Prepare for Christmas: The Sixth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Friday, December 7, 2018

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9

As we have seen and will see again, Jesus came to earth in human form and grew, just as we do. Remember yesterday when I mentioned Luke 2:52 where Jesus grew in several ways? In wisdom – as he learned; in stature – physically from a baby to a man; in favor with God – as he learned to be obedient to is Father; and in favor with man – as he learned to live with others who did not understand him? He did this so we would not perceive him as a distant, unknown God who could never understand our lot in life. Ben said recently in Bible study that we must never forget that Jesus was “100% man and 100% God.” What a huge difference seeing Jesus in this light makes to our faith!

But the Scripture also says, “He was made a little lower than the angels.” That does not mean he was created, for we have also seen that he had “no beginning and no end.” It means instead that it was necessary for him to have this earthly, created human, lower-than-the-angels form in order that he might by God’s grace shed his blood on a cross vicariously for us. Only another man – a perfect man – could atone for our sin. Only a perfect sacrifice could bear the punishment for our sin. Only a perfect, loving God through a perfect son could accept a perfect sacrifice for an imperfect human race.

I have a little new great granddaughter. I have watched her mother hold her, attend to her little baby needs. I’ve watched the expression on her face as she speaks loving words to this child who has much to learn and has no idea what her mother is saying. Soon I know that Dorea (our baby) will respond to her mother’s voice with smiles and sounds. I have watched love in action as Rita (my daughter-in-law) teaches her newborn what unconditional love is all about – long before she is capable of rationalizing what is happening in her newly discovered universe. I imagine God looking at his own son and loving him with unconditional love. I will always be awed by the fact that he would allow him to come, knowing that he would have to die to buy back from evil the humans God loves so much.

God made Christ Jesus – who is our Priest/King – a little lower than the angels, so that he could fulfill the most noble of purposes. He would “taste death” for everyone – even you – even me! “And when I think that God his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in! That on that cross, my burden (black ghastly sin) gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great thou art,” how very, very great thou art!

The Hebrew writer says so simply, “But we see Jesus . . . .” The more I read and the more we consider the depth of the Word’s presentation of just who Jesus is, the more I wonder. Do we really see Jesus? The real Jesus or just our preconceived notion of who he is? A little baby in a manger at Christmas or the biblical revelation of God’s multifaceted self?

Prayer: Father, there are no words to tell you how amazed we are at this gift you have given us – Jesus Christ your Son! Help us to remember – not just at Christmas but all year long – how costly this gift from you was. We write thank you notes for gifts from friends. Help us to live in such a way that our lives will be our thank you not to you! Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

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

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Fifth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Thursday, December 6, 2018

. . . To the Son he says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness . . . ; therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.” You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of your hands. Hebrews 1: 8-10

I always hope that you will read the entire passage when I quote a tiny portion of a chapter. Though I try to get enough of the Scripture for you to understand its context, sometimes that is a bit of a strain. For example, here the writer makes a clear distinction between God’s angels and his Son. The angels, though bright and powerful, are lesser beings than the Son who is king forever (v. 8). Both are present at creation but only one laid the foundations of the earth and with his hands formed the heavens.

Just as Melchizedek simply “appeared” in the Genesis account we read earlier, a king who had no beginning and no end, here as in many places in the Bible we see Christ in that same light. He was in the beginning and his throne is forever and ever!

If you wonder why this is important, I hope you will continue to read for a day or two more, as we see the greater meaning of eternal – that is, not just no ending out in the future but no beginning in the past, existing before anything else was! We are so inclined to think of Jesus as having come to earth at Christmas, when actually he has been involved with and coming to earth in and since creation. It’s just that at Christmas, he came in a form we can imagine, an infant, so we could see him and relate to his growing up just like we did, just like our children do.

He was actively involved in creation; he was/is the eternal king. We cannot comprehend there being no such thing as time. Our finite minds cannot comprehend a being who preexisted time. We actually cannot comprehend God. So God came as an infant at Christmas because he understands how difficult it is for us to fathom preexistence. He knows a little baby boy we do understand.

Prayer: Thank you, Father, that Jesus came to show us in flesh your very person whom we struggle to understand. We cannot think in timeless terms when there was no heaven and no earth, when there was only You – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – moving about with your angels but longing for someone like yourself to commune with. But when you came to us as a baby, “grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:2) even as we must do, when you walked on tired feet from town to town, wept with your earthly friends as they sorrowed, and longed for company when you were in distress, we can almost see you. Thank you for your every effort to reveal yourself to us. Thank you for not only showing us the Man Christ Jesus but for revealing to us the preexisting Christ Jesus so we can at least try to imagine you – our no-beginning, everlasting God! Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

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

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Fourth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

And when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Hebrews 1:6

The heading in one of my Bibles entitles this portion of Hebrews 1, “The Son Superior to the Angels.” I don’t usually read the headings too carefully. I know that they are not part of the inspired text but are additions by some editing team, there to help us in our study, and I appreciate that, but I still often skip them. This time, however, I did not skip over the heading.

Have you ever wondered about the angels at Christmas. I have. Luke says, “And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.’” I’ve wondered how much the angels know in advance about what is going on in the world. How do they get to the right places at the right times? A lot of times when I have had a near accident or come close to something tragic, I feel sure divine intervention has taken care of me. When Peter was in prison and the disciples were praying for him, remember the little girl, Rhoda, who went to answer a knock at the door? There stood Peter, freed from prison, but she wouldn’t open the door. Instead she ran back to those praying for Peter and announced, “He looked like Peter.” And they responded, “It must have been his angel!”

So, do we all have an angel? Are they always there? How do they know when we need them? I don’t think we have to wonder how they got to Bethlehem on that Christmas morn. According to our text today, God had ordained not just a choir of angels but “all of God’s angels” to worship him.

Babies were born all the time, but a king’s birth was celebrated with pomp and circumstance. God planned an humble but glorious entry for his Priest/King Son. Imagine the sight and sound the shepherds witnessed! All the angels of heaven filled the air with their brilliance and their song! Wouldn’t David Lemly love to direct such a choir? No wonder the shepherds were, as the King James Version of the Bible says, “sore afraid!” God planned an humble but glorious entry for his Son, our Priest/King!

Prayer: Father, as we try to comprehend the enormity of this holy birth, fill our hearts so with gratitude that we, too, will sing with joy and gusto, “Glory to God in the highest.” Amen

And Who is Melchizedek?

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

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Third Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Hebrews 1:1-3a

The Word of God sometimes staggers me! I grasp something new and wonder how in the past I could have missed it. “God spoke . . . in various ways.” In various ways! What else have I missed? When I know that every word is important, why have I not looked more carefully at every word so as not to miss anything he tried to tell me about himself?

The writer of Hebrews won’t begin to talk about Jesus as the Priest/King until several chapters later, but here in the prologue to his book he carefully describes exactly who Jesus is and what his authority is.

This tiny baby, meek and mild, is the absolute heir of everything that God has made and that exists. How terribly guilty I am of forgetting this. I often refer to the “house I have in Florida,” or my things I have inherited that fill my house, or who will inherit what when I die. How foolish! It is all God’s and Christ is the heir of all, not I! And not my children! The Hebrew writer says gently but clearly “Get your priorities in order. You belong to God and everything you think you have belongs to his Son!” But then the Holy spirit reminds us that the New Testament also tells us that we believers are “heirs and joint heirs with Christ.”

We draw a picture of the tiny one in the manger, put a little light around his head, and call it his halo. No. The Book tells us. It’s not his halo; it’s the radiance of God revealed in this tiny child! And though he could not speak yet in his tiny form, he still held everything together. Even the baby sounds he made became his universe sustaining word!

The Christmas Baby! Our sustainer and Priest/King!

Prayer: Father, we are an egocentric people. We think we are the rulers of our domain, small though it may be. We forget that Christ Jesus has authority over all we are and have. We forget that our just King reigns. Christmas has become for us at best a beautiful child. Help us to see him as who he really is and to trust him, small though he is, as absolute authority. Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

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

messiahcob.com

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

messiahcob.com

First Sunday of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Sunday, December 2, 2018

After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with them, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the king’s Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Genesis 14:17-20

These four little verses are dropped down in the middle of a segment about battles. The scene occurred before God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and before God gave his great covenantal promise that he would bless Abram with land and children, and would make him a source of blessing to others who would come by faith to God. It’s also before Moses was given the Commandments.

I hope you’ll go and read the whole account, beginning in chapter 14:1. Actually, Abram’s intention was to rescue his kindred Lot who had been captured because he was living in Sodom. Many kings are mentioned in the battles, but in this passage from out of nowhere comes King Melchizedek, called not only king of Salem but also Priest of God Most High!

That’s amazing! Only one person is ever called both Priest and King. Jesus Christ! Melchizedek had not been mentioned in the lists of kings who had fought in the wars with or against Abraham. Yet suddenly he appears, coming from Salem (Jerusalem), the city of peace, bringing bread and wine!

Not only is his appearance amazing, but so are Abram’s actions. Verse 14 says Abram gave him a tenth of all he had! Before he knew God expected a tithe, Abram gave a tithe to a Priest/King!

So who was Melchizedek?

There is a word that we seldom hear – theophany – meaning the inexplicable appearance of God in human form. Some would argue that I stretch the point to call this such an appearance. But I believe that subsequent Scripture will support my theory that Melchizedek is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ – a theophany! This king came from Jerusalem, the City of Peace, making him the King/Prince of Peace, and he came bringing bread and wine – the very elements Jesus used to encourage us to remember him often. To further support his Deity, he allowed Abram to pay him tithes, which we know only belong to God.

As strangely as Melchizedek had appeared, he disappeared, not to be mentioned again until Psalm 110, and finally not again until Hebrews 7. We know that Christ was present at creation, and in fact, we’re told that he “made everything that was made” (Col. 1). Yet we have allowed ourselves to think only of his coming at Christmas. Is the Old Testament reference in Genesis and the Psalm a theophany – Christ’s appearance to Abram? I know what I believe about this appearance – about the intervention of Jesus before his human birth. I’ll leave that for you to ponder as we move forward toward Christmas.

Prayer: Father, you have limited us so that we are bound by time and space and matter. Yet we are bold to ask you to enlarge our understanding of you so that we do not confine you to our much-too-small box. Help us to grasp that though Jesus actually came to earth to dwell for 33 years on that first Christmas, he might not have been limited to that time. He could have appeared unrecognized before. Enlarge our understanding of Christmas and of you as we contemplate new thoughts about you and your Son. Amen

And Who Is Melchizedek?

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

messiahcob.com

Introduction: And Who Is Melchizedek?

Saturday, December 1, 2018

And Who Is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide

Introduction

Written by Patience Fort

Many of my readers knew my mother, Patience Nave. When she was 50 years old, she graduated from Western Kentucky University with her Bachelor’s degree. Bill and I graduated at the same time. She went on to earn her Masters in English and then taught in South America, China, and Florida. In her latter years, after serving for eight years on the Citrus County School Board in Homosassa, Florida, she began a short career as Education Coordinator/Minister in two churches: Homosassa First United Methodist Church and Rehobeth United Methodist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina.

As a minister in church education, mother did all kinds of things. She went to Haiti I-don’t-know-how-many times. She wrote the curriculum for and directed vacation Bible schools. She discipled many. And she taught countless Bible study classes.

Some of the things that I cherish from Mother’s years at her churches in Florida and North Carolina are the devotional guides she developed for Advent and Lent.  I have about six years of them. And now I enjoy reproducing them on my blog for all to read and enjoy.

This particular devotional guide is from December of 2012. It was her final Christmas at Rehobeth before moving to Richmond, Kentucky to be with us. Here is an excerpt from her introduction.

I’ve never before written about the theme I’ve chosen this year for Advent. This Christmas, I am going to try to take us to pictures of Jesus that we may not have thought of before – high and lifted up as the great, eternal High Priest of God. I’ll confess as I begin that I am a little threatened because I am not sure I am up to the task. As I have prayed about the theme, however, I keep being reminded of an Old Testament verse that has nothing to do with our usual thinking of Christmas: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4).

We seldom, if ever, refer to Jesus as our Priest or our High Priest. Maybe that’s because the Orthodox, Catholic, and Episcopal Churches refer to their clergy as Priests, and we are careful to maintain our Protestant position. We forget – or maybe even do not know – that the Old Testament spoke of the Messiah in a very exalted role – that of High Priest. I hope that being reminded of that brings a fresh awe to the humble birth of this lovely Hebrew baby who would be the Great High Priest of all believers – the Great High Priest of God.

As you prepare for Christmas 2018, my prayer is that this devotional guide will bless you beyond measure – that you will see our Lord in a whole new light – and that you will reflect His light to the people around you in the days to come.