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PERFECTION
PERDITION
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OR
As we have before noted, there is one meaning of the word `forerunner' that is not mentioned by commentators.
Prodromos occurs twice in the LXX but in neither case does it refer to a `forerunner' in the sense usually attaching
to the word. The two passages are:
`Now the time was the time of the FIRSTRIPE grapes' (Num. 13:20).
`As the HASTY fruit before the summer' (Isa. 28:4).
In both cases the meaning is the first ripe fruit. The reference in Numbers 13:20 is to that occasion when the
spies entered into the promised land, the results of which form the background of Hebrews 3 and 4, where Caleb and
Joshua stand forward as overcomers. Christ as the `Forerunner' is Christ the `First-fruits'. Here He is seen as the
pledge and earnest of the overcomer. As the `Forerunner' or `First-fruits' He is seen in Hebrews 12:2:
`Who for the joy that was set before Him (cf. the hope set before us) endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God'.
If then we consider the hope itself, we find it a sure and stedfast anchor; or the anchor ground, we find it to be
grounded in `that within the veil'; or the encouragement of example, we find it in Christ the Forerunner and `first
ripe Fruit' of the harvest of many sons He is leading `to glory'.
We have now reached that stage in the unfolding of truth that necessitated the fuller mention of the Melchisedec
priesthood of Christ. To this the writer now proceeds, and by a series of statements sets forth the superiority of the
Priesthood of Christ to that of Aaron, bringing this established fact to bear once more upon the great theme of the
epistle, `perfection' (7:11,19). If we keep this before us, we shall be less likely to be overwhelmed with the mass of
detail that meets us in this section. Omitting the parenthetical details, the proposition of Hebrews 7:1-3 reads:
`For this Melchisedec ... abideth a priest continually'.
The intervening details supply the necessary information to establish this proposition.
Melchisedec was first of all KING OF SALEM. Jerome maintains, in his epistle to Evagrius, that this Salem is a
city near Shechem, mentioned in Genesis 33:18 and John 3:23. Salem, however, is used to indicate Jerusalem in
Psalm 76:2:
In Salem also is His (God's) tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion'.
There are some who think that after the Jebusites took possession of the place it was called Jebus-Salem, which
became transformed to Jerusalem. We find in Joshua 10:1-4 that the king of Jerusalem was called Adonizedec,
which has much the same significance as that of Melchisedec.
Not only was Melchisedec king, but he was `PRIEST OF THE MOST HIGH GOD'. This title El Elyon, `The Most
High God' is used for the first time in Scripture in connection with this incident (Gen. 14:18). The various titles of
God are used with precision and with special regard to the relationship intended in each particular passage. For
instance, Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 treats of creation, and the title used through the record is Elohim, `God'.
Immediately we commence `the generations', in verse 4, the title changes to `the Lord God'. Coming to
Abraham's time we have not only the title `The Most High God' but in Genesis 17:1:
`I am El Shaddai; walk before Me, and be thou perfect',
and again in Exodus 6:3 we read:
I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of El Shaddai, but by My name Jehovah was I not
known to them'.