And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)
Genesis 14:8 (ESV)
There is something about Jerusalem that seems to be mysterious and more significant than any other city on the face of the earth. Jerusalem, known here in our text as Salem has endured through the centuries, having been sacked and destroyed repeatedly, yet today we can walk its streets and witness its history displayed for all to see. This is the first mention of Jerusalem in the Bible. But already it was a city of some significance. It had a king, Melchizedek, who is identified as a priest of the most high God. Historians explain that Jerusalem was a Jebusite city before David conquered it and made it his capital. My point is that God had his hand upon Jerusalem long before it appears in the Bible. We don’t know what its shadowy beginnings might have been, but to our God, this city, which often sank into idolatry and divine judgment, sometimes called Babylon because of its wickedness, is ground zero, central in the plans of God. Before we reach the end of the Bible, we see Jerusalem rebuilt and coming down out of the heavens as a bride adorned to meet her husband. There is just something about Jerusalem.
Just as mysterious as the city of Jerusalem is the first king of the city that we have a record of, Melchizedek. We know almost nothing about this man except that he is called a priest of the most high God, and was recognized as such by Abram when Abram paid tithes to him from the spoils of war. Here again, we see God at work in the world in ways that we do not know. Somehow, in this hotbed of Canaanite idolatry, God had raised up a man that we knew nothing about, to be his high priest. If we follow this man through the Bible, we can begin to see that he held a very important place in the revelation of the priesthood of Jesus. In an inspired Messianic Psalm, David revealed the significance of this mysterious man.
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
Psalm 110:4 (ESV)
Nothing more is said until we read the book of Hebrews and there the inspired author makes much of Melchizedek as the order of priesthood from which Jesus descended, (Hebrews 6-7). The ancient priests of Israel were all qualified by their ancestry. They had to be able to identify their place in the genealogy of their family. Jesus, like Melchizedek, had no such credential. Melchizedek was a type and shadow of Christ. It is not that he literally had no parents, but that no one, even the ancient Jews, had any record of who he was or what his ancestry was. God qualified Jesus as His high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Brothers and sisters, there is just something about Jerusalem, and Jesus is the high priest of that great city.
My Prayer For You Today
is that you will not fail to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as you anticipate the day when the New Jerusalem will become the place of the throne of King Jesus.