MELCHISEDEKIAN PRIESTS

MILK OR MEAT

Heb. 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

1 Cor 3:1-2 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Heb. 5:10-11 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

The strong meat of the Word of God belongs to mature Christians (Heb. 5:14), and Paul expected the Corinthians after four or five years of Christian experience to be able to understand strong meat of the Word (1 Cor 3:1-4). The milk of the Word is for babes in Christ, and Paul does not scold the Corinthians for feeding on milk when they were first converted. But when their diet continued to consist only of milk, he, like the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, denounces them as defective Christians. What is meat truth? Of course, the Bible does not label passages milk or meat so it is not always easy to answer that question. However, one subject is clearly designated meat, and that is the matter which reminded the writer to the Hebrews of the inability of his readers to understand what he was writing about. And that subject is the truth about Melchisedec and his priesthood (Heb. 5:10-11). Here is an example from the Bible itself of the meat of the Word, and it may rightly be used as a test of one's spirituality.

Who is Melchisedec? Christ our Lord Who is also the Priest in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is a Theocracy. A Theocracy, in the very nature of its government, requires a priesthood to minister in sacred things. It is a Kingdom in which the Church and the State are united, and hence both are represented in the officials. In the restored Theocracy this priesthood is represented differently from that one once connected with it. The High-Priest and the king were separate personages, but to preserve unity in the coming Theocracy, the priesthood and kingship are united in the same Person. Hence, the Messiah is designated a Priest as well as a King in His official relationship as the Theocratic Head.

His Priesthood never ends. The continuity of His priesthood is identified with the perpetuity of His own existence (Heb. 7:24, 25): "But this man (Jesus) because He continueth ever (Gr. rentains forever) hath an unchangeable Priesthood." "He ever liveth to make intercession." It cannot be taken from Him and given to others, but as long as He exists, so long does the priesthood pertain to Him. He alone stands forth in all succeeding ages as the High-Priest. In an epistle specially devoted to exhibit "the unchangeable priesthood" of Jesus, it is expressly declared (Heb. 13:8): "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever."

We are priests with Him in that Kingdom ruling and reigning with Him. The promise is that the saints shall be both "kings and priests" (Rev. 1:6, and 5:10, and 20:6) in the coming Kingdom. This is therefore a civil relationship of the saints, which also relates to the religious, for, like Christ, the Theocratic King, they are both civil and religious rulers. Therefore we are Melchisedekian priests with Him. Now we are into the meat of the Word. Milkish Christians have never heard these things and a life as a ruling priest doesn’t appeal to them either.