25 Days of Advent: Forged for our Hope – Day 4

The store was bright, heavily saturated by overhead lights and various trinkets that twinkled. And the store was crowded with an eclectic gathering of people in haphazard lines waiting to pay for their tightly clutched possessions. The hustle and bustle of the season was well underway.

This is the season when we often allow our to-do lists and expectations to overwhelm our soul. We allow ourselves to become distracted and pressured, perhaps seeking praise and blessing for our efforts. But the peace of the season we claim to adore is often buried beneath our harried breath.

Our time, money, and emotions can become just as tangled as the Christmas lights we pull from the bin shoved underneath the stairs. We are faced with the many gods that compete for our attention, yet our desire to celebrate the season is to honour the only one true God.

In the book of Genesis we are given a glimpse of a man named Melchizedek. His title was the king and high priest of Salem, in Canaan, which later became Jerusalem. We find Melchizedek blessing Abraham bringing him bread and wine after he has returned from battle rescuing his nephew Lot from enemy captivity as well as bringing back other people and goods:

Psalm 110:4, The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”

After Melchizedek blessed Abraham, Abraham shared that he had lifted his hands to the Lord, God Most High, that he would take nothing for himself. He offered up to Melchizedek one tenth of what he brought back from the battle leaving the rest to the king of Sodom. Abraham submitted unto the spiritual authority God put before him by giving everything he had acquired.

It is in the New Testament book of Hebrews where we find the priestly order of Melchizedek fulfilled. Melchizedek’s legacy remains one of a righteous and holy man who faithfully served the Most High God in an era that reeked of idolatry. Many biblical scholars have come to understand Melchizedek’s faithful and righteous character as a type of Christ and foretelling of the high priest to come. Just as Melchizedek was not born into the Levitical priesthood but appointed by God (scripture tells us he had genealogy nor end of life resembling the Son of God), so Jesus was named our eternal high priest after the order of Melchizedek, interceding with God on our behalf:

Hebrews 5:5-6, In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.”
And he says in another place,

“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”

And here lies our hope. When we can submit unto the spiritual authority that God has appointed before us, we offer our obedience. God greatly desires to use righteous and holy people to help guide and nurture us during our spiritual journey. But doing so requires great wisdom for though God has appointed spiritual authority, no other gods- whether people, places, or things- may compete for our attention and stand in the place where only Christ can reign.

And we are forged for our hope when walk in obedience submitting unto our ultimate spiritual authority that is Christ. It is Christ who intercedes, giving us His blessing, when we return victorious from the battlefield offering up everything we have.

We cannot seek our blessing from anyone nor anything other than our Most High God and appointed High Priest. If we keep our focus upon Christ instead of situations, circumstances, people, or things, Christ will strengthen and encourage us as we are forged by the pressure of it all.

Father, may your spiritual authority reign over everything else in my life. I offer up to you all I have, though it may not be much, so I may receive the blessing through my Most High Priest, Christ. In Jesus name, amen.

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