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Here Melchizedek is a picture of Christ and a type of Christ in another way. The Lord Jesus comes out of eternity, and He moves into eternity. He has no beginning and no end. He is the beginning. He is the end. You can’t go beyond Him in the past, and you can’t get ahead of Him in the future. He encompasses all of time and all of eternity. Now how can you find a man who pictures that? Melchizedek is in the Book of Genesis, a book that gives pedigrees—it tells us that Adam begat so-and-so, and so-and-so begat so-and-so, Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob and Esau, and you follow the genealogies on down—it is a book of the families. Yet in this book that gives the genealogies, Melchizedek just walks out onto the pages of Scripture, out of nowhere, then he walks off the pages of Scripture, and we do not see him anymore. Why did God leave out the genealogy of Melchizedek? Because Melchizedek was to be a type of the Lord Jesus in His priesthood. From the prophecy given in Psalm 110 we see that Melchizedek is a picture of Christ in that the Lord Jesus is the eternal God, and He is a priest because He is the Son of God, and He is a priest continually. That is, He just keeps on being a priest—there will be no change in His priesthood because He is eternal.

In the Genesis account we see that Melchizedek came to Abraham at just the right moment. Abraham was about to be tested, and he needed someone to encourage him and to strengthen him. Melchizedek came with bread and wine, and he was the priest of “the most high God.” (This is the first time in Scripture that God is called “the most high God.”) He came just as the king of Sodom was making a proposition to Abraham: “Now Abraham, it was nice of you to recover Lot and the rest of the people, and we appreciate that. I know you don’t want to make the people slaves; so give us the people, and you keep the booty. You keep it, Abraham, it’s yours.” Now according to the Code of Hammurabi of that day, the booty did belong to Abraham, but Abraham said, “Why, I wouldn’t do that at all. I won’t take even a shoestring from you—not even a thread. I refuse to receive anything from you” (see Gen. 14:23).

Melchizedek came and ministered to Abraham. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest, and He ministers to us today. I will be very frank with you, if He doesn’t minister to you and bless your heart and life, it is because you are still a little babe and you haven’t grown up. You have not entered into the great truth presented here. My Christian friend, have you gone through trials and deep waters, and has Jesus ministered to you and helped you? Are you conscious of the fact that He blesses you every day?

On one tour that I conducted to Bible lands I left half-sick and would not have gone if my wife had not urged me to do so. I just didn’t feel up to the trip. On the trip I was sick several times and had to drop out of the tour a couple of days. But God was so good to us. We had good weather; we never had a bad flight, and the Lord was just good to me in so many ways. I was conscious of the fact that my High Priest was on the job; He was doing His job, my friend, and He was blessing. I’m talking to you about reality. I’m not talking to you about a theory, about a religion, or about a ritual that you go through. I’m talking to you about a Man in the glory who is alive, and He is the living God. Is He the living God to you?

Notice what it says in Genesis 14:19—“And he [Melchizedek] blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” You and I live in a universe that belongs to Him; He owns it, and He has said that all things are ours today. Do you enjoy a sunrise? Just this morning I went by myself out to a nearby golf course, and I saw the sun come up over the Sierra Madre mountains. He did that just for me this morning. What a performance He put on. He is wonderful! What a glorious day it is! He is the living Christ. I just thanked Him again for bringing me to another day, and I thanked Him for being so good to me, and I told Him that I love Him. The living Christ is yonder at God’s right hand. How real is He to you?

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 5:552-553