Baptized for the Dead

Melchizedek is a mysterious figure in the Bible. He appears abruptly with great importance and yet his identity seems unclear. Let's see what we can discover. In Hebrews 7:1-3 it says: 1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,  2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,”  3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Hebrews 7:1-3 With this text in mind let’s look at some of the characteristics of Melchizedek. 1. He was the King of Salem. Salem means peace. He was the King of Peace. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6. It says: For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And H...

Is God described as an Angel in the bible? Let's begin in Judges 13. In this chapter we find the Angel of the Lord speaking to Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson. When Manoah realizes who the Angel of the Lord is he wants to make an offering to Him. The bible says: 19   So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on—  20 it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.  21 When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.  22   And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”  Manoah offered the goat and the grain to the Angel of the Lord and the Angel of the Lord did not refuse...

Food for thought; the bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Who then is the Lord in this passage? Well Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:6 that there is: yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. This tells us that there is only one Lord Jesus Christ. Thus when Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that the Lord will descend from heaven Paul is talking about Jesus. But why does Paul say that the Lord (Jesus Christ) will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel? Is Paul saying that the Lord is an archangel? Well first of all the only person in the bible called an archangel is Michael. The bible says in Jude 9: Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed...