WHO WAS MELCHIZEDEK? by G. W. Reaser

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 19, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 16.

WHO WAS MELCHIZEDEK?

By G. W. Reaser

BY G. W. REASER.

IN identification of the "order" of priesthood called the "Melchizedek," we will raise an inquiry as to the original plan for the high-priesthood of this world. In whom was this office vested? In the patriarchal dispensation, from Adam to Moses, the priesthood was vested in the father of each family; hence the name of the dispensation is taken from patri, meaning father. Naturally, then, Adam was the first priest of this world, and by right, its high priest. He would have retained an endless, unchangeable priesthood, if he had not surrendered the rulership of the world to the usurper. Because of this surrender, Adam lost his priesthood, and Satan became "the prince of this world;" but he did not thus become the "Melchizedek" of our human family, for, in character, he is the direct opposite of the King of Righteousness, and of the Prince of Peace. His seat of government is more fittingly described by the term "Babylon"—confusion, than by "Salem,"—peace.

Conceding that all worlds in space are not created in vain, and are therefore inhabited (Isa. 45:18), each planet would naturally have its Melchizedek, that is, its representative, its everlasting father, its high priest.

When our world had lost its rightful representative, its father, its high priest, its Melchizedek, it was not left by the Creator in this sad condition. Its Representative, its Everlasting Father, its High Priest, its Melchizedek, was immediately foreshadowed in the institution of the sacrificial service, which, for 4,000 years, focused upon the second, or "last, Adam." Yet during this period, Satan had access to heaven as the representative of this world. Rev. 12:10; Job 1:6.

There are, doubtless, appointed times when the representatives, the priests "after the order of Melchizedek," from all unfallen worlds in the universe, joyfully assemble in heaven to worship the Creator. Such occasions are clearly indicated in the first and second chapters of the book of Job (chapters 1:6 and 2:1). That the individuals here mentioned as "sons of God" were representatives of their respective planets, is indicated by the fact that, in the interview between Jehovah and Satan, the latter is conceded to have been the representative of our earth, a position which he wrested from Adam, thereby becoming "the prince of this world." John 12:31.

As additional evidence that these "sons of God" were the heads (the Melchizedeks) of other worlds, it is worth while to note that, in designating Adam as the first man of this world, he is also called "the son of God." Luke 3:38.

Perhaps the most forceful evidence that Adam would have been the high priest (the Melchizedek) of this world had he not sinned, is found in the fact that, until Christ was born

into the world as a member of our human family, and became sin's sacrifice and thereby Satan's conqueror, He did not become our high priest "after the order of Melchizedek." But, coincident with His becoming our Melchizedek, He became the second or "last Adam." Heb. 2:16, 17; 6:19, 20; 1 Cor. 15:45. The logical conclusion is that, had Adam retained his sinless state, he would have been a priest "after the order of Melchizedek," and therefore that this "order" is composed of representatives of worlds, who were created and given dominion over their respective spheres, as Adam was created and placed over the planet, known to us by the name of "Earth."

Christ came into this world to be our Priest-King, our Melchizedek, which, being interpreted, "is King of Righteousness," and King of His own city of peace, for "the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there." Eze. 48:35; Zech. 6:13, 14; Rev. 21:1-6.

It is a point of special interest, and one which adds strength to our argument, to note that, in the only prophetic announcement of the forthcoming of our High Priest "after the order of Melchizedek," He is thus designated, at the time when He will have taken to Himself His great power, as King over all the earth. Ps. 110:4. This rightful sovereignty He secured by becoming the "last Adam," and by vanquishing the conqueror of the first Adam.

At this point in His glorious triumph, He is appropriately called "King of kings." The reason for the conferring of this title is apparent, when we realize that each Melchizedek is a priest-king, reigning in righteousness and peace in his world; Christ, the Redeemer of our world, is transcendent in power, glory, and majesty above them all, hence the title, "King of kings."

The explanation of a text (Isa. 9:6, 7), a portion of which has been obscure to many, is suggested in the foregoing paragraphs. The query is, How is the expression "everlasting Father," fittingly applied to Christ? The significance of "father" is, possessing power to beget and sustain life in his offspring; the founder of a race or family. Adam would have been the "everlasting father" of our human family, had he not, by sin, forfeited the right, and lost the power to impart everlasting life to his posterity. He so far lost the power essential to everlasting fatherhood, that he could not perpetuate his own existence, or maintain his everlasting fatherhood, and, instead of imparting to his children eternal life, they inherited from him death. Jesus Christ, "who is our life," took upon Himself the everlasting fatherhood of His children. Thus, when His everlasting kingdom is established, as set forth in the text, He occupies the position lost by Adam; He is our "everlasting Father," our Melchizedek.

The conclusion being beyond controversy, that the Melchizedek to whom the "father of the faithful" paid tithes, was not a member of our human family, and that his kingdom was not of this world, but, instead, that he was the Adam, the everlasting father, of another planet; the query naturally arises, How came he into our world, and what was the purpose of his visit?

The possibility of his coming, as well as his ability to come, is proven in the fact of the gathering of the "sons of God" from their various worlds, to worship in the immediate presence of the Creator. The purpose of his visit is suggested in the statement that the people of this world "are made a spectacle [theater] . . . to angels, and to men." 1 Cor. 4:9.

There is full Scripture evidence that our world is the only one in the universe that has fallen; our Adam, the only head of a world who has plunged his descendants into the gulf of sin, with all of its attendant wretchedness, terminating in death.

This world, then, is the battle-ground where the great controversy between righteousness and sin, is being fought to a finish. It is also the only complete object-lesson of the direful results of sin, to be found in all the boundless expanse of space.

The visit of Melchizedek to this world, would afford him opportunity to behold what utter ruin and wo sin has wrought; to compare the gloom of this "vale of tears" with the unsullied brightness and unalloyed, happiness of his sinless homeland. As angels came to Eden to warn Adam and Eve of the terrible danger of joining the tempter in rebellion, Melchizedek, with the direful results of sin indelibly impressed upon his mind, and with that desire intensified which would naturally burn in the bosom of every right-minded father, to preserve his own household from ruin, when beholding the desolation of another; would return to his "Salem," call a general assembly of his blissful family, and, vividly describing to them some of the woful scenes of a sin-polluted world, warn them to avoid the sad mistake which resulted in the awful plunge of our world into its state of misery. He would exhort them to retain their "first estate" of innocence, purity, holiness, and loyalty to God, by which only their supreme happiness would continue, their homes be preserved from sickness, bloodshed, insanity, and from the ravages of the king of terrors—Death; their land be saved from the terrorizing and death-dealing agencies of storms, uncontrollable fires, hot thunderbolts, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, earthquakes. Continuing his comparison of the two worlds, reference would naturally be made to such familiar scenes of our world as drunkenness, homeless children, broken hearts, death-bed partings, populous cities of the dead, and battle scenes.

What an opportunity would thus be afforded him to make the desired impression upon minds which have never been dulled by the deadening influence of sin! what a wonderful contrast between the two worlds! And yet the redeemed inhabitants of this world will, by the spending of their entire mortal lives in beholding the present object-lesson of sin, finally have a greater dread of yielding to its power, than the people of any other world in the universe. This, on the principle that the child who has once felt the pain produced by contact with fire thereafter avoids danger of experiencing its scorching effects.

(Continued next week.)