles thus combined proved how he was destined of God to be the figure of His Son. Righteousness and Peace are mentioned together both in the Old Testament and in the New as characteristic Blessings of the Kingdom of Christ. Righteousness as the only foundation of Peace: peace as its sure and blessed result. The Kingdom of God is Righteousness and Peace, and, as the sure fruit of these, joy in the Holy Ghost.

Melchizedek was priest and king--- a thing unknown in all the history of Israel. What was always kept asunder in God's people had, by the Divine forethought, been united in Him who had been made like unto the Son of God. It is the Glory of Christ as the Priest-King that our Epistle is specially to unfold.

The silence of Scripture as to his genealogy and birth and death is then interpreted as proof of how different his priesthood is from that of Aaron and the priests in Israel, where descent was everything. So had God prepared in him a wondrous prophecy of His Son, whose right to the priesthood lay in no earthly birth, but in His being the Son of God from eternity to eternity. Made like unto the Son of God, Melchizedek abides a priest continually.

A Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This word of God is in the Psalm which forms the connecting link between Genesis and our Epistle. The Holy Spirit who first inspired it, and then expounded it, is waiting to lead us into the Mystery of its Glory, as a Living experience. That word forever, that we meet in the expressions, Priest forever, eternal Salvation, eternal Redemption, Perfected forever, not only signifies without end, but infinitely more. God is the Eternal One; His Life is Eternal Life. Eternal is that which is Divine, in which there is no change or decay, but everlasting youth and strength, because God is in it. The Everlasting Priesthood of Christ means that He will do His work in us in the Authority and power of the Eternal Life, as that is lived in God and Heaven. He Lives forever, therefore He can save completely.

May God Teach us to know what it means that Christ is our Melchizedek, a Priest forever. It is the spiritual apprehension of this Everlasting Priesthood, as communicating even here and maintaining an Everlasting, Unchangeable Life in us, that lifts our inner experience out of the region of the external, the effort, and change, and failure, into the Rest of God, so that the immutability of His Counsel is the measure of that of our Faith and Hope.

1. In this chapter we have now the beginning of the things hard to be understood except by the perfect. It is only those who press on to perfection, who long to possess the very utmost of what God is able to Work in them through Christ, who can inwardly appropriate the Revelation of the Eternal Priesthood. Neither talent nor genius can suffice--- it is the heart that thirsts for the Living God that will understand this Teaching about our being brought nigh to God.
2. The Holy Spirit, through whom the history was recorded, and the Oath to the Son revealed, and the exposition inspired, can alone lead us into the Spiritual Power and Blessing here revealed. And the Holy Spirit only leads as He is known as the indwelling One, is waited on in deep humility, and yielded to in meek resignation. What a solemn, Holy, Blessed thing to believe that the Spirit of God is Leading us into this Perfection-Truth as a possession and experience.
3. He abides continually: an Unchanging, Never-ending Life, the characteristic of Melchizedek, who was made like to Christ, of Christ in His Heavenly Priesthood, and of the life of the believer who learns rightly to Know and Trust Him.