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Old Mel, a Great Man of God

¹ Old Mel, or Melchizedek, was the king of Salem and a great preacher who rode for the True God. When Abraham was returning to his own ranch after winning a big battle against some powerful rulers, he stopped by Mel's place and Mel blessed him. ² Abraham was so moved by the blessing that he gave Mel ten percent of all the plunder he'd taken from the outlaw rulers. The very name, Melchizedek, means "king of justice" and Salem means "king of peace." ³ Since we have no papers to show where he came from or where he went, he resembles Jesus in that he has always and will always rule.

⁴ Now, old Mel was a great cowboy and y'all need to chew on this for a minute. Even Abraham, God's chosen man to be the first of his people, saw how great Mel was and showed his respect by giving him ten percent of the plunder he'd won. ⁵ The Code makes a ten percent tithe mandatory and all the priests descending from Levi collect it because God said to. ⁶ But Mel wasn't a descendant of Levi and he got a tenth from Abe. But it wasn't just one-sided. Because Abraham gave, Mel blessed his socks right off. ⁷ So if you're following along, consider this, the one who does the blessing is greater than the one who gets the blessing.

⁸ All those descendants of Levi who collected the tithes for the church are dead and gone. Rumor has it old Mel is still around somewhere. ⁹ You could even say those Levites who collected the tithes were kind of paying Mel a tithe because Abraham did. ¹⁰ Even though Levi hadn't been born yet, he was inside Abraham when he paid the tithe to Mel.

¹¹ So the Levites were the preachers of the Code of the Law, but obviously this code didn't make anyone perfect. That's why God came along and took us down the trail to perfection that Mel had started instead of continuing to follow the one that Levi and Aaron took.

¹² So if the trail has changed, the Law must also be changed to allow it. ¹³ The trail we follow now never came from the line of Levi. ¹⁴ Jesus came from the line of Judah, not Levi. Moses never mentioned those from Judah as being priests who showed others the trail to follow.

Jesus Is Like Mel

¹⁵ I mentioned that the trail had changed. That's because there is a new trail boss, one who closely resembled old Mel. ¹⁶ Jesus is the trail boss now. It's not because he was papered a certain way, it's because he has the power of everlasting life. ¹⁷ Even in the Psalms it talks about this when it says, "You will forever be the trail boss who leads us down the trail like Mel did."

¹⁸ All the old Code of the Law, or the old trail, was abandoned because it couldn't save people's souls. ¹⁹ The Law never made anything perfect. But now we are confident this new trail leads us straight to God.

²⁰ This new trail was blazed through the world with a solemn oath. Aaron's people never made an oath to become priests. ²¹ But God made an oath about Jesus when God said, "The Lord has made a promise and it won't ever be broken—you are the trail boss forever."

²² Because of this promise, Jesus is the one who guarantees to lead us straight to God.

²³ Every other priest and trail guide along the old trail has died. ²⁴ But since Jesus lives forever, his position as priest and trail boss lasts forever also. ²⁵ Because of this, Jesus is the only one who can save us by leading us straight to God. Jesus lives forever in order to show us the trail that leads to God. Not only does he lead us to God, but he vouches for us when we get there.

²⁶ He is the trail boss we all need. He never strayed, never wandered from the trail. He never sinned. That's why he has a place in heaven reserved only for him. ²⁷ Unlike the old trail, sacrifices are no longer needed every day. The sacrifices on the old trail were for the trail bosses' sin first, and the followers second. But Jesus didn't need to offer a sacrifice for his sin because there was none. However, he did offer himself as the sacrifice for us because we are sinful. ²⁸ The Law made men high priests, but they were still weak. But now, after the promise God made, Jesus is our priest and trail guide who absolutely leads us to perfection.