Melchizedek is a mysterious character who only has a couple short sentences written of him in the Old Testament, but the author of Hebrews keeps bringing him up and seems to think he has a great deal to do with Jesus. Who is this guy? What is the connection to Jesus?
As we explore chapter 7 of Hebrews, we see that God has been giving us a preview of what would come fully in Jesus all throughout history and that Jesus is the fullness of everything we need.
God rescued Israel from the Egyptians, but He also made a way to rescue them from their own wickedness and rebellion. He allowed them to make sacrifices and draw near to His temple through ceremonial cleansing. God allowed these things to be mediated through people with a specific role, called priests. However, these priests also had their own sin and faced their own mortality as well. Jesus has now come as our better high priest, making full sacrifice once and for all and mediating eternally on our behalf so we can draw near to God.
