Bible Documentary Discussion

Did Jesus Christ come according to
the order of Melchizedek?



Participants Moderator - Geun-Wook Ji (True Peace Reporter)
① Pharisee (still awaiting the first coming Messiah)
② Aaron (the first Levitical high priest)
③ Deacon Mature (has partaken of solid food and graduated top of his Christian Military Academy class)
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Moderator: Before getting into today's discussion, let's review an unfamiliar expression first. What does "according to the order of" mean?
Deacon Mature: the Greek word for "order," "taxis” is a military term for "to arrange in an orderly fashion." And "kata,” the Greek word for "according to" means "following." Therefore, "according to the order of" means "to follow in line."
Moderator: Hebrew 6:20 testifies that "where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." Then in which line should today's believers who follow Jesus stand?
Deacon Mature: It is a message that we should understand that Jesus came according to the order of Melchizedek and stand in the line of faith to follow Him wholeheartedly.
Pharisee: I‘ve heard of the name "Melchizedek" for the first time today. Who on earth is "Melchizedek"?
Deacon Mature: "Melchizedek" is "malki-tsedeq" in Hebrew which means "king of righteousness." Hebrew 7:2-3 introduced him as a "king of righteousness, king of peace," and the one who is without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.
Moderator: If Melchizedek does not have parents, genealogy, or any record on his birth or death at all, he must be a very mysterious person. By the way, his being a "king of righteousness, king of peace” is quite similar to how Jesus is described, isn’t it?
Deacon Mature: Yes, it is. Isaiah 9:6 testifies that Jesus is “wonderful (an amazing and strange person),” and a “Prince of Peace.” From His birth through conception by Holy Spirit, His ministry, death and resurrection, and till His ascension to heaven, His whole life is so amazing and full of wonders that we men cannot dare to understand with our wisdom.
Pharisee: Didn’t Jesus have Joseph and Mary as His parents, and His genealogies are found in two sites, Matthew 1 and Luke 3?
Deacon Mature: We need to seek from the Bible. According to Matthew 1:18, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, without a man, before His mother Mary came together with Joseph. In other words, Jesus was not born through natural relations between a mother and a father. Thus, ultimately, He does not have a biological father.
Pharisee: But didn’t Matthew 1:1 introduce Him as “Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”?
Deacon Mature: Physically, Jesus was born through the genealogy of Abraham and David. However, according to John 8:58, He was present before Abraham was. Also, don’t you remember that when He asked “If David calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his son?" no one was able to answer Him a word as found in Matthew 22:42 and thereafter. Revelations 22:16 also testifies that He is the descendant of David, and having neither beginning of days nor end of life, He exists from everlasting to everlasting.
Moderator: Now, now, let’s move on to another subject. Melchizedek appears for the first time in Genesis 14:18 where He met Abraham. Why did the two meet?
Deacon Mature: There was this incident where Melchizedek brought out bread and wine and blessed Abraham, and Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of all he gained.
Moderator: The “bread and wine” immediately reminds me of the Last Supper of Jesus.
Deacon Mature: Jesus blessed His disciples with bread and wine at the Last Supper, with the cross awaiting before Him. According to Luke 22, the bread at the Last Supper signifies the Holy body of Jesus that was to be torn on the cross, and the wine signifies the new covenant that Jesus inaugurated with His blood.
Aaron: In my knowledge, the covenant is the law that Moses received in Mount Sinai and came down according to the order of Aaron, in the tribe of Levi. What is that new covenant which I don’t know about?
Deacon Mature: The order of Aaron is according to the old covenant. It is the first covenant which is weak, useless, and with blemish. It wears down and disappears. On the contrary, Jesus who came according to the order of Melchizedek gave us “a better covenant" (Heb 7:22), “a new covenant" (Heb 8:8), and “the eternal covenant" (Heb 13:20). We need to believe in the new covenant and receive blessings from Jesus Christ, who came according to the order of Melchizedek.
Aaron: ...I’ll study more about that. About the tithe by the way, in my knowledge ? since I have received them myself-it is what Levitical priests collected from Israelites. But you are saying that Melchizedek received a tithe from our ancestor Abraham?
Deacon Mature: Even more amazingly, Hebrews 7:8 and thereafter explains that when Abraham paid the tithe to Melchizedek, Levi was still in the loins of his father Abraham, it is just as Levitical priests paid the tithe to Melchizedek.
Aaron: Well, rather than being amazing, since we Levitical priests received tithes from Israelites and so did Melchizedek, aren’t we on equal standing?
Deacon Mature: It is clearly different. While in the order of Aaron, mortal men (Levitical priests) received them, in the order of Melchizedek, the one “whom it is witnessed that he lives on” received them (Heb 7:8). Therefore, the order of Melchizedek is superior to that of Aaron.
Aaron: Even so, the tribe of Levi is the so-called "priestly tribe." I cannot easily agree that we are inferior to the order of Melchizedek, which appeared out of nowhere.
Deacon Mature: By nature the lesser is blessed by the greater (Heb 7:7). Melchizedek’s blessing of Abraham shows that He is greater than Abraham. Let alone, as the tribe of Levi is a distant posterity of Abraham, the order of Melchizedek is incomparably greater than the order of Aaron to which the tribe of Levi belonged.
Moderator: Let’s recap here. What message would Melchizedek’s blessing Abraham with the bread and wine, and Abraham’s paying a tenth to Him mean to us today?
Deacon Mature: Melchizedek reflects vividly who Jesus is. As Jesus came as an eternal high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, He receives tithes and blesses all humanity. Therefore, when we give Him a perfect tithe and get blessed by Him, we can also be in the order of Melchizedek.
Moderator: Let’s move on to the next subject. Hebrews 7:11 says “another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron.” What does “another” signify here?
Deacon Mature: The Greek word for “another,” “heteros” means “essentially different.” While high priests who are according to the order of Aaron were weak with shortcomings of being mortal, Jesus Christ who is in the order of Melchizedek has been eternally made a perfect son. Even this single fact signifies that He is “another” high priest.
Moderator: To come as a high priest, Jesus was supposed to come as Aaron’s descendant, from the tribe of Levi. His coming from the tribe of Judah is “essentially different," isn’t it?
Deacon Mature: Yes it is. God raised the true priest from the tribe of Judah, far different from what people had expected. Psalm 110:4 had already prophesied that the Messiah would come as an eternal priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not from Aaron’s ancestry, and fulfilled that prophesy.
Aaron: According to the law that I know, only descendants of Aaron, in the tribe of Levi can perform the duties of priests (Exod 28:1), and my brother Moses spoke nothing concerning priests from the tribe of Judah (Heb 7:14). I myself have never dreamed that Jesus would come from the tribe of Judah.
Deacon Mature: In Hebrews 7:14 “For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah,” the Greek word for “descended,” “anatelo” is an expression to describe the sun or stars rising. In this sense, Christ the Sun came up from the earth called the tribe of Judah.
Moderator: Would there be a reason that God, when the fullness of the time came, raised Jesus the eternal priest from the tribe of Judah, seemingly without any relevance to priests?
Deacon Mature: It is God’s providence of redemption which is wholly unfathomable for men. The reason that He did not inform us of such an administration of redemptive history is to prevent Satan from interfering to stop the way in which Jesus, the promised son, was to come to this earth. It is His mysterious and profound providence. Since Satan did not know the biblical code, Jesus came to this earth in the order of Melchizedek, achieved the great atonement on the cross once and for all, and ascended to heaven. He then became our eternal high priest. If there is something for us to do from now on, it is to become holy priests to go up to the throne of grace, offer up spiritual offerings by preparing our bodies as living sacrifices, and be faithful to the mission of finding the lost to preach the gospel to them.
Moderator: I wonder if our viewers and audience fully understood this subject, since it is far too mysterious and profound. Those who do not get the full understanding should pray and read the 6th book in the History of Redemption Series, The Eternal High Priest of the Covenantal Oath carefully. Then God will give you wisdom to understand it. Let’s wrap up today’s discussion here. I'd like to thank our viewers for watching and also the three of you for your participation.