COPYRIGHT WARNING

365 Prophecies: Prophecy 7

The Messiah shall be The King of Peace and The King of Righteousness, like Melchizedek.

Old Testament Prediction:

Genesis 14:18-20a “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he gave him a tithe of all.”

Genesis 14:18-20 “Then Melchizedek king of Salem…

The word Salem means “Peace.”

New Testament Fulfillment:

Hebrews 7:1-3 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him… to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace… without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.

Revelation 19:16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Application:

Is time travel possible? Can a person move from one point in time to another? In this 7th Prophecy of the Old Testament, Jesus fulfills this amazing prediction in a most unusual way.

There are many instances in the Old Testament where a person described as The Angel of the Lord appears before men. In each of these occurrences, it is widely accepted amongst scholars and those who comment on the scriptures that these appearances of the Angel of the Lord are the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Jesus is appearing in the form of a man before He took the permanent body of a human being at Bethlehem.

The technical term for a physical appearance of God to a human being is called a “Theophany.”

A few of the better known places, in the Old Testament, where Jesus appears as The Angel of the Lord are as follows:

To Hagar in Genesis 16:7
To Abraham in Genesis 22:11
To Moses in Exodus 3:2

In each of these cases, it is the pre-incarnate Jesus who is speaking to Hagar, Abraham and Moses. In order for Jesus to be able to speak with each one of these people, He had to pierce the time continuum and appear before them as a man.

It seems to be the purpose of God that He shows us that He is not restrained, or limited by time. Because He is God, Jesus can enter the time-line of history at any point that He chooses. We see many examples of this in the Bible.

In the text of our study in this 7th Old Testament prophecy that Jesus fulfilled, Melchizedek is seen as a type (exemplifying the ideal) of Jesus. Some believe that Melchizedek was Jesus Himself.

Genesis 14:18-20 “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he gave him a tithe of all.”

When we arrive at the New Testament, we see that the intended purpose of Melchizedek in the Old Testament was as a prelude to typify the person of Jesus. We reach this conclusion because of Paul’s statements about Melchizedek in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 6:20 “where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 7:1 “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him…”

Hebrews 7:2 “to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace…”

Hebrews 7:3 “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.”

Hebrews 7:4 “Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils.”

The language that Paul uses in each of the verses above is a clear indication that he believes that the Old Testament appearances of Melchizedek were the pre-incarnate Jesus. Melchizedek’s appearances in the Old Testament and specifically at Genesis 14:18-20 were to show us prophetically that Jesus is like Melchizedek:

Jesus as a High Priest forever.
Jesus as a Priest of the Most High God.
Jesus receiving a tithe from Abraham.
Jesus called King of Righteousness and King of Peace.
Jesus having no beginning and no end because He is the eternal God.

All of these verses from the Book of Hebrews use language to describe attributes of Melchizedek that are also attributable to Jesus. The logical conclusion is that they are one and the same.

You have perhaps heard the old analogy: If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it is a duck. This is a relative example for explaining how Paul describes Melchizedek in terms of his similarities to Jesus.

The fulfillment of this 7th Old Testament prophecy that the Messiah will be Like Melchizedek, as stated in Genesis 14:18-20, is perfectly fulfilled by Jesus Christ in the New Testament book of Hebrews.

“Melchizedek…being translated ‘king of righteousness,’ and then also king of Salem, meaning ‘king of peace…’ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God…”

We have this certainty confirmed by the ascriptions that Paul gives to Jesus in relation to Melchizedek. Jesus is the exact representation of everything that Melchizedek symbolized when he appeared to Abram. This is confirmed by Paul in the New Testament Book of Hebrews Chapters 6 and 7.