2. Consecration: The King Is a Priest (v. 4). This central verse of the psalm announces that Messiah will also be a priest, something unheard of in Old Testament history. This verse is important to the message of the book of Hebrews (Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:17, 21; see Rom. 8:34) because the present high priestly ministry of Christ in heaven is described in that book. If Jesus were on earth, He could not minister as a priest because He was from the tribe of Judah and not from Levi. But because His priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek, who was both a king and priest (Gen. 14:18-24), He can minister in heaven today. Melchizedek was not an appearance of Jesus Christ on earth; he is only a type of Jesus in His present priestly ministry. (See Heb. 5:1-11; 7-8; Zech. 6:12.) No Aaronic priest was “a priest forever” because each high priest died and was replaced by his eldest son. Being a mere human, Melchizedek died, but there is no record of either his birth or death in the Scriptures. This makes him a type of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God and the High Priest forever. In Jesus Christ, David has a throne forever (2 Sam. 7:13, 16, 25, 29; Luke 1:30-33) and a priest forever, and all who have trusted Christ share in those blessings. Jesus Christ is our glorified King-Priest in heaven, interceding for us (Rom. 8:34). His throne is a throne of grace to which we may come at any time to find the help we need (Heb. 4:14-16).