I think this Subject appears more clearly by the titles the Holy Ghost gives him. The Apostle having asserted the identity of the Person, goes on to prove the fact, by the name Melchisedec, King of Righteousness. This title belongs to Jesus only, of whom it was prophesied, Behold a King shall reign in righteousness, and Princes shall rule in judgment. This was first accomplished upon the ascension of our dear Lord, when he was exalted at the Father’s right-hand, and the decree went forth that all men should bow to him. This shews him to be the righteousness of his people, and that he fills Zion with it; and that one day he will appear as the judge of quick and dead, and act before assembled worlds, as a righteous Judge—King of Righteousness.

The next title is King of Peace—as the author, the preacher, and revealer of all Peace, external, internal, and eternal. This title some have conjectured belonged to some Canaanitish king who reigned in Salem, afterwards called Jerusalem.—But the Apostle tells the Hebrews to regard the meaning of the title, King of Peace—though the time of his actual reigning in Jerusalem was not come, nor will it till the latter day glory. At present he is King of Peace, in the Gospel, in the Conscience, and in Mount Zion.—Without Father.—The human nature he had assumed at that time, in which he appeared to Abraham, was without Father or Mother, without Descent; for as a Priest, the Apostle is proving the fact, that he had no predecessors or successors, so of course, unlike the tribe of Levi. As God, he was without Father; the divine nature was underived, not begotten. He is the Son of God, in his official capacity, but not in the divine essence. His human nature was without Father—“The Son of Man but no Man’s Son,” Erskine.—Without Mother. The body, the likeness, the form in which he appeared to Abraham, was without Mother, for it was many years afterwards he was born of the Virgin; and though she had the honour to bear him yet she was purely passive is the act of the formation of his nature. In these same senses he was without Descent—he had no predecessors or successors, as God, or as the High Priest of our Profession. Hence he is said to be the first and the last; if so, then there were none before him, and there can be none after him. The objection to this expression is, that it only refers to a want of the knowledge of his Genealogy; but though this might be the case of some persons, or of any, yet they certainly descended from some one. It might as well be argued that because I stand alone, and never heard of any one relation in the world, that I was without descent. But then the Apostle speaks in stronger terms still, and which can only be applied to Divinity itself—having neither beginning of days, nor end of life: this expression must refer to his Divine Nature. He is himself the beginning, in whom God made all things. In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth; that is, in Christ; he was in the beginning with God, one with him in the council and secret purposes of God; as well as the everlasting God; nor will he ever die as Man any more. As Priest he never did die at all; as God, in his Divine Nature, it is impossible. As the glorious Mediator, he ever lives, and all who are united to him live also.—

But made like the Son of God. This expression, like, seems dark to many at first sight, but when we look at the Subject altogether, it is very clear that none can be like God but God himself. None can be like such a Priest, after such an Order, but the High Priest, Jesus himself. The body he was to assume from the beginning, he frequently assumed a likeness of. Hence Nebuchadnezzar saw one like the Son of God in the Furnace. Now no christian can for a moment disbelieve that this was Christ; and that, long before his incarnation, the likeness that appeared was the likeness of his body, now glorified. This appeared to Joshua, to Moses, to Lot, to Abraham, Jacob, Ezekiel, and John.—These all saw the likeness of the body that is now in heaven. So that this Son of God appeared like the Son of God, after his glorification. He loved our nature so well that he anticipated the assumption of it; he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and his delights were with the Sons of Men. This the dear Redeemer shewed frequently, by his visits to our earth, in the likeness of that body which is now raised and glorified, and to which likeness the bodies of God’s elect are predestinated to be conformed.

I would make the remark here, as we have answered the above objection, so another is started, How, and in what sense could this Melchisedec receive tithes? And, if a divine Person, What did he do with them? On this I must confess there is a difficulty. Paul says he met Abraham—yet the word (as say the learned) means being in company together. We shall now investigate this Subject a little, and attend to its signification.

If this Melchisedec was only a Canaanitish King, I can see no reason why Abraham should give him the tenth of the spoils he had taken in battle; for I do not read of any king assisting in this war, or even minding the stuff, or guarding the coast; for it seems to have been a law among the warriors to divide the spoil, as in the 1st of Samuel, 30th Chap. But as his part shall be that goeth to battle, so shall his be that tarrieth by the stuff, they shall part alike. Now considering how great this Man was (or this Person is) to whom Abraham gave the tenth, we are prone to ask those questions that are of no importance to us, as, If this was Christ, what use could they be to him—and what did he do with them? We may as well ask, How the Lord and his attendants eat, when Abraham made an entertainment at the tent door—they appeared to him to eat. So, after his resurrection from the dead they gave him a piece of broiled fish and of an honey comb, and he took it, and did eat before them. This may lead us to ask still more curious questions, as, What body was it in which our Lord made those appearances, and what became of it? These things we must die to know; it is but of little consequence to us now—what tithes Abraham gave him he knew how to dispose of.—But in this instance the glory of our Lord appears; for it is clear no man on earth was so great as Abraham; so the Apostle argues, and truly the less is blessed of the greater—Abraham, the less, was blessed of Melchisedec, the greater. This was peculiar to his Order only, nor does there want another Priest to arise after his similitude, seeing he ever liveth to represent his people.

There was undoubtedly something of importance in this act of Abraham’s, and in which we may see, First, Abraham’s gratitude to the Captain of his Salvation, who had given him success in this war, which was just and necessary. So we find the Israelites devoted a part of the spoils taken in battle, to the Lord, and the rest was divided among them, (See Numbers xxxi, 25 v. to the end).—When Jacob vowed to the Lord, he said, Of all thou shall give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee;—and hence in his posterity we find the tenth of their portions were to be consecrated to the Lord, and this tenth, so devoted, was a type of God’s elect, Jews and Gentiles, who were to be devoted to his service. God, by the Prophet Isaiah, Chap. vi, says, But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten. Abraham giving the tenth to Melchisedec, and keeping the rest, (thus dividing the spoil) was an exhibition of what the Saviour would do, actually, when he should divide the spoil with the strong; when he should rise up early to the prey, and in the evening of his death divide the spoil—give to God’s Law and Justice infinite satisfaction—to his people all the blessings he secured, and get to himself a name above every other, that at his name every knee should bow.—Thus he divides the spoil, because he poured out his soul unto death. So in the hearts of his elect, by the conquest of his grace, when he spoils the works of the Devil in us, as well as for us, and by Faith, leads us to get victory over every sin and every fear, and enables us to give him the heart in a way of love, the mind in his service, and all our powers devoted to his glory, body, soul, and spirit, time and talents: this is giving him the tenth. We have got the blessings he has enabled us to get by Prayer and Faith, and we give him the glory due to his holy name—while he oft refreshes us with himself as the Bread of Life, fills us with the Wine of his love, and blesses us with communion with himself—so we give him tithes of all—hence the Apostle says, that he now receiveth them.—Thirdly. This act may be a type of that important period when our glorious High Priest will receive his elect at his second coming, when the faithful of whom Abraham was a figure, will come from their graves, and meet Jesus—and he will come from the third heaven and meet them, introduce them into the heavenly country, the new heaven and earth. Here our Priest will bless us, and here we shall cast our crowns at his dear feet, and sing—Worthy the Lamb that was slain. Thus we shall give him tithes of all.

The Dignity and Identity of this glorious Person may be clearly seen by the nature of his Priestly Office—this is what the Apostle is proving by a quotation from the 110th Psalm—Thou art a Priest for ever, after the Order of Melchisedec. How mean is the common idea that he was a Canaanitish king, and that Christ is a Priest after his order. Had Christ been constituted a Priest after any Order of human Beings, it would have been after the Order of Aaron, a Priest of God’s own appointment; but Christ is a Priest after his own Order. When God means to swear he swears by himself, because there is no greater—when he means to draw a similitude of himself he likens himself to himself; and when Jesus reveals himself as a Priest after an Order, it is his own Order, and his glory will he not give to another.

The Apostle in this Epistle, is setting forth the Divinity and Glory of Jesus, as God-Man Mediator; and shews how far he excels angels, and then how far he excelled Moses. He then points out how far he excelled Aaron; and in his Office of High Priest, how far he excelled all the Priests of the Levitical Order—they were mere men, he the God-Man—they were mortal and died, he was immortal, and ever lived. The fact is, that the Son of God having finished the great Work of Redemption, sat down on the right-hand of God, agreeably to what is said in the 110th Psalm—The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right-hand, for THOU art a Priest for ever. This makes it evident that the Priests under the Old Testament Dispensation typified Jesus, as exercising his Priestly Office before his ascension; but the Order of our Melchisedec is appearing in a glorified state, at the right-hand of the Majesty in heaven, representing and blessing his people. This is the Order the Father appointed him, and in this he continues. This he revealed to Abraham, and in the act of blessing him shewed what he was to be and do, upon his glorification, after his battle was over, of which Abraham’s war was but a faint shadow. That Melchisedec is the Son of God appears evident from his call to the Priesthood. So the Apostle has coupled these two texts together in the 5th Chapter—Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. As he saith, also, in another place. Thou art a Priest for ever, after the Order of Melchisedec. From which we must infer that Melchisedec is the eternal Son of God—for God declaring Christ to be his Son, was at the same time constituting him a Priest for ever, after his own Order, as King of Righteousness and Peace, fulfilling the one, and making the other for his Church. Upon his ascension he was to abide a Priest and King for ever—the eternity of his Priesthood clearly demonstrates the fact—the term for ever—a Priest for ever. This was essential to his Order, eternal Priesthood, therefore he must be eternal, which could never be said of any mere man—of course the Son, or second Person, is the Melchisedec that met Abraham, that now liveth and abideth. The Apostle also declares that his Order is Perfection, and the Power of an endless Life, in opposition to the Levitical Priesthood, which was imperfect, and they carnal men.—The Father’s language to the Son in the 110th Psalm, according to the learned Morrison’s Scripture Dictionary, is rendered literally in the original, Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a Priest for ever, upon or according to my Word, O MELCHISEDEC. This is addressed from the Father to the Son, and to no other Person. On this verse, the good Dr. Hawker remarks, that the Psalmist is tracing up the Subject to the everlasting Council of Peace between them both, in Jehovah swearing-in Christ into his Priestly Office, even that of an everlasting Priesthood. These things cannot be said of any mere man; nor does it any where assert that Melchisedec was a type—but the above arguments clearly prove he was the eternal Son of God; and to doubt this, or be ignorant of it, the Apostle declares the Hebrews were dull of hearing; and surely so are many of God’s people, to this day, upon this Subject—therefore, Consider now how great this Person is—he is called the great God, the great Saviour, great King, great Prince, great Shepherd, great High Priest; great in his nature, his love, his mercy, his wisdom, his glory, his grace, his power; and these he delights to shew to his dear people, who are called upon to consider him—these are said to fly for refuge to him, to cast anchor within the veil, either of his flesh, and lay hold of his eternal Divinity, or into ultimate glory, and view Jesus as an ever-living Priest, carrying on their cause, representing their Persons, pleading the virtue of his blood and righteousness, and abideing till all his foes become his footstool, and the mystery of God shall be finished; then the Son will deliver up the mediatorial kingdom to the Father, and God, Father, Son, and Spirit shall be all in all.

The last consideration is, The Work he carries on as a Priest, under this peculiar Order. The Priest under the old Law, no doubt, typified him; but perhaps very little further as types than his death, or entering into the Holy of Holies. Here they as types fail, and we see Jesus of another Order, and under a different view, upon his glorification, carry on his Priestly Office in heaven. Aaron the High Priest, in many things typified him, tho’ Christ was not of that Order, but of the tribe of Judah, of which Moses spake nothing pertaining to the Priesthood. But our dear Lord is become the author of eternal salvation to his people, and still officiates as an High Priest after his own Order—and this Order is not to make an atonement, or fulfil the Law, this he had done; but exalted to bless his people for ever.—This Office was shewed to Abraham when Christ met him, and refreshed him with bread and wine, a figure of his body and blood, which were to be offered up in sacrifice, and upon that offering his intercession was founded, and all blessings are dispensed by him, as it followed, and he blessed Abraham. Hence, having purged our sins, he has sat down at his Father’s right-hand to bless us for evermore. This is peculiar to his Order only, for this he ever lives. Perhaps every blessing he communicates as a Priest, is included in that prescribed form the Priests used under the old Law, Numbers 6th Chap, verse 22, to the close.

He met, and blessed Abraham with Righteousness and Peace; and to this day he gives the same to us, for as many as are of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Hence the benediction, the Lord give thee Peace. And the Apostle says, He is exalted to give Repentance and Remission of Sins—thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace. He blesses us with converting grace. God hath sent his Son to bless us, by turning us from our iniquities, with a better righteousness. David describeth the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works, with the adoption of children—to them gave he power to become the Sons of God—with spiritual life. The Lord commanded his blessing on Mount Zion, even life for evermore. He blesses them with his preserving power; his guiding Spirit in all his Offices; the light of his countenance; a new nature and a new name—these are all included in his Priestly Benediction, which the Priests could only pronounce, and we can only pray for, but which it is his glory to give, as our Melchisedec—the Lord bless thee and keep thee—the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee—the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the Children of Israel, and I will bless them. This act of the Redeemer’s intercession and blessing, is in an authoritative way—Father I will that those whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory—which God grant us all.—AMEN.