Sermon Tone Analysis

Don’t worry, I have not forgotton that we are having a fellowship dinner as soon as I’m done preaching.

That’s why I am taking the advice of a wise old preacher.

A young preacher once asked an old preacher if he had any practical advice on how to preach a good sermon.

This is what the old preacher said: “Stand up straight so that they will see you.

Speak loud so that they will hear you.

Sit down so that they will like you.”

So this morning, I know that your attention can only be held for so long, so we’re going to have to move fast.

I want to begin by reading a verse from Psalm 110.

This is what Psalm 110:4 says: “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, ‘Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

You may remember that there have been a couple of times in the book of Hebrews that the name “Melchizedek” has popped up.

And that raises the question, “Who on earth is Melchizedek?”

Moses I know.

David I know.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, yeah, that’s easy.

But who on earth is Melchizedek?

And when it comes down to it, Melchizedek is truly a man of mystery.

If you were to write a biography on the life of Melchizedek, you wouldn’t be able to even fill half a page.

We know next to nothing about this man.

And yet, he is one of the most influential characters in the entire Bible.

And thankfully, the writer of Hebrews has a lot to say about this man of mystery.

To see what I’m talking about, please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter seven, and we’ll be reading verses one through ten.

Again, Hebrews 7:1-10.

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of Righteousness, and after also King of Salem, which is, ‘King of Peace;’ without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: but he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.

And without contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

And here men that die receive tithes; but there He receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that He liveth.

And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him.”

Let’s pray.

This morning’s sermon is entitled, “A Shadow of the Savior.”

Before we get into the main point of this morning’s sermon, we have to answer the question of who Melchizedek is.

To see a brief answer to this question, look at what the writer of Hebrews tells us at the beginning of the chapter.

I’m going to read verses one and the first part of verse two.

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all.“

Okay, so who is Melchizedek?

These verses only give us the snippets of a story from the book of Genesis.

If you were a Hebrew in the first century, no doubt you would know this story like the back of your hand, because it talked about your great great granddaddy, Abraham.

But since we don’t memorize Scripture as much as they did, I’ll give you a brief crash course in the story of Genesis chapter fourteen.

And by the way, feel free to follow along with me in your Bibles.

Genesis fourteen is a chapter that describes a massive battle in the land of Canaan.

Essentially, there was evil king named Chedorlaomer (we’ll call him Cheddar), and he ruled all of the land for twelve years.

But in the thirteenth year, five kings of cities mounted a rebellion against King Cheddar.

So King Cheddar found three ally kings, and the five kings fought the four kings.

Well, unfortunately, King Cheddar won the battle, and he took many captives from the cities that he defeated.

One of those cities was Sodom, and one of the captives from that city was Abraham’s nephew, Lot.

When Abraham found out about Lot’s capture, he gathered together all of his male servants and prepared them for battle.

From Abraham’s household, he gathered 318 men.

Abraham was a very, very wealthy man.

And while the Bible doesn’t give us many details about the battle, we know that Abraham defeated King Cheddar.

It’s amazing that one man and his servants did what five kings could not.

But what we have to take from this is that with Abraham, it was not the size of his army that really mattered.

It was the size of his God.

And after the battle was over, from out of nowhere a mysterious man approached Abraham.

This man was named Melchizedek.

Melchizedek was the king of the city of Salem.

And the Bible says that Melchizedek brought out bread and wine to Abraham, because Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God.

It’s amazing that Melchizedek was a priest of God, because in the land of Canaan, nearly everyone worshipped idols.

And yet, here we have this king, who also happens to be a priest of God.

Next, Melchizedek proceeded to bless Abraham, and then Melchizedek proceeded to bless God.

Finally, the Bible says that Abraham gave to Melchizedek one tenth of all of his belongings.

This is the first instance in the Bible of what we now know of as a tithe.

And that, church, is the story of the man Melchizedek.

When the dust settles, Melchizedek enters the scene in verse eighteen, and he leaves the scene in verse twenty.

So three little verses in one of the lesser-known chapters in the book of Genesis.

And yet, for some reason, this man is so important that David mentions him in the Psalms, and the writer of Hebrews mentions him several times throughout the book.

So, what on earth is so important about this man Melchizedek?

And church, I hope that the answer to this question excites you as much as it excites me.

Melchizedek is important because he is a foreshadow of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I know you hardly ever see Polaroids anymore, but I love how you get to watch the photo develop right in your hands.

And you know that moment in time where the picture has started to develop, but everything is still really fuzzy?

Well, Melchizedek is like a fuzzy Polaroid version of Jesus.

Or, a better illustration then that is actually found in the word “foreshadow.”

Melchizedek is very similar to a shadow of Jesus Christ.

Just like your shadow has several similarities to your body, Melchizedek had several similarities to Jesus Christ.

Approximately 2,000 years before Jesus was born on earth, God put this man on the earth that would be a shadow of the kind of man the Son of God would be.

Isn’t that amazing?

And really, all throughout the Old Testament there are people who serve as a foreshadow of Christ.

At Free Will Baptist Bible College, there is an entire course called “Christ in the Old Testament.”

This course explores all of the people and events in the Old Testament that paint a picture of Jesus Christ.

And out of all of these people, perhaps no one is a better shadow of our Messiah than this shadowy man, Melchizedek.

So now we’ve answered two questions.

We’ve answered the question, “Who is Melchizedek?”, and we’ve answered the question, “What’s so important about Melchizedek?”.

Now, we need to go back to the book of Hebrews and answer the question, “How on earth are Jesus and Melchizedek alike?”

And really, in verses two and three of our text, the writer of Hebrews gives us five distinct ways that Melchizedek is a shadow of Jesus.

Look at what these two verses say.

“To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of Righteousness, and after also King of Salem, which is, ‘King of Peace;’ without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.”

The first similarity between Jesus and Melchizedek is seen there in verse two.

You see, the name Melchizedek translated means “king of righteousness.”

The Hebrew word “Melek” means “king;” and the word “zedek” means “righteousness.”

And while Melchizedek’s name meant “King of Righteousness;” Jesus Christ is the King of Righteousness.

Jesus is the King of Righteousness, because He is righteous in everything that He does.

Jesus is perfect.

And while Melchizedek was an imperfect human just like us, his very name was a foreshadow of the kind of man Jesus Christ would be.

The second similarity between Jesus and Melchizedek is also seen in verse two.

The middle of the verse says that Melchizedek was the King of Salem.

And Salem is essentially the same as the Hebrew word you have probably heard before: “shalom.”

“Shalom” means “peace.”

So, by translation, Melchizedek is the “king of peace.”

And while you have to do a little word play to see how Melchizedek is the king of peace; Jesus is the true King of Peace.

But Jesus is not the King of Peace in the way that the Jews hoped He would be.