Articles
Blessed by the Priest-King
Reading: Genesis 14
Four kings against five: such was the warfare that broke out on the land where Abram sojourned. In the course of the conflict, his nephew Lot was taken captive from Sodom (v.12). When word reaches Abram, he sets off with a militia of trained men from his own house to defeat the hostile kings. He retrieves his nephew along with the other captives and plunder.
Upon his return, Abram is met in the King's Valley by Melchizedek, King of Salem and a priest to God Most High (v.18). This one brought with him a victory feast of bread and wine, and also spoke a blessing upon Abram. After Abram gave him a tithe of the spoils of warfare, nothing else is mentioned of Mechizedek.
Despite his brief appearance, God clearly teaches in the Scriptures that Melchizedek points toward the coming of Christ. As Hebrews 7 explains it, the priesthood of Jesus is according to the order of this priest whom Abram met (read also Psalm 110). Jesus is the true king of righteousness and the king of peace (Hebrews 7:2). He brings to us a victory feast of bread and wine in the memorial of the Lord's Supper—not because we overcome our enemies on our own, but because He defeated death itself and the powers of darkness. And as we find in Him this victory over self and over sin, Priest-King Jesus blesses us as those who are favored by God Most High.
