The portion on which we enter develops the type of Melchisedec as far as it applies to Christ in heaven and the Christian portion. The future earthly part is but hinted at and in no way opened out.
“For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, that met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham assigned a tenth of all, first being interpreted king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but likened to the Son of God, abideth a priest continually” (Heb. 7:1-3).
Here the Spirit of God gives us a fine sample of unfolding an incident of the Old Testament in the light of the New. The glory of Christ as ever is the true key, without which the mind of God in His word is never apprehended. And it is striking to see that the reticence of scripture is only less instructive than its disclosures. All has to be weighed; but who is sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency is of God, Who now works in us who believe by the same Spirit that inspired both Testaments, and works to glorify (not the Christian nor the church, blessed as both are, but) Christ, Whose grace and glory are the substance of our best blessings.
In Gen. 14 we have the last notice of the public life of Abraham as chosen and called out to walk in faith of God's promises; for chap. 15. begins the dealings of God with him personally. The occasion was the rescue of Lot carried away, family and goods, with the rest of his neighbors whose worldly advantages he had coveted. The man of simple faith and self-sacrifice, of whom he had taken advantage (chap. 13.) unhesitatingly pursues and vanquishes the victorious kings of the east. Thereon appears Melchisedec, the more unexpectedly as there is not the smallest ground to doubt that he was a prince akin to the guilty race that soon after were punished by the most solemn judgment of God. Yet was he not an idolater, but priest of the most high God. “And Melchisedec, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all” (vers. 18-20).
The all-important truth to grasp is that the Epistle reasons solely on “the order” of Melchisedec in contrast with that of Aaron. When it speaks of the exercise of priesthood, Aaron is the type and not Melchisedec; and then we hear of sacrifice and intercession, of bloodshedding and a sanctuary, with the Levitical ritual in general. Self-evidently all this has no relation to Melchisedec, only to Aaron as typifying the Lord's present action above, grounded on His atoning work for sin.
The exercise of the royal priesthood looks on to the earth in a future day, when the Man Whose name is the Branch shall build the temple of Jehovah, even He shall build the temple of Jehovah, and He shall bear majesty, and He shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne; and a counsel of peace shall be between Them both. Of that day Hos. 2:14-23 is a bright witness: only here it is according to His title of Jehovah. “And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, thou shall call Me my Husband, and thou shalt call me no more Baali [my Master]. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth [He will be in fact and affection El-Elyon, the Most High God], and they shall no more be remembered by their names. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will break bow and sword and battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith Jehovah. I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn and the new wine and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto Me in the land, and I will have mercy upon Lo-ruhama, and I will say to Lo-Ammi, My people thou; and they shall say, My God.”
This will be the kingdom of God, not in the moral sense which applies now and always, of which our Lord (Matt. 6:33) and the apostle Paul (Rom. 14:17) speak, but in the future display when adversaries are put down. Our Epistle alludes to it as the habitable earth, or world, to come (chap. 2.), and as the age to come (chap. 6), as indeed in other forms most expressive. It is the great goal of prophecy whether in the Old Testament or in the New. Great must be the gap for his soul who does not look onward to triumph for mercy and truth, for righteousness and glory, not in heaven only but on this earth placed under our Lord Jesus, when Israel shall be by grace repentant and subject, and thus fitted to fill their allotted place in that day as God's people, His son, His firstborn (Ex. 4:22), and the Gentiles, humbled by divine judgments as well as by unmerited and inexhaustible goodness, shall know that Jehovah sanctifies Israel, with His sanctuary in their midst forever. The glory of the Lord manifested here below will be the answer to His sufferings and shame; and those who in faith and love have shared the latter shall enjoy the former, reigning with Him over the earth. This is not the eternal state, but the kingdom for a thousand years before eternity begins or that judgment of the dead, the wicked dead, which precedes it.
Nor has any one an adequate conception of the coming kingdom of God, who does not look for it administered by the risen Lord in person, the glorified saints being on high, Israel and the nations here below. For there are earthly things as well as heavenly. Of this the Lord reminded Nicodemus, teacher of Israel though he was (John 3:3, 5, 12); and many more in Christendom need to be reminded of it now. For men are ever apt to be occupied with their own things, and easily confound this purpose of God for Christ's glory with a vague and general view of eternity. But doctrinal scripture is as distinct and indisputable as the prophetic word. “For the earnest expectation of the creation” (expressly distinguished from ourselves also having the firstfruits of the Spirit) “waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God"; which without doubt is when we follow Christ out of heaven and are manifested with Him in glory (Rom. 8:18-25, Col. 3:4, Rev. 17:14; 19:14). This indeed is the regeneration (Matt. 19:28), that age, and the resurrection from the dead (Luke 9:35) when the Father's kingdom is come from above, and His will is done on earth as in heaven; yet it is not the end when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, but His reigning till He put all the enemies under His feet. And it is plain that death as last enemy is not annulled till just before the great white throne. For the millennium, however blessed beyond example, is not absolutely perfect like the eternity which it ushers in. See 1 Cor. 15 and Isa. 65.
One of the most distinctive marks of that day, dispensation of the fullness of the times, is God's heading or summing up all in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth. No doubt as we are children of God, so are we His heirs and joint-heirs with Christ, the Heir of all things. Hence we are here said (Eph. 1:10-11) to have obtained inheritance, which will be manifested in that day; for the glory that the Father has given Him, He has given us, though we have to wait, in a hope that does not make ashamed. (John 17; Rom. 5) He that descended is the same that ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things. By Him the sacrificial work is done to reconcile all things to God, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens; and meanwhile we have been already reconciled, so as to await with joy His coming in glory. But when He does come, He with His glorified bride will take the universe, heavenly and earthly, as the scene of His glory. To make His kingdom the earth only is as false as to confine it to heaven. Scripture excludes the narrowness of either view, one of which obtained in sub-apostolic times, as the other in modern. The truth, as usual, is larger than all; and the truth demands both, worthily to magnify the Lord Who is the true Melchisedec and will bring forth bread and wine to refresh the returning victors. For there and then too captivity will be led captive. The faith that unselfishly refused the world conquers the world that had for a while the upper hand.
Such is the action of the Royal Priest in that day: not offering sacrifice, nor incense burning, but suited refreshment when the victory is won at the end of the age, and God proves Himself the Most High, the highest else being overthrown. It is emphatically blessing, as that day will be its irrefutable evidence. And the word of blessing is twofold: Abram (representing Israel as their father) blessed on the part of the Most High God, “the possessor of heavens and earth"; and on the other side, “blessed be the Most High, Who delivered thine enemies into thine hand,” Melchisedec thereon receiving tithes as duly and gratefully rendered.
But in Hebrews, as we may see, what is future exercise is barely alluded to. It is beautifully pointed out how significant is the name and place: “first being interpreted king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.” For this alone can be according to God, whether for heaven or for earth, for the Christian now or for Israel by-and-by: no true peace save on a basis of accepted righteousness flow blessed and sure this as every believer ought to know. What is dwelt on mainly is the order of this priest in contrast with Aaron's order, where limits of age and succession were indispensable. Here it is one sole ever living Priest: “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.” Not of course that as a matter of fact Melchisedec had not parents, forefathers if not descendants, birth and death, as other men. For the notion of an angel, or divine power, or Christ, are as absurd as that of Shem, &c. Scripture intentionally veils all these; and the priest-king suddenly appears on the scene and vanishes from the inspired history, so as to furnish the typical shadow of our Lord as the Royal Priest. Hence he is said to be “likened, or assimilated, to the Son of God": language quite improper, if the Son of God had then really appeared. All we see of him is that “he abides a priest continually.” Nothing else is recorded. There is no preparatory record, and no sequel to the story. He is a king-priest without a hint of terminating his office or devolving it on a successor. He abides a priest for continuance, or without a break, the contrast of the Aaronic line.