Abraham knew Melchizedek as the “priest of the Most High God” (Genesis 14:18). Put that together with Hebrews 6:19-20 about Jesus entering the inner sanctuary on our behalf because he’s “a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek,” and we have Jesus being a priest of the Most High God too.
It’s not surprising, then, that Hebrews 7:3 describes Melchizedek’s office and function as being “like that of the Son of God.” In which case, Abraham would learn a lot about Jesus’ function as a priest from Melchizedek. And from what Jesus tells us in John 8:56, what Abraham saw in Jesus from Melchizedek filled him with joy. But what did he see that created such joy in him?
Well, curiosity asks why the priest of Most High God appeared in Genesis 14 at this specific moment in time. Abraham had just returned from an exhausting campaign defeating the tyrant king Kedorlaomer, who’d bullied the entire region for so long a rebellion had broken out, which he’d brutally crushed, stripping the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah of all their food and possessions, and carrying off Abraham’s nephew too.
Abraham immediately gathered all his trained fighting men and they roared off in pursuit of Kedorlaomer, attacked his camp at night and defeated him so soundly that they recovered all the food and goods lost – and the people he’d carried off captive too.
It was an exhausted Abraham, therefore, who was met on his return by Melchizedek, who “brought out bread and wine,” Genesis 14:18, the purpose of which was to announce the Most High God’s celebration of the victory. Because the victory had been God’s; he was the one who’d blessed Abraham by delivering his enemies into his hand (verses 19-20).
So it was in this act by Melchizedek that Abraham was learning about the priesthood of Jesus, who one day would repeat the same process of bringing out bread and wine for his disciples to announce the victory over sin and evil the Most High God had accomplished for all humanity through Jesus’ death.
No wonder Abraham was filled with joy, seeing in Melchizedek what one day Jesus would be doing, as proof that the Most High God would be true to his promise of blessing all peoples by bringing about total victory over evil – just as he’d blessed Abraham with victory over evil too.
Which explains why Melchizedek appears at this specific point in time. Abraham had just been given a great victory of his own over evil, the perfect timing, therefore, for giving him extraordinary insight into what the future would hold with Jesus as priest of the Most High God too.
Expanding on this then: “What part did Jesus play in the promises to Abraham?”
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