Devotional 24 June 2025

June 24, 2025 • Steve Torres

Hebrews 7:3.jpg

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.” (Hebrews 7:1-3, ESV)

As we come to Hebrews 7, the author finally addresses something he has been alluding to throughout the letter: Jesus is a High Priest, not according to the Levitical line, but “after the order of Melchizedek.” This mysterious figure, who appears briefly in Genesis 14, has stirred centuries of speculation. Was he Shem? A pre-incarnate Christ? A cosmic judge?

But Scripture tells us something simpler and more profound: Melchizedek resembles the Son of God, not the other way around. His appearance in Genesis is intentional in its brevity. There’s no genealogy, no mention of birth or death, and yet he is called both King of Righteousness and King of Salem (Peace): titles that find their truest fulfillment in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:2).

The phrase “after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6) doesn’t refer to a mystical priesthood hidden in Jewish lore. The Greek term taxis speaks of a pattern, a classification. The point is not that Jesus was inducted into an ancient rite, but that God already gave us a category outside the Levites for understanding Jesus’ priesthood: a priest-king who was not appointed by ancestry, but by divine appointment and eternal nature.

This echoes the Old Testament’s way of speaking in types and shadows (Hebrews 10:1). Just as Adam prefigured Christ (Romans 5:14), and the Passover lamb pointed to our deliverance (1 Corinthians 5:7), Melchizedek stands as a pre-echo, a living metaphor, of Jesus’ unique and eternal role.

The Psalms, Israel’s hymnbook, emphasized this long before the incarnation. Psalm 110 wasn’t just a song, it was a prophecy: Israel needed a greater priest, one not limited by death or genealogy, but endowed with divine righteousness and eternal peace.

Let this encourage us to read the Scriptures with open eyes and eager hearts. Every page, person, and promise is drawing us closer to the One in whom all things are fulfilled: Jesus Christ, the eternal King and Priest. The more we see Him in the shadows of the Old Testament, the more clearly we see the brilliance of the Gospel.