MORE THAN A PRIEST, MORE THAN A KING

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For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.
Hebrews 7:1‭-‬3 ESV

 ¶Hebrews identifies Jesus as priest in the order of Melchizedek, king of righteousness. Righteousness is determined at two levels. In the setting of a dispute, a judge would rule in favor of the party he judged righteous, in right standing with God's covenant requirements upon Israel. The judge, or king, is himself deemed righteous to the extent that he is true to the law and/or the covenant, condemns evil, shows no partiality, and upholds the cause of the defenseless. How could any judge award a judgement of righteousness and still preserve the integrity of his own rulings? Is anyone worthy? Is anyone bold enough to come into God's court, or to open the Book of Life to see if their name appears there? God may be a righteous king, but a king of the righteous, without Jesus, would be king of no one. There would be no kingdom of God. This He gives us in Jesus, appointed Priest and King, not in the line of Levi, but in the order of Melchizedek, our peace with God.

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