Who Is Melchizedek?

7 For this Melchizedek— 

King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, 

who met Abraham and blessed him 

as he returned from defeating the kings, 

2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything; 

first, his name means king of righteousness, 

then also, king of Salem, 

meaning king of peace; 

3 without father, mother, or genealogy, 

having neither beginning of days nor end of life, 

but resembling the Son of God — 

remains a priest forever. (Hebrews 7:1-3)

Just before Sunday School a few weeks back, I was asked my opinion on Melchizedek. The story goes that Abram was returning from a great battle in Genius 14, and as Abram is returning he is met by this mysterious priest who is also called king of Salam. A priest is someone who stands before God on behalf of the people, but a prophet stands on behalf of God before the people. Many explanations of who Melchizedek have varied and included the following: He is the Holy Spirit, or an angel, or simply a man who is a typology of the coming Christ. The priesthood that Melchizedek holds is a special one because it is the only one that has the role of king as well. In many ways the Melchizedek priesthood surpasses the Levitical priesthood, because he came before Levi and Levi’s forefather paid Melchizdek a tithe. In addition please note that the Levite priest had a narrow window in which they could serve usually between ages 30 to 50 (see Numbers 8:25,26).

I think the description from Hebrews gives him away as he is without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God — remains a priest forever. It appears that only one could hold this position, namely Jesus Christ. It would appear to me that the author Hebrews is pointing out that Melchizdek is a greater priesthood than Levi; therefore, Melchizdek is pointing to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Since no death is recorded for Melchizdek, it would appear that Melchizdek is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.