Hebrews 7:1-10 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings… The word "Melchisedec" leads our minds at once to theft remarkable passage in the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah, where it is declared of Christ that this is His name, whereby He shall be called, "Jehovah Tsidkenu, The Lord our Righteousness." For Zedek and Tsidkenu being the same in their root, the only difference between the passages is that in the prophet He is the Lord of Righteousness, while here He is its King. Whether we look therefore into the pictures of Genesis, or the shadows of prophecy, or the originals of the gospel, righteousness and royalty meet together to make the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us endeavour to catch the meaning of that word " righteousness." Before God righteousness means justification. "There is none righteous, no not one "this is literally true. No child of man has ever paid all his debt to God. No child of m .n has ever fulfilled all his relationships. Therefore no child of man is just. But that was a truer word than he who spake it thought of, when the centurion said, "Truly this was a righteous man." Christ was perfectly righteous; because what He undertook to do He did. He undertook to pay, and He fully paid, the whole human debt to God. He never swerved from His engagement. He kept, He beautified, every iota of the law. And what relative duty did He ever leave undone? But His righteousness being so exceeding, and being the righteousness of an infinite being, it was far above all that He needed as man for Himself, and left a treasury of righteousness available for every poor sinner. Very happy it is for us that of that righteousness — both the imparted and the inherent, both His and ours — which He so requires, He is also the king. For He can give, and He will give, it royally. A Melchisedec indeed He stands — Righteousness the habitation of His throne — His sceptre a sceptre of righteousness — Righteousness the girdle of His loins — Righteousness His breastplate — Righteousness the signet of His crown — and all for the sake of that one highest prerogative of His power — that one climax of His righteousness, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; |
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