Lord’s Supper with Abraham

“Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was the priest of The High God—”(Genesis 14:18, The Message)

God shared His first Supper with Abraham. God brought out the bread and the wine, the symbols of Christ and His sacrifice. If Jesus is considered the same person as Melchizedek, then this act could be  a foreshadowing of Christ’s work on the cross.

“He blessed him and said: Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,”(Genesis 14:19, HCSB)

This is not the only place where Jesus is described as a possible participant in Old Testament events. For example, in a question and answer session with the religious leaders, which was designed to trick Jesus, they asked Him various questions and He answered them in such a way that He even amazed the crowd. Then Jesus asked these religious leaders a question and He quoted Psalm 110.

“Then He said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is the Son of David? For David himself says in the Book of Psalms: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” (Luke 20:41–43, HCSB)

They could not answer the question. They did not understand that Jesus was who David was speaking about. How could David speak about Jesus as Master if He is David’s Son? Theologians talk about this problem and one solution is the idea of a “pre-incarnate Christ.” This means that Jesus existed long before He was born at Christmas.

There are Scripture verses to support this view. Let me share just a few from the Old Testament:

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”” (Genesis 1:26, HCSB)

Jesus must have been there at creation because it says “us” and “our” in this verse. Do you remember the story of Abraham and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Some believe that one of these men was Jesus.

“He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed to the ground.” (Genesis 18:2, HCSB)

In the next chapter, two men go to Sodom. They are described as angels.

“The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at Sodom’s gate. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground” (Genesis 19:1, HCSB)

Jesus was also in the fiery furnace when the three Jews Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

“He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”” (Daniel 3:25, HCSB)

So there is this view that Jesus was physically present at these events. He was, in essence, a time-traveler. Therefore, He spent time with Abraham revealing His purpose as the priest who sacrifices for His people.