ME LCH I Z E D - Forgotten Books
186
Transcript of ME LCH I Z E D - Forgotten Books
MELCH I Z ED EK
THE EXALTAT I ON OF THE SON OF MAN
G . W . REASER
The Lord sware , and wi ll not repent, Thou
art a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek .
”W ho is made , not after the law
of a carnal commandment, but after the powerof an endless life.
”By so much was Jesus
made the surety of a better testament ,”
Hebrew fi.
BOSTONSHERMAN ,
FOREW ORD
Every Bible student meets with questionsthe solution of which will , for a time at least ,elude his grasp .
The discovery of Bible mysteries , correctlyviewed, is but a natural result of the study of
the recorded thoughts of the Infinite by thefinite mind . Such discoveries
,instead of un
dermin ing the fact of inspiration in Divinerevelation
,are rather proof thereof ; for it is
written ,“As the heavens are higher than the
earth , so are my thoughts (higher) than yourthoughts .” The unfolding of these problemsis God’s answer to the true search for livingtruth. When, with the solution of one o f
these Bible mysteries , a golden thread of Jehovah’s mar velous system of truth is traced,and appears to our astonished vision , unbr o-flken , harmonious , surpassing
’ly’ “beautiful?
profoundly are we impre ssed anew)zwith the)
inspiration o f the Word of Goi'
? i 2
In the following pages we undertake the selution of a mystery which foi' ages; has SU c-z
)
cessfully baffled the pursuit of profound Biblei ii
iv FOREW ORD
students . The author believes that there is afullnes s of time” in the plan of redemptionfor the unfolding of certain specific truths,which hath been hid f rom ages and from generations .” That a certain mystery has not
been unfolded in the past does not militate
against its importance . Even the propheciespertaining to Christ’s first advent were not
comprehended by God’s people until after their
fulfillment . Then , too,the prophet Daniel
was told to seal up the prophecies of his bookuntil the time of the end .
”(Dan . xii , 4 . See
also 1 Pet . i , 1 0Therefore the fact that the meaning of the
prophecies pertaining to Christ a s “a Priestforever after the order of Melchizedek” havenot been grasped by God’s children does not
militate against their truthfulnes s , nor doesit minimize their importance . Surely the oathof Jehovah by whi ch Christ was made a Priestin that exalted order attaches sufficient importance to our theme to invite a candid studyof the Melchizedek order o f priesthood .
The Wmtér ccis . éonfident, as expressed by aof God, that
“there are minesbe discovered by the earnest
tthat
,
“whenever the people of
e'
ég'
rotvjng in grace , they will be con
stantly obtaining a clearer understanding of
FOREW ORD
His Word . They will dis cern new light andbeauty in its sacred truths . This has beentrue in the history of the church in all ages ,and thus it will continue to the end .
”
In presenting this brief work to the publicand to Bible students of all creeds , the authordesires to emphasize the thought that he makesno claims to superior knowledge o f the Scriptures
,nor to infallible interpretation of Bible
mysteries . He would humbly submit theScripture argument contained in the book , notdogmatically, but rather, suggestively, and asbeing the most harmonious, logical and satisfying o f any theory known to him which at
tempts to account for the appearance in ourworld of “Melchi zedek , King o f Salem , Priesto f the Most High God '
” His personal interestin the theme is intensified from the fact thatthe Christian’s hope ,— which is
“as an anchorto the soul , both sure and steadfast , and whichentereth into that within the veil , whi ther theFore- runner is for us entered, even Jesus , madean High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
”— cannot be a wholly intell igenthope , unles s we can in some degree get a mental
grasp of the office o f Christ by virtue of thefact that as our Melchizedek He now occupiesa place at God’s right hand .
If this treatise shall serve to exalt Chri st
FOREW ORD
in the minds of the readers,elucidate the Bible
mystery and thereby establish faith more firmlyin God ’s living Word
,and fasten hope more
securely “within the veil,” the writer will be
abundantly repaid for his labor. With mindsreceptive to the influence of that Spirit whi chguides into all truth, let u s begin our study.
With grateful appreciation for encouragingand helpful suggestions from the many friendsin the gospel ministry to whom an outline of thecontents of the book was submitted before publication ,
I remain your coworker in the gospel,
G . W . REASER.
GLENDALE , CALI FORN IA .
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT
I I A M' STERIOUS PERSONAGE
II I TH IS PRIESTHOOD COMPO SED
ORDER
I V THE ORIGINAL PLAN OF JEHOVAH FOR
OU R W ORLD
V ESSENTIAL S OF THE MELCH IZEDEK
PRIE STHOOD
VI THE OATH OF JEHOVAH
VI I KINGSH IP B' B IRTH AN D B' CHARAc
TER
VI I I OTHER W ORLD S THAN OURS
I X THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE PLAN OF
REDEMPTION 1 2 5
D IVINE LOVE PROMPTED THE CHO ICE
THE PURPO SE OF MELCH IZEDEK’ S VI SIT
THE THRONE OF THE U N IVERSE TO BE
TRAN SFERRED TO THE EARTH
XI I I OTHER VI Ews TESTED
XI V RECAP ITULATION
APPEND IX
CHAPTER I
IMPORTANCE OF THE SU BJECT
The Lord hath m om, and wi ll not repent, Thou art
a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Psa.
ex,
I n all things under God, Jesus Christ musthave the preeminence .” Jehovah has madethis declaration concerning His Son . T o ac
complish this result He p laced Himself underoath
,the import of which was that , although
Jesus would take a p lace o f the utmost humility to accomplish man
’s redemption , yet inthe end He must be exalted to a position asPriest-King
,which would make him transcend
ent in glory and maj esty above all who holdsimilar Offices in the entire universe .Candid reader, can you conceive of a more
emphatic way by which Jehovah,in His Word,
could seek to impress upon the minds of mena specific tru th concerning the Mes siah thanby interposing Himself with an oath concerning that tru th ? If you are a Bible student ,please try to recall how many times in all thehistory o f the world Jehovah has deemed it
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1 0 MELCHIZEDEK
essential to place Himself under oath . Ifyou have never given this question careful at
tention,you may be surprised to find how few
such instances are recorded . It is even moresurprising that practically all religious denominations plead ignorance concerning the natureand significance O f the oath by whi ch Jesus i smade the Eternal Priest of our world, and relative to the important truths pertaining to Hispriesthood intended to be impres sed by theoath .
The text of the oath is as follows —“TheLord hath sworn
,and will not repent
,Thou
art a Priest fo rever,after the order Of Mel
chi zedek.
” It i s beyond belief o f Christianpeople that the important truths intended tobe impres sed on the minds o f mankind by thisoath of Jehovah shall remain forever sealed.
It is true that certain portions of Scripturewere purposely sealed until “ the fullness of thetimes ,
” in the plan o f salvation for their unfolding ( see Dan . xn , 9 ; Rom . xvi , 2 5 , 2 6 ; Eph .
i ii, 3-5 ; 1 Pet . i , 1 0 yet before probationary time shall close
,every seal placed by Je
hovah upon His Word must be broken . Havewe not reached the eventful day for the breaking of every seal, —for the full unfolding of
God’s treasure-bo ok of truth ?The question is constantly raised by
IMPORTANCE OF SU BJECT 1 1
thoughtful Bible students ,“Who was Melchiz
edek ?” Is there an intelligent Bible answerfor the question, or must it forever remain
unanswered ?The statement that Christ i s “made a Priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek” i s re
peated again and again in Holy Writ . Weare entirely at sea in regard to what i s meantby the parallel or likenes s , unless we can discover what constitutes thi s “order,
” and whatis involved and vested in it . And yet theChristian’s hope i s centered in the fact thatour “forerunner is for us entered (within theveil), even Jesus ,
” “made an high Priest forever after the order of Melchi zedek .
”(Heb .
Vi , 1 9 ,Inasmuch as the hope of the plan of r e
demption is based upon the fact that Jesus i smade a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and as such has entered within the veilas our Forerunner, suppose that an intelligentman who had been groping all his life in thedarknes s of heathenism should come in contactwith representatives of the Christian religion,and should decide to make a candid investigation of the merits of Christianity. Such repr esentatives would gladly place in his handsthe Christian’s Guide Book,— the Bible . In acareful perusal of its contents , the heathen
1 2 MELCHIZEDEK
investigator must eventually read the book of
Hebrews . Suppose that at this point heshould come to you , a professed Christian , andask you the question ,
“What is the meaning ofyour inspired Bible in calling your Savior aPriest after the order Of Melchizedek ? Willyou kindly explain the nature of ‘ this priesthood to me
,for I perceive that much import
ance is attached to it in your Guide Book .
”
The question would surely be a. fair one, andone that should receive an intelligent answerfrom the professor of the Christian religion .
What answer would you give him ? Would itbe ,
“I am ignorant on this theme , and nearlythe whole professed Christian world are likewise in profound ignorance Of the character of this mysterious priesthood
”? Wouldnot thi s be a shameful confession for Christian ity to make ? But such is , in reality, theanswer of Christendom to the question raised .
Suppose that we should find such a paradoxas this between the “sacred” writings and theuniversal confess ion of any of the great systems o f heathen religions . Would we not beinclined to declare it to be an inherent weaknes s ?While it is human nature to minimize the
importance of a subj ect that we do not comprehend, yet a moment
’s reflection upon the
IMPORTANCE OF SU BJECT 1 8
importance which necessarily attaches to our
theme because of the oath of Jehovah (Psa .
OX ,and
,further, because Of the special
prominence given to it by Paul in his letterto the Hebrews (Chapters V , Vi , V I I and viii),wil l appeal to all as ample j ustification forour investigation .
In commenting on the text : “This Melchizedek, King of Salem , priest of the MostHigh God” (Heb . Vii , one writer has said,
“Thi s passage is fragrant with the Ointmento f His [ Christ
’s ] name . Our hands dropwith myrrh
,and our fingers with sweet—smell
ing myrrh , as we lay them upon the handles ofthis look. Let us get aside from the busy rusho f life , and think long, deep thoughts of Himwho is the Alpha and Omega of Scripture
,and
of saintly hearts . And let us draw from theunsearchable depths Of His nature
,by the
bucket o f thi s mysterious record touchingMelchizedek, the King of Salem .
”
CHAPTER II
A M' STERIOU S PERSONAGE
“N ow cons ider how great this man was, wnto whom
even the pa triarch A braham gave the tenth of the
spoi ls . (Heb. vii,
It will doubtless be conceded by all Biblestudents that the personage first brought toView in the Sacred Volume, under the title“Melchizedek ,
” i s. one o f the most mysterious[characters introduced into Holy Writ . Butone other can be said to hold equal rank withhim in this
,namely, our Lord Jesus Christ .
His supernatural coming into our world wasequally mysterious , as it i s written ,
“withoutcontroversy grea t is the mystery of Godliness .God was manifest in theflesh, j ustified in theSpirit, seen of angels , preached unto the Gentiles , believed ou in the world, received up intoglory .
”( I T
'im . 1 1 ,
In accord with the above statement is a quotation from the Encyclopedia Biblica , article “Melchizedek ,
” which reads as follows“The priest-king Melchizedek in Canaan is astartling phenomenon The author of the
A M' STERI OU S PERSONAGE 1 5
Epistle to the Hebrews treats the account of
Melchizedek,in Genesis
,chapter xiv, as a mine
o f suggestions for the right comprehensiono f the nature and Office of Christ.” Continuing, the author adds that the study of the identity of Melchizedek and the order of the Melchizedek priesthood ,
“even apart from Christianassociation
,is surely a fascinating theme .”
The writer finds himself among the innumerablehost Of Bible students throughout the ageswho have found this theme intensely fascinating.
McClintock and Strong refer to this mysterious character in the following language“Bearing a title which Jews in after ages wouldrecognize as designating their own sovereign ,bringing gifts (bread and wine), which recallto Christians the Lord’s supper,— disappearing as suddenly as he came in , he is lost to thesacred writings for a thousand years , and thena few emphatic words (PS . cx, 4 ) for anothermoment bring him into sight as a type o f theComing Lord of David . Once more
,after an
other thousand years,the Hebrew Christians
are taught to see in him THE OFFICE OF THEPRIE STHOOD OF CHRIST .
”
Notwiths tanding the study and research of
men Of talent throughout the ages , it i s generally agreed by leading Bible scholars and
1 6 MELCHIZEDEK
learned commentators that the mystery of theidentity Of Melchizedek i s
,up to the present
time , unsolved in the minds of the Christianworld . After summing up all Of the theories
set forth to fathom this mystery , these commen tators use such terms as “guesses ,
”
“opinions,
” “unauthorized additions to HolyScriptures ,
” “shifts ,” and “absurdities ,
” to describe what they regard as futile efforts .Confronted by all this , it would seem to be al
most presumptuous to advance a new theoryand thereby take the hazard of being classed bythe learn ed sages with others who have venturedto tread in this field of mystery . However
,the
writer believes with Dean Alford , who , in concluding his comments on this theme
,states
“A day will come when all shall be clear ,” and
God will “give us full revelation on this sub
ject .
” We will add that the nearer we ap
proach to the sublime event of our Lord’s Second Coming, the more as surance may we havethat all Bible mysteries pertaining to the planof salvation will be disclosed .
Right here,however , we are less concern ed
about the matter of establishing the identity of
the Melchizedek who met Abraham , than in determin ing what constitutes the order of theMelchizedek priesthood
,and thereby learn what
is the significance Of the oath of Jehovah, by
1 8 MELCHIZEDEK
same order. From the fact that the description of Melchizedek as king of righteousness ,king of peace , priest of the Most High God inperpetuity , and as having endl es s life, thus farcorresponds exactly with the nature and Officeso f Christ and with the positions held by Him
,
many have thought that the Melchizedek whoonce met Abraham was Christ , but it can beeasily demonstrated that thi s was a wrong conclusion .
That we may understand the oath by whichChrist is made a Priest-king and secure the precious gems of truth contained therein , we mustseek earnestly to determine what constitutesthe order of Melchizedek priesthood . If wecan clearly comprehend this oath
,it will , in a
new sense , give Jesus Christ the preeminence inall things .To the end that the reader may have the oh
jective point of the writer in mind, which willbe a material help in weighing the evidencegiven
,the following thoughts are suggested , in
advance of full proof which will be presented
later.
ANTICIPATION
The heads of all worlds are created beings .They are each created in the image of God.
They are each prie st-kings . They ea ch bear
3A M' STERIOU S PERSONAGE 1 9
the title,
“Melch1zedek Each head of aworld is it s “everlasting Father.” Adamwould have been the King, High Priest, everlasting Father of this world ; or , to put thethought in other words , he would have beenthis world’s “priest for ever after the order OfMelchi zedek ,
” had he not lost his God-givenright to the office by yielding to sin .
1
1 I f it be objected that the idea of priest is only as
sociated with o ffering sacrifices and intercession, let us
recall the fact that Chr ist is styled our Priest-King,our Melchizedek, at the time when He has triumphedover all H is foes and when the days of sacrifice and
intercession for sin are forever past, and when He is
King over all the earth. (Ps . xc, A lso the re
deemed are called priests o f God, because they appear
persona lly before H i'm,without other representation, and
this, after all sacrifice and intercession for sin has
ceased . (Rev. xx,
CHAPTER III
THIS PRIESTHOOD COMPOSEDOF AN ORDER
“I f therefore perfection were by the Levitical priest
hood, wha t fur ther need was there that another
priest shou ld rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not
be ca lled after the order of A aron . (Heb. Vi i,
The Melchizedek who met Abraham on thereturn of the latter from his Victorious pursuitOf Chedorlaomer was no t
,as some have thought ,
the Mes siah ; and yet Christ is Melchizedek .
These statements,although apparently contra
dictory, are perfectly harmonious , as will appear later.Reference 1 s made but twice, in the Scriptures
whi ch antedate the birth of Christ , to the sub
ject of our inquiry by his Official title“Mel
chizedek.
”(See Gen . xiv
,17-2 0 ; Ps . ex,
Doubtless he is mentioned in connection with agroup or order of equal as sociates , in the 1 st,2 nd and 38th chapters of the book of Job ; butin these instances his official title i s not disclosed .
We are studying a question of priesthood ,under the new di spensation . The Aaronicp riesthood , with its sacrificial system ,
expiredby limitation at the Cross of Calvary. If our
2 0
PRIESTHOOD AN ORDER 2 1
investigation of the question of priesthood involved the Aaronic, we would logically go to thebook o f Leviticus . The only book of the NewTestament which supplies the key to the solution of the Melchizedek order of priesthood isthe book of Hebrews
,sometimes correctly
styled “the book Of the priesthood Of the NewTestament , or the Leviticus Of the new dispensation .
”
The book of Hebrews is a definite effort on
the part of inspiration to set forth the priesthood Of Christ . When the book of Hebrewswas written
,the Levitical or Aaronic order o f
priesthood had passed away,its economy in the
plan Of God having terminated . Therefore theAaronic being in the past , thi s epistle does notassume to explain its system of priesthood indetail , but , rather, deals with the Melchizedekorder, Of which Jesus i s now our great HighPriest .
The D ivine purpose in the writing of eachbook of the Bible is the unfolding of the com
plete plan of salvation for mankind ; yet eachbook has its specific purpose , its link to sup
ply in the golden chain of heaven-born truth .
The distant purpose , in the writing of the bookof Hebrews , is to exalt and magn i fy, to beautifyand glorify the priesthood of Christ The sub
ject of thi s inspired epistle i s first declared to
2 2 MELCHIZEDEK
be equal with the Most High , Fellow-God ; withthe fullnes s of c reative power inherent in Him ;and so far superior to the highest angels inglory that all o f these mighty messengers areinvited to unite in
’ i s worship. (Heb . i , 1It is further stated that notwithstanding His
exalted position , His infinite greatness , His supreme power and glorious maj esty, He condescended to take upon Himself the weak fallen nature of sin-defiled humanity, For,verily, He took not on Him the nature o f angels ,but He took on Him the seed of Abraham ,
”
that He might be a merciful and faithful HighPriest .” (Heb . ii , 1 6 ,The argument of the first two chapters o f
the book under consideration is focused uponthe first verse of chapter three
,in the invitation
to the “holy brethren , p-artaker s of the heavenlycalling, to “consider the Apostle and HighPriest of our profes sion , Christ Jesus .
”
In continuation of this discourse upon the exalted priesthood of Christ frequent referenceis made to the fact that He was made of God ,an High Priest “
after the order of Melchiz
edek,
” and in this thought i s the climax o f theargument reached .
THE AARONIC AN D THE MELCHIZEDEKPRIESTHOODS
In the Aaronic priesthood all that was neces
PRIESTHOOD AN ORDER 2 3
sary to be a priest was to have descent fromAaron
,with certain neces sary limitations . The
priests of Aaron’ s order served “unto the example and shadow Of heavenly things .” (Heb .
viii , 5 ; ix , 1 The Aaronic priesthood wasan “
order . (Heb . Vii , In an order theremust be more than one. One, only , can notconstitute an order of priests .Even so the Melchizedek priesthood is an
order ; There is more than one priest foundin it . There are characteri stic s of this ordero f priests a s follows : ( 1 ) They are called ofGod. (Heb . V, 1 ( 2 ) They are sons of
God. (Verses 5 , This particular declaration of sonship i s equivalent to an appointmentto the pr iesthood. (Verses 8 (3) Theyare king-priests . (Chapter Vii , 1 , SO faras sacred history has revealed, with one excep
tion , each stands alone in his priesthood, preceded and succeeded by no one in his priestlyoffice ; his priesthood is unchangeable . (Verses
All these specifications are met inChrist Jesus .This oft- repeated statement of inspiration indeclaring Christ to be “a Priest after the orderof Melchizedek ,
” i s neither incidental nor ac
cidental . The Holy Spirit does not thus employ language or play upon words . The purpose of Jehovah must be to convey to our minds
2 4 MELCHIZEDEK
new conceptions of truth and beauty relativeto the priesthood of Christ . But thi s effort ofthe Infinite Mind to exalt Christ as our greatHigh Priest is lost upon us , unless we can di scern the significance of the Melchizedek priesthood
,and grasp the beauty and grand reality
o f the truth intended to be imparted to us instyling our Saviour a “High Priest forever,after the order of Melchizedek .
” There couldbe no force or meaning to the express ion , ifthere is no solution to it . Is it possible thatthe strength o f the discourse
,the beauty Of the
culminating point of the book of Hebrews , inexalting the priesthood of Christ , i s lost toearnest Bible students ? N ot so
,i f we can solve
the problem which now claims our concentratedattention . If any fear “trespassing upon forbidden ground ,
” we intrench ourselves confidently behind the invitation :
“Consider the
Apostle and High Priest o f our profession,Chri st Jesus , —in His Office a s
“Priest afterthe order o f Melchizedek .
”
There was a time in the life of Christ whenHe was not the High Priest of our humanfamily . (Heb . V , When He was clothedby His Father with the Office of priesthood , Hewas ordained to be a “Priest after the order ofMelchizedek. (V , As already noted
,
more than one individual is neces sary to con
2 6 MELCHI ZEDEK
another in the same order .
” 2 Christ had apedigree . His ancestry i s distinctly tracedfrom Adam (Matthew i , Luke iv); Melchize
dek is without pedigree . (Heb . V1 1 ,
In the study of priesthood and pries t, let usrej ect the idea that sacrifice is essential topriesthood ; that a Victim must be immolated andits blood offered by the priest for the people .We wish to present what seems to us sufficientevidence to show that this is not an es sentialidea of the divine original priesthood .
In our first View of the Melchizedek priesthood there is neither mention nor intimation of
sacrifice . Melchizedek comes out to meet Abraham the faithful . He comes with his handsfilled with bles sing, needed bles sing,
“bread andwine .” (Gen . xiv , 1 8 He came as a
great father,provider
,dispenser of blessings .
He recognized the great God Most High as possessor of heaven and earth . Abraham recogn ized the exalted Office of tha t priest , not byoffering sacrifices
,but by rendering him the
Lord’s due, the tenth of all .
2 As regards the meaning in the original Greek of the
word here translated “order,
”F . H . A . Schrivener, A .M.,
publishes a Greek Testament with Lexicon(W hittaker Co ., Publishers, London, in which,referr ing to Hebrews v, vi, Vii, xi , he defines the Greekword “
taxis”
as“an order,
” “a distinctive class, as of
priests.
”
CHAPTER IV
THE ORIGINAL PLAN OF JEHOVAH FOR OUR W ORLD
“And to make a ll men see what is the fellowship of
the mystery, which from the beginn ing of the wor ld
hath been hid in God, who created a ll things by JesusChris t : to the inten t that now might be known bythe church the man ifold wisdom of God, according to theeterna l purpose which H e purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
”
(Eph. i ii, 9
To reach a correct conclusion as to what iscomprehended in the office of priesthood in theMelchi zedek order, it will be necessary to brieflyconsider at least one phase of the question ,“What was Jehovah’ s o riginal plan for our
world ?” A correct answer to this question willdefinitely show the proces s by which Christ became the Melchizedek Of our human family, andthus by analogy
, who , throughout the universe ,are the priests after the order of Melchizedek .
The o ri ginal plan of Jehovah for our world willeventually be carried to a glorious completion ,notwithstanding the incident Of sin , which for afew millenniums (a few days with God), has
2 7
2 8 MELCHIZEDEK
seemed to defeat it,for none of God’s plans
can ultimately fail .God’s perfect plan for the universe compre
hends a universal family,and this family com
posed Of planetary families . One Of theseplanetary families has fallen and thus brokenthe harmony which ought to prevail in the universal family . The effect of this inharmoniouscondition is well described in these words ,“For we know that the whole creation groanethand travaileth together in pain until now.
”
(Rom . viii,
God’ s eternal purpose includes the idea of bringing our planetaryfamily ,
“the whole family of earth ,” into per
fect harmony with the universal family . Thi sblessed state o f harmony will eventually be theglorious result of the completed plan of redemption , as it is written
“that in the dispensationo f the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ , both which arein heaven and which are on earth
,even in Him .
”
(Eph . i , When all this is an accomplishedreality , Jesus Christ will be our Priest-Kingforever, after the order of Melchizedek .
At this point it i s essential to a clearer Viewof God’s eternal purpose that we diverge fora moment and study the meaning of the term
Melchizedek .
” We find this word to be atitle , rather than a name . It is compounded
ORIGINAL PLAN OF JEHOVAH 2 9
from two Hebrew words,Melek, meaning, a
king, from malak, to reign ; and zedek, meaning
,right
,righteousness ,
“King o f Righteousnes s
,
” j ust what every etern al king under Godover every dominion God-given must be .When Jehovah bestows an official title , it
invariably signifies in its root meaning the of
fice, or the character,or both
,of the person
upon whom the title is bestowed . Recognizingthis absolutely universal rule in the bestowal ofGod-
given titles will give us a positively certain clue to the Official position held by Chri stin becoming, by the oath of Jehovah , a
“Priestforever after the order of Melchizedek .
”
T herefore to discover the character of the Of
fice held by Christ as a Priest after the ordero f Melchizedek
,our first avenue of approach
should be to seek for the sign ification of theterm “Melchizedek .
” We have already ascer
tained this from the Lexicon,but we must pur
sue Our quest still further .W hen we discover the inspired meaning of
the title , and then learn the process by whichit was conferred upon Christ
,we shall know ex
actly what office He will fill , what position Hewill hold
,when the oath of Jehovah
,making
Him “a Priest after the order o f Melchizedek,
goes into full effect , and , incidentally , we shalllearn the character of the Offices held by each
30 MELCHIZEDEK
member of the order of the Melchizedek priesthood . Happily inspiration has made specialeffort to help us on thi s point .In the inspired definition of the title , and in
the Scriptural specifications pertaining equallyto Christ and to Melchizedek , we find that eachis a priest forever of the Mos t High God
,and
each a king of righteousnes s and a king of
peace (Melchizedek of Salem , which signifies“peace and Christ of Jerusalem ,
“God’s Cityof Thus in accepting God’ s universal rule in the bestowal o f titles (and names aswell), we discover in the definition of the title“Melchizedek ,
” that by receiving the same,Chri st becomes an eternal Priest , a King OfRighteousnes s , and a King of Peace . (Heb .
Vi,2 0 and V1 I , 1 1 5 ,
We must now consider the meaning of theterm “priest .” We find that its primary defin ition is “father ,
” and, secondarily,“r epre
sentative” God’s etern al purpose for our
world was that Adam should be the father andthe representative of the whole family of earth,and
,barring his failure by sinning, eventually
there would have been conferred upon him theOffices Of king o f righteousnes s and king of
peace . Doubtles s every Bible student will concede that, by birth into our human family and
ORIGINAL PLAN OF JEHOVAH 8 1
by triumphing where the“first Adam” had
failed,Chri st became “the last Adam .
” 1( 1 Cor.
xv,
Thus He became to our human familyall that the first Adam was , or in God’s planwas to become . And, inasmuch as the title“Melchizedek ,
” in its meaning signifies whatAdam was , and in the plan of God was to become to our world, so Adam having failed , andChrist having triumphed wherein the father Ofour race had failed
,when the title “Melchize
dek” was conferred upon Christ by the oath of
Jehovah , that title carried with it in its r ootmeaning all that Adam was , or was to becometo our human family, and bestowed the same onChrist ,
“the last Adam .
” Thus when the title“Melchi zedek ,
”or
“Priest after the order of
Melchizedek ,” was conferred upon Christ, He ,
as sin’s conqueror, took Adam’s position and
became our “everla sting Father,”
our Repre
sentative, our High Priest , our Eternal King.
With this discovery , how naturally are our
minds carried forward by the prophetic Wordto the time when ,
“Behold a King shall reignand prosper and shall execute j udgment andjustice in the earth and this i s the namewhereby He shall be called
,THE LORD OU R
RIGHTEOU SNESS (Jer. xxiii , 5 , which isequivalent to a declaration that the Lord is our
32 MELCHIZEDEK
Melchizedek , our King of Righteousness , ourKing of Peace .As previously noted , the Melchizedek priest
hood was composed of an order before Christbecame a member of it . How may we determinethe Official position held by each member of the“order” ? The simplest , most logical , most con
clusive proof o f the nature of the Officialposition held by each priest in this “order” i sthe fact that , as Adam was the head , the father,the high priest o f our world , and by divine rightwould have been it s eternal king had he not
failed,and as Jesus was no t a Priest in that
order”
(Heb . v , 5) until He had fullytriumphed over sin , Satan , and death , at whi chtime He became “the last Adam ,
” “the everlasting Father,
” “the high Priest” and prospectiveKing, in short the Melchizedek of our world ,therefore , the individuals who compose the eu
tire “order” Of the Melchizedek priesthood areeach to their respective worlds all that Adamwas , and all that Christ became to our world bytaking Adam’s forfeited place ; for the meaning of the title “Melchizedek” conferred uponChri st as “the last Adam” logi cally compelsthis conclusion .
I n a word, God’s remedy for the havoc wrought
by the first Adam is CHRIST,‘
the last Adam,
’
in
CHAPTER V
ESSENTIALS OF THE MELCHI ZEDEK PRIESTHOOD
“So a lso Chr ist glor ified not Himself to be made an
High Priest; but H e that said unto H im, Thou ar t MySon, to
-day have I begotten Thee. A s H e saith a lso in
another place, Thou ar t a Priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek.
”(Heb. V, 5,
The one who holds place in the Melchizedekpriesthood must be a son of God. In fact , thispriesthood and the sonship are terms used interchangeably.
“So Christ also glorified not
Himself to be made a High Priest,but He that
spake unto Him , THOU ART M' SON , this dayhave I begotten Thee ; as He saith also in an
other place,THOU ART A PRIE ST FOREVER AFTER
THE ORD ER OF MELCHIZED EK .
”(Heb . v , 5 ,
This sonship of God i s equivalent to the divinepriesthood after the order of Melchizedek .
But this sonship referred to in Hebrews wasnot the eternal sonship of Christ of which menso Often speak , but the sonship which Chri stwon through righteousness , acquired in Hishumiliation and his humanity through suffering,self-denial , and death , for which He was
“declared to be the Son of God with power, accord
34
THE ESSENTIALS 35
ing to the spirit of holiness , by the resurrec
tion from the dead.
”(Rom. i , Then it
was said,“Thou art My Son , this day have I
begotten Thee .” (Acts xiii ,It was not in God
’s plan that this sonshipShould come through the suffering but throughthe gift o f God , and the maintenance of a holycharacter. Therefore , when God created thi sworld He placed one at its head
,gave him do
minion over it all as earth’s crown prince andprospective king—Adam ,
“the son of God.
(Luke iii ,But in God’s universe are other worlds
,and
over each of these worlds Jehovah has placeda son of God‘ by creation . Before this worldcame into being there were other worlds ; andwhen this one was set forth in the developmento f the infinite plan “all the sons of God shoutedfor j oy . (Job. xxxviii ,Adam did not retain his sonship . He yielded
all to Satan , who became“prince” of this
world ; therefore , when the sons of God, theheads of the worlds
,came together to the throne
of the universe to meet with the King of Kings ,Satan
,as holding Adam’s dominion where he
went to and fro and walked up and down atwill ,
“also came among them .
”(Job . i , 6 ; ii ,
The sum o f which i s thi s : As Adam , theprince and prospective king of this world, was
36 MELCHIZEDEK
the son of God,”
so these “ sons of God” wereeach of them the king of some world in God’ suniverse , and the priest after the order Of
Melchizedek in that world .
MELCHIZED EK, LIKE ADAM, CAME DIRECTF ROM GOD
In Heb . Vii , 3 , Melchizedek is declared to beW ithout father, without mother
” An individual without father and mother must of necessity have come into existence by some otherway than by birth . We know o f but one othermanner by which men can have existence exceptby birth ; that other way is by a special act ofcreation . We have but two individuals o f the
created clas s belonging to our human family .
These were Adam and Eve . The latter iss tyled “the mother of all living,
” which provesthat our first parents were the only two created
members of our race. Even Jesus , the Son o f
God, could not become a member of our raceexcept by birth ,— by becoming the
“ seed of thewoman .
” All others came into existence bybirth . If we find that Melchi zedek came intoexistence by a special creative act on the partof Divinity, then we have discovered another individual who stands in the same class as Adam
,
a son of God by creative power .Without irreverence we can safely say that
it behooves inspiration to make its own state
THE ESSENTIALS 37
ments clear, to yield its own treasure of truth ,when in the plan o f God the fullnes s of time hascome for each particular truth to be unfolded.
If inspiration does not reveal , then we are leftto gues s at conclusions .Now
,if we discover that in the same inspired
sentence which sta tes that Melchizedek did not
have existence by birth it is declared that hecame into existence by being created
,then God
has not left us in the dark as to his origin .
The clause whi ch explains the origin of Melchizedek reads as follows : “But MAD E like untothe Son of God First
,let other portions of
Holy Writ interpret these words . In Gen . i ,2 6 it is written : “And God said , let us MAKEman in our image after our likeness .” In verse27 we read ,
“So God created man in His ownimage ; male and female created He them .
” Innumerous other instances in the Scriptures theterm “made” is used in the sense of “create .”
Please notice that in the following Scripturesthe verbs “
make”
(past tense ,“made”) and
“create
” are used interchangeably . (John i ,1
“In the beginning was the Word andthe Word was with God and the Word wasGod . The same was in the beginning with God .
All things were made by Him and without Himwas not anything made that was made .
” Wealso find the word “made” used in the sense of
38 MELCHIZEDEK
c reated” in the Fourth Commandment ; and inHeb . i
, 2 , where, in speaking of Chri st as God’sAgent in the work of creation , we read :
“Bywhom also He made
'
1 e worlds .” ( See alsoRev . xiv, 6 , It is , therefore , in perfect ac
cord with the Word of God to say that Melchizedek was a created being, and was essentially like Adam , a son of God by creative power.Another parallel between these two persons
consists in the fact that they were both createdin the same image or likenes s . Of the one it i swritten ,
“And God said,let us make man in our
image, after our likeness”
; and of the other,“but was made l ike unto the Son of God.
” InCol . i , 1 5 , Christ is declared to be
“the image ofthe invisible God,
” and if we are to take thewords “all things were made by Him
,and with
out Him was not anything made that was made”
a s all comprehensive , then we must concludethat Chri st in conj unction with the Father wasthe Creator o f ALL worlds , and of the first manof each world . We thus learn that Christ
,the
Creator, made Adam in His own image , afterHis own likeness, and that Melchizedek
“wasmade” by Him in His own image, or to quotethe exact phraseology,
“like unto the Son of
God.
” 1
1 The Emphatic D iaglot”translates this passage
But having been made like to the Son of the God.
”
THE ESSENTIAL S 39
Could the parallel be drawn closer in regardto the origin and nature of two beings thanthat which the Scriptures themselves draw between Adam and Melchizs
'
‘k ? They assuredlystand in the same class bhth? by coming into existence by creative power and by being made inthe image or likenes s of God.
Let us now devote our .attention to other expressions found in H eb. vii, 3 . The words“without descent” need no explanation , asdescent” refers to afleshly line of ancestry.
Like Adam,coming directly from the hand of
God, Melchizedek had no earthly pedigr ee .The expression ,
“having neither beginning of
days ,” will require the same rule of interpreta
tion which we apply uniformly and always toarrive at Scripture truth ,— namely, comparingScripture with Scripture . We have alreadylearned that it cannot mean that Melchizedeknever had beginning of existence
,or that his
existence has always run parallel with Divinity,for there must have been a definite time whenhe was “
made like unto the Son of God.
”
In Isa . lxv, 2 0 , we find the expression , an infant of days , employed to draw comparisonbetween a child and a mature man . Melchize
dek did not come into existence as human beingswho have birth ; he was never
“an infant ofdays .” Adam was never “an infant of days” ;
4 0 MELCHIZEDEK
he was without “beginning of days as an infant . Melchizedek did not begin life as do thechildren o f the race of Adam and Eve. LikeAdam , he came into existence in the full statureand Vigor o f manhood both in mind and body ,and thus did not have “beginning of days” ininfancy like the members of our race who enterlife by birth . They both came into existence ,not to develop as babes , but mature in mindand body .
2
All mature members o f our race, with theexception of Adam and Eve
,had after birth ,
“beginning o f days” : first one day Old,then
two days old'
, etc . , until they finally reachedmaturity. But Adam , Eve , and Melchizedek,coming into being, not by birth , but by creation
,did not have “beginning of days in this
way . T hey never appeared to be one day old,
two days old, etc . , until in due time they hadreached maturity . As looked upon by angelsin creation ’s morn , the very moment that Godhad formed them and given them “the breath of
life” they did not seem to be individuals beginn ing li fe a s “ infants of days ,
” first one dayold, then two days and so on , but rather, ifthirty or more years of age was the period in2 Melchizedek did not begin his days in our world, or
as“an infant o f days” in his own world. He came here
a fully matured man . I n this sense was he without “be
ginning of days.
”
4 2 MELCHIZEDEK
per ience by the creative power of God. Theysprang, as it were , into being, without the necessity for a single day
’s growth in stature toreach maturity .
The next clause of the verse under consideration reads ,
“without end of li fe .” This expres sion must mean that Melchizedek is still aliving, active being. Evidently , however, hisplace o f abode is not in our world , —else in thecourse of modern research he would have beendis covered and brought to light as the most interesting character of modern times , —but belongs to another world
,where he reigns , true
to his title,as priest—king of righteousness and
peace . When his mission here in Abraham’ sday was ended , he j oined his own people in asinles s world where , according to the lastclause o f verse '
3,“he abideth a priest con
tinually.
”
Another link in the chain which lends itsweight of evidence in supporting the theorythat heads of worlds are all priest-kings
,who
bear the title of Melchizedek , i s found in theparallel which exists between Adam
, Melchize
dek,and Christ , each in a peculiar sense being
sons of God by a special creative act , indicating that high-priesthood after the order of
Melchizedek and sonship in thi s special sense areequivalent in significance . Thus in Luke iii
, 38,
THE ESSENTIALS 48
Adam is declared to be the son of God, - andthi s , o f course, not by birth , but by creativepower ; and as a son of God he was made in thelikeness of God . We have already learned thatMelchizedek was a created being
,and hence a
son of God by creation , and that he was madein the likeness of, or
“like unto , the son of
God In Heb . i , 5 , it i s written of Christ thatin the day that He was begotten again , or raisedfrom the dead , He was declared to be the Sono f God . To thi s fact other Scriptures beartestimony
,and are even more lucid and force
ful . In speaking o f the sonship of Chri st inRom . i
, 4 , it is stated that He was “declared tobe the Son of God with power by the resur rection form the dead .
” The same power,by
special creative act , brought Adam and Melchizedek into existence and brought Christ fromthe dead
,and made them each a son of God .
( See also PS . ii, 7 and Acts xii i , 32
In Heb . iii , 1 , Christ is declared to be“the
Apostle and High Pries t of our profession” ;and in verse 6 the declaration is made that “Heis a Son over His own house .” (Or as in Eph . ii ,1 9 , Adam would still have beenthe preeminent son o f God , with the entire worldas his family or household
,had he not lost all
by the fall ; and in consequence of his failure ,Jehovah said unto His “first-begotten” Son
4 4 MELCHIZEDEK
Thy throne,O God
,i s forever and ever, a
scepter o f righteousness is the scepter of thykingdom .
”(Heb . i
,It i s
,therefore , clear
that sonship,kingship , and high priesthood are
vested in the class o f beings to which Adam ,
Melchizedek,and Christ belong. W e find even
a closer parallel in the matter of sonship andthe Melchizedek priesthood in Heb . V , 5 , 6 , r ef
erence to which will Show that in the day thatChrist was declared to be a Son o f God by being begotten ( from the dead
,as already
proven), He was also declared to be a Priestforever after the order o f Melchizedek . Thusthe declaration of His sonship and priesthoodafter the order o f Melchizedek are coincident .In fact , He could not in the plan o f God , laidin the fullness of Divine wisdom , become our
High Priest , our King, until He had become amember of our human fami ly by birth and hadin the weakness of humanity triumphed wherethe first Adam failed and paid the full penaltyfor all that was lost in the fall .Dean Alford, conceded to be one o f the high
est authorities Ou N ew Testament Greek , comments on the expres sions ,
“without father,
without mother,without descent
,
” thus
The latter of these three expression s seems, indeed, to represent a simple matter of fact : namely,
THE ESSENTIALS 4 5
that Melchiz edek has not in Genesis any genealogyrecorded by which his descent is shown . But as
to the two former , it cannot well be den ied that,while they also may bear a similar sen se : Vi z .
,that
no father or mother of his are recorded in the sa
cred narrative, it is very poss ible on the otherhand to feel that the writer would hardly haveintroduced them so solemn ly un less he had
coupled them with far higher ideas than the for
mer supposition implies . I con fess this feelingto be present in my own m ind ; indeed, I feel thatsuch solemn words seem to me to decide again stthat other suppos ition .
”
On the expression ,“beginning of days nor
end of life ,” he says ,
“Some commentators thinkthese refer to priestly li fe,
” but adds
They can hardly be understood of anything buthis natural life, especially as following the Greekterm techillah, and in the p resence of the generalbiblical usage of the Greek word used here, whichhas the s ign ificance of a man
’ s li fe-time. Accordingly, most expositors take the words in this theirnatural sen se.”
Opposing the theory of these expressions r eferring to his pr iestly life , he continues
Again , however , no one,I think, can help feel
ing that such an interpretation is,in fact, no
46 MELCHIZEDEK
worthy acceptation of these solemn words of the
Sacred W riter .
On the words,
“abideth a priest forever, wequote from the same high authority
The expression is one that in each case mustbe interpreted by the context in which it occur s .There is no reason why here, when an eternal
priesthood is in question , it should mean for life :indeed
,such mean ing would be absurd, seeing that
all were pr iests for life . Such an in terpretationtoo would not agree with the Greek term employed.
“All kinds of ways have been devised to escapethe plain assertion of these words . But thus,type and an titype are hopelessly con founded.
Everything shows that which has been maintainedall through this difficult passage, that the assertion s made
,and this chief one above all is made
(‘
abideth a pr iest continually ’) simply of Mel
chiz edek ; and they are, as matter s of fact,inferred
and laid down by the Sacred W riter from the hi s
toric notices of him . What further IS Implied fromsuch dign ity being here put on Melchiz edek ? Cer
tainly no interpretation which can in any way ia
terfere with Christ’
s eternal priesthood can be cor
rect. I t is one of those things in which wemust take simply and trustingly the plain sense of
our B ibles on a deep and mysterious subj ect, and
leave it for a day when all shall be clear to giveus full revelation on this theme.
THE ESSENTIALS 47
From Schaff’s translation from the German
o f J . P . Lange’s commentaries on the Epistles ,on the expression ,
“without father, withoutmother
,having neither beginning of days, nor
end of life,” we quote the following
Neither is the language to be restricted to thebeginn ing of his priesthood ( see also Camero, Seb.
Schmidt, Limb ., Kuin , Hofm) inasmuch as per
sonally he has been made the type of the Son ofGod.
Continuing he says
Melchiz edek appear s as a king in relation swhich at once associate him with Righteousnessand with Peace, as pr iest of the Most High Godin the midst o f idolatrous commun ities, and as
bless ing and receiving tithes from Abraham, the
sp iritual heir of the world. A personage so
great and so remarkable is, contrary to all the
usage of the sacred history,— which is generallyvery studious and exact in giving the lineage of its
important per sonages , and usually n otices a liketheir birth and their death
,-
passed over.“
withouta solitary intimation as to his lineage or family re
lations, as to his birth or his death .
”
Again
W e must remember that the sacred historian is
generally very studious to glve the lineage of all
48 MELCHIZEDEK
the sacred person s with whom he has to do, and
almost invar iably s ignaliz es the fact of their death.
Here we have a singular and marked exception .
Melchiz edek, eviden tly by the relation s in which heappears in Genesis one of the most extraordinarymen of sacred history, is yet passed over withoutone gleam o f light shed on the darkness either of
his past or his future. He thus stands on the sa
cred page am idst a narrative,which in its faithful
record of births and deaths seems intended to il
lustrate the truth that ‘
D eath reigneth from Adamto Moses,
’
as one who liveth. I have no wish,
therefore, to derogate in the least from the deptho f our author ’ s mean ing, or from the dign ity and
the mystery that invest the person of Melchizedek,or to reduce him to the prosaic level of ordinaryhuman ity.
”
In Hebrews V 1 1 , 2 , 3, there are nine specifications concern ing Melchizedek , each of whichpertains to one who was created to be the heado f a world. This is clearly proven by the factthat all o f these particulars would have appliedin every detail to Adam , had he not forfeitedhis right to be the head of our world , and losthis place in the Melchizedek priesthood by thefall . Perhaps these nine points of likeness canbe seen to best advantage if presented in parallel columns . T his comparison adds materialstrength to the position taken by the author.
50 MELCHIZEDEK
o r rather that the Lord desired to have conveyed, how could any Canaanitish priest , or forthat matter any member of our race , aside fromChrist and Adam, fill the specifications of the
third verse of the seventh chapter of Hebrews ,which declares that Melchizedek had neitherfather nor mother , descent nor end of life . If,as some say (although they thereby do Violenceto the Scriptures), that the inspired writermeant to say,
“We have no record of hi s fatherand mother or of his death ,
” how easy it wouldhave been for him to have said so ' And whata slur some thus cast upon inspiration by notadmitting that the Holy Ghost i s capable of expressing in words its intended meaning, and bynot accepting the exact statements of Scripture , even though they may not comprehend thesubj ect . It i s always better to candidly admitignorance of a Bible theme and occupy an at
titude of waiting for additional light than todo Violence to the inspired Word.
Al l o f the effort of inspiration to put em
phasis upon the fact that Melchizedek was anexalted character
,occupying a unique position
above all members of our race except the firstand “last” Adams , i s lost upon us unless weagree with the inspired statements that he wasliterally without father and mother by birth ;that , coming directly from the hand of God,
THE ESSENTIALS 5 1
he had no descent ; that he never died, but wasmade ( created) like unto the Son of God,
”
and “abideth a priest in perpetuity .
” Such aconception , or rather accepting by faith thatwhi ch is written , does no V iolence to the Wordof God, and at the same time makes clear oneo f the mysteries of the ages .In fact , a most emphatic denial is made in
verse eight of the position taken by some that“Paul meant to be understood that we have norecord of his antecedents , hi s descent and hisdeath .
” Thi s verse reads : “Here men thatdie receive tithes , but there he receiveth themof whom it is wi tnessed that he live’th.
” It i sthus clear that the contrast i s Sharply drawn ,not between men whose record we may or maynot have , but between men who die and one whodid not die . Thi s Melchizedek order is com
posed of deathless individuals , and hence theclose parallel between Chris t and Melchizedek.
( See also verses 1 5—1 7, 2 3,4
In further identification of the order of
4 I n order to demonstrate the strange interpretationssometimes given of Heb. Vii , 3, I will raise the followingquestion : Does an inspired argument have an added
force in our minds over an uninspired statement ? Some
tell us that the inspired writer of the verse under con
sideration intended to convey the meaning that he did
not know or had no record of the father , mother, ped i
gree, the beginning Or the ending of the li fe of Melchize
dek. W hat would we say of an uninspired wr iter who
5 2 MELCHIZEDEK
priesthood called the Melchizedek,let us consider
God’s original plan for the high priesthood of
this world . In whom was this office vested ? Inthe patriarchal dispensation from Adam toMoses the priesthood was vested in the fatherof each family ; hence the name of the dispensation is derived from pa tra , meaning father.Naturally then
,Adam was the first priest of
this world,and by right its high priest . He
would have retained an endless , unchangeablepriesthood if he had not surrendered the rulership of the world to the usurper. Because of
this surrender,Adam lost his priesthood . and
could not find language to express his meaning more
clearly ?Let us test the out-working of such interpretations of
Scr ipture. A new leader of the Moroccan forces in
North A frica, one El H iba, has recently arisen fromutter Obscurity. I n our ignorance o f his parentage, dateO f b irth, pedigree, etc., suppose that we Should say that“he is without father , without mother , without descent,
wi thout beginni ng o f days, without end of li fe.
”W ould
our lack of knowledge o f his origin , pedigree, etc., justi fy us in saying that
“he is wi thou t parentage, date o f
b irth, and end of life” ? W ould not our expressing our
selves in such terms to indicate our lack of data demon
strate shameful ignorance in the use o f human language,
and amount to absolute folly ? Shall we accuse the
apostle o f imbecility when speaking under inspiration of
the Holy Sp irit ? This is exactly what we do when we
say that“he intended to be understood to mean that we
have no record o f the parentage, pedigree, and end o f
life of Melchizedek, when he said that he was without
THE ESSENTIALS 53
Satan became “the prince of this world” ; buthe did no t thus become the Melchizedek of our
human family , for in character he is the directopposite of the King of Righteousness and ofKing o f Peace . His seat of governmenti s more fittingly described by the term
“Babylon ,
”— confusion , than by“Salem ,
” —peace .Conceding that all worlds in space are not
created in vain and are , therefore , inhabited
( see I sa . xlv,
each planet would naturallyhave its Melchizedek : that is , its representative ,its everlasting father, it s high priest .
father, without mother, without descent, without beginning o f days, nor end of life.
”
But those who thus attribute imbecility to inspirationare still baffled to explain the expressions, “
made like
unto the Son of GOd ,” —“abideth a priest continually.
”
Such tactics i f conceded, would make it an utter im
possib ility to prove any essential to the plan o f re
demption by the insp i red Book . If the strongest prooftexts that can be given can be turned aside with the re
mark that“the Scr iptures do not convey the meaning
that the language employed would indicate,”then all
Scripture evidence is worthless .
I am profoundly thankful that there is no necessityfor resorting to the art of juggli ng to explain any por
tion of the Sacred Volume. Any position which must besustained by this
'
method is man ifestly incorrect. W hen
we find the true solution to any difficult text, we shall
see that insp iration is thoroughly capable of choosinglanguage to clearly convey its mean ing. The difficul tieso f the text under observation all disappear when we
give the inspired writer due credit in his choice of terms
to express certain truths concerning Melchizedek.
5 4 MELCHIZEDEK
When our world had lost its rightful repre-jsentative
,its father, its high priest , its Mel
chizedek, it was not left by the Creator in thissad condition . I ts Representative, its Everlasting Father
,its High Priest , in a word its
Melchizedek , was immediately foreshadowed inthe institution of the sacrificial service , whichfor 4000 years focused upon the second or
“lastAdam .
” ' et during thi s period Satan had ac
ces s to heaven as- the representative of this
world . (Rev . xii , Job. i , There aredoubtless appointed times when the representatives , the priests
“after the order of Melchize
dek” from all unfallen worlds in this universe ,j oyfully assemble in heaven to worship the Creator Such occasions are clearly indicated inthe first and second chapters of the book o f
Job. (Chapters i , 6 , and ii , That the individuals here mentioned as “ sons of God” wererepresentatives of their respective planets isindicated by the fact that in the interview between Jehovah and Satan the latter i s concededto have been the representative o f our earth ,a position which he wrested from Adam
,and
thereby became “the prince of this world .
(Jno . xii , As additional evidence thatthese “sons o f God” were the heads ( the Melchizedeks) of other worlds, it i s worth whi le tonote that in designating Adam as the first man
THE ESSENTIALS 55
of thi s world , he is also called “the son of God .
(Luke iii ,One of the most forceful evidences that Adam
would have been the high priest ( the Melchize
dek) of this world , had he not sinned , i s foundin the fact that until Christ was born into theworld as a member o f our human family
,and
became sin’s sacrifice and through the cros s Satan’s conqueror
,He did not become our
High Priest after the order of Melchizedek .
”
But , coinciden t with his becoming our Melchiz
edek, He became the second or“last Adam .
”
(Heb . ii , 1 6 , 1 7 ; Vi , 1 9 , 2 0 ; I Cor. xv, Thelogical conclusion is that
,had Adam retained
his sinles s state,he would have been a priest
after the order of Melchizedek ,” and , therefore,
that thi s “order” i s composed of representativeso f worlds who were created and given dominion over their respective spheres
,as Adam
was created and placed over the planet knownto us by the name “earth .
”
Chri st came into this world to be our PriestKing, our Melchizedek , which title , interpreted ,i s King of righteousnes s
,and King o f His own
city of peace ; for , In prophetically announcingthe capital of Christ ’s future kingdom, it i ssaid that “the name o f the City from that dayshall be
,the Lord i s there .” (Ezek . xlviii , 35 ;
Zech . Vi, 1 3, 1 4 ; Rev . xxi , 1 And this mean
56 MELCHIZEDEK
ing will be given to no other city in the universe ,as the tabernacle o f Jehovah will be with menand He will dwell with them . To the inhabitants of all worlds in space
,whenever the name
“Jerusalem” i s spoken it will have a distinctmeaning, —Jehovah
’s dwelling place . Thus theminds of all creatures in the universe will befocused upon the name and dwelling place of
Jehovah .
The one who holds place in the Melchiz
edek priesthood must also be a father of thoseover whom he is priest ,— father under God , evenas he i s king under God . Thus Adam was tobe the father of all who populated this world .
Every one among all this world’s millions wouldcall him father. From him would they receivel ife
,disposition
,character. God created Adam
after His own likenes s and image . (Gen . i , 2 6 ,“Adam begat a son in his own like
ness , after his image .”(Gen . Vi , He gave
o f his own life to all his children , and had heremained holy all would have been blessed in him .
T o him they would have always looked forcounsel and blessing, and he would have been tothem a minis ter of the life-bles sings of God .
But he failed . Sin perverted the image of Godin him , and turned his blessings into curses ; hislife became death . His children became thechildren o f sin , obedient to the prince of the
58 MELCHIZEDEK
sonship of God and the fatherhood of the race .His relation to the King of the Universe i s thato f Son ; His relation to the children of theworld who turn from sin i s that of Father.Thus he became the most mighty o f advocates ,the most merciful and helpful o f priests : our
Advocate with the Father, —His own Son ; ourSavior and Helper, our eternal Father-priest .The significance of “ father” i s ,
“
possessmg
power to beget and to sustain life in his of
spring ; the founder o i a race or family .
” Adamwould have been the “everlasting father” of our
human family had he not by sin forfeited theright, and lost the power to impart everlastinglife to his posterity . He so far lost the powersessential to everlasting fatherhood that he couldnot perpetuate his own existence , and insteadof imparting to his children eternal life
,they
inherited from him death . Jesus Chri st,“who
is our life” ( the founder of our family), tookupon Himself the everlasting fatherhood of Hischildren . Thus , when His everlasting kingdomis established as set forth in the text ( Isa . ix ,He occupies the position lo st by Adam as
Everlasting Father .
What a wonderful thought it is that He whowas the highest o f all left the highest and nu
dertook the forlorn hope of this poor,lost
,Sin
sick world, coming clear down to the lowest
THE ESSEN TTALS 59
depths of death and nothingnes s , and then bythe fullnes s o f the power of His righteous character ascending far up through and above allthings a conqueror, that He might fill everyvacancy in the universe which sin has made '
(Eph . iv , 9 , But when He ascended on
high He took with Him , and takes with Him ,
into the heavenlies , a redeemed humanity .
(Eph . iv , 8 ; 1 1 , 4 And in all the ages tocome the praise of the glory o f the grace of ourgr eat High Priest will shine forth in those redeemed from sin and death (Eph . iii , 9so that where sin reigned and reveled in curses ,woe , and misery, even putting to death the Sonof God
,there Shall the throne of God be estab
lished, —the dwelling—place and center of Jehovah’s dominion to all eternity , - covering all theevil attempts of Satan with the eternal , neverfading glory of the kingdom of our God and of
H is Christ . (Rev . xxi , 1 -6 ; xxu ,1
Another es sential of the Melchizedek priesthood is an endless life . The Levitical priest swere made “after the law of the carnal [fleshly]commandment .” The priests were men whodied . However righteous and able one mightbe , like Jehoiada of old, he could help men onlyfor a little while during his life ; then he gaveway to a successor. N ot so with the priestafter the order of Melchizedek . It was said
60 MELCHIZEDEK
o f Christ that His priesthood was “after thepower of an endless [ indis soluble ] li fe ; for it i switnessed of Him , Thou art a priest foreverafter the order of Melchizedek .
”(Heb . Vii , 1 6 ,
The endless l ife i s anes sential of that priesthood . Therefore
,it i s
said of the Melchizedek whom Abraham met
(and it is true of every other Melchizedek)that s o far as the human is concerned he iswithout father, without mother, having
“no beginning Of days ,
” a full matured father-priestin the very beginning, direct from the hand of
God.
What hope and strength and comfort is therein this : “F or the law” [whi ch made the Levitical priests , Heb . V I I , 1 9 ]
“made nothing perfect” ; but the bringing o f the “better hope”
in the priesthood o f the endless life does makeperfect
,
“because He abideth forever,” and
bath His priesthood unchangeable .” Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost”
in quantity and quality Oftime]
“them that draw near unto God throughHim
,seeing He ever liveth to make intercess ion
for them . F o r such a high priest” [ after theorder o f Melchizedek]
“became us , holy, guileles s , undefiled, separate from sinners , and madehigher than the heavens ; who needeth not daily,like those high priests
,to offer up sacrifices ,
THE ESSENTIALS 61
first for his own Sins , and then for the sins ofthe people ; for this He did once for all , whenHe Offered up Himself . F or the law appointeth men high priests , having infirmity ; but theword of the oath
,which was after the law,
appointeth a Son , perfected forevermore .”
(Heb . Vii , 2 4 - 2 8 , A . R . V .)The priest after the law could transmit to his
son no higher life than he himself posses sed ,a mortal life . He could give to the people noteven this life ; but one Melchizedek priest cantransmit and does transmit to all His sons (andif we receive H im we are sons : John i , 1 2 ; IJohn i , 1 -3) the everlasting life , whi ch in righteousness becomes the “indissoluble” life
,and so
makes them under H im “kings and priests untoGod and His Father ; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever . (Rev . i ,In its fulles t sense the Melchizedek priesthood
is an everlasting priesthood . Note the contrastbetween the earthly and the Melchizedek priesthood : “And they indeed have been madepriests
,many in number, because that by death
they are hindered from continuing ; but He ,“because He abideth forever
,hath His priest
hood unchangeable” [because always a son ofGod
,always a father, always a king o f right
eousness] .
“Wherefore also He is able to saveto the uttermos t” not merely as
62 MELCHIZEDEK
regards quantity o r magnitude,but as regards
time]“them that draw near unto God through
Him , seeing He ever liveth to make interces sionfor them .
”(Heb. vii, 1 6
If any one thing is made a certainty by theforceful language of the apostle in Hebrews Vii ,it i s that the Melchizedek order of priesthoodis eternal . It is composed of individuals who“have the power of an endles s life” and thus ofperpetual priesthood . Thi s being true
,what
must we conclude with reference to the Melchiz
edek who met and bles sed Abraham ? There isbut one logical conclusion ,— he was not a member of our human family , for
“here menthat die receive tithes ; but there he receiveththem of whom it is witnes sed that he liveth.
(Heb . V1 1, In this fallen world a perpetual
priesthood vested in a single individual has always been an impossibility “by reason of
death.
He whose hope is anchored in the Melchize
dek of God has an everlasting father o f everlasting love , everlasting mercy, everlastingsympathy, everlasting riches of grace, everlasting power of help , everlasting life to give .Praise God for His everlasting priesthood
.
' et this i s God’s glorious plan for every sen
tient being. 0 soul , trust in the everlastingHelper.
CHAPTER VI
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH
Those priests were made without an oath, but this
with an oa th. F or the law maketh men high pr iests which
have infirmity; but the word of the oath which was since
the law maketh the Son , who is consecrated forevermore.
”
(Heb. VI I , 2 1 ,
In the mind of the author one of the overwhelming proofs of the position taken that theMelchizedek order o f pri esthood is composed of
individuals who occupy po sitions a s pr iestkings of worlds is found in the 1 1 0th Psalm .
In approaching our study of this Psalm ,
which casts a flood of light upon our theme ,it may be well to observe, that careful investi
gation of the entire volume of Scriptures writtenprior to the production of the Epistle to theHebrews will reveal the fact that only twice i sthe title “Melchizedek” recorded —once in Gen .
xiv, 1 8 , where it is applied to the person whomet and blessed Abraham , and again in Psa .
ex, 4 , where it undoubtedly has application toChr ist .In Heb . V I I , 2 8 , it is stated that there was a
law concern ing succession in the Aaronic priesthood which made men high priests who possessed
63
64 MELCHIZEDEK
infirmities , B U T THE W ORD OF THE OATH , whichwas since the law, MAKETH THE SON [highpriest ] W H O I s CONSECRATED FOREVERMORE .
THIS PRIESTHOOD CAME OF GOD AN D W AS
RATIF IED B' AN OATH
The priests of the house of Levi exercisedtheir office after “the law of a carnal commandment .” They assumed it , not because especially summoned to the work by the voice ofheaven , but because they had sprung from thespecial sacerdotal tribe . The priesthood of
Christ , on the other hand, is God’s best gift to
men ,— to thee , my reader, and to me : more necessary than food , or light , or air. Without itour soul s would wander ever in a Sahara desert .And such was the solemnity of His appoint
ment that it was ratified by “the word of theoath .” Here is strong consolation indeed . N O
unfaithfulnes s or ingratitude can change thispriesthood . The eternal God will never runback from that word and oath .
“Eternity” i swritten upon the High Priest’s brow ;
“forevermore” rings out from the chime Of His golden1 I t is a matter of peculiar interest that Jehovah placed
H imself under oath concerning two things. One was to
give to Abraham and his seed the kingdom of this world,and the other , to provide a King for the world
-kingdom .
(Gen . xxii, 1 5-1 9 ; xxvi, 3, 4 ; Rom. iv, 1 3 ; Psa. cx, 4, and
cv,
66 MELCHIZEDEK
spiration in the logical arrangement or settingof Jehovah’s thoughts in His Word . This facti s full of sign ificance in our study of the textof the oath by which Jesus is made a HighPriest forever after the order of Melchizedek .
N ow if our position is well taken , may wenot expect to find the original oath in such asetting as will indicate that it will not go intofull effect , - become fully Operative ,— untilChrist takes possession of this world as it srightful King ? And
,i f we find the original
oath by which He is made of Jehovah a Priestforever after the order o f Melchizedek , in j ustsuch a setting, will this fact not be a strong linkin the chain of proof that the position hereintaken is the correct solution to the question asto what office Christ will fill by being made aHigh Priest in the Melchizedek order ? In themind of the writer
,the establishing of this fact
will supply proof beyond controversy that theMelchizedek order of priesthood is composedof persons design ed by Jehovah to be eternalheads and kings of worlds ; for, if Christ becomes a Priest after that order by becomingthe Head and King of this world
,then the logic
is that all heads of worlds are priests in thesame order.Why should the eternal God of truth choose
in this special instance to put Himself under
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 67
oath ? Surely not to make the fulfillment of
His promise more pertain in His own plano r in His own mind , but rather to give emphasis to the promise comprehended in the text o fthe oath
,and thereby r ivet the attention of
His people upon the promise . T his thought isconfirmed by the following inspired words foundin Heb . Vi
,1 6—2 0 : “
F o r men verily swear bythe greater ; and an oath fo r confirmation is tothem an end of all strife . Wherein God, willingmore abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability o f His counsel , confirmedit by an oath : that by two immutable things ,in which it was impossible fo r God to lie , wemight have a strong consolation
,who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set beforeus : which hope we have as an anchor of thesoul , both sure and steadfast , and which entereth into that within the veil . Whither the forerunner i s for us entered , even Jesus , made anHigh Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
”
If in our study of the oath in its originaland inspired setting we find that it is to gointo full effect only when Christ takes possess ion of this world as its rightful King, thenwe are again driven to the conclusion that theMelchizedek order of priesthood is composed ofthose who are priest-kings of worlds .
68 MELCHIZEDEK
Before turn ing to the Psalm wherein the oathis recorded, let us note Dr. Adam Clark
’s comment on thi s marvelous Psalm . He says
This Psalm [ex] is short in appearance, butdeep and copious in mysteries . The subj ect without doubt is Chr ist. (See Acts i i, 34 ; Heb. i , 1 3 ;
Heb. x,1 2 , 1 3 ; Matt. xxii
,I n the latter
text Christ app lies it to Himself. W hile all haveacknowledged that this Psalm is of the utmost im
portance, and that it speaks of Christ’s priesthoodand Victor ies
,it is amaz ing how var ious are the
in terp retation s which are given of its different
passages .“I t has
,however
,app eared to me that there is a
key by which all the difficulties of the Psalm maybe un locked.
We concur that before Christ comes back toearth and the prophecy embraced in the oathis fulfilled God’s people ought to obtain the keyto unlock the treasure-house of this MessianicPsalm .
Now, preliminary to our verse-by-Verse studylet us read the Psalm.
The Lord [Jehovah] said unto my Lord, Sitthou at my right hand, until I make thine enemiesthy footstool .The Lord Shall send the rod of thy strength
out o f Zion : rule thou in the midst of thineenemies .
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 69
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power , in the beauties of holiness from the wombof the morn ing : thou hast the dew of thy youth .
The Lord [Jehovah] hath sworn , and will notrepent, Thou art a pr iest forever after the orderof Melchiz edek.
The Lord at thy r ight hand shall strike throughkings in the day of H is wrath .
He shall j udge among the heathen , he shall fillthe places with dead bodies ; he shall wound theheads over many coun tries .He shall dr ink of the brook in the way : there
fore shall he lift up the head.
”
That Chris t ascended up on high and took aposition at the right hand o f the Father whenHe had finished His earthly ministry as set forthin the first clause of verse 1 (Heb . x , 1 2 , 1 3)needs no proof to any Bible student ; therefore ,we will not consume time by supplying Scripture proof of this fact . But the next expression is not so clear to all . W HEN do Chri st’senemies become His footstool ? Jehovah declares
,
“The heaven is my throne , and theearth is my footstoo ( I sa . lxvi , I S thereto be a time
,according to the Scriptures , when
Chri st’ s enemies are to be made a part of Hisfootstool
,or are to be reduced to the physical
material of which the earth is composed ? Leta few Scriptures out o f the multitude of refer
70 MELCHIZEDEK
emees which might be cited supply the answer .
Jeremiah declares ( chapter xxiii ,“Behold,
the days come,saith the Lord
,when I will raise
unto David a righteous Branch,and a king
shall reign and prosper, and shall execute j udgment and justice in the ear th.
” Luke assert s’
( chapter i , 82 ) that the throne o f David willbe given to Christ , and Jesus declares Himselfto be “ the root and the offspring of David .
(Rev . xxii , In the parable of the sower
(Matt . xiii , 2 44 Christ Himself explains themanner in which this world
,called the “field”
in the parable , will be prepared for the settingup of His etern al kingdom . He says (Matt .xiii , 441
“The Son o f Man shall send forthHis angels
,and they shall gather out of His
Kingdom all things that offend,and them which
do iniquity ; and shall cast them into a furnaceo f fire : there shall he wailing and gnashing of
teeth . Then shall the righteous shine forth asthe sun in the kingdom o f their Father. Whohath ears to hear, let him hear.The same truths concerning the preparation
o f this world for the kingdom o f Christ are setforth in the parable of the nobleman who wentaway to receive for himself a kingdom and toreturn . (Luke xix , 1 2 ,The prophet Malachi bears definite testimony
concerning the time when the enemies of our
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 71
Lord will become a part of His footstool , preparatory to the setting up o f His kingdom .
He says : “Behold, the day cometh that shallburn as an oven
,and all ‘ the proud, yea all
that do iniquity , shall be stubble , and the daythat cometh shall burn them up , saith the Lordo f Hosts
,that it shall leave them neither root
no r branch . And they shall be ashes under the
soles of your feet, saith the Lord , for ye shall
tread down the wi cked in the day that I do thissaith the Lord of Hosts . (Mal . iv, 1 ,Surely when
,in the literal fulfillment of the
prophecy,the wicked are reduced to non- sen
tient ashes and in this condition are troddenunder foot , the enemies of the Lord form a parto f His footstool
,and the prophecies will then
go into full effect , which declare :“And I saw
in the night visions,and
,behold , one like the
Son of Man came with the clouds o f heaven,and
came to the Ancient of days,and they brought
Him near before Him , and there was given Himdominion , and glory, and a kingdom ,
that all
people,nations
,and languages should serve
Him . H is dominion is an everlasting dominion ,which shall not pas s away
,and His kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed . (Dan . vn ,
1 3,“And there were great voices in
heaven , saying, The kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of H is
72 MELCHI ZEDEK
Christ ; and He shall reign forever and ever.
(Rev. xi ,Thus we have in the first verse of this Me s
sian ic Psalm the clearest possible evidence thatthe oath by which Christ is made our
“HighPriest forever after the order of Melchizedek”
goes in to full effect when He takes pos ses siono f the world as His eternal kingdom of glory,for although He is both Pries t and King now,yet the oath will never go into full effect till Hetakes possession of H is kingdom . (V ,Let us now see i f the remainder of the Psalm
corresponds with this interpretation . The second verse reads : The Lord shall send the rodof thy strength out of Zion : rule thou in themidst of thine enemies .When does the Lord send the rod of His
strength out of Zion , and rule in the MIDST of
His enemies ? According to Revelation xx, 7
-9,
after the millennial period has passed and Zionthe City of God, the New Jerusalem ,
has descended to the earth , for
“a little season ,” Christ
rules in His capital city , literally in the MIDSTof His enemies . He then sends the rod of Hisstrength out of Zion, and the results which follow are described as follows ' “Thou shaltbreak them” [ the wicked]
“with a rod of iron ;Thou shalt dash them in pieces as a potter’svessel .” (Psa. ii ,
74 MELCHiZEDEK
of God’s power,in contrast with the day of His
mercy or grace,can have no other meaning in
this connection than that day when He takesthe power which rightly belongs to Him , destroys His enemies
,and reigns supreme ; when
Satan and His followers are dethroned for cv
ermore. This is in harmony with Rev . xi , 1 7,which reads : “We give thee thanks , 0 LordGod Almighty , because thou hast taken to theethy great power
,and hast reigned .
”
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thypower .”
This doubtles s means that the children of thekingdom will be willing then
,that the wicked
shall be destroyed,for the destruction of the
ungodly is the subj ect under consideration .
No one who has the Spirit o f Christ in his heartis willing now,
while mercy lingers and there i shope of salvation , that the vast hosts of thewicked shall be smitten with eternal death . Butwhen probation shall finally close , when mercyno longer lingers
,because God’s Spirit
,effectu
ally grieved away , ceases to strive with men , asit did when Noah’s message to a doomed worldhad been gi ven : when the final j udgment haspassed in which every hidden thing will havebeen brought to light and the counsel s of everyheart made manifest
,so that the tru e character
of every lost member of our race will be under
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 75
stood ; and when , a last evidence of the incorrigibility of the wicked and o f their persistence in fighting against God is revealedin their united as sault upon the beloved city
(Rev. xx, 7 — then all those who posses sthat spiri t of love and mercy manifested by theSavior of men upon the cros s of Calvary willbe willing that the wicked shall
“sleep the sleepthat knows no waking” ; for why should theunnumbered millions o f the lo st , who
“have comeshort” in character and have not learned theway of happines s or eternal life , continue tosuffer eternally and never cease their warfareagainst God ? Not only will the righteous be“willing that the wicked shall peri sh in theday o f God’s power, but , according to the wordof the Psalmist , they will even have a part, atleast , by their decision in the j udgment , and ,therefore , will give their approval in the execution of
“ the j udgments written” upon thewicked . (Psa . cxlix
, 4 ,
What a halo o f glory attaches to the nextexpres sion ' The most beautiful thing in theuniverse i s perfect holines s . It is needful herethat inspiration make explanation of the greatsecret as to how Christ has preserved His fullvigor so that He may finally accomplish theglorious result of the final over throw o f sin andrebellion . In this climax o f inspired poetical
6 MELCHI ZEDEK
expression , made, i f possible , more sublimelybeautiful by oriental coloring
,we are trans
ported away from all contaminated environmentto the fragrant summer fields at the entrancingmoment of the birth of a new day . All natureis in her sweetest mood . The sparkling dewdrops
, distilled in Nature’ s own laboratory,
glisten like millions of tiny diamonds in therays of the rising sun . Absolute purity is enthroned upon Nature ’ s fragrant bosom . The
vigor of all things animate has been renewedduring the night .Even so
,when Christ comes forth to perform
the dutie s which devolve upon Him in the dayo f final retribution for the ungodly , it i s pro'
phetically foretold o f Him,
“In the beauty ofholin ess
,from the womb o f the morning
,Thou
hast the dew of thy youth .
” Although at thattime He will have been “the Son of Man” formany centuries , yet because He has preservedspotless purity of character
,He will have re
tained His full vigor, as fresh as at creation’ s
mOrn when He spoke our solar system into existence. He is as “ strong in power” to overthrow the wicked as He was before sin enteredthe universe . He can crush it finally.
Sin is the only thing in the universe thatweakens and makes hideous . It i s self-destructive . “The wages of sin i s death .
” The
THE OATH OF. JEHOVAH 77
climax of weakness is death . The most strikingpossible comment on the sinfulness and
,thereby
,
the weaknes s o f the human family, is the ap
palling daily toll of death taken from our race .More than one hundred thousand members of
Adam ’s posterity are overpowered by and suc
cumb to death during each twenty- four hours .In the day o f Christ’s power Satan ’s followerswill say o f him who is the author of sin ,
“Artthou also become weak as we ? How art thoucut down to the ground
,which didst weaken
the nations '” (Isa . xiv , 1 0 , The secreto f perpetual youth is everlasting righteousness .“In the way of righteousness is life ; and in thepathway thereo f there is no death .
” What asplendid premium upon holiness'This inspired description of the perfection of
character of Christ is in exact accord with thatgiven by Jehovah of His Son , as recorded inHebrews , chapter one. Please note the parallel . “But unto the Son He saith
,Thy throne ,
O God, is forever and ever : a scepter of righteousness i s the scepter of thy kingdom . Thouhast loved righteousnes s
,and hated iniquity ;
therefore God,even thy God
,hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows . And ,Thou , Lord , in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are thework of thine hands : they shall perish ; but
78 MELCHIZEDEK
Thou remainest ; and they shall wax old as dotha garment ; and as a vesture shalt Thou foldthem up
,and they shall be changed ; but Thou
art the same,and thy years shall not fail.”
(Verses 8And now we come to the vital verse of the
Psalm (verse W hen David recorded thesewords he was doubtles s a s ignorant of theirmeaning as are the masses o f the people now of
the Hebrew language . He simply spake as hewas moved by the Holy Ghost From thebrief exposition of the preceding verses , doubtless all will agree as to the time when the oath ofJehovah by which Christ i s made Priest-Kingforever
,after the order of Melchizedek , will go
into FULL effect .We will now notice the expression “will notrepent .” Why are these words thrown in ?What occasion would Jehovah have for repenting, or more literally , turning back from Hispurpose ? Primarily , these words would giveforce to the oath by declaring it unchangeable ,no matter what emergencies o r exigencies mightarise . But there is much more involved in theirdeep meaning. God knew full well when Heplaced Himself under oath the terrible price atwhich that oath must be fulfilled . He knewthat in order to make the oath effectual Hisonly begotten Son , Fellow-God, must become
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 79
man . He was conversant with the fact that HisSon in human form must meet Satan , and overcome in temptation on every point where thefirst Adam failed . He foresaw the effort todestroy His infant Son at Bethlehem ; the fasting and temptation in the wilderness ; the suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane ; the cruelsmiting ; the crown of thorns
,and all of the
heart- rending scenes o f Calvary . Being infinite ,He could “taste” with His Son the agonies o f
death . Our God knew that all this and infinitelymore would be the purchase price o f Chr ist’sstepping into Adam ’s place to be our Savior,our High-Pr iest ,
“touched with the feelings o f
our infirmities” that He might be our King o f
righteousness ; and yet it i s written ,“The Lord
hath sworn and will not repent (or will not turnback from His oath) Thou art a priest foreverafter the order of Melchizedek . By so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better testament .
(Heb . vu ,2 1 ,
Before Chri st could be made our High Priest ,He must be made “s in for us .” This , in brief,i s the explanation o f the expres sion
,
“The Lordhath sworn and wi ll not repen t.
” In makingHim to be sin for us
,who knew no sin ,
” thatHe might thus become our Redeemer
,is the oc
casion for repentance ,— for turning back fromHis purpose,— for such is the meaning of
“re
80 MELCHIZEDEK
pent .” The price paid for our redemption wasthe occasion fo r repentance , but He decided topay the price,
“for God so loved the world thatHe gave His only begotten Son
,that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish,but have
everlasting life ” It is as though Jehovahhad said : “Let Satan and evil men do theirworst , still I will not withdraw from my purpose to make my Son a Priest foreverafter the order of Melchizedek .
This emphatic expres sion , will not r e
pent ,” very clearly indicates that marvelous
condescension was necessary on the partof Christ before his exaltation could follow.
What else could be the meaning of the expres sion ,
“The Lord hath sworn and wi ll
not repen t”? When we consider the mar
velous sacrifice bf the Father in givingChrist to redeem Adam’s failure , his familyand his world
,then we discover the occa
sion for repentance— literally turning backfrom ca rrying out the oath— on the partof Jehovah . If the carrying of the oathinto full effect did not neces sitate the birthof Jesus into our human family, so thatHe could “taste death fo r every man” andthus redeem all that was lost in the fall ,then what occasion for repentance can bediscovered in the putting into Operation of the
812 MELCHIZEDEK
Priest-King, a Melchizedek, consecrated forevermore to be the head of the Divine-humanfamily .
He knew that in giving His only-begottenSon to humanity He would always be a member of our race , and always wear the nail printsin His hands . He knew full well that Chri stwould , as being the great spiritual head of Hisbody ( the church), through the operation of
the Holy Spirit , suffer with each member of
His body till their suffering should foreverceas e and sin’s power over them be crushedforevermore .The priest—king gives his life not always in
sacrifice, but in service for H is people . SoChrist , our Priest-King, our Melchizedek , givesthe outfiowing of His life in a full overflowingstream o f infinite love throughout etern ity tothe subj ects of His kingdom .
Please observe that the meaning o f thewords “
will not repen t is lost unles s the position is taken that the oath of Jehovah madeJesus Adam’s successor as the head of our
world . When the thought of the possibilityof Jehovah’s repentance o r turning back froma course determined upon is suggested
,then we
must candidly consider the occasion for suchrepentance . We have already given a briefoutline o f the occasion for the turning back
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 83
of Jehovah from His purpose to have Jesustake Adam ’s place , and redeem all that Adamlost . The occasion was the infinite and nu
searchable price at which our salvation waspurchased.
2
Let us raise the inquiry as to what the wordof the oath made o f Christ . If we are correctin our premises , it s imply brought Him into theposition where He became all that Adam wasor ever would have been to this world, had he
2 I t is worthy of the thought o f every candid student
that the words will not repent” which are incorporatedinto the oath cannot refer, as would be the logic of
some, to Chri st’s being made a Priest after the order
o f Shem . I n fact, Shem never was a pr iest-ki ng, and
thus not a Melchizedek . The meaning of thi s wonder fulinspired clause is also hopelessly lost i f , as others say,
Melchizedek was the Holy Spirit, for what occasion
would there be for repentance on the part of Jehovahin making H is Son the anti—type of the Holy Spirit ?I t must be apparent to all that i f we stray awayfrom the fact that Christ was made by the oath a priestafter the order of Melchizedek in order to be Adam
’s
successor and to redeem all that he lost, we make the
word of the oath of none eff ect.
God has never since the organi zation of the first na
tion in the history of the world I‘
CCOgI l ized a priest-kingin one person . N0 king over Israel could ever , with
the approval o f heaven, ofiiciate as a priest. The two
offices have ever been separate. There is, therefore, no
man in this world under di vine appointment as priestking, as Melchizedek, nor will there be such a personageuntil Jesus Christ reigns over this world as its r ightfulPriest-King.
84 MELCHIZEDEK
by faithfulness come into posses sion of the fullheritage of his office . Or, to clothe thethought in other words
,the oa th made o f
Christ a Melchizedek , a Priest-King, an Everlasting Father
, a Son by creation (or , better,by re- creation), even as Adam was a son of
God by creation . T hen as Christ was by theoath “consecrated forevermore” to the officeslost by Adam
,and by this consecration was
made a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (all of which came to Him by virtueo f His choice to become the “last iti s evident that the first Adam would havebeen forevermore a pries t after that order hadhe not failed ; and thus , logically, the orderi s composed of those who occupy such positionsa s Adam once held by right
,but which will
center upon Jesus Christ as a result of Hisbecoming “the last Adam in consequence of
the failure of the first Adam .
In the beginning of this world’ s history thepriesthood was vested in the father-priest of ourrace
,Adam . When he had lo st all by the fall,
the father of each family was still thepriest for those o f his own household
,and the
whole system of patriarchal or father-priesthood pointed forward to the Everlasting F ather-Priest who was to come . When He cameand took the priesthood His order was the
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 85
Melchi zedek priesthood . Therefore , the onlylogical conclusion is that He took Adam’s placein the Melchizedek priesthood .
In every particular Jehovah made ChristAdam ’s successor. If it can be demonstratedthat the oath by which Christ was made a priestforever after the order of Melchizedek conferred upon Him every office that would havebelonged to Adam had he remained loyal toGod, and made Christ the successor to that office, then it is clear that Adam would have hadthe office of a priesthood after the order of
Melchizedek , for the oath o f Jehovah confersthat office upon Christ . We might demonstrate the truthfulness of this statement byconsidering what offices Adam would have heldhad he not been succeeded by Chri st , and thuswhat offices were conferred upon Christ byvirtue of his succeeding Adam .
First , Adam was the head of this world .
That office and the dominion belonging theretopasses to Chr i st as it is written ,
“And thou,O
tower o f the flo ck,the stronghold of the
daughter o f Zion , unto thee shall it come , eventhe first dominion .
”
(Micah v,Second, Adam was the father o f this world, in
which office Christ succeeds him as our “Everlasting Father.” (Isa . ix ,Third
,Adam was the original
,
father
86 MELCHIZEDEK
priest of our world , which office was conferredupon the “last Adam .
”(Ps . cx ,
Fourth,Adam would have been the king
of this world,but that office is now conferred
upon Christ . (Rev. xi,
Fifth, Adam was the Son of God by creation ; Jesus is the Son of God by re- creationor resurrection from the dead‘. (Rom. i ,All o f these offices were conferred upon Christby the oath which made Him our High Priestafter the order of Melchizedek ; therefore , thisoath simply made Him Adam’ s succes sor inall that pertained to the office of the Melchize
dek order of priesthood .
Although his birth into our human familywas essential to His becoming our Melchize
dek , yet He could neither step into the officeo f Priest o r King or Everlasting Father solelyas a birthright ; but before He could fill eithero f these offices He must pas s through the preparatory experiences . F o r the kingship hemust
,as the “ seed of the woman
,
” “bruise theserpent ’s head ,
” and thereby become completeconqueror over all foes . This will be accom
plished when Satan is finally destroyed . Forthe priesthood He must by birth
“be made likeunto His brethren ,
” must triumph over everytemptation and over death , and pay the fullpenalty for the s ins of His people . As Ever
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 87
lasting Father,He must have the power neces
sary to give life everlasting to His children .
As a Son,He must be brought again from the
dead by creative power .That the oath does not go into full effect ,
or that all that Jehovah intended to conferupon Christ by the oath will not be realizeduntil Christ takes pos ses sion of this world asits rightful King, must be apparent when theforce of the following Scripture quotations istaken into consideration . First , please ob
serve that no man can be a fully qualified andinaugurated priest-king after the order of
Melchizedek until he is placed in possessionof a kingdom (Heb. V1 1 , 1 , for the officeo f king is meaningles s unles s it includes akingdom ,
-subj ects and territory . The oathmaking Christ an eternal Priest-King (that i s ,a Melchizedek) will surely, when it becomesfully operative
,place Him in posses sion of
everything that pertains to a complete kingdom .
The oath,while operative now in that the sub
jects of His kingdom are being made up (andthe whole trend of God’s eternal purpose inthis world is toward the setting up of Hiseternal kingdom), will reach its obj ective pointand go into full effect after the inaugurationand coronation o f Christ (Dan . viii , 1 3,when the declaration will be made that “the
88 MELCHIZEDEK
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ , andHe shall reign forever and ever. (Rev . xi ,
At His trial before Pilate Christ as sured thatRoman ru ler that He had not yet taken possession o f His kingdom
,although born into our
human family to be a King. His words werethese : “My kingdom is not of this world ; i fmy kingdom were of this world
,then would my
servants fight that I should not be delivered tothe Jews ; but N OW is my kingdom not fromhence .” (John xviii , At the end o f thispresent world the announcement will be madeby “great voices in heaven
,saying
,The king
doms of this world are become the kingdoms o four Lord and of His Christ , and He shall reignforever and ever.” Thanksgiving is then of
fered “because Thou (Christ) hast taken tothee thy great power and hast reigned .
”(Rev.
xi, 1 5 , He then sends His angels togather out o f His kingdom all things that of
fend and that do iniquity (Matt . xiii , 40 ,and , simultaneously with the oath becomingfully operative
,the prophetic words o f Gabriel
addressed to Mary will go into full effect : “Heshall be great and shall be called the Son ofthe Highest : and the Lord God shall give untoHim the throne of His father David and
90 MELCHIZEDEK
We are still further and more deeply con
firmed in our belief that the prophetic oathmaking Christ a High Priest after the ordero f Melchizedek goes into full effect when Jesustakes pos session of this world as His eternalkingdom by a careful study of the last threeverses of Psalm ex, and at the same time ,the unfolding of this theme in such perfect harmony with God’s plan of salvation impres sesus more deeply with the inspiration o f theBible .The meaning of the 5th verse of the Psalm
under consideration and the time when it ap
plies will be clear to all Bible students . All ofthe ungodly , including kings and potentates ,will be pierced with death . ( See Rev . vi, 1 4
17 )Verse 6 reads : “He shall j udge among the
heathen,He shall fill the places with the dead
bodies ; He shall wound the heads over manycountries .” The j udgment o f the heathenhere referred to i s manifestly not of an investi
priests continually, and come into existence p hysicallyby a special act of creative power, as did Adam in the
beginning o f this world’s history, and as did Christ when
He was brought again from the dead . Therefore, as
clearly set forth in the seventh chapter o f Hebrews,the claims of any church to having the Melchiz
edek priesthood composed of men proves their whole
system to be built upon an unscriptural foundation .
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 91
gative nature , but , instead , an executive j udgment
,for the places are filled with dead bodies ,
evidently referring to the time when those whoknow not God— for such is the meaning of
heathen”— shall become ashes under the feetof the redeemed .
The last verse of the Psalm suggests twoclosely associated thoughts to our minds : “Heshall drink of the brook in the way, thereforeshall he lift up the head .
”
First,it was necessary for Christ to taste
death for every man ,” to drink
,as it were
,the
whole torrent of this world’s sorrow before Hecould be our Savior, Father, Priest and King,for the Captain of our salvation was made perfeet —was perfected for his four- fold office
through suffering. (Heb. 1 1 , 9 , By bearing our sins in His own body on the tree He accomplished the glorious result of li fting up our
heads in j oy and gladness to all eternity . Thesentence of death fastened upon each one of
us stood in the way of our becoming memberso f the kingdom o f Chri st . But “He drank of
the brook in the way ,” “tasted death for every
man ,” received the death stroke in His own
body, s o that our heads might be lifted up withthe j oys of eternal salvation .
Second, after Christ has finally destroyed allof His enemies , and the world (His kingdom)
92 MELCHIZEDEK
is fully redeemed from all the blighting effectsof sin ,
what will be more natural and beautifulthan for the Life-Giver to Himself lead the wayto the River of Life which flows through the“way” o r through the midst of the chief highway o f the New Jerusalem , and , drinking o f
its life-giving waters , invite the redeemed tofreely partake thereof ' And when they havedrunk of its crystal waters , and feel a new lifecurrent coursing through their being, —with allthe reality of their blessed estate in their Edenhome bursting upon them
,— surely their heads
will be lifted up with j oy and gladnes s forevermore. Reader
,may this experience be ours to
enj oy . Please note the striking contrast .With the one class He wounds their heads
,in
fiicting fatal wounds upon unrighteous kings ,while with the redeemed He lifts up their headswith overflowing j oy forevermore .It i s pertinent to the position herein taken
that when Chris t is finally established upon Histhrone
,as this world’s rightful King, He will
still fill the office of Priest , but not as an intercessor for s inners . This fact is proven bythe prophetic utterances o f Zechariah in chapter vi, verses 1 2 and 1 3 which read as follows“And speak unto him saying, Thus speakeththe Lord o f Hosts , saying, Behold the manwhose name is the BRAN CH ; and he shall grow
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 93
up out of his place , and he shall build the templeof the Lord : Even he shall build the templeof the Lord ; and he shall bear the glory, andshall sit and rule upon his throne , and he shallbe a priest upon his throne : and the counselo f peace shall be between them both .
”
All Christians will agree that “the man whosename is the BRANCH” i s the “Son of Man ,
”
Christ Jesus . The statement i s made that “heshall grow up out of his place .” Christ didcertainly “grow up out of His place” for “Hisplace” (His home) was in heaven : His of
fice, Creator : His being, Fellow-God . ButHe came to this world
,was born a member of
our human family, became the Son of 'Man ,grew up far removed from His home o f lightand glory , from associations with the Fatherand the angelic hosts
,in a dark
,cold
,friend
less world . Surely the prophet spoke truthfully when he said,
“He shall grow up” fromchildhood to manhood —“
out of His place, out
of His environment, far away from the courtso f glory .
He did this , —made the supreme sacrificeby pouring out His soul unto death ,— that Hemight “build the temple of the Lord,
” thechurch of the living God ; for He came downfrom heaven to preach “peace to you whichwere afar off and to them that were nigh .
94 MELCHIZEDEK
For through Him we both have acces s by one
Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye areno more strangers and foreigners
,but fel low
citizens with the saints,and of the household o f
God : And are built upon the foundation o f theapostles and prophets , Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone : In whom all thebuilding fitly framed together groweth un to an
holy temple in the Lord. (Eph . ii ,And having built the temple o f the Lord bythe sacrifice o f Himself
,surely He is entitled to
“bear the glory .
”
Come let us sing the songs ;The angels first began the strain ,The homage which to Chr ist belongsW orthy the Lamb, for He was slain .
Slain to redeem us by H is blood,To clean se from every s in ful stain ,And make us kings and priests to GodW orthy the Lamb , for He was slain .
To H im who suffered on the treeOur souls, at H is soul
’s price, to gainB less ing and p raise, and glory beW orthy the Lamb, for He was slain .
To Him enthroned by filial r ightAll power in heaven and earth proclaimHonor , and maj esty, and mightW orthy the Lamb, for He was slain.
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 95
Long as we live, and when we r ise,And while in heaven with Him we reign ,
Thi s song our song of songs shall be :W orthy the Lamb, for He was slain .
”
The yielding of Adam,the rightful prince , to
the arch-deceiver gave the latter the title of“prince of thi s world” and holding this officeeven by usurpation
,he had acces s to heaven as
the representative of our world . (Job. i , 6 andii,
Thi s office was held by Satan who , instead o f being a true representative of our
race,appeared in the courts o f heaven as an
“accuser of the brethren” until Christ hadgloriously triumphed over Satan , where thefirst Adam failed . Then was the usurper castout of Heaven (Rev . xii
,1 - 1 2 ) and Christ took
His place as our Represen tative at the centralcourt of appeal ,— the mercy seat of the universe .Christ did not as sume to be the Advocate and
Representative of this world till He had conquered where Adam failed . When He had thusconquered the enemy and author of death andhad ascended in glorious triumph to heaven ,then this change in represen tation took placeand Satan was cast out . Then , instead of our
having “an accuser o f the brethren” to repr e
sent us, Jesus , our Elder Brother, our Advo
96 MELCHIZEDEK
cate and Friend,became our Representative
to plead His own blood in our behalf. Whata priceles s gift to our human family is our
Melchizedek , our Representative , our Advo
cate ' (Rom. viii , 31 -35 ; Heb . iv, 1 4 - 1 6 ; IJuo . 1 1
,
The next statement which claims our attention is that “He shall sit and rule upon Histhrone . (Zech . vi, In the coming kingdom it would appear that the Father and Sonwill j ointly occupy the throne of the universe .In the statement
,He shall sit and rule upon
H is throne,”
of necessity kingly rather than
priestly authority is involved , for a king musthave a throne upon which he officially sits andfrom which he rules . But not only is Christto rule as King, but He shall also be
“a Priest
upon His throne .” How wonderfully is thetitle which Christ will wear fulfilled in this pro
phetic description . That title is “Melchize
dek ,” and is bestowed because of the fact that
in its God-given meaning it indicates exactlywhat Christ will be to all etern i ty ,
“first being by interpretation , priest of the Most HighGod” “King of Righteousness ,
” and afterthat also “King of Salem” which is King o f
Peace . How beautiful is the next thought“And the counsel of peace shall be between themboth .
” In order to rule j ointly upon the throne
98 MELCHIZEDEK
ister o f the sanctuary, of the true tabernacle ,which the Lord pitched and not man . F or
every high priest is ordained to offer gifts andsacrifices ; wherefore it i s o f necessity that thisman have somewhat to offer . For if he were onearth
,he should not be a priest , seeing that there
are priests that offer gifts according to thelaw. Who serve unto the example andshadow of heavenly things , as Moses was ad
monished of God when he was about to makethe tabernacle : for , See , saith He , that thoumake all things according to the patternshowed to thee in the mount . But now hath heobtained a more excellent ministry
,by how
much also he i s the mediator o f a better covenant , which was established upon better promises .” (Heb . vn , 2 8 ; viii , 1It will also be apparent from the reference
j ust cited that Christ’s “more excellent mini stry” in the heavenly sanctuary as High Priestafter the order o f Melchi zedek is for the definite purpose of finally establishing the “betterc ovenant” with all of its “better promises” forthe benefit of the “heirs of promise ,
”— the sub
jects o f His eternal kingdom .
It i s manifestly impos sible that the provis ions of the new covenant can be carried intofull effect until Christ’s kingdom is establishedin our world (Heb . viii , 8 when the benefi
THE OATH OF JEHOVAH 99
ciaries of the new covenant will receive “thepromise of eternal inheritance .” (Heb . ix ,
The logic of all this is that , coincidentwith the carrying into effect of the oath bywhi ch Jesus is made our eternal Priest-Kingand the establishing of His everlasting kingdom o f peace and glory in our world (madenew), all of the new covenant promises becomefully operative . For
,as has been abundantly
proven from Psalm ex and parallel Scriptures ,the oath making Christ our Priest-King (ourMelchizedek) does not meet with its en tire fulfil lment until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and o f HisChrist , and it is perfectly clear that all of theprovisions of the new covenant
,as set forth in
Jer. xxxi , 31 -34 and Heb . viii , 6 will nevermeet with their fulfil lment until the new earthstate is ushered in and “the meek inherit theearth and delight themselves in the abundanceof peace .”
So far as recorded,the only person ever
made priest after the order of Melchizedek byan oath of Jehovah was Chri st . Evidently allother persons having place in that high orderwere created for their respective offices . Howcontrary, therefore, to Divine revelation forany church to assume to create a priesthoodafter the order of Melchi zedek
,and make pre
1 00 MELCHIZEDEK
tense of exalting their fellow-men to positionsin that exalted order ' Christ as priest , i s theGreat High Priest of the universe ; while asKing, He is King of kings and Lord of lords .
1 02 MELCHIZEDEK
thus become our High Priest (Heb . 1 1 , 1 6 ,
even so , in order to become our King, He mustclothe His Divinity with humanity , —put human nature on . And thus do we learn that onestep in the proces s by which He became our
Pr iest-King, our Melchizedek, was by cominginto our world in the same human family of
which Adam was the head .
We have already given Bible proof of thetruth that Christ ’s literal and physical , as wella s spiritual kingdom will be established on thisearth . He entered upon His priesthood immediately after His ascension , but does n ot
take pos session of the kingdom till He returnsto this world .
The earth was made for the home of man
(Gen . i and and the curse of sin upon itdid not destroy the design of God that theearth should be inhabited by a people that are“all righteous” ( I sa . 1x,
“for thus saiththe Lord that created the heavens
, God Himself that formed the earth and made it ; Hehath established it , He created it not in vain ,He formed it to be inhabited ; I am the Lord ;and there is none else .” (Isa . xlv, God’svery existence i s pledged to do what He designedto do in the beginning. Man refused to obeyin the beginning
,and sold himself under sin
KINGSHIP
(Rom. vn ,1 4) to the author of sin . ' ielding
himself,he yielded all over which he had do
minion . Satan in thi s way usurped authorityand became “prince of thi s world . (See Johnxii, 31 ; II Cor. iv , 4 ; Luke iv, 5 Thispower of Satan i s broken by Christ . (Rev . xii ,1 0 ; Heb . ii, But although the kingdomwas surrendered to Satan
,the unfailing prom
ise of our God is that it shall be wrested fromhim by One mightier than he , and be restored tothe redeemed family of whom Christ is the head
,
as it is written : “And T hou , A Tower of theflock , the stronghold of the daughter of Zion ,unto Thee shall it come
,even the first domin
ion ; the kingdom shall come to the daughterof Jerusalem .
”(Micah iv ,
Inasmuch as Adam would have been the kingof righteousness and the king of peace over allthe world had he not failed, what steps mustbe taken by the Son of God before He can takeAdam’s place in the kingship of this world ?Let the Savior Himself answer. Pilate askedHim the question
,
“Art Thou a kmg then ?”
Jesus anwered,“Thou sayes
lt that I am a kin g.
T o this end was I born .
”
(Jno . xviii ,When Jesus made this answer it would seem asthough He had in mind the very thought of
the Scripture given of old through Himself tothe prophet Isaiah , as it is written :
“Unto us
1 04 MELCHIZEDEK
a Child is born , unto us a Son is given , and thegovernment shall be upon His shoulders ; andHis name shall be called Wonderful , Counselor,The Mighty God
,The Everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace . Of the increase of Hisgovernment and peace there shall be no end,upon the throne o f David shall He sit
,and
upon His kingdom,to order it
,and to establish
it with j udgment and with j ustice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord ofHosts will perform this .” (Isa . ix
, 6 ,
As a matter of fact,in the infinite wisdom
of our God it would seem that Christ wouldnot have been a fit King for the redeemedhuman family had He come to our world andtaken a place upon a throne simply as the Sonof God . He mus t become the Son of Man to
be a King, perfectly adapted to the requirements of a race o f beings who in the weaknessof their humanity endured the fierce conflictwith sin and Satan . The highest angel inglory, as such , could not consistently be theking over redeemed human beings . The Godman only is fitted fo r this office.
As the Son of God,Christ would have had
power to have physically destroyed Satan andto have wrested the kingdom of thi s world fromhim to whom Adam surrendered it , but , inorder in both the wisdom of God and man to
1 06 MELCHIZEDEK
no purpose . His blood, although royal , wasnot the right kind of royal blood for the Mexican nation . They must have a man of theirown flesh and blood . When he was dethronedBenito Juarez
,a native Indian , was made ruler
and idolized by the people .To carry out the thought , so dear to the
human heart , o f having a king who i s bornto the people over whom he is to rule , when anheir to the throne o f Great Britain was to beborn England’s queen , in order to bind the people to the throne more eff ectually, went toWales
,where the crown prince was born
,that
he might be the ruler o f Wales as well asof all Britain ; hence the title ,
“The Prince ofWales ,
” borne always by the oldes t son of
Britain’ s ruler.When God wanted to bind all the people of
our world to the government of heaven He sentHis Son into the world
,to be born a member
o f our human family . The prophecies foretold that the seed of the woman wouldbruise the serpent’s head , and again , by antici
pation , U n to us a Child is born ,unto us a Son
i s given .
” The angels also made the announcement ,
“U n to you is born this day in the city
o f David , a Savior, which is the Christ theLord .
” Thus God adapts the plan of salvation , with its matchles s king, to every require
KI N GSHI P 1 07
ment of the human hearts of the Divine-humanfamily .
Please note again the expression , to thisend was I born Born to take Adam ’s place ,in the taking of which He finally becomes theKing and Everlasting Father over all the earth
,
and takes the title conferred upon Him by theoath of Jehovah as Priest-King after the orderof Melchizedek .
Question . If Chri st becomes Priest-King,King of Righteousness and Peace ( for such isthe interpretation of the title Melchizedek)when He takes the kingdom that would have belonged to Adam had he retained hi s righteousness
,then what title would have belonged to
Adam had the kingship been conferred uponhim ? Answer . Surely he would have beenstyled the Melchizedek of our world .
Question . T hen what constitutes the order ?Answer . Individuals created of God, a s wasAdam
,as heads , as priest-kings of righteous
ness , and hence Melchizedeks,of worlds . Thus
the title belongs t o the one occupying the position of world-wide king, under God .
And this underlying principle i s not an arbitr ary thing, for God recogn ized it as abso
lutely essential in order to have perfect af
finity between the rul er and his subj ects . Itwould not have been right in the plan of God
1 08 MELCHIZEDEK
to have Christ take the position of King of
thi s world simply as a D ivine being. He mustput human nature on and pass triumphantlythrough all the experiences of the subj ects of
His kingdom , except sin ,or the relationship of
King and people would not be perfect to alletern ity .
Daniel in prophetic vision foresaw this whenhe said , after viewing the final j udgment scenewhich just precedes the giving o f the kingdomto Christ : “
I saw in the night vision and be
hold, one like the Son of Man came with theclouds o f heaven” [ an escort of angels ]
“andcame to the Ancient of days
,and they brought
Him near before Him . And there was givendominion and glory and a kingdom , that allpeople , nations , and languages should serveHim .
”
Why did not Daniel say that he saw one
like the Son o f God ? Because he recordedGod’s perfect plan in which the kingdom of
this world must be given to the Son of Man ,
a member of our race . Praise our God,
“Untous a Child is born , unto us a Son i s given ,
” andthat Son perfectly and completely suppliesevery possible requirement as Savior
,Priest ,
and King.
Jesus had absolute perfection as the Sono f God in heaven , but that He might be per
1 1 0 MELCHIZEDEK
over death and the grave , which also gives infallible proof that Jesus will presently bringall of the righteous dead forth from theirgraves and transplant them , immortalized, inHis everlasting kingdom . If these twenty-fourelders who are already in heaven give thanks inanticipation of the setting up of the kingdomof Christ
,the hearts of the children of the king
dom who are still in thi s vale o f tears shouldleap for j oy at the prospect of the soon- comingo f our King to establish His kingdom of r ighteousness and peace forevermore .
'Crown H im with many crowns,
The Lamb upon His throne ;Hark
,how the heaven ly anthem drown s
All music but its own .
Awake my soul, and singOf H im who died for thee ;
And hai l Him as thy matchless KingThrough all Etern ity.
”
THE SEED OF THE W OMAN
All that Christ has done and will do for humanity was foreshadowed in the first promiseof a Deliverer after the awful ruin into whichAdam by his fall had plunged the world . Toquote the thought of the promise in brief :The Seed of the woman shall bruise the ser
KINGSHIP 1 1 1
pent ’s head,
” —the Son of God must become theseed o f the woman before He could by His
death , pay the penalty for sin and thus becomeour Savior. Having overcome temptation ,sin and Satan , then with the acceptance of thesupreme sacrifice for all sin came logically theright
,authority or power to crush sin and its
author forevermore . (Heb . 1 1 , He mustbecome the seed of the woman before He couldbe our High Priest , as a Priest must be takenfrom among His brethren so that they willknow that He is touched with the feeling oftheir infirmi ties . He could not become our
King until He became the seed of the woman ,and it requires kingly
,rather than priestly, au
thor ity to bruise the serpent’s head .
Thus we comprehend in this brief promiseFirst , kingly authority in bruising the ser
pent’s head ,— inflicting a fatal wound ; sec
ond,sonship, being born of a woman ; thi rd ,
fatherhood in imparting life and constant careto His children ; fourth , a Savior, offeringHimself as a sacrifice for His race ; fifth , thePriestly office in becoming the chief Representative of the redeemed family and an I ntercessor ; sixth , by becom ing the seed of the woman ,He received the autho rity to officiate as Judgeal so, as He said Himself
,that the Father
“hath given Him authority to execute j udg
1 1 2 MELCHIZEDEK
ment also , because He i s the Son of Man .
(John v ,But someone will be inclined to ask ,
“Whythis treatise concerning the necessity for Christto be born into our family before He could beour King ? W hat has this truth to do with Hisbecoming our High Priest after the order ofMelchizedek ?” Dear reader, the line ofthought j ust presented con stitutes the groundwork of a vital link in the chain of truth bywhich Jesus succeeded Adam in the most exalted pr iesthood known to the universe
,namely ,
the Melchizedek . Please recall our premise ,namely , that this order is composed only ofSons o f God who are rulers of world dominions , each an everlasting father o f his world .
“In the beginning” God, the Father-King of
the universe,gave Adam complete dominion as a
prince over all the earth,as stated by the Psalm
ist : “Thou madest him to have dominion overthe works of Thy hands ; Thou hast put allthings under his feet . (Psa . viii , 6 . Seealso Gen . i , 2 6 and Heb . 1 1 , 7
As a prince,Adam in his fall could only
surrender that which he possessed,and while
Satan,the usurper, claimed the kingship of
thi s world , yet Christ only conceded him to bethe pr ince of this world . (Luke iv, 5 -7 ; Johnxii
, 31 , and xiv, Had Adam stood the test ,
1 1 4 MELCHIZEDEK
o f Jehovah goes into full effect which constitutes Him forever a Priest—King after the ordero f Melchizedek . Had Adam remained faithfulhe would have received the crown and the kingdom ; therefore, the only logical conclusion i sthat the Melchizedek order of priesthood i scomposed of those who under divine appointment sit upon world thrones as kings of righteousness and of peace . Surely
,the fact that
in becoming the Priest-King of this worldChrist fills the position o f a. High Priest “afterthe order of Melchizedek” furnishes strong evidence that the Melchizedek order of priesthoodor of priest-kings i s composed of those whoseoffices embrace world dominions .According to that wonderful prophetic state
ment of the Psalmist , with the declaration of
this sonship there is also conferred the gift ofthe uttermost parts o f the earth for Christ’seternal possession . Thus , when He enters intopossession of His kingdom ,
which includes theuttermost parts o f the earth ,
” He takes thedominion that was originally given to Adam ,
and in taking that dominion He takes it underthe title of Melchizedek
,which title logically
would have belonged to Adam had he retained“the uttermost parts of the earth” for hisetern al inheritance . (Read the entire secondPsalm
,especially noting verses 7 and
KINGSHI P 1 1 5
Upon whomsoever the title “Melchizedek” i sbestowed by Jehovah
,it signifies exactly what
the individual is , both in character and in of
ficial position . Thus the final effect o f theoath of Jehovah , making Christ a Pr iest forever after the order of Melchizedek, i s to makeHim the “King o f Righteousnes s” and “Kingo f Peace” of our earth (made new), for thep rophets foretold His qualifications for eternalkingship in terms which exactly correspondwith the inspired interpretation of the title“Melchizedek Please observe the followingexamples Behold , the days come, saith theLord
,that I will raise unto David a righteous
Br anch,and a King shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute j udgment and justice in theearth .
” “And this is His name whereby Heshall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS .
”
(Jer . xxiii , 5 ,“And His name shall be
called The Prince of Peace .” ( I sa . ix ,“But unto the Son He saith , Thy throne , O
God, i s forever and ever : a scepter of righteousness is the s cepter of thy kingdom . (Heb . i , 8 ,
“And He hath on His vesture and on Histhigh a name written
,KING o r KINGS , AND LORD
o r Loans .
”(Rev . xix , As the one Medi
ator between God and man , Jesus is now en
gaged in the work of preparing the subj ects ,for His eternal kingdom .
CHAPTER VIII
OTHER WORLDS THAN OURS
God hath in these las t days spoken unto us byH is Son, whom He hath appoin ted heir of a ll things,
by whom a lso H e made the wor lds .
”
(Heb. i, 1 ,
Probably there is not an astronomer in allthe world who would not ridicule the idea thatthe earth
,which by comparison with uncounted
millions o f spheres in the universe is but afloating atom in a boundles s sea , is the only inhabited globe among them all . Relative to thi stheme
,Professor H . U . Stevens says
Each star is a sun in many ways like our sun ,
some larger , some smaller,—the center of a system
around which revolves wor lds and satellites upon
which intelligences live andflourish .
”
Upon this subj ect Professor Richard A .
Proctor says
“W e see proofs on all sides that, besides the
world on which we l ive, other worlds exist as wellcared for and as nobly planned . N ay, we see
globes by the side of which our earth would seembut as a tiny speck ; we trace these globes as they
1 1 6
1 1 8 MELCHIZEDEK
My obj ect, then , in the pages which follow is
not solely to establish the thesis that there are otherwor lds than ours
,but to present in a new and, I
hope,interesting light the marvelous discoveries
which have rewarded recent scientific researches .Judged merely according to their direct sign ificance,these discoveries are well calculated to excite our
admiration for the wonderful works of God in His
un iverse, and for the far-reaching scope of the men
tal power s which He has given to H is creature man .
But it is when we con sider recent discoveries intheir relation to the existen ce o f other worlds, whenwe attempt to form a conception of the immen se var ieties of the forms o f life corresponding to the
innumerable varieties of cosmical structure disclosedby modern researches, that we recogn ize the fulls ign ificance of those discover ies .
“
And,in any case, no argument can be drawn
from the moon’s unfitness for the support of life
again st the View that, where orbs fit for the sup
port of life exist, there Nature has provided suchclasses of living creatures as are adapted to the
special habitudes of those orbs .“
But,on the other hand
,we are taught that the
existence of differences sufficient to render a dis
tant planet an un suitable abode for such creaturesas we are familiar with cann ot force upon us the
conclusion that the planet is un inhabited.
“
On the contrary, the lesson conveyed by our
earth’ s analogy leads to the conclusion that manyworlds may exist, abundantly suppli ed with livingcreatures of many different species .
OTHER WORLDS THAN OURS” 1 1 9
Other men of broad education have spokendefinitely on this theme . In referring toMagellan as the first to circumnavigate theglobe
,Doctor Draper said
“
He first impressed his name indelibly on the
earth and on the sky, on the strait that connectsthe two great oceans
,and on those clouds of starry
worlds seen in the southern heaven s ” (“ Intel
lectual Development of Europe, p .
Again“I t does seem incredible that we alone should
represen t in the un iverse the image of God ; and if
in one soli tary star another race of beings dwells,if we concede the existence of a single sp ir it otherthan ourselves, we have allowed the principle.
”
S '
r op r onn BRooxE .
A belief that there are other worlds besides ourown is not an essential article of religion , but sucha belief serves to en large our ideas of the works ofGod
,and to i llustrate the greatness of His power
and wisdom .
”
Krrr o .
Mr . C . H . Spurgeon suggests “that in theboundles s regions o f space there are worldsinhabited by beings infinitely superior to us ,and it may be that on set days the princes sfrom far—off realms , the kings , the mighty onesof His boundles s realms , come to the court of
1 2 0 MELCHIZED EK
Chris t in j oy and gladness , and , all united ,raise their voices in shouts and hallelujahs suchas mortal ear has never heard .
”
Doctor O . C . Godsmark raises the question
Is Venus inhabited ? W hy not ? There is
n aught in all the boasts of infidel science to the
contrary . W hy should n ot Venus be the home of
intelligent creatures, made in the image of God
and living to H is honor and glory ?”
In accord with the foregoing are the wordso f Daniel March , D . D . In his book entitled ,“Our Father’s House ,
” he says
And surely He who has multiplied forms of lifebeyond all fin ite conception in this world has not
left the coun tless million s of worlds in His greatkingdom without living inhabitants to enj oy His
gifts and to declare H is glory . If the greatestastronomer cannot coun t the sun s and systems thatblaz e in the midn ight heaven s because they are so
many, so vast, so far remote, how much less can we
conceive the number s and orders and generation sof living creatures for whom the great creatingFather hath provided habitation s and happiness inall the un iverse of worlds which declare H is glory '
“
W e sweep the heaven s with the mightiest telescope, and we look with daz z led eye and achingbrain amid the infin ite blaze of worlds to find the
1 2 2 MELCHIZEDEK
Over each of these worlds possessing inhabitants Christ doubtles s placed a man , createdin His own image , as the head, the father, theprogenitor
,to replenish his world with his own
family . At least , this would be His plan ifwe reason from the analogy of our own world ,fo r the expression given us of the counsel between the Father and the Son relative to thecreating of the first man o f our world and tothe peopling of that world was
,
“Let us makeman in our image , after our likeness ,
” and tothe man He said
,
“Be fruitful,and multiply ,
and replenish the earth,and subdue it ; and
have dominion over everything thaltmoveth upon the earth .
”(Gen . i , 2 6 ,
That Jesus made provision in the creationo f all worlds for their complete replenishingeach with a race of beings in His own image orcharacter, i s further suggested in the following words : “Thou art worthy
,O Lord
,to re
ceive glory and honor and power ; for thou hastcreated all things and for thy pleasure theyare and were created.
”(Rev. iv, His
pleasure is in making others happy,and
,prov
ing that He finds j oy in inhabited worlds ,speaking of Himself, He says ,
“Rej oicing inthe habitable parts of the earth ; and my d e
lights were with the sons of men” (Prov. viii ,“be ye glad and rej oice forever in that
OTHER WORLDS THAN OURS” 1 2 3
which I create ; for , behold , I create Jerusalema rej oicing and her people a j oy
,and I will re
j oice in Jerusalem,and j oy in my people”
( Isa . lxv, 1 8 ,“ in whom is my delight
(Psa . xvi . Some of these worlds antedatedthe creation o f our world , for when the creation of the earth was proj ected in the councilof heaven “the morning stars sang together
,
and all the Sons of God shouted for j oy .
”
(Job xxxviii , (These Sons of God beingheads of worlds .)Finally we quote from the pen of Mrs . E . G .
White . She asserts that “our little world , theone dark blot in His glori ous creation , will behonored above all other worlds in the universeo f God.
”(“Desire o f Ages ,
” Trade Edition ,p .
“The worlds unfallen and the beavenly angels had watched wi th intense interestas the conflict ( in the life of Chri st) drew toits close.
”(Ibid , p .
In speaking of the binding o f Satan duringthe millennium , the same author declares :“Limited to the earth , he will not have accessto other worlds to tempt and annoy those whohave never fallen” (
“Great Controversy ,” p .
and in referring to the delights of theredeemed she says , -
“All of the treasures o f
the universe will be open to the study o f God’sredeemed . Unfettered by mortality, they wing
1 2 4 MELCHIZEDEK
their tireles s flight to worlds afar, —worlds thatthrilled with sorrow at human woe
,and rang
with songs of gladnes s at the tidings of a ransomed soul .” (Ibid , p .
Quoting further from the same writer“But the plan of redemption had a yet
broader and deeper purpose than the salvationof man . It was not for this alone that Christcame to the earth it was to vindi cate thecharacter of God before the universe . T o thisresult o f His great sacr ifice, —its influenceupon the intelligences o f other worlds
,as well
as upon man , —the Savior looked forwardwhen , j ust before His crucifixion , He said ,‘Now is the j udgment o f thi s world , now shallthe prince of this wor ld be cast out
,and I , if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all menunto me . ’
“It was the marvel of all the universe thatChrist should humble Himself to save fallenman . That He who had passed from star tostar
,from world to world, superintending all , by
His providence supplying the needs of every o r
der o f beings in His vast creation , —that Heshould consent to leave His glory and take uponHimself human nature was a mystery whichthe sinles s intelligences of other worlds desiredto understand.
”(P .
1 2 6 MELCHIZEDEK
he have received a bles sing at his hands .There was no member of our race in Abraham’sday who was superior to him
,and who was
thereby qualified to confer the bles sing of
heaven upon the “father of the faithful .”
If Melchizedek had been a member of ourhuman family
,and if it was poss ible to have
established his priesthood— superior beyondcompa rison to the Aaronic— in this world atthe time when he was here, and was recognized
as the priest of the Most High God by Abra
ham, why did not Jehovah choose and establish
the Melchizedek order here,instead of the
Aaronic? W ould he discard the superior forthe inferior ? The only logical conclusion isthat Melchizedek was not a member of our human family ; and , further, that the position inthis order o f priesthood for our world onceheld by Adam , but forfeited in consequence ofhis sin ,— which brought upon him the sentenceo f death , whereas with the Melchizedek priesthood goes the power of endl es s life ,— could notbe reestablished in our human family until Onewas born to our race in Whom was vested allo f the prerogatives
,and Who would accomplish
all that was neces sary to qualify Him to fillthat exalted position for our world . Such aOne was the man Chris t Jesus , —the
“lastAdam .
”
THE SUPERNATURAL 1 2 7
The place chosen by Melchizedek for hisabode while here
,with its immediate environ
ment,was preeminently the place above all
others on the entire face of the globe for themanifestation of the supern atural . It is believed that here the angel o f the Lord stayedthe hand of Abraham when he was about tooffer his son upon the altar of sacrifice , andthe ram was miraculously entangled in thethicket to provide an acceptable sacrifice .
(Gen . xxii , 2 , 1 0 It was here that Davidsaw an angel who had been sent to smite thecity . (II Sam . xxiv, 1 6 , The angel ofthe Lord smote soldiers of the Assyrianarmy who were encamped against Jerusalem inone night . (II Kings xix ,Again the angel of the Lord appeared toZacharias pre-announcing the birth of Johnthe Baptist . It was on the pinnacle of thetemple at Jerusalem that Satan appeared personally and talked face to face with the Savioro f men . At Jerusalem numerous prophets ,filled with the Holy Spirit
,proclaimed God’ s
will to men .
It was at this center that darkness overspread the land for the space of three hourswhen Jesus hung on the cros s
,where also the
rocks were rent and the dead came forth andappeared to many , and the veil of the temple
1 2 8 MELCHIZEDEK
was rent from top to bottom by an unseenhand
,and
,greatest of all supernatural mani
festation s , the Lord of Glory came forth fromthe tomb
,and from the Mount o f Olives near
at hand ascended bodily to heaven .
It was at this center o f religious phenomenathat the Holy Spirit was poured out upon theDay of Pentecost , which conferred upon menthe gift o f tongues by which the gospel wasgiven such mighty impetus when the apostlesstood up and preached the crucified One to“men out of every nation under heaven . Herealso many mighty miracles were wrought , someo f which were acknowledged by the faithles sSanhedrin . (Acts iv, History informsus that j ust prior to the destruction o f Jerusalem in A . D . 70 , a strange , mysterious manwen t through the streets of the city day andnight uttering the warning note
,
“Woe to theinhabitants of Jerusalem .
”I t was to this
po int that a supern atural star guided theMagi .He who does not accept the idea o f the vi si
tation of supernatural beings to our world doesnot accept the authority of the Bible . To discard the supernatural i s to rej ect the Christianreligion . Seeing that the plan of salvation i sso largely built upon the supernatural , it isnot inconsistent to regard Melchizedek , who
1 30 MELCHIZEDEK
When Abraham was called of God to dwellin Canaan he resided there as a soj ourner, astranger in a strange land , among nations whowere altogether heathen . While soj ourningthere he met Melchizedek and received a bles sing at his hands . Abraham’ s descendantsdwelt in Egypt until they had increased to ap
proximately three millions of souls . ThenJehovah , in the carrying out of His purposeto make of the seed of Abraham a separate anddistinct nation by whom He might perpetuateHis name and His truth in the earth
,and who
were to be the progenitors o f Christ , is sued thecall for them to return to the land whereinAbraham had soj ourned and where he had metMelchizedek . Accompanying the call was thecharge that the nations dwelling in the land
( all of whom were heathen) should be eithercast out or destroyed . In taking forceful posses sion of the land, so far as the record informs us, only one person and her householdwere found who met the approval of Heavenand were
,therefore
,spared . This person was
Rahab, whoby marriage came into the family
line by which Jesus came into the world . Ifthe deathles s Melchizedek and his kingdom werein Palestine at this time why were they not mentioned as escaping destruction ?In the occupancy of the land by conquest
THE SUPERNATURAL 1 31
Melchizedek was not discovered , either a s an individual or as serving in his office as priest-king.
Someone will be inclined to say that“s o much
time had elapsed that he had been removed bythe hand of death .
” But the Scriptures assert that he never died and that “he abideth apriest continually .
”(Heb . vii , 3 , Further
more,he has not been discovered to the pres
ent day . Therefore , his priestly service andhi s righteous kingdom did not belong to thisworld
, nor was he a member of our humanfamily
,for it is manifestly impos sible that a
king,being a man greater in the estimation of
heaven than Abraham (and the title i s nothingunles s he pos sessed a kingdom), a priest greaterthan all in the Aaronic line , should have a kingdom and a perpetual priesthood in this world ,and yet no discovery be made either of himselfo r of his kingdom in the land where Abrahammet him when the descendants of the latter return ed with the God-given charge to destroy or
drive out the nations pos sessing the land, allof whom were declared of heaven to have beenthe embodiment of wickedness .
CHAPTER X
DIVINE LOVE PROMPTED THECHOICE
“Looking un to Jesus the author and fini sher of our
fai th; who for the joy that was set before him endu red
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the
r ight hand of the throne of God .
”
(Heb. xii,
The question might with propriety be raised ,Why did the Son of God choose to identifyHimself to all eternity with the people o f afallen world ?” The inhabitants of other worldsall possessed characters o f perfect beauty andsymmetry. To associate with them would beto drink perpetual j oy . Companionship withthem would be an endless stream o f love , gliding on without a ripple of inharmony as theages would roll into blis s ful eternity : notreachery in an unfallen world ; no betrayal ; nodeath scenes ; no anguish of soul to force dropsof life-blood from the brow of the innocent One ;no crown of thorns ; no cruel mocking ; nofainting under the weight o f a terrible Romancross ; no piercing nails for hands and feet ; nosense of the sinner’s condemnation with the
1 32
1 34 MELCHIZEDEK
is above every name,that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow— and that every tongueshould confes s that Jesus Christ is Lord
,to the
glory o f God the Father .The glory of His works as Creator gave Him
an exalted name,but the love of God manifested
in redemption added to His original glory gaveHim a name that is above every name .
Jesus, my Shepherd, Guardian , Friend ;My Prophet, Pr iest and King,
F or all the blessings Thou dost send,Accept the praise I bring.
”
CHAPTER XI
THE PURPOSE OF MELCHIZEDEK’SVISIT
F or we are made a spectacle ( thea ter , margin) un to
the world,and to angels, and to men .
”( I Cor . iv,
The conclusion being beyond controversy thatthe Melchizedek to whom the “ father of thefaithful” paid tithes was not a member of our
human family , and that his kingdom was not
o f this world, but instead that he was the Adam ,
the everlasting father of another planet ,— thequery naturally arises ,
“How came he into our
world , and what was the purpose of his visit ?”
The possibility of his coming,as well as his
ability to come , is proven by the fact of thegathering of the “Sons of God” from theirvarious worlds to worship in the immediate presence of the Creator. The purpose of his visitis suggested in the statement that the peopleof this world “are made a spectacle” [ theater] ,“to angels , and to men .
”(I Cor . iv, There
i s full Scripture evidence that our world is theonly one in the universe that has fallen ; our
1 35
1 36 MELCHIZEDEK
Adam the only head of a world who has plungedhis descendants into the gulf of sin with all theattendant wretchednes s terminating, with thoseout of Christ , in eternal death .
This world then is the battle ground wherethe great controversy between righteousnes sand sin is being fought to a finish . I t is alsothe only complete obj ect les son of the direfulresults of sin to be found in all the boundlessexpanse of space .The visit of Melchizedek to this world would
afford him opportunity to behold what utterruin and woe sin has wrought ; to compare thegloom of this “vale of tears” with the unsulliedbrightnes s and unalloyed happiness of his sinles s homeland . As angels came to Eden towarn Adam and Eve o f the terrible danger ofj oining the tempter in rebellion
,so Melchize
dek,with the direful results of sin indelibly im
pressed upon his mind,and with that desire in
ten sified which would naturally burn in thebosom of every right-minded father to preservehis own household from ruin when beholding thedesolation of another, would return to hisSalem ,
” and in a general assembly of his blis sful family vividly describe to them some of thewoeful scenes of a sin-polluted world
,to the
end that they might forever avoid the sad mistake which resulted in the awful plunge of our
1 38 MELCHIZEDEK
Someone will ask,
“Why did Abraham paytithes to this distinguished visitor from anotherworld ?” I answer, “What better and wiserprovision could have been made for his materialentertainment than by affording this privilegeto the most prominent , heaven-approved man of
our race of that day ?” And again , what better opportunity was there for “the father of
the faithful” to set the example of tithe-paying
,and receive the blessing which will surely
follow true conformity to Jehovah’ s system of
supporting the priesthood and the ministry .
ll
1 Some are perplexed over the matter of Melchizedek
having received tithes from Abraham , and especially so
in view of the fact that the tithes paid were a portiono f the
“spoils” of war . A careful reading o f the ao
count will reveal the fact that Abraham’s conquest was
solely for the purpose of recover ing“the persons” and
“the goods
” which had been stolen from Sodom.
“The
persons” were restored to the king of Sodom, a tithe of“the goods and victual s
” were given to Melchizedek, and
the remainder of the same returned to the king of
Sodom, except the portion eaten by the young men and
given to a few others who had joined Abraham in the
pursuit of the kings who made the assaul t upon Sodom.
Thus the only “spoils” of war that were received by
Melchizedek were “
goods”
and “victual s
”; which was
sui table provision for his entertainment by “the father
o f the faithf while the former was here as a. temporary visitor . (Gen . xiv, 1 1 -2 4 ; Heb. i, 1 ,
The presence of the exalted Melchizedek gave Abrahamthe Opportunity to pay tithes, and to receive in return
for faithfulness the blessing of heaven which Melchize
dek, as“priest of the Most H igh God ,
” was by virtue
PURPOSE OF VISIT 1 39
THE OF F ICE OF PRIESTHOOD IN A S INLESSW ORLD
Anticipating another seeming obj ection tothe line of thought which may arise in meditative minds
,it may be well to state that the idea
of the priesthood does not neces sarily refer tothose who act as interces sors . Certainly in anunfallen world there could be no intercessionfor sin . The in terpreta tion of the name ofMelchizedek suggests no thought of in tercession
for sin , and his God-given name implies exactlywhat he is . Webster gives the primary definition of the Greek term for pries t as “older, anelder
,an old man .
o f his priestly ofiice prepared to bestow. By following the example o f
“the father of the faithful” in the
payment of tithes to those who now mi ni ster in holythings, we will receive from Christ, our Priest of the
Most H igh God after the order of Melchizedek, the fullness of heaven
’s bles sing, for Christ is both prepared
and empowered to bestow it. How coul d it have beenpossible for the highest man of our race in the world
to have set the example of tithe-paying had not a higher
person from another world been present at the oppor
tune time. I t does not seem consistent that Abrahamwould knowingly have paid tithes to a Canaanitish
priest, or have received a blessing at his hands, for he
had received definite instructions from the Lord con
cerning the wickedness of the Canaani tes. And still
another question arises :“W as any Canaanitish pr iest
prepared to bestow the blessing of heaven upon the‘father of the faithful ’ ? Or was any Canaani te en
titled to the distinction,‘priest of the Most High God
’
1 40 MELCHIZEDEK
I n the ancient Jewish economy there wereteaching priests . A priest of the MostHigh God” in an unfallen world would fill theexalted ofiices of father, leader, and representative of his people in worship
,and of “king of
righteousness” and “king o f peace under Himwho hath prepared His thron e in the heavens”
and whose “kingdom ruleth over all .” OurHigh Priest once offered the supreme sacrificeo f Himself, and now pleads His blood in behalfo f His people ; but when the neces sity passesHe will cease to act as an Intercessor. S till,
He will be our Priest-King, our Melchizedek .
In our world the inhabitants who feel theneces sity o f a Savior from sin associate theidea of the office of priest with intercession .
The Savior of men , beholding our fatherles scondition
,volun teered to become our “
Everlast
ing Father,” our Intercessor. He gives us the
assurance that if we ask in His name He “willpray the Father for” us ; and
“ if any man sin ,
we have an Advocate with the Father .” Wehave then a “Great High Priest that is pas sedinto the heavens
,Jesus the Son o f God In
all things , under Jehovah , He must have the preeminence . In an unfallen world the peoplewould not as sociate the office of priesthood withthe idea of interces sion for sin .
In the book of Hebrews and in the idea of
1 4 2 MELCHIZEDEK
through the gates of the tomb and thus triumphed gloriously over sin
,death and the
originator of both . None other will ever wresthis family from the grave and destroy death andits author.In very truth , all other Melchizedeks with
their myriad children are dependent for originallife and continued exi stence upon our Melchize
dek . Surely in the galaxy o f inhabited worldsin space
,each created and upheld by Him ,
each having its “everlasting father,” its “king
of righteousness ,” —that “Child ,
” who “untous” was born ,
that “Son” who was given to ourhuman family, will in all things have the preeminence : will be transcendent in glory abovethem all ; and by His sacrifice , by the winningpower o f His love , all,— angels and men of allworlds , —will be bound in love and loyalty tothe King of Heaven ; and our world, now overshadowed by the gloom of sin and death , willbe the most brilliant planet in the universe
,for
even the sun shall be ashamed of his brightnes swhen “the Son of Righteousness” shall reign“on Mount Zion and before His ancients ,gloriously .
’
“Now in the things which. we are saying, thechief point is this ; we have such a High Priest ,who is set on the right hand of the throne of theMaj esty in the heavens ; a minister of the sanc
PURPOSE OF VISIT 1 43
tuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lordpitched and not man . (Heb . viii , 1 R . V .)
Crown Him with many crown s,The Lamb upon H is throne ;
Hark'how the heavenly anthem drownsAll music but its own '
Awake,my soul, and sing
Of Him who died for thee ;And hail H im as thy matchless KingThrough all etern ity .
”
Having therefore , brethren , boldness to en
ter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a
new and living way, which he hath consecratedfor us , through the veil , that i s to say , his flesh ;And having an high priest over the house of
God ; Let us draw near with a true heart in fullassurance o f faith , having our hearts sprinkledfrom an evil conscience , and our bodies washedwith pure water.” (Heb . x , 1 9
CHAPTER XII
THE THRONE OF THE UNIVERSE T'
O
BE TRANSFERRED TO THE EARTH
“A nd he showed me tha t grea t ci ty, the holy
Jerusa lem, descending from God ou t of heaven .
” “And
there sha ll be no more curse : but the throne of God and
of the Lamb sha ll be in i t; and H is servan ts sha ll serve
H im .
”
(Rev. xxi, 1 0 ; xxi i,
It may be a matter o f amazement to some tolearn that the throne o f the universe will eventually be established in the earth . Inspiredproof of this truth is found in the statementthat “the throne of God , and of the Lamb shallbe in it
,and His servants shall serve Him .
(Rev . xxn , 1-3 ; Rev. xxi , These words oc
cur as an es sential part of the description ofthe New Jerusalem , the capital city of the earthmade new.
But why the neces sity for the location of thethrone of God and of the Lamb” in this earth ?Careful reflection upon this subj ect will revealthe fact that with the choice of both the Fatherand Son that this world should be the eternalkingdom of Christ , that this land should be the
1 44
1 46 MELCHIZEDEK
pointed order, circling the throne of Deity.
(“Great Controversy
,
” p .
How encouraging, how inspiring the thoughtfor the inhabitants o f this world, who have beenin succession groaning under the excruciatingload of sin for weary years , that eventually their Eden home will be the brightest , themost glorious spot in all the universe , and theythe most favored beings
,ever enj oying the pres
ence of God , as it is written :“And they shall
see His face ,” and “in Thy presence i s fullness
of j oy” ;“at Thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore . How complete will be the triumph over sin and Satan when this world , having been , because of sin , the darkest spot in allthe universe and the place where the prince of
darkness thought to establish his kingdom of
misery forever , is wrested by the Mighty Onefrom his grasp
,and, purified , i s made the
brightest , happies t spot in all the universe .When Christ , by becoming a member of our
human family and by completely vanquishingSatan , had won back the dominion lost by Adam ,
He became the lawful Heir to this world .
When we , through the strength of a risen Savior, triumph over Satan and become sons o f
God by being born from above (Jno . i , 1 2 ,then we are counted j oint-heirs with Christ inthe kingdom . (Rom . viii, 1 6, And thus
THE THRONE TRANSFERRED 1 47
it is that the kingdom and dominion and thegreatnes s o f the kingdom under the wholeheaven shall be given to the people of the saintsof the Most High . (Dan . vii , The onlybegotten Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord ,became the Melchizedek of this world that Hemight win it back to the universe of Jehovah .
To accomplish this glorious result was He borninto our world as one of earth’s inhabitants .It is the purpose of Jehovah that the uni
versal family shall be connected with Him in
dissolubly. This was manifest in the creation ,for He made each o f the heads of worlds ason of God .
” Thus Adam was a “son of God”
(Luke iii , but when our first parent hadbroken the connection between this world andGod,— forfeited his sonship ,— to reestablish theessential connection between Jehovah and manthe chasm must be bridged by the awful sacrifice of Christ
,who left His exalted position and
gave Himself to be the Head and Melchizedeko f this world . When finally , by the condescens ion of Christ
,all of the wounds and scars of
sin are healed , the riven creation will be re
stored , eternally mended , and then again willall “the sons of God” shout in unison for overflowing j oy , even as they did in the beginningwhen the creation of this world was proj ectedin the councils of the Father and Son . Then
1 48 MELCHIZEDEK
upon this earth will rest the throne of God ; tothis earth will come the myriads o f the “ sonsof God” to the perennial councils of a glorifieduniverse . From this earth will go forth the“sons of God,
” filled with wisdom and radiantwith glory
,to teach an erstwhile disturbed uni
verse that God is wisdom , God is love .T hose who have endured all o f the terrors
incident to sin ,— temptation
,trial , suffering,
suspension between h0pe and despair, persecution (and the great maj ority of them overcomeby the grim monster Death), —in this world,and under it all have developed characters whichwill place them on an equality with the angels ,will be honored with the most favored place of
any o f God’s creatures in all the universe, forno others will have pas sed through the sameexperiences
,none will have developed characters
under like adverse conditions . God has an
ticipated and made provision for this award inthe plan of salvation , fo r when His eternal purpose is made complete “the throne of God andof the Lamb” will be transferred to this world ,and the tabernacle o f God will be with men ,“and He will dwell with them
,and they shall
be His people,and God Himself shall be with
them , and be their God .
” And yet all this iss imply “the exceeding riches of His grace inHis kindnes s toward us through Christ Jesus .”
MELCHIZEDEK
bear the story of God’s tested love to worldsyet to be created and peopled, priests of theMost High , bearing ever the bloodles s , spiritualsacrifices of praise and loving service . Andthese eternal blessings are in God’s plan of
fered to all. “What love , 0 my God, whatlove
CHAPTER XIII
OTHER VIEWS TESTED
MELCHIZEDEK wa s NOT CHRIST, because
1 . An individual cannot be a type of himself,else similitude and identity are the same thing.
2 . Jehovah would not declare that Christ wasmade a Priest like unto Himself or after Hisown similitude, or a Priest after His own order.
(Psa . ex,
It would seem irreverent to say
that God swore His Son’ s priesthood was likeHis Son ’s priesthood .
3 . It requires more than one to constitute anorder Melchizedek was one : Christ “
an
other” after the same order.” (Heb . vii,
4 . Christ had a mother,and a genealogy '
was born “an infant of days” : had an end of
li fe . It is witnessed of Melchizedek that “Heliveth” and that “He abideth a priest continually .
” In the days of Melchizedek Christ couldnot consistently be our High Priest , for He hadnot yet been born into our family .
5 . Melchizedek is not entitled to the nameswhich belong to the Creator and Redeemer.
1 51
1 52 MELCHIZEDEK
MELCHIZEDEK COULD NOT BE THE H OL' SPIRIT
PERSONIFIED, for '
1 . There is no Scripture evidence that theHoly Spirit fills the Office of priest-king with a
seat of government called “Salem . JehovahHimself reign s as King in the heavenly Jerusalem
,and Christ is associated with Him upon
the throne . -The Holy Spirit comes as a voice ,not as a man .
2 . Every high priest is taken from amongmen . (Heb. ii , 1 1 , 1 4 - 1 8 ; v , 1 , The HolySpirit i s not a man .
3. Where is the scriptural authority thatthe Holy Spirit is a type of Christ ? It is H isrepresentative
,but not a type of Him .
4 . The Abrahamic Melchizedek was evidentlyinferior to Christ . We are not j ustified inmaking any distinction in regard to the ranko f these two persons of the Godhead : i . e . ,
theHoly Spirit and Christ .5 . It would at least seem superfluous to tell
us that the Holy Spirit i s “without father andmother.”
6 . What reason have we for believing that theHoly Spirit is a member of an “order” ofpriesthood ?
1 54 MELCHIZEDEK
existed and there be no record of it . Certainlysuch a nation , had it existed in our world, wouldhave been chosen for the preservation of God’ sWord and Name in the earth , and for the proclamation of His Truth to mankind .
If Melchizedek was a member of our humanfamily and was the king of a righteous nationin our world in Abraham’ s day , why should Godchoose Abraham to “make of him a great andmighty nation” to be the conservator of HisT ruth in the earth, and to be the progenitor ofChrist ?5 . If a “better” man of our race than Abra
ham was ou earth in Abraham’ s day,surely God
would have chosen the better to fill the exaltedposition of “father of the faithful .We know of no' other class of beings Of which
Melchizedek could be a member, save the inhabitants of other worlds than our own . He wasnot a fabled being.
CHAPTER XIV
RECAPITULATION
After the treatise necessary to amply fortifyand elucidate any line Of scriptural thought
,a
review in simple outline will enable the reader,at a glance
,to take a more comprehensive view
of the ground covered . Infinite wisdom designed that certain features of gospel truthshould be “kept secret ,
” “from the beginningof the world ,
” until the opportune time shouldarrive for their full revelation ; “to the intentthat now” “might be” [made ]
“known by thechurch the manifold wisdom of God, accordingto the eternal purpose which He purposed inChrist Jesus our Lord .
”(Rom . xvi, 2 5 , 2 6 ;
Eph . iii, 1 0
OU TLINE
The Melchizedek who blessed Abraham wasnot Christ . Christ is [ our] Melchizedek .
THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK OF HEBREws i s toexalt the priesthood of Christ . The climax of
this inspired exaltation i s reached in the declara1 55
1 56 MELCHIZEDEK
tion that He is a Priest “forever,after the
order of Melchizedek .
” This effort to glorifythe exalted priesthood of the greatest HighPriest known to the universe is lost upon usunless we can discover the significance Of theMelchizedek priesthood .
CHRIST OU R MELCH IZEDEK
1 . The Melchi zedek “order” of priesthoodmust be composed of a group o f priests
,as more
than one is required to constitute an “order.”
The priesthood o f this world was originallyvested in the father o f each family , and thusnaturally the office of high-priesthood would,according to the D ivine plan , have rested uponAdam , the original father Of our race : who wasalso the ruler
,and father
,under God , o f this
world . All things in this world were put underhis dominion ; (Heb. ii , 7,2 . When Adam had lost hi s right to the
priesthood (fatherhood and representation) ofthis world , and the power to be , in truth , theeverlasting father of the human family
,all
types and shadows pointed forward to the coming One as the “ seed of the woman ,
” the member of our family, who was to
“bruise the serpent’ s head,
” and through conquering himwrest from him the kingdom usurped fromAdam .
1 58 MELCHIZEDEK
ter of God to be love, and to save all who wouldbe saved .
7. He thus became man,“God with us ,
suffering as man suff ered,meeting temptation
a s man must meet it,and conquering that man
may conquer. Made perfect through suffering,He became unto all them that obey Him theAuthor o f the etern al salvation
,
“called of God,a High Priest after the order o f Melchizedek”
(Heb . v, 5 —the High Priest of this world,it s Second Father, taking the place lost byAdam .
8 . In His priesthood for sinful man He notonly fills the Melchizedek priesthood
, but is alsoantitype of the Levitical priesthood . (He
brews viii ,9 . In the Melchizedek priesthood we found
the following essentials : righteousness , sonship ,fatherhood , and etern al life , and, therefore, aneverlasting priesthood. (Hebrews VI I .)1 0 . During the interval between the fall of
the first Adam and the complete triumph overSatan , sin and death by the last Adam , Satanappeared in the presence of Jehovah with the“ sons of God,
” who evidently were representatives Of other worlds . Satan was Of this .
(Job . i , 6 , 7 and ii, 1 ,1 1 . Adam was created a “son of God,
” placedat the head of our world, and doubtles s could
RECAPITULATION 1 59
have gone to the throne of the universe to j oinwith the “sons Of God” o f other worlds in worship , had he not surrendered his dominion toSatan .
1 2 . N ot until Christ had taken those stepswhich made Him our
“Everlasting Father,”
the “ last Adam,
” did He become our PriestKing
,at which time He became our Melchizedek ,
and Melchizedek means priest—king Of righteousness and of peace . The steps essential tooccupying this position were : (a) Being borninto our human family (a priest must be chosenfrom among the people). (b) He must be asin - conqueror
,and therefore a death- conqueror .
( c) He must triumph over him who caused thedownfall of the first Adam
,and thus wrest the
dominion from the usurper. (d)“He must
have somewhat to offer” as a sacrifice for thesins of His people . ( e) He must have acces s
[ ascend] to heaven ,“anoint the most holy
,
”
and enter upon his mediatorial work as Repre
sentative of our race . N ot until He had ao
complished all thi s did He fully become our
great High Priest “after the order of Melchize
dek .
”
1 3 . Thus , coincident with His becoming thelast Adam ,
” He became our High Priest afterthe aforesaid “order .
” And thus,logically
,
the “order” i s composed of heads of worlds ,
1 60 MELCHIZEDEK
Adams,sons of God , everlasting fathers , priest
kings over their respective worlds .1 4 . All priest-kings occupy exalted posi
tions : all sons of God have high honor ; but ourPriest-King must in all things have the preeminence above them all . He is Head of all worlds ,Creator of all , worshiped by all , both angelsand men
,and yet H ’
e i s the only one who diedto redeem His world . N O other Melchizedekcan point to his family and say that he shedhis blood fo r their redemption . None othercreated his world. Surely our
‘ “EverlastingFather” is entitled to the name “King of kings ,for He created and upholds the kings of allworlds
,and has universal dominion .
1 5 . Doubtles s many Melchizedeks have paidvisits to our world to behold the only obj ect lesson of S in’s blighting effects in all the universe ,and have then returned to their own worlds toreport the results of rebellion against God, aswitnessed in this “vale of tears ,
” and thus morefirmly bind their families in loyalty to the government of heaven . This Should not staggerour faith if we believe that Moses and Eliascame from glory to visit our world whenSpecial Occasion required . (Luke ix ,1 6 . When Jesus
,who is given to our world
and to our human family to all eternity , colh esthe second time to gather the subj ects of His
APPENDIX
Much evidence upon all important scripturalthemes is found scattered through the SacredVolume in fragmentary form . This i s true ofthe subj ect which has been briefly presented inthe foregoing pages . It seemed best to the au
thor not to encumber the body o f the book byattempting to marshal together all of this fragmentary evidence
,and thus interrupt the argu
ment . Hence the rather voluminous appendix .
I . Among all of the priests and priesthoodsbrought to view in the Bible , why is Melchizedekand his order of priesthood singled out andgiven such preeminence ? A correct understanding of this order of priesthood enlargesour minds as to its importance . Surely apries t-king who stands at the head of a sinles sworld is an important unit in God’s universe .The law of the Levitical priesthood made nothing perfect
,but the bringing in of a better hope
(by the Melchizedek priesthood) did . (Heb .
vii,
II . In the helps appended to the OxfordBible , prepared by C . J . Schofield, D .D . ,
the1 62
APPENDIX 1 63
author makes the following comments concerning the Melchizedek priesthood ,
“The Melchize
dek high-priesthood was greater than theAaronic : (a) because Aaron in Abraham paidtithes to Melchizedek ; (b) because the Aaronicpriesthood made nothing perfect ; ( 0 ) becauseAaronic priests died .
”
III . W as not the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood as exalted as it was possible that any orderof priesthood
,composed of members of our hu
man family could be ? And if it was not thehighest that could be organized in our humanfamily, why did not the Lord select and organize the highest order pos sible to lead His peopleto the greatest possible pe rfection ? Sur elyHe did not desire anything les s than the highest state of perfection in His people
,and His
plan was that that state should be broughtabout through the ministration of the priesthood . Then it must be self- evident that theo rder of the Melchizedek priesthood was notcomposed Of members of our fallen humanity,for the argument of Paul is that the Melchize
dek order is vastly superior to the Aaronic.
(Heb . vii , 4IV. Paul was careful to state that at the
time Of hi s writing the book of Hebrews it didnot seem advi sable for him to make full revelation concerning the identity of Melchizedek .
1 64 APPENDI X
Mark his statement : “Of whom we have manythings to say , and hard to be uttered, seeing yeare dull of hearing . (Heb . v , And thushe left the question for the investigation thatwas to continue down the ages
,until the time
would come that God would deliver to Hischurch , the key to unlock this mystery .
If Melchizedek was S imply a Canaanitish
priest , but righteous in character, how easy itwould have been for Paul to have made thematter clear in a. Single sentence even to earsthat were “dull of hearing.
”
V . Both Melchizedek and Abraham were inour world at the same time
,even at a time
when Jehovah began to organize his people intoa nation and into a church . Why did not Godselect the greater of the two , who was already apriest and a king, to be the head Of His or
gan ized nation and church in the earth ? IfMelchizedek was a member of our human family,his selection for the position would have hadtwo great advantages over the successive kingswho ruled over Israel . The great maj ority ofthem were desperately wicked and soon passedby reason of death , while Melchizedek wasrighteous and deathless , so in the choice of him
(provided he was a member of our race) therewould not have been the corrupting influence of
1 66 APPENDIX
qualification belongs to that order . Therefore ,all efforts of misguided men in this matter areimpotent .VIII . Surely there is great significance at
tached to the fact that there is absolutely onlyone man in the whole inspired record , 1 who i sby name or by the official title Melchizedek inthe same clas s and in the same “order” as theMelchizedek who met Abraham
,and that Man
is Christ . The only individuals mentioned inHoly Writ that we can loc ate in the same clas s
( the same“order”) are
“the sons of God” men
tioned three times in the book o f Job. Probably no one would claim that these sons of
God” were members Of our human family , butin the light of other Scriptures already citedthey perfectly fill the specifications o f beingthe official heads of other worlds than ours .With the exception of Adam and Christ it ismanifestly an impossibility to find another member of our race who corr esponds with the specifications of Heb . vii, 3.
IX . AN UNCHANGEABLE PRIESTHOOD . Thereis absolutely no unchangeable priesthood cov
ering the history of thi s world. There would,however
,have been an unchangeable priesthood
in thi s world had not Adam sinned . It mustfollow that in a sinless world the priesthood
1 W ith the exception Of Adam.
APPENDIX 1 67
would be unchangeable . When Christ stepsinto the Melchizedek order
,He steps into an
unchangeable priesthood. (Heb . vii , 1 9
X . In proof that the Melchizedek priesthoodi s not composed o f an order of men in our world ,i t is written that
,although Christ is now a
Priest in that order,yet if He were on earth He
could not be a Priest . (Heb . viii , Therefore
,regardless o f the claims Of any church
that they posses s the Melchizedek priesthood ,according to the teaching of this Scripture ,there are no priest s o f the Melchizedek ordernow Officiating on earth .
XI . Another evidence that Melchizedek wasnot a member of our race is found in the factthat from the foundation of the world Jehovahhas never approved o f the combination of thetwo Offices of priest and king in one individual ,nor will He recognize such until He comes whoseright it is . Every king
,so far as the inspired
record goes , who attempted to combine thesetwo Offices in himself met with the disapprovalof heaven .
Seeing then that the Lord has never recogn ized either an individual or a group o f indiv iduals as priest-kings in our world, why shouldwe make an exception of Melchizedek
,when it
is manifestly contrary to the Lord’ s plan tocombine the two offices in one man in a sinful
1 68 APPENDIX
world ? Even Adam never really held these twoOffices , for the kingship of the world was neverconferred upon him . He was only a prince , asis proven by the fact that he surrendered hisdominion to Satan
,whom Jesus styles “the
prince of thi s world .
”(John xiv,
XII . A suggestive evidence that Melchizedekwas no t a member of our human family is foundin the fact that he was no t chosen as “ father ofthe faithful ,
” which high honor was conferredupon Abraham
,although it is expressly stated
that Melchizedek was a “better” personage thanAbraham . (Heb . vii, 6 , If there was amember Of our human family upon the stage ofaction in Abraham’s day who was conceded byinspiration to have been superior to Abraham ,
surely the “better” would have been chosen tooccupy the exalted position o f “father of thefaithful .” Still further evidence that he didnot belong to our race is supplied in the statement that he “abideth a priest continually .
”
“Here men die .The condition of Canaan in Abraham’s day ,
the greatness of Melchizedek , lead to the conclusio-n that he was not a local king by thatname
,but a temporary visitor with that title,
greater than Abraham (Heb . vn , 4 , one o f
the perfect units in God ’s great plan of theuniverse
,whom Abraham recognized, and to
1 70 APPENDIX
the king of Jeru salem also by raining destruotion in the form of hailstones from heaven .
The five kings hid themselves in a cave , wherethey were shut up by the command Of Joshuatill he had accomplished the complete rout Ofhis enemies
,when they were brought forth and
slain . In the recounting of the thirty-onewicked kings with their kingdoms which theLord overthrew to give His people posses siono f the promised land
,the third in the list i s
the king of Jerusalem . (Josh . xiii , 9 ,Later the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalemsent a challenge to King David that he couldnot occupy their city
,except on certain condi
tions . David utterly disregarded the conditions and took forceful pos session of the city ,fr om whence it is called “the City of David.
”
(II Sam . v , 6 ,All o f this evidence goes to prove that there
was no righteous nation or kingdom occupyingthe Salem ( afterward Jerusalem) where Melchizedek had temporary abode . (Josh . x , 1
XIV. If (aside from Adam) God chose one
member of our race and made of him a Melchizedek— a priest-king— He could have chosenano ther and Still another individual
,conferring
upon each this high office,until an order of this
priesthood had been established in our world,
APPENDIX 1 71
which order would have been superior to thatOf the Levitical priesthood ; for, according toinspiration (Heb . vii, 4 this superioritywas conceded by the payment o f tithe on thepart of Abraham to Melchizedek . If God’splan could be carried out in thus establishingan order of the higher priesthood composed ofmembers of our race in Abraham’ s day , why didHe establish the Levitical— the inferior— in
stead ?Again , i f Melchizedek was a member of our
human family , and yet such an exalted priestking
,why is it that in all Of the history of the
world since Adam’s day there i s no other member of our race , save the man Christ Jesus , whois set forth as being a priest of that “orderAnd how exalted must be the order when Christis the only member of our race who , as Adam
’ssuccessor, is declared to be a Priest-King afterthe order o f Melchizedek . Bo th the Scriptural facts and the res istles s logic compel theconclusion that Melchizedek was no t a memberof our race .XV. The book of Hebrews not only sets forth
the eternal priesthood of Chri st , but alsoreveals more clearly and defin itely than anyother book Of the Bible the fact of Hissuccession to the position lost by Adam , bywhich He becomes the Head of the Divine
1 72 APPENDIX
human family , and as“the seed of the woman
(Gen . iii , 1 5) vanquishes Satan by virtue of thetriumph of Calvary (Heb . ii
,and thus , as
the Mediator of the New Covenant, He will ultimately fulfill the promise to Abraham that heshould be “heir of the world .
”(Rom. iv ,
Thus,the reason why these two thoughts are so
closely interwoven in the book o f Hebrews isperfectly clear —namely
,that in winning back
the wor ld-dominion lo st by Adam He can andwill fulfill the promis e to Abraham , and in thefulfillment o f it He Himself becomes Adam’ssuccess or,— this world
’ s eternal Priest-King, orPriest forever after the order of Melchizedek .
XVI. Some tell us that “the Holy Spirit ,speaking through Shem , made him Melchizedek ,
priest of the Most High God.
” If this positionis correct , the inevitable logic of it is that anyman through whom the Lord speaks b-y HisHoly Spirit thereby becomes a priest foreverafter the order of Melchizedek , and cousequently a “king of righteousnes s ,
” and “king Of
peace ,” for these offices must go with the title .
If the oath simply made Chri s t “like theHoly Spirit ,
” as some say,what would be the
occasion for repentance on the part of theFather ? AS a matter Of fact
,there would be
no force to the oath i f its intent was to makeChrist like the Holy Spirit, for in His Divine
1 74 APPENDIX
of the tomb , —He entered upon the preliminarywork pertaining to His priesthood , and whenthe subj ects of His kingdom are all made up ,He will enter upon H is kingly office . He isn ow prepa ring the subj ects for His eternalkingdom . The logic of this is that as Adamwas in the beginning the high priest of our
world, and had he not fallen , would have beenour eternal king as soon as the subj ects of hiskingdom were all made up
,and as Christ be
came our High Priest and will be our eternalKing, our Melchizedek, so all heads of worldsare high priests after the order Of Melchize
dek .
XIX . The reason for Adam ’s failure inbecoming our eternal king, our Melchizedek ,was because o f hi s failure in righteousnes s .“But unto the Son He” [God]
“sai th,Thy Throne , O God, i s forever and ever ; ascepter of righteousnes s is the s cepter of Thykingdom . Thou hast loved righteousness andhated iniquity , therefore God , even Thy God ,hath anointed thee with the Oil Of gladnessabove thy fellows .” (Heb . i
, 8 , A seepter is the symbol of kingly power. Only hewho wields a scepter Of righteousnes s can inGod’s perfect plan be a king to all eternity .
XX . A theory set forth by the Jewish leaders asserted that Melchizedek was Shem . I am
APPENDIX 1 75
not surprised that they should see only a character like Shem in Melchizedek , for theyrej ected all the Scripture evidence which provesChrist to be the Messiah , including the lightfocused by the Gospel on that wonderful Messian ic Psalm ( 1 1 0) in which the oath of the
etern al priesthood of Christ is recorded.
Then , too , their View is plainly contradictoryto Scripture statements
,which declares that
Melchizedek was without father, without descent , without end of life
,and that he “abideth
a priest continually It is utterly impossiblethat this Scripture could have been descriptiveof Shem , for he had both father and mother,also a pedigree from Adam
,and end o f li fe ,
and could not have remained a priest continually , for , as noted , death ended his career .It would seem evident that Shem never sawthe Land of Canaan
,in whi ch land Abraham
met Melchizedek , for , so far as we have any reco rd, the only descendants o f Shem who evermade the j ourney of 500 miles westward fromtheir home in Mesopotamia
,were Terah
,Abra
ham , Lot , and their families . Had the patriarch Shem also transferred his residence toCanaan , surely there would have been mentionmade of the fact . It is not at all probablethat the aged survivor of the Deluge wouldleave his home and family in “Ur of the Chal
1 76 APPENDIX
dees” and take up his abode with the descendants Of Ham in Canaan .
XXI . Some would count Melchizedek aCanaanitish priest and put him in the sameclass a s Jethro , the priest or prince of Midian .
However, God does not put these two personsin the same clas s . If Melchizedek was simplya Canaanitish priest , would inspiration rankhim superior to Abraham , and one who couldconfer a bles sing upon the “father of the faithful ,
” and to whom the latter would pay tithes ?Then , too , Jehovah never placed Himself underoa th to the effect that Christ should be a Priestforever after the order of Jethro . SurelyMelchizedek must have been a far superior personage to Jethro . If the reader will take thetrouble to study the brief Bible history of
Jethro and his family , he will be convincedthat he was not a recognized priest of Jehovah .
God does not put Jethro on the same ba s is a sMelchizedek . He is never called a priest o f
the Most High God,but simply a priest or
prince [margin ] of Midian, even as therewere priests or princes of Egypt and of otherheathen countries .XXII. Surely it will not stagger the faith
of any believer in the Bible to accept the statement that it i s both possible and plausible thatthe inhabitants of other worlds have visited our
1 78 APPENDIX
all in perfect accord as to the wording of thetext —one of them , if possible , making the expres sion “abideth a priest continually” evenstronger by rendering it “abideth a priest per
petually .
XXIV. When we speak of a Caesar, a kaiser,a sultan , a Pharaoh , or a shah , we know exactly where to place them , because each of thembelongs to a distinct order of rulers . W hyshould not the Bible student know in what clas sto place a priest after the order of Melchize
dek , especially as our Savior is the chief Onein that order ?XXV. The study o f the preceding pages hassurely convinced the reader that both Christand Melchi zedek bear the title common totheir order O f priesthood . Therefore
,Abra
ham would be perfectly correct in stylingChrist our Melchizedek , for He is to be identified with our world forever as our PriestKing.
XXVI . When Christ finally sits upon the
throne as this world’s rightful King, He willfill the office of King in Adam ’s stead and willbe a Priest-King “after the order of Melchize
dek ,” which fact forces upon us the only logical
conclusion possible ,— namely , had Adam notfailed and so finally have been crowned King,he would have been a priest-king “
after the
APPENDIX 179
order of Melchizedek,” and, therefore, this or
der is composed of those who are world-widerulers in sinles s worlds .XXVII . When we had lost our father
Adam,the head o f our world— the one who
would have attained to the Office of priest-king,or Melchizedekfi there was but one po ssible wayto supply the neces sity : the Son of God mustbe born into our human family . (John xviii ,36 ; Isa. ix, 6 ,N O being in the universe could possibly become a king perfectly adapted to the conditionsessential for succes sful rulership over a peoplewho will have passed through the experiencesof the ultimately redeemed family of this worldunles s he were born a member of their race :unless he was partaker o f their humanity : inall things made like unto his brethren
,
“temptedin all points like as we are” and finally dyingfor our S ins . Jesus Christ brings to the Officeof priest-kingship , a perfect personality, perfection o f character , and absolute completenessand perfection of experience .XXVIII . After the obj ect les son of rebel
lion Of sin , of misery, woe, and death in thisworld (whi ch in a sense is the les son book Ofthe universe) then , by the power of a ri senSavior who is also Creator
,this dark world
the terrible battlefield of sin—will be wrested
1 80 APPENDIX
from Satan , and be transformed into the brightest
,most glorious sphere in the universe ,
“ac
cording to the power whereby he is able evento subdue all things unto Himself,
” and becauseo f this redemption accomplished by the Sonof Man , there shall be given unto
“Him a namethat is above every name .”
XXIX . The oath which makes Christ aPriest forever after the order of Melchizedekmakes Him also “the surety o f a better testament” (Heb . vn
, 2 0 and this same “bettertestament” comprehends in its provisions theclothing of redeemed humanity with immortality in a sinles s state (Heb . viii , 8 and there- creation of the earth to be their eternallypeaceful home . (Isa . xlix , 8 , Heb. ix ,
THE U LT IMATE PU RPOSE OF THE OATH, THE
EXALTAT ION OF CHRIST
XXX . In demonstrating the ultimate purpose of the oath of Jehovah , by which Christ ismade a Priest after the order of Melchizedek,we must consider two things which are inalienable from the one whom God creates for , or
calls to , the order of the Melchizedek priesthood . These two things -conferred by Godeither in the design and act of creating theindividual to fill a position in a certain exaltedorder— namely, to be a world ruler, or, as in
1 82 APPENDIX
after His humiliation , in the time of His exaltation . Agreeing, then , that the eff ect of theoath o f Jehovah in conferring the title Melchizedek upon Christ will be to highly exaltHim , we must also agree that in Jehovah
’ seffort to exalt Him the very climax i s reachedin declaring Him to be a Priest forever afterthe order of Melchizedek .
How i s it then that some say that Melchizedekwas nothing more than a mere Canaanitishpriest ? Would there be any effect whateverin the way Of exaltation as the result of the
oath if it S imply made Christ’s final positionand priesthood parallel with that Of a Can aan itish pries‘t ? I n all candor let’ us askwhat glory
,what maj esty in the minds of men
is added to the priesthood Of Christ if the oatho f Jehovah S imply made Him a Priest afterthe order of an unknown Canaanitish priest ?It would even detract from the maj esty of
Christ ’s eternal priesthood and kingship to saythat in His exaltation He was made a Pries ta fter the order of Aaron
,and we must believe
that Aaron,in his Office o f high priest over God’ s
organized people in the earth , o ccupied a position superior to that held by any purely Canaanitish priest . Therefore , how much morewould it detract from the maj esty of the priesthood of Christ to declare that He was made
APPENDIX 1 83
by the oath of Jehovah a Priest like unto acertain Canaanitish priest .But if it wa s the intent Of the oath that by
it He should be constituted a Priest foreverafter the order of a certain notable priest inone of the Canaanitish nations , then we wouldbe j ustified in putting such an interpretationupon the oath , which would make it read ,
“The
Lord hath sworn , and will not repent,Thou
art a Pr iest forever after the order of a certainCanaanitish priest
,called Melchizedek .
” Butsuch an interpretation , instead of adding gloryto the eternal priesthood of Christ , wouldgreatly detract therefrom . Would it not alsomake a burlesque of the sacred oath Of Jehovah ?
On the other hand , if we give to the oath of
Jehovah its true weight and S ignificance , andrecognize that by it “
God hath highly exal tedHim ,
” and that in styling Him a Priest afterthe order of Melchizedek
,he “hath given Him
a name that is above every name,
” and thatthus the Redeemer o f the world becomes it srightful Priest-King to all eternity
,and also
the “King of kings” of ALL wor lds,then we
do not detract from the glory and maj esty intended of God to be conferred upon Christ bythe oath, nor do we make that sacred oath ameaningless parody . It is true that the road
1 84 APPENDIX
to exaltation was by the pathway of humiliation
,but surely the final result of the oath of
Jehovah will be the bestowal upon Christ Of“a name that is above every name .” “Thouart My Son , to-day have I begotten Thee .
”
(Heb. v , In the day that He was begotten from the dead He succeeded to the highpries thood Of this world . (Rom . i ,Ques tion . When did Chri st become a Priest ?
Answer . When He took Adam’s place as thehead of our world or became the “last Adam .
”
He did this when He had triumphed over sin ,died for sin ,
and ascended to heaven , having“somewhat to Offer.”
Question . After what order did He thenbecome High Priest ? Answer . After the or
der of Melchizedek .
Question . Then after what order wouldAdam have been a priest if he had not lost hisright and his priesthood by sin ? Answer .
After the order o f Melchizedek .
Question . Then what constitutes one apriest after the order of Melchizedek ? An
swer . Being the head , the priest-king, Of aworld .
Then who was the Melchizedek who met Abraham ?
