© 2021 Stuart R. Kerr III
© 2021 The Urantia Book Fellowship
by Stuart R. Kerr III
Machiventa Melchizedek was an emergency Son from within our Creator Son and Creative Mother Spirit’s local universe creation of Nebadon. This descending emergency Son came to our troubled world of Urantia 1,973 years before the birth of Jesus. He materialized here in full adult form, “without mother or father,” and introduced himself as Melchizedek, priest of EI Elyon, the Most High, the one and only God. Machiventa Melchizedek taught trust in the omnipotent beneficence of God and proclaimed that faith was the act by which men earned God’s favor. His teachings commingled with the various evolutionary religions which evolved into the matured theologic systems present at the times of Jesus. It was Machiventa Melchizedek’s comprehensive plan for farreaching world welfare that was promulgated “with the power, patience, and authority of a Son of God,” laying the foundations for the “further uplift and spiritual rehabilitation of unfortunate Urantia.” [UB 76:5.6]
Melchizedek in the Bible
Melchizedek is the king of Salem (Jerusalem) and the priest of the Most High appearing in the Book of Genesis. The name means “King of Righteousness,” one made righteous by God’s power - a name echoing kingly and priestly functions. Heis the first individual to be given the title of priest in the Hebrew Bible; Melchizedek was the priest of the Most High, a term expressing God’s power over the nations of the earth. He appeared in Canaan from nowhere, without mention of parents or background. The land of Canaan from ancient times, before the days of Moses, was known among the Gentiles as “the divine land” the “Holy land,” the land of the place of worship. Some Christians hold that Melchizedek was a type of Christ, and some other Christians hold that Melchizedek indeed was Christ. Reasons provided include that Melchizedek’s name means “king of righteousness” according to the author of Hebrews, and that being king of Salem makes Melchizedek the “king of peace.” Heb. 7:3 states, “Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he (Melchizedek) remains a priest forever.” Melchizedek gave Abraham bread and wine, which some Christians consider symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice to confirm a covenant.
¶ The Urantia Book’s Disclosure of Machiventa Melchizedek
A special form of creative union between our CreatorSon and the Creative Mother Spirit generated a personality offspring resulting from their creative liaison; this is the original Melchizedek - the Father Melchizedek. This original being subsequently collaborated with the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit to bring into existence the entire group of the Melchizedek THE DIVINE FAMILY OF GOD Sons. The Melchizedeks of our universe were all created within one millennial period of standard time by the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit in liaison with the Father Melchizedek.
According to The Urantia Book, the Melchizedek orders of celestial personalities are widely known as emergency Sons, for they engage in an amazing range of activities on the worlds of a local universe. When any extraordinary problem arises, or when something unusual is to be attempted, it is quite often a Melchizedek who accepts the assignment. The ability of the Melchizedek Sons to function in emergencies and on widely divergent levels of the universe, even on the physical level of personality manifestation, is peculiar to their order. They sometimes function in unique assignments and in unusual circumstances: “They are always ready to serve in all exigencies whether on a planet, in a system, in a constellation, or in the universe.” [UB 35:4.2] The Melchizedeks sometimes act as temporary custodians on wayward planets such as our world of Urantia, serving as receivers of a defaulting planetary government in such a planetary crisis. It is possible for such a Son to make himself visible to mortal beings, and on our world one of this order has even incarnated in the likeness of mortal flesh.
¶ The Urantia Melchizedek Corps of Twelve
Our world has been visited by four orders of sonship: Caligastia, the Planetary Prince, of the order of the Lanonandek Sons; Adam and Eve of the order of the Material Sons of God; Machiventa Melchizedek, the “sage of Salem” in the days of Abraham; and Christ Michael, who came as the Paradise bestowal Son. The power of the planetary presence of the traitorous and iniquitous Caligastia, the fallen Planetary Prince of our world, “to disturb human affairs was enormously curtailed by the mortal incarnation of Machiventa Melchizedek in the days of Abraham.” [UB 66:8.5] After the Caligastia secession in alignment with the Lucifer Rebellion, a Melchizedek corps of twelve became receivers for our world until the time of Adam and Eve. They returned in authority after the time of Adam and Eve’s default and continued as such on down to the day when Jesus of Nazareth, as the Son of Man, became the sovereign Planetary Prince of Urantia.
¶ Machiventa Melchizedek and the Third Epochal Revelation of Truth on Urantia
Because revealed truth was being threatened with extinction during the millenniums which followed the miscarriage of the Adamic mission on Urantia, the human races were slowly losing their spiritual focus. By 3000 B.C., the concept of God “had grown very hazy in the minds of men.” [UB 93:1.1] It was Machiventa’s comprehensive plan for far-reaching world welfare that was promulgated to the mortals of earth in the times of Abraham, who, "with the power, patience, and authority of a Son of God, did lay the foundations for the further uplift and spiritual rehabilitation of unfortunate Urantia.” [UB 76:5.6]
The twelve Melchizedek receivers to our world knew of Michael’s impending bestowal on their planet, but they did not know the exact timing of his arrival; therefore, they convened in solemn council and petitioned the Most Highs of Edentia for provision to be made for maintaining the light of truth on Urantia. They were advised that they, these twelve Melchizedeks, were given custodial control to conduct the affairs of our world and that they “should continue to uphold truth in the manner of their own election ‘until the arrival of a bestowal Son,’ who ‘would rescue the planetary titles from forfeiture and uncertainty.’” [UB 93:1.2]
Machiventa Melchizedek, one of the twelve planetary receivers, volunteered to personalize on earth as a temporary man of the realm, bestowing himself as an emergency Son of world ministry. The Salvington authorities granted permission, and the physical incarnation of Machiventa Melchizedek was consummated by the planetary receivers with the cooperation of the Life Carriers, certain of the Master Physical Controllers, and other celestial personalities resident on Urantia necessary to complete this transformation. Machiventa Melchizedek was bestowed upon the human races of Urantia 1,973 years before the birth of Jesus. He entered the tent of Amdon, a Chaldean herder of Sumerian extraction and proclaimed, “I am Melchizedek, priest of El Elyon, the Most High, the one and only God.” [UB 93:2.1] This occasion was the first time in his long universe career that Machiventa had partaken of material food, “the nourishment which was to sustain him throughout his ninety-four years of life as a material being.” [UB 93:2.2]
The Dalamatian teachings were first promulgated on Urantia by the one hundred corporeal members of Prince Caligastia’s staff and after that, the Edenic teachings from Adam and Eve portrayed the concept of the heavenly Father to all the evolutionary races of our world. Melchizedek of Salem inaugurated the third revelation of truth on Urantia. He taught trust in the omnipotent beneficence of God and he proclaimed that faith was the act by which men earned God’s favor. His teachings gradually commingled with the beliefs and practices of various evolutionary religions; all these teachings portraying monotheism were largely derived, directly or indirectly, from the preachments of the missionaries of Machiventa Melchizedek, who went forth “from their Salem headquarters to spread the doctrine of one God — the Most High — to the ends of the earth.” [UB 131:0.1]
The Thought Adjuster who indwelt this incarnated Melchizedek superhuman personality also functioned valiantly in the human mind of the later Son of God, Michael, when he appeared on earth in the likeness of mortal flesh: “And this is the only Thought Adjuster who ever functioned in two minds on Urantia, but both minds were divine as well as human.” [UB 93:2.7]
And Melchizedek made a formal covenant with Abraham at Salem. Said he to Abraham: “Look now up to the heavens and number the stars if you are able; so numerous shall your seed be.” And Abraham believed Melchizedek, “and it was counted to him for righteousness.” And then Melchizedek told Abraham the story of the future occupation of Canaan by his offspring after their sojourn in Egypt. [UB 93:6.3]
¶ Machiventa Melchizedek’s Salem Mission
Melchizedek gathered around himself a group of pupils, disciples, and believers who formed the nucleus of his later community of Salem. He became known throughout Palestine as the priest of El Elyon, the Most High, and as the sage of Salem. Salem later became the city of Jebus, and finally was given the name Jerusalem.
Machiventa Melchizedek was this great teacher who came to keep alive on earth the truth of the one God and to prepare the way for the subsequent mortal bestowal of a Paradise Son of that Universal Father. He subordinated everything to the doctrine of one God, a universe Deity, a heavenly Creator, a divine Father. Emphasis was directed for the purpose of preparing the way for the subsequent appearance of Michael as the Son of this same Universal Father. Machiventa taught that at some future time, another Son of God would come in the flesh as he had come, but that this man would be born of a woman. Later teachers held that Jesus was a priest, “forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Melchizedek prepared the way for monotheism for the bestowal of an actual Paradise Son of the one God, the Father of all. He presented to Abraham a God who would accept man on the simple terms of personal faith.
Melchizedek taught elementary “revealed truth” at Salem for ninety-four years, and Abraham attended the Salem school three different times. He became a convert to the Salem teachings and one of Melchizedek’s most brilliant pupils and chief supporters. Melchizedek chose Abraham to take on the responsibility of keeping alive the truth of one God as distinguished from the prevailing belief in many gods. Abraham became a great leader in Palestine, held in reverence by all groups and honored by all kings. He was the spiritual leader of all the surrounding tribes. The Melchizedek mission in Palestine and the subsequent appearance of Michael among the Hebrew people were supported by the fact that Palestine was centrally located with reference to the then existing trade, travel, and civilization of the world. The Melchizedek receivers had anticipated that the ancestors of Abraham would be characterized by intelligence, initiative, sagacity, and sincerity.
The Melchizedek who lived on Urantia during the time of Abraham was locally known as Prince of Salem because he presided over a small colony of truth seekers residing at a place called Salem. He volunteered to incarnate in the likeness of mortal flesh and did so with the approval of the Melchizedek receivers of the planet, who feared that the light of life would become extinguished during that period of increasing spiritual darkness. And he did foster the truth of his day and safely pass it on to Abraham and his associates. [UB 35:4.5]
¶ Machiventa Melchizedek’s Current Status
Melchizedek instructed his students and trained his Salem missionaries; they penetrated to all the surrounding tribes, especially to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor, journeying farther and farther from Salem, carrying with them Machiventa’s gospel of belief and faith in God. The descendants of Adamson, clustered about the shores of the lake of Van, received this news gladly and they also became teachers to the remote regions of both Europe and Asia, traversing China and reaching out even to the Japanese of the eastern islands.
Early Salem missionaries penetrated the north of India at the critical time when the Vedic cult was in process of growth and metamorphosis under the direction of the Brahman caste of teacherpriests who were driving the amalgamation of the onetime thirty-three Aryan deities. The Salem missionaries came preaching the one God of Melchizedek, the Most High of heaven. This portrayal paralleled the emerging concept of the Father-Brahma as the source of all gods. The Brahmans compiled the sacred writings of their day and these come down to modern times as the Rig-Veda, one of the most ancient of sacred books. An examination of the Vedas will disclose some of the highest as w ell as some of the most debased concepts of Deity ever to be conceived. The best of Brahmanism was truly one of the most noble investigations of the mortal mind into the domains of philosophy and metaphysics to discover final reality. The concept of Brahman grasped at the idea of some all-pervading Absolute, at one and the same time identified as creative energy and cosmic reaction. It was a belief in an absolute, even an infinite being, but this concept was largely devoid of personality attributes.
It was shortly after the growing tendency of the surrounding tribes, and even of his immediate associates, to regard him as a demigod that Machiventa decided to end his emergency bestowal on Urantia: “Accordingly Machiventa retired one night to his tent at Salem, having said good night to his human companions, and when they went to call him in the morning, he was not there, for his fellows had taken him.” [UB 93:8.1]
The Urantia Melchizedek receivers functioned as eleven during the years of Machiventa’s incarnation. When Machiventa decided that his mission as an emergency Son was finished, they immediately initiated the technique whereby he was to be safely restored to his original Melchizedek status. He resumed his interrupted career as one of the planetary receivers of 606 of Satania on the third day after his appearance. Machiventa Melchizedek continued to take a great interest in the affairs of the descendants of those men who had believed in his teachings when he was in the flesh. He also “continued to collaborate throughout the nineteen succeeding centuries with the many prophets and seers, thus endeavoring to keep alive the truths of Salem until the fullness of the time for Michael’s appearance on earth.” [UB 93:10.4]
Machiventa continued as a planetary receiver up to the times of the triumph of Michael on Urantia, whereupon he became attached to the Urantia service on Jerusem as one of the four and twenty directors. The seats of the four and twenty elders are on Jerusem, the headquarters of our local system of inhabited worlds. These four and twenty counselors are Christ Michael’s personal agents on Jerusem. Recently, Machiventa has been elevated to the position of personal ambassador on Jerusem of the Creator Son, bearing the title “Vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia.” By his triumph on Urantia, Michael became the successor of both Caligastia and Adam; he became the planetary Prince of Peace and the second Adam.
It is the opinion of the revelators that Machiventa’s presence on the Jerusem corps of Urantia directors, the four and twenty counselors, supports the belief that he is destined to follow the mortals of Urantia ascension even to the Paradise Corps of the Finality. We are also told that Adam and Eve are similarly destined to accompany their earth fellows on the Paradise adventure when Urantia has become settled in light and life. Machiventa Melchizedek is one of the most unique of all characters ever to become connected with the history of Urantia, and he may be destined to play an important role in the future experience of our irregular and unusual world.
About six hundred years before the arrival of Michael, Machiventa Melchizedek, “long since departed from the flesh,” decided that the purity of his teaching on earth was being unduly diluted into older Urantia beliefs. Through an unusual coordination of spiritual agencies, Urantia witnessed an unprecedented predominance of religious truth and teaching, and as it was then presented, much has persisted to the times of this writing. This was a unique century of spiritual progress characterized by great religious, moral, and philosophic teachers all over the civilized world.
The great philosophers of sixth-century China, Lao-tse and Confucius, built their teachings upon the foundations of the Salemite teachings. The moral atmosphere and the spiritual sentiments of their times grew up out of the teachings of the Salem missionaries of an earlier age. Contemporary with Lao-tse and Confucius in China, and during the times of the writing of the Upanishads, Gautama Siddhartha was born in the sixth century before Christ in the north Indian province of Nepal. Buddhism arose in India. but Buddhism finally gave way in northern India before the spread of Islam with its clear-cut concept of Allah as the supreme God of the universe. Gautama formulated those inspired theories which grew into the philosophy of Buddhism; The Urantia Book states that, “Gautama was a real prophet.” [UB 94:7.4] Gautama founded his school, and it was during its second year that he learned of the traditions of the Salem missionaries about the Melchizedek covenant with Abraham. He took an advanced stand on salvation through faith and he sent his followers and his students out in groups of sixty to proclaim to the people of India “ the glad tidings of free salvation; that all men, high and low, can attain bliss by faith in righteousness and justice.” [UB 94:7.5]
Today, we await a possible formal arrival of Machiventa Melchizedek with the vicegerent mandate of the sovereignty of Urantia. As acting Planetary Prince, he would likely continue in charge of the planet until the final adjudication of the Lucifer rebellion. It is conjectured that, when our world attains an era of “light and life,” Machiventa Melchizedek, now the vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia, will occupy the seat of the Planetary Sovereign; “it has long been conjectured on Jerusem that he will be accompanied by a son and daughter of the Urantia Adam and Eve who are now held on Edentia as wards of the Most Highs of Norlatiadek.”
From Palestine some of the Melchizedek missionaries passed on through Mesopotamia and to the great Iranian plateau. For more than five hundred years the Salem teachers made headway in Iran, and the whole nation was suinging to the Melchizedek religion when a change of rulers precipitated a bitter persecution which practically ended the monotheistic teachings of the Salem cult. The doctrine of the Abrahamic covenant was virtually extinct in Persia when, in that great century of moral renaissance, the sixth before Christ, Zoroaster appeared to revive the smouldering embers of the Salem gospel. [UB 95:6.1]