The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110:4 ESV

For the final day of week two, we return briefly to David, who authored Psalm 110.

David composed this royal hymn about his promised offspring who would one day sit on an eternal throne over all people. As one of the most cited Old Testament texts in the New Testament, we can clearly understand David to be speaking of Jesus. And though David lived roughly a thousand years before Christ, it is incredible that David refers to his descendant in verse one as his Lord.

In the midst of this psalm’s declarations about the kingship of the coming Savior, we receive a very interesting statement: David proclaims that the Serpent-Crusher would be a priest as well.

Throughout the Old Testament, Israel’s priests came from the tribe of Levi, but this coming King would be an offspring of David, from the tribe of Judah.

How then could Messiah be both a king and priest?

David answers this problem by claiming that He will not be a Levitical priest; rather, He will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

In Genesis 14, Levi’s great-grandfather, Abraham, tithed to a priest named Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews will make the point that because Levi, through Abraham, tithed to Melchizedek, Melchizedek’s priesthood is superior to Levi’s.

Because the role of the priest was to offer sacrifices and prayers to God on behalf of the people, Jesus is not only our King to obey, but He is our great Priest who represents us before the Father.

Take a moment today to consider the beauty of Jesus being our high priest before the Father and the privilege of being able to come before the Father in prayer because of the ultimate and final sacrifice of Christ for our sins.