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The
Story of Everything
An
abridged edition of The Urantia Book
Paper
93: Machiventa Melchizedek
The Melchizedek Sons often function in emergencies and have been exceptionally active on our planet. Twelve Melchizedeks took authority here shortly after the Caligastia default. These same twelve stayed until Adam and Eve arrived and returned after Eve's default.
After the days of Adam and Eve, human beings slowly began to lose sight of the concept of God. To prevent the light of truth from going out, one of the twelve Melchizedeks, Machiventa, volunteered to personalize on earth in human form to bring a new revelation of truth to Urantia. Machiventa appeared in Palestine almost two thousand years before Jesus was born. His metamorphosis was achieved in cooperation with the Life Carriers and other celestial personalities. Machiventa was first seen on earth when he entered the tent of a herder and announced, "I am Melchizedek, priest of El Elyon, the Most High, the one and only God." Within a few years, Melchizedek had gathered a nucleus of disciples who formed the later community of Salem, now Jerusalem.
Machiventa resembled a man of the blended Nodite and Sumerian races. He spoke seven languages. Machiventa wore an emblem of three concentric circles on his clothing; this symbol became so sacred to his followers that they never dared use it. Few followers ever learned that the circles symbolized the infinity, eternity, and universality of the Paradise Trinity.
Melchizedek taught people that there was only one God, and that the favor of God depended on faith rather than sacrifices. Melchizedek substituted the sacrament of bread and wine for the older sacrifice of flesh and blood. He asked his followers to obey seven commandments and to spread the word of his teachings to all men. His ideas were too advanced for most people of those days; they simply could not grasp the idea of receiving divine favor through faith alone.
Because of the need to establish contact with a human family through whom Machiventa could work to promote the new teachings, the Melchizedeks for many generations had been watching the ancestors of Abraham. They were confident that within a certain generation, someone would appear who would be intelligent, wise, sincere, and capable of taking initiative. From this family, Melchizedek chose Abraham to study with him in Salem.
Abraham had kingly ambitions. In time, he was recognized as the civil ruler of Salem and seven other tribes. Melchizedek maintained peaceful relations with the neighboring tribes, but Abraham envisioned the military conquest of all Canaan. Only with difficulty did Melchizedek restrain Abraham from using warfare to force the neighboring tribes to more quickly learn the truths of Salem. Machiventa's disapproval of Abraham's schemes for military conquest caused a temporary severance of their relationship. As time passed, Abraham found himself well on the way to becoming the head of a powerful civil state in Palestine, but he was held back by two concerns; the lack of Melchizedek's sanction of his plan, and that he had no son to continue his reign.
Abraham arranged a conference with Melchizedek. Melchizedek persuaded Abraham to abandon his scheme of military leadership in favor of spiritual promotion of the kingdom of heaven. In exchange, Melchizedek promised Abraham that he would produce an heir and many descendants. Abraham's wife, Sarah, subsequently gave birth to Isaac.
Soon after the child was born, Abraham and Melchizedek made a formal covenant in which Abraham surrendered his personal ambitions on behalf of the greater good of fostering Melchizedeks' spiritual goals for humankind. The covenant between Melchizedek and Abraham represents the great agreement between divinity and humanity wherein God agrees to do everything, while man agrees simply to believe God's promises and to follow his instructions.
From their Salem headquarters, Melchizedek's missionaries traveled to Egypt, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, the British Isles, Iceland, China, and Japan. His teachings reached the descendants of Adamson, still living around the shores of Lake Van. Machiventa continued to instruct his students for 94 years. When he had done all he could, he disappeared without fanfare, just as he had arrived.
Abraham's descendants lost much of the Salem teachings. Within five hundred years many people regarded the story of Melchizedek as a myth, The Melchizedek gospel was almost completely absorbed into the cults of the Great Mother, the Sun and other ancient beliefs. Hebrew scribes later edited out scriptural references to Melchizedek in an attempt to bolster their national ego by exalting the memory of Abraham.
After leaving Urantia, Machiventa Melchizedek resumed his career as one of the twelve receivers of Urantia. He continues to take great interest in the affairs of the descendants of those who had believed in him in the flesh. Machiventa has recently been named Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia.