Melchizedek (2)

Roughly 600 years later, David makes a passing reference to him in Psalm 110 where, prophesying about the Messiah, David says, "The Lord has sworn: You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." Certain passages of the OT were understood, even before the time of Jesus, to be messianic in nature. In Matthew 2:1-6, we see that the Pharisees knew the Messiah was supposed to be born in Bethlehem; they regarded Micah 5:2 as a prophecy. Psalm 110, the one that mentions Melchizedek, is another of those passages that everyone knew to be messianic prophecy. Jesus quotes it in Matthew 22:41-45, and the Pharisees unquestioningly accept him because they agreed that it was messianic. What's really crucial to note is that Jesus was quoting that psalm to refer to himself, to claim the things that were written in it, which include being a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

All of this brings us to the book of Hebrews, a book that was written to (as the title might suggest) Jewish people, who were having some questions about how to move from the old covenant of the OT law to the new covenant of grace. The writer's main point beginning in 4:14 is that we have no more need for an earthly priesthood like the one practiced in the OT because Jesus is now our high priest, the intercessor between us and God. (This is one of many reasons why the Mormons and Catholics get it wrong; Jesus abolished the priesthood, so any sect that reestablishes one is taking a step in completely the wrong direction.) However, this idea of Jesus being a high priest would have caused some problems for the Jews, because they knew that the OT law restricted the priesthood to only those people who were Levites descended from Aaron. Jesus, in accordance with prophecy, came from the line of David and the tribe of Judah. Therefore he wasn't qualified to be a priest under the OT law.


Article Source: FaithWriters.com http://www.faithwriters.com and FaithReaders.com http://www.faithreaders.com