Christ the True Melchisedec Being the substance of a sermon, preached on Sunday evening, July 24th, 1813, at the Obelisk Chapel — Context and Discussion

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.