Prepare for Christmas: The Second Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Monday, December 3, 2018

Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”  Psalm 110:3b-4

The last place you will find the name Melchizedek in the Old Testament is here in Psalm 110. The next time we will read about him is in Hebrews, where he is mentioned very significantly several times. The fact that he appears only twice in the Old Testament and in only one book in the New makes us wonder how important he can be. But as we go on, I think you’ll see that God is telling us something very important about his son.

I hope you will take the time to read all of Psalm 110 because it is a Messianic Psalm – an entire Psalm about Jesus.

As I read, I wondered about the meaning of Melchizedek. Biblical people did not choose names as casually as we do. Their names had a message. So I went to my Strong’s Concordance to discover the meaning of this difficult word. Zedek, the root of the word, is the one from which we get the name Zedekiah, meaning “God is my righteousness,” and with the prefix Melchi added to Zedek, Melchizedek means “Zedek is the just of God.” Thus Melchizedek is the “just/righteousness of God.”

So, coming to our New Testament theology, who is Jesus? In John 10:20, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” Only “God is just” (I Thessalonians 2:5). So if God is the only one who is just and Melchizedek is the “just of God,” does it not stand to reason that the one called Melchizedek is, indeed, an Old Testament theophany? God who is not bound by space and time appeared in Genesis as the Priest/King and refers to his son in the Psalms as the Priest/King, the just one, the righteousness of God.

Some of this may seem too technical to be of benefit to us, but I wonder if it is. Have we too long looked at Christ Jesus as a baby in a manger? Have we failed to see the Messiah in his fullness—the Priest, who judges justly and the King who rules with a righteous hand? Have we realized that there is little strength in a tiny infant, but in a Priest/King, there is great strength and power? Our lives change forever when we submit to the authority of Christ—not just as Savior but as Priest/King?

I try to submit myself to Ben’s authority because I believe that God has given him great responsibility for a time to lead us as our shepherd. But the Psalm says that Melchizedek is my Priest forever—my just and righteous Priest!

Yet he looks so tiny and frail lying in that lowly manger!

Prayer: Father, your Word tells us that we should “study to show ourselves approved,” yet we spend so little time in the Word – so little time carefully examining it to see if we have missed some great promise or message you have for us. We have been satisfied with a child-like understanding of Christmas and the Christmas baby. Help us to grasp the fact that our spiritual guide—our Priest and our King—lay in that manger, vulnerable to the world for a time. Help us to appreciate him and his authority in a new way in this Advent season. Amen

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

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