For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. (Heb. 7.1-3)

Melchizedek was not a Canaanite as many hold, instead, the book of Hebrews makes clear, He was eternal. Jesus came in the line of Melchizedek and this is why he is not equated exactly: The Incarnation. Jesus, at a point in time was born in Bethlehem fully human and fully divine, whereas Melchizedek was not human but a manifestation of The Eternal Son. So, it is not technically accurate to fully equate Jesus and Melchizedek and Hebrews notes the distinction that Christ came “in the line” of Melchizedek (Heb. 7.17).

Further, if Melchizedek was a priest, where was the sacrifice since He brought only bread and wine? The answer is that this Christophany embodied the sacrifice in His person. Just as Jesus at the Last Supper had not yet died, He still used the elements bread and wine to signify His sacrifice, so Melchizedek, the Priest, symbolized a sacrifice in His person and brought bread and wine to Abraham after the defeat of the kings and the rescue of Lot.

So Melchizedek resembled the Son of God by bringing bread and wine but no blood sacrifice. The word “resembled” in the ESV is only found here in our text of Heb. 7.3. Aphomoiomenos means “to make like unto” and this is how the King James Version renders the word. So this Christophany of Melchizedek is represented like Jesus bringing bread and wine instituting the Lord’s Supper. Christ’s sacrifice was the blood of the New Covenant and The Lord’s Supper signifies it. So whenever we observe this memorial of Jesus we show that we are relying on what He did on the cross for us. We announce this by taking the elements of bread and wine to encourage Christians in mutual faith and a testimony to those who have not yet believed: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1Cor. 11.26)