Psalms 110:4

Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Christ, our Priest

I. Divine authorization to priesthood.

1. The Divine oath has a reference to Christ, for it is the Divine authorization of His priestly office. What spiritual power resides in this mandate of God! It not only creates this office, with all its heavy duties and responsibilities, but it gives it full and free scope for the play of its functions.

2. The oath has also a reference to the sinner, the warrant for his approach to God. What stronger assurance of God’s willingness to pardon, nay, rather, heart yearning anxiety to bring us into a justified state?

II. The office to which the Son was called--Priesthood. Christ, in His struggle with the powers of hell and darkness, was not an overborne subject, He was not a conquered victim, but He was in very truth an active, official, priestly agent), working out and bringing in, amidst sweat and agony and blood, that righteousness which is “unto all and upon all them that believe.”

III. The duration of Christ’s Priesthood.

1. Christ was Priest on earth. His whole life, from the manger to the cross, was an offering--a sacrificial oblation of sweet-smelling savour to God.

2. He is now a Priest in heaven. (S. McComb.)

The order of Melchizedek

I. Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

1. That order was unique.

(1) In its loneliness, Melchizedek stood alone. He was the one true priest before the Mosaic dispensation. Christ is the one true priest after it, and He stands alone.

(2) In that it was underived and untransmitted. Melchizedek did not follow, nor was he succeeded by, a priestly line. So Christ’s priesthood is “not after the order of a carnal commandment”; nor does it “pass over to another.”

(3) In its efficacy.

2. That order was righteous. His very name, “King of righteousness,” is significant of that. But in a far more real and valuable sense is this so with Christ.

(1) He is absolutely righteous in Himself. As such He was predicted (Isaiah 53:11; Jeremiah 23:5). As such He was by the confession of both friends and foes (Luke 23:4; 1 Peter 2:23).

(2) As the King of righteousness, He makes His subjects righteous (Isaiah 53:11). By cleansing away their unrighteousness and imparting His Holy Spirit, and encouraging and directing their holy lives.

3. That order was peaceful. He was “King of Salem which is King of peace.” Christ is

(1) absolutely peaceful in Himself. As such He was predicted and acknowledged. “The Prince of peace.” “He shall not cry,” etc.

(2) As King of peace Christ gives peace, promotes it, and reigns over peaceful subjects. “My peace I leave with you,” etc.

4. That order was royal. He was king as well as priest. So is Christ a “priest upon His throne.” Christ rules from His Cross: “I, if I be lifted up,” etc. And adoring Christendom says, “Thou art the King of glory, O Christ,” because “when Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.”

5. That order was superior.

(1) In its antiquity. It was before the authorized priesthood of Aaron. So Christ is “the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.”

(2) In its perpetuity. “For ever.” Christ “continueth ever,” and “ever liveth to make intercession.”

(3) In its universality. Christ is “a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

II. Christ’s appointment to this priesthood is held under Divine authority, “The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent.” Persons occupying important offices must show their credentials. (J. W. Burn.)