THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD
Numbers 25:10-13;
And the Lord said to Moses: Phinehas the son of Elezear the son of Aaron the priest has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was zealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume them. Therefore, say behold, I give him my covenant of peace. And it shall be to him and to his seed after him the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the people of Israel.
Right here God set fourth the Melchizedek Priesthood that was to come into reality in the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a cousin of Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who was the mother of John The Baptist, was a descendant of Aaron, of the tribe of the Levites. Jesus visited the earth the first time to be a Lamb sacrifice for all men who would believe on his name. Many wonder why Jesus had to come to the world twice. Why didn't he just come once, set up his kingdom and be done with it? The reason is simple, there had to be a priesthood established as well as a kingdom. Without this priesthood there could be no kingdom. Jesus came to make the way for a body of kings and priests of whom, He would be the head. The Jews at this time did not see this aspect of the coming of Jesus, and for a very good reason: Isa 6:10 says: Make the heart of this people fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. You see from this scripture that God had blinded them. Even though they had been making the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb at passover time for centuries, they did not see why, and many Jews still do not see, even today. All those years they had been sacrificing the unblemished lamb yet they were blinded to the real significance of it. Do you see here the power inherent in the word of Almighty God? The Omnipotent God said that their eyes would be blinded and it happened. We sometimes overlook this statement as rather insignificant but do you realize that not one Jew at the time of Jesus realized that he had come to be a living sacrifice? The traditional teaching of the time of Jesus was that a great savior was to come and set up a kingdom for the Jews, and, they would rule the world with him, forever. What they were blinded to was the fact that the unblemished Lamb had to first be sacrificed, in order to establish the everlasting Melchezdeck priesthood. This would make a way for a body of Sons who would, in reality, be the Kingdom. The way would be opened for all flesh, that believe on the Son, to approach the throne of the Father. Jesus would be their intercessor, the High Priest. When he gave up the ghost at calvary, there was a great earthquake and the veil of the temple was torn in half. This veil separated the inner court from the holy of holies This was the place in the temple where God dwelled. Only the high priest could enter into the holy of holies. The high priest entered only once a year in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. The veil was symbolic of flesh. Flesh could never enter into the presence of God because of it's sin. It would die. Isaiah the prophet once went before the throne of God in a vision and he fell on his face and cried, "Depart from me oh, God lest I die. For I am a man with unclean lips and I dwell with a people of unclean lips". Flesh needed an intercessor to plead for them that they might know God and learn how to enter into his Kingdom.
The great power inherent in God's word can be seen by the fact that not one Jew saw that Jesus had to become a sacrifice for them, as well as for all of us, until after the resurrection. The evidence for this is found in Luke chapter 24:13-31; Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. and they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know him. And he said" What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have you not known the things which happened there in these days?" And he said, "What things?" So they said to him "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened." Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early astonished us by saying that he was alive. Certain of those with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.
Then Jesus said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?" And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then Jesus went with them to eat and as he sat with them He broke the bread and disappeared from their sight. I'm sure they saw the significance of this because Jesus is the bread come down from heaven. His body was broken for all of us that we might enter into eternal life in him.
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