Bible Questions and Answers

How is Jesus like the Old Testament High Priest Melchizedek? Was he actually Jesus?

Melchizedek was the priest of the most high God at Salem (afterwards called Jerusalem) in the time of Abraham. He was a man – only a man can be a priest for men. He lived and died like other men. Scripture does not give us details concerning his genealogy or his death. This fact, the writer to the Hebrews, by inspiration, says makes him a type of the priesthood of Jesus. Hebrews 7:3

Melchizedek was a priest before the Levitical priesthood was established at Sinai – he was a non-Levitical priest, as is Jesus. His death is not recorded – thus, in his priesthood, scripture makes him like Jesus who, following his resurrection, lives forever.

Jesus wasn’t Melchizedek, because Jesus did not exist before he was born. Melchizedek died because as descendants of Adam all men die. Romans 5:14;1 Corinthians 15:22

Scripture omits to tell us how the wise men connected the appearance of the star with the birth of the future king of the Jews. They clearly had information that we don’t possess. Their arrival put Herod to the test and he failed. The Satan of Christian mythology doesn’t actually exist. Angels cannot sin or rebel because they have the divine nature – the same nature promised to those who believe and obey the Gospel. If in the kingdom of God with the divine nature, equal unto the angels, we can still sin, we will be no better off than we are now and the promise of eternal life would be a sham. 2 Peter 1:4; Luke 20:36

God bless,
Glenn