OUR PRIEST-KING by Mrs. M. E. Steward

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 45.

OUR PRIEST-KING.

By Mrs. M. E. Steward

BY MRS. M. E. STEWARD.

MELCHIZEDEK was "king of Salem" and also "priest of the most high God." Gen. 14:18. Jesus Christ is "a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Heb. 7:17. "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." Heb. 8:1. As priest he is our intercessor, our advocate; as priest-king he is our Saviour. We may know something of his power who has undertaken our cases.

Our nation's ambassadors carry with them all the power of these United States to make effective all they may say or do in the interests of their country.

The Roman centurion, who desired Jesus

to heal his servant, understood something of the power of our blessed Lord. Though belonging to the haughty conquerors of the Jews, the centurion saw in the humble Man who went about healing the sick, raising the dead, and controlling the elements of nature, a power which so far exceeded his own that he confessed himself unworthy that Christ should come under his roof. "Speak the word only and my servant shall be healed," said he; "I am a man under authority [I understand what implicit obedience to a higher power is], having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it."

Behind these commands lies the whole power of the Roman Empire. But behind the word of Christ the centurion saw that which was far greater than the authority of the universal Empire of Rome. While our dear Saviour was despised and rejected by his own highly favored people, no doubt the faith of this "stranger" was very grateful to him.

Do we not see behind Christ far more than the Roman centurion did? and shall we have less faith than he? We know that Jesus "is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers [heavenly, earthly, and Satanic] being made subject unto him" (1 Peter 3:22); that the throne of God where he sits is the dominion of the universe; that he has the right to use in his priestly work all the power and authority of this throne; that by "the word of his power" he made and upholds all the worlds (Heb. 1:2, 3); that is, he keeps each one in its exact absolute and relative position.

Why shouldn't everything yield readily to the control of Jesus Christ, the Creator, the Preserver of all, "in whom we live and move and have our being"? Alas that man, most capable of understanding and appreciating His excellences, should be found in rebellion against his Maker! Blessed forever and ever be the grace that can redeem,—be he who can "be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus," our priest-king.