#1-Was Melchizedek An Early Appearance Of Christ On Earth?

Common Sense Commentary: Let me first lay the groundwork and set the stage for our discussion of Melchizedek.

Jesus Christ did not begin in the womb of Mary or in the manger of Bethlehem. John the beloved Apostle wrote, as God gave him the words, of the eternal existence of Christ, in John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (The Word is capitalized which makes it a proper name of a person. When God spoke the word, and said, in Gen.1, "Let there be....", the Word went out and performed God the Father's command.) Now, back to John 1:14,   "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten (Son) of the Father,) full of grace and truth. God could not have made it clearer that the "Word" in John chapter one is none other than Jesus Christ and that He was "in the beginning", "was God",  made "all things" at God the Father's command and was "made flesh" in the womb of the virgin Mary. John also wrote Christ's own words of His eternal existence in Rev.1:8, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Eternal existence.

In the Old Testament, God gave David a prophetic declaration in the very words of Christ. "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God.... Psm.40:7-8.

This same prophetic verse, of the words of Jesus, is quoted in the New Testament in Hebrews 10:7&10 , "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.... By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all...."  The thing I want to point out in these two verses is, that the entire "volume" of the entire Bible "is written of me", Jesus said. It's all about Jesus, from Genesis to Revelations.  Many other verses confirm this fact.  In Lk.24:44, Jesus said, "... all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me."  Again, He said,
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Rev.1:8

The fact that God chose Mary, specifically, to give birth to the body of Jesus was incidental to who He was and where He placed Himself in relation to His mother and His church. He was teaching His disciples when Mary and His half brothers came seeking Him. Here is the incident,  "There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother." Mark 3:31-35. He came from eternity into a fleshly body for a short time and then returned into eternity at the right hand of God the Father. Mary's closest relationship to Jesus was not fleshly but spiritual, as an eternal Christian, not as Christ's eternal mother.

The oldest book in the Bible is Job, and even Job spoke of Christ's eternal existence in Job 19:25, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." Here, Job is certain that his redeemer (Messiah/Christ) "lives"  (present tense verb, right then, in the far distant past) and that his redeemer will also, "stand at the latter day" in the far distant future. Eternal,continual, permanent existence.

Jesus, Himself, spoke of His eternal existence when He told the Jews that He had seen Abraham and Abraham had seen Him (Jn.8:56-57). The Jews denied the possibility of that and Jesus answered,  "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." Jn.8:58. "I am" is what the name Jehovah (YHVH) means, in the first person. In the third person, it means "THE EXISTING ONE". In the second person it means "HE IS". Jesus was telling those Jews that He was and is eternal and that He had, in fact, seen Abraham, in the flesh, and Abraham had seen him, in the flesh.

Now the question is, when did Christ "see" Abraham and when did Abraham "see" Him?  It happened in Gen.14:14-20 when they came face to face, Abram and Christ. The Psalmist referred to Melchizedek  in Psm.110:1-4 and the writer of Hebrews covers the subject thoroughly in Heb. 7. Read these verses for yourself.

I will expound upon all the references to Melchizedek and "The Priestly Order of Melchizedek" in my next blog.

 













 





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