CHRIST the TRUE MELCHIZEDEK: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). This verse is quoted no less than seven times in the book of Hebrews. It is a biblical bombshell! God had separated “church and state” by selecting His kings from Judah and the priests from Levi. When He promised a king-priest (for example, in Zech 6:13), it seemed impossible. But then this fleeting and mysterious character in the time of Abraham becomes a prototype of a king-priest selected by grace, not according to law. Yet Christ is so above such a man that the most significant details about him are those not recorded: his father, mother, birth and death dates. Yet he portrays Christ by his blessing the patriarch, by receiving tithes, by bringing him bread and wine, and, by inference, being eternal in his existence and ministry. He also links the censer with the scepter as leader of a people who shall soon be “kings and priests to our God” (Rev 5:10). J.B.N.