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HE SHALL BUILD THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD; yes, HE SHALL BUILD THE
TEMPLE OF THE LORD. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne;
so He SHALL BE A PRIEST on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between
them both.

In this passage we find that the Branch -- a reference to Christ -- will rebuild the Temple of
God in Jerusalem and function as PRIEST as well as King. Since Christ was a descendant of the
tribe of Judah through King David, it is obvious that He cannot serve as a priest in the line of
Aaron -- who was of the tribe of Levi. However, this problem is solved in the Scriptures by bas-
ing Christ's priesthood on another lineage -- that of Melchizedek. This we learn from the extraordi-
nary Messianic prophecy in Psalm 110, which we looked at earlier in this article. Here King
David calls one of his descendants, the Messianic figure, "Lord" (Adoni), thereby acknowledging
His superiority:

[King David speaking:] YEHOVAH says to my Lord [master]: Sit at My right hand, until
I make your enemies a footstool for your feet....YEHOVAH has sworn and will not
change his mind, "YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER
OF MELCHIZEDEK." YEHOVAH is at your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day
of His wrath. He will judge among the nations (Psalm 110:1, 4-5; compare with Psalm
80:17).

This future "man" of YEHOVAH'S right hand (who is none other than Jesus Christ), though
not of Aaron's line, will serve as PRIEST in the new Temple much like Melchizedek did in the
days of the patriarch Abraham -- see Genesis 14. The shadowy figure of Melchizedek was under-
stood by the early Christians, as well as by the Dead Sea community at Qumran, as a MESSIANIC
FORERUNNER. This can be seen when you compare Hebrews 7 with a fascinating text fragment
found in Cave 11 of the Dead Sea Scrolls (11QMelch). This Dead Sea text seems to interpret the
figure of Melchizedek in a heavenly, exalted, Messianic sense -- much like the early Christians
did.

The future branch of David (Christ) is anointed/Messianic in this double sense -- as King
and Priest. This is made plain in the New Testament book of Hebrews, where we read --

If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of
it the law was given to the people), WHY was there still need for another priest to come
-- one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? (Hebrews 7:11).

Here the Greek word teleiosis is often rendered "perfection" -- but, in fact, it means
"reaching the goal" of being reconciled with God and able to be forever in His presence as Christ
is now. In other words, for sinful human beings to reach this goal they must become "perfect" by
having their transgressions forgiven by God. Paul later shows that this can NEVER come about
through the Levitical priesthood, but can only come about through CHRIST'S priesthood.

Some might argue that the goal can be reached by adherence to the Scriptures alone; and
this is why Paul offers as an argument the possibility of reaching it through the system of priests
derived from Levi that, in connection with it, the Jewish people were given the Torah. However,

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