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The Priest upon His throne.
Melchisedec was both king and priest. These two offices were kept distinct under the
economy of the law. We may remember the awful judgment that fell upon Uzziah when
as king he sought the priesthood also. In Christ alone can these two wondrous offices
meet. Zech. 6: 12, 13 says:
"Behold the Man Whose name is The BRANCH . . . . . He shall be a Priest upon His
Throne."
The epistle of "suffering and the glory that follows" names those who thus overcome
"a royal priesthood" (I Pet. 2: 9), and Revelation, that book of the overcomer, speaks of
Christ as:
(1)
Prince of the kings of the earth--KING.
(2)
One Who looses from sin by His blood--PRIEST,
and as a result constitutes those thus blessed:
"Kings and priests unto God and His Father" (Rev. 1: 6).
Melchisedec is the priest of the victor, and the Lord is seen in that capacity in Rev. 1:
This is shown by noticing what particular incident of Melchisedec's history the Apostle
next mentions, the consideration of which we must defer until the next article in this
series.
No.36. The Priest of the Overcomer.
"Who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings"
(7: 1).
pp. 141 - 150
Gen. 14: gives the names of these kings, and describes the battle which they fought.
Lot, type of the worldly believer, type of the one who would not "lose his soul" as
Abraham did, became involved in the fate of Sodom, becoming a prisoner.
It is suggestive that the one who escaped and came with tidings tells "Abraham the
Hebrew", "Abraham the pilgrim", a title that suggests the very opposite of Lot's
condition. He it was who overcame these kings, brought back the spoils and rescued Lot.
It is here, at this moment of victory, that Melchisedec appears. The effect of this meeting
is seen in Abraham's reply to the king of Sodom:
"I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven
and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take
any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich" (Gen. 14: 22,
23).