NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST
MELCHIZEDEK
DR. JIM DIXON
OCTOBER 19, 1997
HEBREWS 7:1-10
Today in southern Iraq, 10 miles west of the Euphrates River, archeologists have unearthed a giant ziggurat, part of the ancient city of Ur, the city which the Bible calls Ur of the Chaldees. The city of Ur is one of the oldest cities on the earth, and it was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Sumer. Around 4,000 years ago, Ur of the Chaldees began to decline. Historians tell us and archeologists tell us that the Euphrates River began to change its course, moving eastward away from the city of Ur and river traffic was no longer able to access the city. Business began to decline in Ur, and many of the families began to leave the city. They began to move out in droves. One of the families that left Ur of the Chaldees in those days 4,000 years ago was the family of Abraham the patriarch.
And the Bible tells us that Abraham moved north with his family to the city of Haran. There Abraham received a vision. He received a vision from God that he should sojourn in a land of promise, that he would become the father of many nations. And so it is today that the Jewish people view Abraham as the father of their people through Abraham’s son Isaac. And so it is today that the Arab people view Abraham as the father of their nation through Abraham’s son Ishmael.
Now, in the days of Abraham, in the southern Jordan Rift, there was a valley called the Vale of Siddim. And in that valley there were five cities, including the infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And it was in the days of Abraham that Chedorlaomer, a Mesopotamian king, came in great power with vast armies with an alliance of kings.
And he conquered the five cities of the Vale of Siddim, including Sodom and Gomorrah. And Chedorlaomer took captive men, women and children from those five cities, and he seized the wealth and all the treasures of those cities. And then Chedorlaomer marched his armies northward, and he planned to return to Mesopotamia. Now, all of this would have been little more than a curiosity to Abraham the patriarch who was sojourning nearby. But you see, Abraham’s nephew whose name was Lot was one of those taken captive. And so Abraham, already a great man greatly blessed by God, already a man of considerable wealth, already a man leading many peoples, gathered an army of hundreds of men. And Abraham marched northward after Chedorlaomer to rescue his nephew Lot. And Abraham chased Chedorlaomer all the way to Dan and the headwaters of the Jordan River, and then up to the region of Damascus.
And then at nighttime, in a surprise attack, by the power of God Abraham won a miraculous victory and he rescued a Lot and he rescued all those men, women, and children who had been taken captive from the five cities of Siddim. And he retrieved all the treasure and all the wealth. And then Abraham began to move southward back into Canaan. And as he came to the region that is now where the city of Jerusalem stands, a mysterious person appeared to him. A mysterious person came to Abraham. And this mysterious person the Bible calls Melchizedek. And he came to Abraham bringing bread and wine. And he said to Abraham, “The victory is the Lord’s. You did not win that victory over Chedorlaomer. It was God who won the victory. And the possessions, the wealth, is by the hand of the Lord. All that you have, all that you own, is by God’s hand, not by your hand.
For Abraham, it was a turning point in his life. It was a point of commitment, it was a point of consecration, it was a point of full surrender and relinquishment. And as an expression of his full surrender to God, Abraham gave a tithe of all that he had to Melchizedek and Melchizedek blessed Abraham.
Now, in the 14th chapter of Genesis where you read about all these things, Melchizedek is very mysterious. His parentage is not listed. This is unusual in the Old Testament, where genealogies are prevalent. The death of Melchizedek is not mentioned, and this is unusual in the Old Testament where span of life is so often recorded. Melchizedek—king of righteousness, king of peace—just appears to Abraham. In the 110th Psalm, the Bible tells us that Melchizedek is a prototype, foreshadowing, of the Messiah who would come. And in our passage of scripture for today in Hebrews chapter seven this link between Melchizedek and Christ is affirmed.
Some theologians, some Bible scholars today, believe that Melchizedek was not simply a prototype of Christ, but that Melchizedek was actually Christ—a Christophany, an Old Testament appearance of the Son of God to Abraham, the appearance of Christ in His pre-incarnate state. Theologians will continue to debate this, and it doesn’t really matter. I mean, it doesn’t matter whether Melchizedek was a foreshadowing of Christ or whether Melchizedek was Christ himself. You see, all Bible scholars agree on this: the true king of righteousness, the true Melchizedek is Jesus Christ.
And this morning as we celebrate communion, Jesus Christ comes to us bringing bread and wine. And he reminds you that the victory is the Lord’s. Whatever victories you have won in your life, whatever victories you hope to experience, it can only be from God. And this morning, Jesus Christ, Melchizedek, King of Righteousness, reminds us that all that we have is by the hand of God. And so all that you own, all that you possess, whatever your treasures are, whatever you ever hope to own, can only be by God’s own hand, not by your hand. And as Jesus Christ comes to us, King of Righteousness this morning, bringing bread and wine, He wants this to be a moment of commitment, a moment of full surrender, a turning point in our lives, a moment of consecration.
And yes, He wants this consecration to be expressed in part through the giving of tithes. And I know this is a difficult teaching, and I think most of you know that in the Old Testament era and into the New Testament era the people of God brought tithes to the Lord as an expression of their consecration and their total relinquishment. And the word tithe both in the Hebrew and in the Greek means one 10th. And so it is that the people of God have always brought one 10th of all that they possess, and they have given it to the work of the Lord. In the Old Testament era, this was administered by the Levitical priesthood as mentioned in our passage of scripture for today. But the giving of the tithe has characterized the people of God, and we desperately need to be faithful.
Today, I want to tell you a little story. It’s a true story. I just read it recently. It took place in the city of San Francisco. A man in San Francisco recently decided he wanted to rob a bank. And so he went into the Bank of America in downtown San Francisco. He took some of the stationery that was there, and he wrote a note, and on the note, he wrote, “This is a stickup. Put all of your money in this bag.”
And then he went and began to wait in the line so he could show the note to the teller. But as he was waiting in the line, he thought, you know, maybe somebody saw me write that note. After all, some people were standing right next to me when I wrote it out, maybe somebody saw it and they called the police already. And by the time I get to the teller, the police will be here. So this man decided to go out of the Bank of America and to cross the street and to use his note to rob the Wells Fargo bank that was across the street in San Francisco. And he gets into the line there, and soon he’s standing before the teller and he hands the teller the note. But the teller notices that the word stickup is spelled S-T-I-K-K-U-P. And the teller notices that the word money is spelled M-U-N-Y. And the thought occurs to her that maybe this guy isn’t the brightest light in the harbor. And so she decides to try something. She says to him, “Sir I’m sorry, but this note is isn’t valid because it’s written on Bank of America stationary. If you’re going to use it here, you either need to write it on Wells Fargo stationary or you need to go across the street to the Bank of America.”
Well, this guy looked dejected and depressed. And he said okay. And he then began to head across the street. It’s a true story. He began to head across the street and the bank teller at the Wells Fargo bank called the police, and they arrested this poor guy as he was standing in line at the Bank of America.
Now, I think we’d all agree that that guy wasn’t real smart, and I think we’d all agree that it’s pretty stupid to rob banks, but you know, it’s dumber still to rob God. And the Bible tells us that many of the people of God are robbing God. So we come in the Bible to the Book of Malachi, in the third chapter, God says, “Will men rob God? But you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you. And yet you say, ‘How are we robbing You?’ In your tithes and your offerings you are robbing Me and you are cursed with a curse. Therefore, bring the full tithe into My house, that there might be food in My house. And put Me to the test, says the Lord God of Hosts. See if I will not open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”
Now, I know, I know there are some Christians who believe that the tithe is only part of the Old Covenant, only part of the Old Testament—not part of the New Covenant, not part of the New Testament. Personally, I disagree with that view. I believe the tithe is binding today. And I would remind you that the Old Testament is the Word of God. The Old Testament, like the New Testament, is the Word of God. And no teaching in the Old Testament should be discarded unless that teaching has been explicitly revoked in the New Testament. I would also remind you that in Matthew chapter 23, verse 23, our Lord Jesus Christ endorsed the tithe. And as he was speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees, and He reminded them how they tithed mint, dill, and cumin, how they tithed minutiae and yet they were neglecting justice and mercy and faith. He said you must practice justice, mercy, and faith without neglecting the tithe. And then again, in Luke’s gospel, the 11th chapter, Jesus reminded them that they were tithing minutia but ignoring justice and love. He said you must practice justice and love without neglecting the tithe.
I would also remind you that in the early church Christians tithed in parabiblical literature. We see that in the first, second, and third centuries women and men of God tithed.
And you know, even if you believe the tithe is part of the Old Covenant, how can you, in your response to the new Covenant, give less than the tithe. Is your love less? And so, you know, as we come to communion this morning, Christ greets us with bread and wine and He reminds us the victory is the Lord’s and that all that we have is by His hand. We come in relinquishment. We come in full surrender. We come in consecration. And I hope and pray that part of your consecration would be this: that you might begin to tithe to the work of Jesus on the earth and to the service of His church. And this is not simply because the church needs your tithes, which it does. And we are, as I think many of you know, $200,000 behind right now in our general operating budget.
And this is not unusual. It happens most every year, and we wind up having to try to bail ourselves out at the end of the fiscal year. But you see, we would never be in these messes if we were more faithful to give. And I know it’s hard. I know it’s hard if you’ve never tithed to make the decision today that you’re going to give the first fruits to the Lord and you’re going to give a 10th of everything you have to the work of His kingdom on this earth. But I promise you, God will bless you for your faithfulness.
So we come to the King of Righteousness and we lay our lives bare. You know, last Sunday, John Denver died when his experimental airplane crashed into the Pacific near the city of Monterey on the California coast. I know that some of you like John Denver’s music and some of you don’t. I happen to be one of those who like and enjoyed John Denver’s music very much. And before Barb and I moved here to Colorado 20 some years ago, just the week before we were led of God to come here, John Denver released that song, “Rocky Mountain High.” I remember Barb and I played it in the car as we were driving for the first time towards the city of Denver. And on many of our vacations and trips with the children, we’ve played John Denver’s greatest hits on the tape.
This last Friday, there was a memorial service for John Denver over at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora at 10:00 AM. Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora is a sister church of ours. And I served on the staff at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora for eight and a half years. And I was there 18 years ago when John Denver came on Mother’s Day to sing in the sanctuary at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora. And he came on Mother’s Day because his mother, Erma Deutschendorf, is a member at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora. And John Denver’s father Henry, John Deutschendorf, was also a member there before he passed away a few years ago. And of course, John Denver’s true name is Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. And I remember that Sunday on Mother’s Day, John Denver sang the great hymn “How Great Thou Art.”
And he sang those words, “That when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art.” But of course, John Denver was singing those words to his mother as a favor to his mom. John Denver was not a Christian. John Denver was a practicing Buddhist. And have you noticed that so many people in Hollywood and in the entertainment industry are into the Eastern religions and dabbling in Buddhism? In the most recent issue of Time Magazine, the cover story is entitled America’s Fascination with Buddhism. I noticed where Stephen Segal, the movie actor, is here in town this weekend to give lectures on Buddhism up in Boulder, Colorado.
And why is it that Hollywood has embraced Buddhism and the Eastern religions? And why is it that Hollywood is disenfranchised with Christianity and with the Christian faith? I’m sure there may be many reasons, a multiplicity of factors, but certainly one factor is this. You see, Buddhism is a call to harmony with nature, and Buddhism is a quest for inner peace. But Christianity is a call to righteousness through the King of Righteousness, Melchizedek our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.” Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” And the world does not hunger and thirst after righteousness. In the Bible, righteousness is light. And the Bible tells us the world loves darkness rather than light. But that is not true of you, you who believe, because you have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light. And you have received the righteousness of Christ imputed to you through the atoning death of Jesus upon the cross. And you do hunger and thirst after righteousness. And you have not rejected the gospel, but you have embraced it. So today, as you come to the table and Jesus, Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness, greets us with bread and wine, let it be a time of full surrender—of consecration, a of new commitment to Jesus Christ. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.