At the Table with Melchizedek

On his way back from battle, Abram was met by the mysterious figure, Melchizedek, the king of Salem; he would be known as the king of righteousness and the king of peace.  Melchizedek came out with a gift of bread and wine – and this is the first time we see Abram eating and drinking in the land.  Before this, Abram, who had been promised a land, had found the land in a great famine.

Melchizedek, we learn, is also a priest of the most high God, and the New Testament teaches us that he is a type of our great High Priest and king, Jesus Christ.  Like Abram, we serve God by faith, we fight in the land to save our kinsmen by faith, and we find that our victories are due to our comrade, the greater Melchizedek, who after and because of our victory in Him, comes and offers us bread and wine.  This is a table of victory, a table of righteousness and peace – none of it attained by us – all of it given to us in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are summoned to come and sup with Him here.