Kingdom Come

Christianity acknowledges that Shiloh is fulfilled in Jesus Christ via his claim to the throne of Israel through Jacob – Judah – David, which is true. Christianity also traces the fulfillment of the Melchisedec Royal Priesthood to Jesus Christ as the descendant of Judah through King David.

Ephraim’s father Joseph is also acknowledged by Christianity to be a major “type” of The Chosen One / Christ.

I put it to you that he is in actuality a Chosen One, a Melchizedek, in his own right. One evidence for this can be found in the splitting of the two-part Melchizedekian blessing between two recipients.

To Adam:

1. be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth 
2. and subdue it: and have dominion (Genesis 1:28)

To Abraham:

1. I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee,
2. and kings shall come out of thee….and I will be their God.

To Isaac:

“And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.” Genesis 25:5

To Jacob:

“And Isaac called Jacob, and…said unto him, God Almighty bless thee,

1. and make thee fruitful, 
2. And give thee the blessing of Abraham

To Joseph and Judah:

“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days…

1. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee [transferring leadership from Joseph, to whom the brothers initially bowed]…The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh / the one to whom it belongs come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be [resurrection of all].”
2. “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall…they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.” (Genesis 49)

What did Judah do to inherit the right to rule? After all, this man’s reputation would have been badly ruined if he was running for election in a democratic campaign against his brothers. He was a sinner! After all that

• recent sturm und drang between his sister Dinah and Shechem the Canaanite,
• knowing the state of hostility between his Uncle Esau who had married into the Canaanites and his father Jacob,
• being the direct cause of his father irretrievably losing his favorite son Joseph into the diaspora of slavery,

and doesn’t he marry into the Canaanite culture himself.

From a psychological / literary perspective he appears to be rejecting his identity as a son of Jacob. The social history of his three sons lead me to suspect he was an absentee father. He has sex with a prostitute, and certainly not the only time recorded as the prostitute in question knew exactly where and how to lure him in.

East of Eden all over again.

The book [by John Steinbeck] explores themes of depravity, beneficence, love, the struggle for acceptance and greatness, the capacity for self-destruction, and of guilt and freedom. It ties these themes together with references to and many parallels with the biblical Book of Genesis (especially Genesis Chapter 4, the story of Cain and Abel).

What a miserable example of a Hebrew. And yet, his daughter-in-law was so desperate to escape her Canaanite family that she risked her life to remain in his. That says something about the Hebrews, even at their low point.

There are five – count them – five chapters out of a total of 50 chapters, i.e 1/10th of the entire book of Genesis, devoted to the backstory of Judah’s inheritance of the right to rule. Actually, six, when you count chapter 38 laying the groundwork for Judah’s remarkable transformation.

These were not put here for use in children’s Sunday School.

These are here to teach adults in unmistakably simple details how to become a Melchi-Zedek, King of Righteousness, ruling with the Most High Priest-King of the Order.

 “Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons…get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die. And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him…

And [Joseph] put them all together into ward three days. And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God: If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die…And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food. And Judah [only out of the 9] spake unto him, saying,

• The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. [Accepting Supreme Authority]
• If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:
• But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

This is an example of “hating / rejecting” parental authority in order to submit to Supreme Authority. Remember, this was an era when humans understood that the gods ruled through men. There was no nation of Israel holding exclusive rights to YHVH. There were only scattered Hebrews independently honoring a God of Righteousness. This “Father to Pharaoh” was not only NOT Egyptian, but most evidently a Supreme Authority not only through Pharaoh’s incarnated god submitting to him, but through his power to save his people from the famine that prevailed over all the rest of the known world.

“And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go;

• that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.
• I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him:
• if I bring him not unto thee…let me bear the blame for ever:

And [Joseph] commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money…and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack…And Joseph said unto them…wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?

And Judah said, [this isn’t a given, Judah spoke up of all the ten brothers]…God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants…we are my lord’s servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found.

And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.

And here is where Judah’s transformation is complete, and he is converted.

Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.

• My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?
  • And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.
• And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.
  • And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
• And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.
  • And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
• And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food.
  • And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with us.
• And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life; It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.

Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.

Do you see how Judah’s actions:

• repentance against his previous hatred and abuse of Joseph
• proven by his changed behavior towards Joseph’s replacement in Benjamin

permanently encoded in his epigenetics, empowered his heirs to fulfill God’s calling for leadership?

“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in YHVH’s Promised Savior – [in this historical instance, Judah]…Who…made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant…humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the [loss of sons ergo risk of eternal separation from life]. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name [Melchizedek]. (Philippians 2:4-9)

“Thou art worthy…for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood…And hast made us [who also died to the self-serving benefits / lusts of this world] unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the [new] earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Joseph / Ephraim’s Share Of The Melchizedekian Blessing

It seems that, in compensation for Jacob taking half the blessing from Joseph, he doubled up Joseph’s share of his wealth. As if Joseph needed it! The Prime Minister of Egypt.

Wait, Joseph didn’t use his wealth and power to indulge himself. He used his resources to take care of others.

“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:” (Luke 12:48)

“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” (Matthew 13:12)

^“And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty…blessed me, And said unto me,

1. I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
2. And now thy two sons, Ephraim / אֶפְרַיִם and Manasseh…are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

Do you recognize that this was a means of Jacob giving a double portion of his Melechizedekian blessing of fruition to Joseph over his brothers?

1. My children are my greatest blessing in life. I have two children of my own but four grandchildren through them. My fruitful blessing was doubled.
2. Generation A grandparent dies. His estate worth 36 million shekels leaves equal portions to each of his Generation B children.
   1. Option 1: Generation B inherits 3 million shekels each including Joseph, each of 12 sons distributes equally to  their 3 Generation C sons.
      • Each Generation C son inherits 1 million shekels each, including Ephraim and Manasseh.
   2. Option 2: Jacob replaces Joseph with Ephraim and Manasseh, now 13 Generation B sons each inherit 2.8 million shekels, including Ephraim and Manasseh, i.e. the equivalent of Jospeh having received twice as much as his brothers.

“And as for me…

What is this transition phrase? “As for me” can only be comparing himself to Joseph. In context, that can only be comparing God’s fruitfulness blessing that Jacob had just bequeathed to Joseph with… Jacob’s barrenness.

“Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath / אֶפְרָת: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.” (Genesis 48)

Did Jacob just lose his train of thought? Psychiatry calls it “tangential thinking.”

It’s a sign of cognitive dysfunction commonly seen in dementia with a loss of attention and failure of immediate memory shown by the individual’s distraction from the current topic of conversation into deeply embedded significant memories. It would seem that the word Ephra-im sidelined Jacob into a deep rut remembering Ephrath where he lost his deeply loved Rachel.

At the very least, we can see the similarities between the names Ephra-im and Ephra-th. The word Ephrath is simply the feminine form of the same word, like Jesse and Jessie. Recall that names indicate attributes, and this one means Fruitful.

Can we not recognize the metaphor in the original language being spoken at the time when Jacob says “there was but a little way to come to fruitfulness in God’s promises to me?”

And God had made so many phenomenal promises, beginning when Jacob was on the run for his life from murderous Esau.

“And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night…And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:

1. the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
2. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep / guard / provide for thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep…And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven…And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. 

Strong’s Hebrew concordance numbers 3868-3870 are all the same “Luz” in English, לוּז in Hebrew, translated devious, perverse, departing. Despite it’s apparent root word in “Lucifer” in the English language, there is no connection.

It really seems that the name “at the first” for this spot was applied to it, at least by his descendants including Moses who compiled Genesis, from Jacob’s overnight stay there.

And Jacob set up a pillar [for a memorial of this never-to-be-forgotten occasion] in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el [house of God]. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying,

• If [this] God [of the many gods known to men at that time] will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace;
• then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28)

Don’t mistake Jacob’s vow for bargaining with God. A vow is a covenant into which a party enters into willingly. Think marriage vows. Men and women may in their own minds be bargaining that if they get X, Y, Z in the arrangement that they’ll stay with the other party, but that’s not what Jacob is doing in his solemn sacrifice ceremony. He is being rational, checking out the faithfulness of the other party before committing to a disaster of being bound to a cruel master. Think dating, or in that era, betrothal.

And Jacob was living in highly unreliable and dangerous Wild West times.

“And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” (Genesis 48)

Put this encounter in context. Jacob has returned from Padan-aram with El having delivered on all his promises to him.

• El had kept him safe from Esau the hunter who could have easily tracked him down and killed him as he slept.
• El had kept him safe from he Canaanite giants who played The Most Dangerous Game throughout the land he traversed – alone – before finding relative (get it?) safety in numbers in Padan-aram.
• El had multiplied him in family and herds while in Padan-aram.
• El had kept him safe from Laban when he escaped his labor trafficking.
• El had kept him safe from Esau’s planned vengeance.

It was time for Jacob to keep his vow to El.

1. “So Jacob came to Luz / Deceitful, which is in the land of Canaan,
2. that is, Bethel / now House of God, no longer alone but with a host of people 
3. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-bethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.” (Genesis 35)

Adding “El” to the place name indicates that Jacob kept his vow to make the unknown god of this place his One and Only God. And once Jacob has done so, God responds. It’s a covenant relationship.

“And God appeared unto Jacob again, And God said unto him, thy name shall not be called any more Jacob / Deceiver, but Isra-El / Prince of the Righteous God shall be thy name…

Isra-El is simply another form of Melchi-zedek King of Righteousness 

1. be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee,
2. and kings shall come out of thy loins [a necessity in order to take possession of] the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the lnd“God appeared unto Jacob / Deceiver again…and he called his name Isra-el / Prince of God El. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty [I can do anything]

God doesn’t just talk the talk. He walks the walk by delivering on promises that are impossible for other gods, or humans, however powerful, to achieve.

“And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And…Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 

And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.

What a crashing let-down! And this too was an occasion that he would never stop feeling in his deepest being to the end of his days.

Consider the parallel with Job. Satan surely tried to crush his faith in God and pressure him in his anguish to curse God, but no, Jacob remains Israel, even when more troubles come crashing down as he is in deep mourning over his loss.

When Joseph named his second son “Fruitful”, he was focused on his immediate circumstances, but he couldn’t have been oblivious to the name’s link to the first and most painful experience in his young life – the death of his mother at Ephrath. His life was shaped by his father’s preference for his mother over his stepmothers, resulting in his father’s favoritism for him, with the consequent hatred of his half-brothers. When we recall this family’s pattern of disinheriting all but the favored child, their resentment is understood. Jacob’s brother Esau had to leave the family and make his own way in a wilderness environment. His father Isaac inherited everything from Abraham while Ishmael and other brothers were sent away. Joseph’s half-brothers had every reason to expect the same loss of family support.

Years of listening to stories of lives gone wrong because of early childhood family trauma informs my awareness that Joseph had an unusual capacity to forgive and heal from trauma. This was only made possible by his faith in, and submission to, God’s will for his life as he, like his father, was ruthlessly and unrelentingly pummeled by the Adversary.

His ability to forgive his brothers for plotting to kill him, plunging their father into a suicidal depression, selling him into a life of certain only of hard labor and an early grave made it possible for his brothers to repent of their mistreatment of him and desire a right relationship with him.

Joseph was obviously not aware of the future fruitfulness God had in store for him, because he objects to Jacob giving this blessing to his second son instead of his first.

Like Joseph, we are unaware of all that is wrapped up in Ephraim / Ephrath despite having the connections laid out in scripture.

“And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,” (Matthew 2:13-18)

Jesus Christ did not descend from Ephraim, so I put it to you that this half of Melchisedec was not fulfilled in him.

So who does?

“And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman…was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field: And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:” (I Kings 11:26)

“And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam…Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them…And he shall give Israel up.” (I Kings 14:7-16)

” I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away…Then said God…ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.” (Hosea 1:9)

Hold on! What about

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?…he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.” (Numbers 23:19-20).

Exactly. Keep reading.

YET the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Then shall the children of Judah AND the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head. ” (Hosea 1:10-11)

The heirs of Joseph’s half of the Melchizedekian covenant are none other than the non-Jewish believers, initially united with Jewish followers of the Mosaic covenant, under the leadership of James.

“James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written…the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is…For Moses of old time hath in every city them [who were scattered] that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.” (Acts 15:13-21)

“us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles…as he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God…What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.” (Romans 9:24-30)

“I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:” (Ephesians 3:1-11)

“Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.” (Ephesians 5:3)

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth…” (Revelation 5:9-10)

Is it so difficult to accept clear scriptural statements that there were humans empowered by God’s Spirit to function as his ministers in the explicitly stated Order of Melchizedek prior to Jesus Christ?

And what about regular humans functioning in God’s Spirit now? Can we not recognize the continuity of God’s plan from Genesis through Revelation for all the peoples of the earth?

“ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily 1) swear by the greater: and 2) an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things [swearing and oath], in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast…even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec….By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament…because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 6:12-20, 7:22-25)

“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and HIGH Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus…Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God…Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast OUR profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 3:1,12, 4:14-16)

If we Redeemed are going to understand our role as Royal Priests empowered to take control back from the Evil One on the earth in the here and now, we need to recognize and learn from the actions of the Melchizedeks throughout scripture.

“For we know that the whole creation [continuously] groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now...waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption...And...the Spirit…maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:19-29)