God’s Use of Scripture

God’s Use of Scripture

The case of Melchizedek and his typification of Christ’s new order of Priesthood, as set forth in Genesis 14:18-20 and Hebrews 7 :1-3, is difficult of comprehension by some. The question centers on the nature of Melchizedek’s eternity, which is asserted in Hebrews 7:3.

 

The answer is, of course, he was not himself an eternal being, but prefigured Christ, who is, and serves as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary without the interruption of death, which limited the tenure of the Aaronic priests.

 

For the purpose of clarifying the point, we offer a statement of the situation. By God’s design, the Genesis account is a restricted literary portrayal of an historical situation intended to depict the eternal nature of One then yet to come. God so ordered the record as to have Melchizedek appear and leave the stage of action with no account of his beginning or end given. It was simply God’s manipulation of the history to convey the impression He wanted to give of the actual nature of Christ’s Person and ministry.

 

Obviously, Paul’s inspired interpretation of the incident. coupled with David’s prophecy concerning it in Psalm 110:4, was required to bring out the significance of the occurrence. So perceived, the whole episode provides a vivid demonstration of the precision with which God uses the Scriptures to serve His purposes. —Fred O. Blakely