All right, I want to bring your
attention to the book of Hebrews again, chapter 7. Hebrews chapter
7 is about this man called Melchizedek. Melchizedek, it's a big name,
not a name we mention frequently, but hopefully by the opening
of the scripture today, God will apply that, the blessing of Melchizedek
to us. I want to have you hold your
place in Hebrews chapter 7 and turn back to Genesis chapter
14, where Melchizedek is first mentioned. He's only mentioned
three times in scripture, first in three books of the Bible,
first in Genesis, then again in Psalms, Psalm 110, and then
in the book of Hebrews. So we'll look at all three of
those. And may the Lord give us understanding in these things
so that we would see the blessing of it and the glory of it. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your Word. We know it's true. We know
from the beginning it was set down and it will not change. All will be fulfilled. And so
we see it to be so as we read from the New Testament in the
Gospel revelation how the Lord Jesus has fulfilled it all. Thank
you for this blessing. We pray that you would save us,
Lord, according to this great grace you have given to us in
your Son. In his name we pray, amen. In Genesis chapter 14, to give you the context, Lot, Abraham's
nephew, Abraham and Lot were together. They had left the country
of Ur of the Chaldees together when Abraham was told by God
to leave. They had gone together all this
time, and their flocks, their herds, had grown to such an extent
that they couldn't stay together. The land was not big enough where
they both were. And there was a conflict that
arose between the herdman of Abraham and the herdman of Lot,
his nephew. and recognized the fact that
Lot was subordinate. He was the nephew of Abraham. So you would expect him to be
the humbler of the two. But when this conflict arose,
Abraham told Lot, now you look out and find a land that seems
suitable to you. If you go to the right hand,
I'll go to the left. If you go to the left, I'll go
to the right. Let not there be strife between us, for we are
brethren. The whole land is before us."
So Lot looked around, and he saw that well-watered plain.
At that time, it was well-watered and fertile, like the land of
Egypt. And it was the land of Sodom, the cities. a place of
comfort, a place of easy access to goods and shelter. There was people there and where
there are people, where there was a king, because there was
a king in Sodom, there would be that natural protection that
would be there. So he looked on those things
and he wanted that land and he went to Sodom and it says in
Genesis chapter 13 that, verse 12, Abram dwelled in the land
of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and
pitched his tent towards Sodom. That's where his tent was pitched,
but later on, we find out in chapter 14 that he was actually
in Sodom. And then in chapter 18, he was
in there when the Lord had to bring him out of Sodom. So you
see the downturn of Lot in his life. Lot gained the world. in his choice, but he lost all
that he had in the course of time except his soul. He lost
everything except his soul in his grasp after the world. But Abraham, who gave up all
that he had in the world because he counted it nothing, he not
only had the inheritance God promised him in Christ, But he
lost nothing in so doing. And so you see God's blessing,
his hand on Abraham. Abraham was the man that the
people of Israel looked to as the greatest man who ever lived. And that's important that we
understand that. Even Moses was a descendant of Abraham. So in
a subordinate sense, Moses would have been under Abraham. all
the priests, all the prophets, all the kings could trace their
lineage back to Abraham. So this made Abraham significant,
the most significant man in that nation. And that nation was the
only nation of all the nations of the earth that God had chosen. And so we have that as the context
here. Now, let me read chapter 14 of Genesis. I appreciate that
Ramel encourages us to read. This is where the scripture they
were in. It says in verse 1, and it came
to pass in the days of Amrepho, king of Shinar, Ariok, king of
Eleazar, Ketolaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations,
that these made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Bersha,
king of Gomorrah, Shainam, king of Adma, Shemeber, king of Zeboem,
and the king of Bila, which is Zohar. All these were joined
together in the Vale of Siddam, which is the Salt Sea. So that's
probably the Dead Sea where it is today, the Salt Sea. Verse
12. 12 years they served Ketolaomer,
and in the 13th year they rebelled. So the war between the four first
kings, which included Ketolaomer, He must have been the chief among
them. And the other five kings which were named, two of which,
one was from Sodom, the other from Gomorrah. They overcame
Ketolaomer and those other three kings with him overcame the five
kings. And so for 12 years, they were
in subjection, probably paying tribute of some kind to Ketolaomer. But in the 13th year, they rebelled.
And in the 14th year, as a result of their rebellion, came Ketolaomer
and the kings that were with him and smote the Rephaims in
Astaroth. Cernaeum, and the Zuzims in Ham,
and Emims in Shevi, Kiriathaeum, and the Horites in their mount
Seir unto Elperan, which is by the wilderness. And they returned
and came to Emeshpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country
of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, and they that dwelt
in Hazezon-Tamar. So there's a bunch of war going
on here, battles. One group against another group. Kings against kings. People on
earth against people on earth. Heathen against heathen. And
then something's going to happen. You know what collateral damage
is? They talk about that in war.
There's going to be some collateral damage here. There's always a
conflict in the world, isn't there? There's always nation
rising against nation. Verse 8. That's what's happening
here, too. It's always been that way. And there went out the king
of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah. So these are now going to join
back in battle with these kings that had just come sweeping through,
destroying all these other people. And the king of Admah and the
king of Zeboam and the king of Bila, the same as Zoar, and they
joined battle with them in the Vale of Siddam. with Ketolaomer,
the king of Elam, and with Tidal, king of Nations, and Emmerifel,
king of Shinar, and Eriach, king of Eleazar, four kings with five. And the vale of Siddam was full
of slime pits, and the king of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell
there, and they that remained fled to the mountain. So now
the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, their kings fell, and all the
people lost in the battle against Ketolaomer and these other three
kings that were with him, who had come through in a sweeping
destruction. So five kings fell, and now their cities were abandoned. People ran to the mountains.
So you can see what it's like. And they took all the goods of
Sodom and Gomorrah, these kings who won the battle. They came
through. They destroyed the people. That
was their goal, was to take what they had and to gain power over
the place. This is the way the world works,
is to come in, wreak havoc and destruction, and take goods. In James chapter 4 it says, from
whence come wars and fighting among you? Don't they come from
your lusts and your members? You lust and have not, and desire
to have, and you covet. You have not because you ask
not. When you ask, you ask amiss that you may consume it upon
your lusts. This is the way the world is. And so they took, verse
11, they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their
fiddles and they went their way. Their food, their possessions,
they were all taken. And here's the collateral damage. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's
son, his nephew, who dwelt in Sodom and his goods and they
departed. Okay, now they've got a problem
because they touched the Lord's people. Here's what's gonna happen. And there came one that had escaped
and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre,
the Amorite, brother of Eshkol and brother of Aner. So these
three men, Mamre and Eshkol and Aner were brothers and they dwelt,
they were, I guess, of the Amorites, but they were confederate with
Abram. They were friends of Abram. Verse 14, and when Abram heard
that his brother was taken, he's referring to Lot, was taken captive,
he armed his trained servants, or his fighting men, born in
his own house, 318, and he pursued them to Dan. Abram was a great
man, but he wasn't out to fight battles in this world. Yet, in
the historical case here, he is going to fight a battle. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them. And they
pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
And he, Abraham, brought back all the goods, and also brought
again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and
the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his
return from the slaughter of Keteleomer, and the kings that
were with him at the valley of Shevi, which is the Kingsdale.
So now the king of Sodom He's trying to, he's acting like a
king still. He's trying to approach Abraham,
and he's going to say some things to him. But on his way, and I
suppose the king of Sodom and Gomorrah and these other kings
with their people were fled to the mountains, and now he sees
Abraham come through and whoop up on these people and take back
their goods. He's got all of them now, and
they're coming back into the hole. drama of it right now. But look at verse 18. Something's going to happen here.
And this is going to reveal what actually happened in the battle.
And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine,
and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed
him and said, this is what Melchizedek said to Abraham, Blessed be Abram,
of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. God possesses
heaven and earth. And he refers to him, the most
high God, because in those days they had many gods, as they do
today. So he identifies God, the God of Abraham, as the one
true and living God who possesses all things. And who is that?
That's the Lord Jesus Christ, one with the Father and with
the Spirit. In verse 20, and he blessed.
And he said, blessed be the most high God. This is Melchizedek
now. So Melchizedek is pronouncing a blessing on Abraham. He says,
blessed be Abraham, of the most high God, possessor of heaven
and earth, and blessed be the most high God, who has delivered
thine enemies into thy hand. And Abraham gave him tithes of
all. So Abraham honored Melchizedek
by giving him a tenth of all that he took in the battle. Now
if Abraham was truly the greatest among the people of Israel, And
if he was God's elect, and he was given faith and pronounced
righteous, God justified him through the righteousness of
Christ. And all those who believe Christ are called the children
of Abraham and heirs, meaning inheritors, with him of the same
promises God gave to Abraham, as we read in Galatians 3. Therefore
Abraham was a very greatest, and yet Abraham honors Melchizedek. And Melchizedek blesses Abraham. Now, we sometimes use those words,
the Lord bless you. But we're not blessing. We're
asking the Lord to bless, aren't we? In the South, they use that
phrase, oh, bless your heart. But there's nobody who on Earth
can bless you. Only God can bless you. But Melchizedek
blesses Abraham. So we want to understand, who
is this man, Melchizedek? Well, he says here, his name
is Melchizedek. It also says he was king of Salem, which was
the city that then became, later in history, Jerusalem. Jerusalem,
which means the vision of peace. Salem means peace. And here,
he's not only called Melchizedek by name and the king of Salem,
but his other office, not only was his title the king of Salem,
but his office was the priest of the Most High God. Now turn
to Psalm 110. Oh wait, well, I'll go ahead
and leave it there. I'm not going to go into what
Abraham and the king of Sodom had to say to one another. But
look at, before you leave Genesis, look at chapter 15 in verse 1.
Notice what God says after these things. After these things, the
word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, fear not,
Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And we
know that the Lord spoke this to Abraham not only right after
this battle in which God delivered the enemies of Abraham into his
hand and brought Lot back, but we also see that he comes to
him and he reaffirms what he was to Abraham, which was, I
am your shield and your exceeding great reward. But also note this
before we leave Genesis 14 here. I mentioned this collateral damage.
Lot was a captive. because he was taken captive
by these four kings, Ketolaomer being the leader of them. Abraham
was enabled by God to rescue his nephew Lot, and God gave
the enemies of Abraham into his hand. And so we learn something
from this because all that God wrote in the history of the Old
Testament, the events, the words, the laws, the prophets, all lead
us to and point to the Lord Jesus Christ. The physical enemies
then represent our spiritual enemies. All enemies of Christ
are the enemies of his people. They're his enemies and ours.
And so when Abraham is enabled by God, because the high priest
Melchizedek said to him that the Lord has delivered your enemies
into your hand, in verse 20, he's referring to the fact that
God gave Abraham the victory And this is signified when Melchizedek
met him with bread and wine. And just hold those thoughts
together. Look at Psalm now, Psalm 110. God gave Abraham the
victory. Lot was the beneficiary of that
victory. He was the one rescued. He was
brought out of captivity. by the victory God gave to Abraham,
and the high priest, the king also of Salem, came and announced
it to Abraham that it was God who did this. So through the
high priest, Abraham learned of the victory. So we see something
about this character of Melchizedek, that he is a reigning king, a
sovereign, and a priest, and through him, God announces the
victory that God gives to Abraham, who was, again, the father of
all his people. And Lot is an example of one
of those God rescued by the victory God gave to Abraham also. He's
the shield and the reward of Abraham. And the same thing applies
to all those who believe Christ, because we are co-heirs with
him. Now, Psalm 110 also speaks of
Melchizedek. And Jesus quoted this in Matthew
chapter 22. It's also quoted by Peter in
Acts chapter 2, quoted again by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.
And it's explained in Hebrews chapters 5, 6, and 7. This one quotation here is a
significant, significant statement of scripture. It's used throughout
the New Testament, which is spoken of by both Jesus And by Peter,
as being a prophecy, David gave. So here, David is the writer,
but he's not writing about himself. He's writing about his son. Jesus
said, I will ask you one question to the Pharisees. He says, who
is the son of David? I mean, who is Christ? And they
said, well, he's the son of David. And Jesus asked them in return
to their answer, if he is the son of David, then why does David
call him his Lord? They couldn't answer that question.
Well, this is where Jesus is spoken of, speaking of. Psalm
110, verse one, listen. The Lord, or Jehovah God, said
unto my Lord, my master, my potentate, my king, the Lord of all, The
Lord Jehovah God, spoken to my Lord, the one who is Lord over
all, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy
footstool. Whoever this is speaking about,
and we know it's speaking of Christ, he's the Lord to whom
Jehovah God spoke. Jehovah God being the Father
in this case. Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. Now, to sit on the right hand
means to sit in the power, in the authority, in the honor,
the highest place of power and authority and honor. In 1 Corinthians
15, 25 it says he must reign. until he has put all enemies
under his feet, referring back to this text of scripture. So
to sit means to rule as sovereign king. So here the Lord is speaking
to his son, to Christ, to his son in the office of Christ,
because the word Lord here is a title of the one who rules,
and the one spoken of here is of Christ, Jesus said it was
in Matthew 22, and Peter said also in Acts chapter 2, that
this is spoken to Christ as Christ, the son of God, but also the
son of David. And so he says, the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. He's talking about a complete and utter subjection
of the enemies of Christ to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we
see now just thinking about that, how that back in Genesis 14,
The victory God gave to Abraham was significant because it's
also carried forward in the theme here of Christ ruling over his
enemies. So Melchizedek, the high priest,
speaks of the victory God gave to Abraham and he announced it
to him. Melchizedek announced it to Abraham.
Verse 2, the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of
Zion. Now, I have to interpret these things in the light of
the New Testament. What is the rod of thy strength? The rod of strength would have
been something like a scepter a king would rule with power. What is the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ over his enemies? and over his people. It's the
gospel. Remember, the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. And Paul said
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that to us who believe Christ is the
wisdom of God and the power of God. So the rod of thy strength,
as it says also in Romans chapter 8, The spirit of life in Christ
Jesus is the way by which we are... I don't want to get too
far astray, but I'm not quoting this quite right. He says in
Romans chapter 8, the law, or the force, the doctrine of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made me free from the law
of sin and death. So that's the force here. The power by which
he rules is the gospel. He's speaking of Christ. The
way he rules over his enemies, he's going to send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion, which is the church, rule thou in the
midst of thine enemies. This is the way Christ rules.
He shall build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And how did he build his church?
He sent the gospel He says, all power is given to me in heaven
and earth. And he sent the gospel with his disciples to priests
throughout the world. And he says in the book of Acts chapter
26 and verse 18, the apostle Paul, he says, I'm sending you
to deliver them from what? The power of Satan. And with
what did he send him? The gospel. To bring light to
them and to all those who are sanctified by faith that is in
me. To turn them from darkness to light. From the power of God
to Satan, this is the rod of his strength, the gospel. And
the gospel believed in the hearts of his people is the way he brings
his people into subjection, in willing subjection. Notice in
verse 3, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.
In the day when Christ sits on the throne and sends his gospel
by his apostles into the world, his people shall hear it, and
they shall be willing. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out." Here you see it. The people shall be willing in
the day of thy power and the beauties of holiness from the
womb of the morning. Thou hast the dew of thy youth.
That's a difficult passage to understand, but think of it this
way. Christ is the Holy One of God, isn't He? And His people
are holy by His sacrifice, aren't they? When was that sacrifice
set up? In the ordained will of God from
before the foundations of the world, the womb of the morning.
And Christ has the dew of his youth. He is eternal. There's
never a time when he doesn't have the strength of his youth.
Because the gospel that proclaims his victory, his triumph over
our enemies and our eternal salvation is always fresh. It's new. The
New Covenant, it's always fresh and new because he always has
the dew of his youth. He has the strength that God
gave to him to prosecute the will of God, as it says in Revelation
5, and to fulfill the gospel throughout time and bring his
people to himself. Now look at verse 4. the Lord
hath sworn, and will not repent." So this is something that's set
down by God, and he has laid himself to uphold this promise. Notice, thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Now that's amazing. Hundreds
of years had passed. Lots of scripture had been given.
And now, during David's reign, while his life on earth, he sits
as king over the children of Israel, over the nation of Israel,
and he says, this is what God said to David's Lord. This is what he said to my Lord.
my son, Christ, the one who would be born from me, who is my Lord."
He said, you sit on my right hand. He's prophesying the time
when the Lord Jesus Christ would conquer his enemies at the cross,
rise from the dead, ascend to heaven, sit on heaven's throne,
and from there send forth his gospel and bring his people to
himself. They would be willing, and this
is who he is on the throne. Now kiss a dick. He says, Melchizedek,
the priest, the one who was made after the order of Melchizedek.
And God has sworn this by an oath. Now that's the background.
In Hebrews, we had been building up to this. Turn now to Hebrews.
He had said in Hebrews chapter 5 that as the Lord had said to
him, thou art my son, This day have I begotten thee. He also
says to him, he is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
In chapter 5, verse 10, he says, called of God a high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. And so this is carried on forward
in chapter 6 as well. where he wants to go on and explain
Melchizedek. At the end of the chapter he
says, Now why is this significant? Why does the writer to the Hebrews
mention this here? Now, why is this part of the
argument here? Remember last time we looked
at chapter six, we saw that God had afflicted, if you will, the
Hebrews to whom he was writing, the saints there, because they
were droopy in their race. Their faith in Christ had begun
to waver. They were thinking about going
back to the Old Testament, looking back to Moses and Joshua and
Aaron and all these things. And he comes and he says, no,
no, God has spoken to us in these last days by his son. He's the
one who by himself purged our sins. He's the one to whom God
said, thy throne, oh God, is forever and ever. And he goes
on and says angels were subject to him. He's the one who is a
son of man. He gave himself for his people.
He subdued the devil, our enemy. He's done all these things. And
God spoke of him in the wilderness. And now we need to go on. We
need to believe him. We need to leave those Old Testament
shadows. We need to go on to Christ, to
perfection. And then he brings him to this place in chapter
6 where he refers back to Abraham. Remember Abraham? Remember him,
the greatest man in all of the nation of Israel. You Hebrew
writers, the first one it was ever said, this man was a Hebrew. That's in Genesis 14. So the
Hebrews identified with Abraham, and so he mentions Abraham and
his patience of faith, enduring, looking to Christ. But then he
goes even further. He talks about one greater than
Abraham. If he's greater than Abraham,
then he's greater than all the Hebrews. Who is this man? Look at this in chapter seven.
Hebrews 7 verse 1, For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the
Most High God, this is the same one back in Genesis 14, who met
Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all. First, this is who
Melchizedek is, now he's going to explain him. First, being
by interpretation, his name means king of righteousness. And after
that, also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. Notice how
he explains the meaning of his name and explains the meaning
of his title or his office. His name, King of Righteousness. His title, King of Peace. Just
like Rommel was talking about. I was happy that he mentioned
this place in John 14. Because this is what we're getting
to here. Verse 3, notice, Melchizedek. Where did he come from? Who was
his mom and dad? Oh, verse 3. He's without father,
without mother, without descent. He didn't come from anybody.
That's what descent means. He was descended from no one. Having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, But made like unto the Son of God, abideth
a priest continually. Now that's amazing. The Spirit
of God interprets the reason why God didn't record any history
of Melchizedek. He interprets it that way to
show us that he had no beginning of days. He had no one who he
could call his ancestor. He came from no one. And not
only that, but because he was the high priest of the Most High
God, he says here that he's a continual priest. A priesthood, he abides
a priest continually. Now, I've read this for years,
and I've heard people, I've read people who've expounded on it,
and I've heard preachers preach on this. And there's several ways of looking
at this, but there's two prominent ways. One is that Melchizedek
was a type of Christ. And the other one is that he
was Christ. Let's think about the way that God has explained
it here. What is a king? Well, you go to the king and
he's got a lot of things, right? One of the things he has is possessions.
No one can take his possessions from him, they're his. Everyone
in his kingdom, everyone who lives under a king, receives
their livelihood from the king's possessions, don't they? He has
authority over everything. Now, you can't have that, that's
mine. Oh, here, go ahead and live on that land. That belongs
to me, but I'll let you live there. And go ahead and work
the land and I'll give you the crops after you work. See, everything
is under the control of that king, right? Everything in the
kingdom belongs to the king. That's a fundamental principle
of a king. Now who is this Melchizedek?
He's the king of righteousness. That means the only one who has
righteousness is the king. And who in all of scripture has
righteousness? Isn't it God? This is the name
by which he shall be called, the Lord, our righteousness. So who is the king of righteousness? It has to be only one. I will
make mention of thy righteousness even of thine only. Psalm 71
verse 16. Who's only? Only the Lord's,
the one who is the king of righteousness. Jesus told the rich young ruler
there's only one good and that's God. And Jesus Christ established,
in Daniel 9, 24, the everlasting righteousness. He is the end
of the law for righteousness. Of God are we in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us righteousness and holiness, or sanctification,
redemption, wisdom, so that all of the righteousness that God
has and gives to sinners as their own personal righteousness is
established by and belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
King of Righteousness. There is no righteousness that's
not His. So Melchizedek, as the King of Righteousness, can only
mean who he is is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is the King of
Peace. The same argument follows that. Let me read from Isaiah chapter
32 to you in verse 17. He says this, and the work of
righteousness shall be peace. That's the work of righteousness.
What happens when there's righteousness? What does God give? Peace. and
the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Who is the king of righteousness?
The Lord Jesus Christ. Who is the king of peace? The
Lord Jesus Christ. Who alone gives peace? Who made
peace? How did this peace get made?
It got made by the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was made by His
own blood. Listen to Colossians 1, verse
19. It pleased the Father that in
Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, should all fullness dwell. That sounds
like a king, right? That sounds like the firstborn
who has everything, given everything. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself,
by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven. And you, listen carefully, you
that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight." That's what Jesus Christ did. Being justified,
we have peace with God. Isn't that what Romans 5 says?
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. God, when
we were enemies, he reconciled us to himself by the death of
his son. And being justified by his blood,
we shall now be saved from wrath through him. That's Romans chapter
5. And I quoted them in the reverse order, chapter 5, verse 9 and
10. Our peace with God is the blood of Christ. God looks at
the blood and passes over. He received from Christ. a full
propitiating sacrifice. He gave his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. So who is Melchizedek? He has
to be the Lord Jesus Christ. No one could have that name,
King of Righteousness and King of Peace, and no one else But
to him did God say in Psalm 110, the Lord said to my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
And God sends forth a rod of His strength. The Lord Jesus
Christ sends forth the gospel from His throne. And His enemies
are subdued under Him. His people are made willing in
the day of His power, because from eternity, from the womb
of the morning, He has the dew of His youth. He's unchanging.
He's immutable and unchanging in His power to save. And He's
continuous. He's eternal. How long has Jesus
Christ been the High Priest? Did you notice back in Psalm
110, verse 4, thou art a priest forever? It's in the present
tense. God speaks of it in history as
something already done. Just like he told Abraham, thou,
your name is Abraham, you are the father of many nations. God
calls those things, which to us doesn't appear to be, yet
they are already true. Because when God thinks it, it's
done. It's done. He knew what he would do. Remember
in last week's chapter 6, verse 6 of the Gospel of John, Jesus
knew what he would do because he knew his Father's will. And
he always works all things according to the counsel of his own will.
And so when God said to him, thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek, it was a statement of present reality,
which had already been done sometime in the past. And so we have to
ask the question, when was he made high priest then? When was
the Lord Jesus made high priest? And we can answer that question
by asking another one. When did he offer himself? Well,
he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He was
the lamb whose precious blood was ordained for us before the
foundation of the world. Revelation 13, 8 and 1 Peter
1, 20. So Christ's blood was shed who offered his blood in
the will of God, who pledged himself to be our surety and
our substitute, to give himself for us, to answer all to God
for us with himself. Who did that? It was him. And
who laid his hands upon the sacrifice of himself and offered himself
in sacrifice to God. And God the Father received his
sacrifice and was well pleased and smelled it and said, this
is a sweet-smelling savor. He loved us and He offered Himself
for us. He gave Himself for the church.
Remember, all those things are spoken of as if they happened
at some point, but we realize that they have to be pushed back
all the way from to before time began, so that we were viewed
in Christ as early as God thought of us. And that's why in Romans
8, verse 33, He says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? As long as we have been elect,
We have been in Christ. And as long as we've been in
Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, whose
blood was ordained for us before time began, we have been cleansed
and washed and reconciled to God by his blood. That's why
he can say he's the King of righteousness and the King of peace and the
high priest on the throne. Now, in Hebrews chapter 7, he
said, but he was made like unto. Melchizedek, without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abided the
priest continually. And that like unto, that phrase
like unto the Son of God has been used by people to say, well,
see, he couldn't have been Christ because he was like the Son of
God. But let me just read to you some of the texts of scripture
that use the same Phraseology the same words and we know they
have to be that case That it's actually him that's spoken of
here. Look at Daniel chapter You don't
have to look at it, but I'll take it to you. Take you there
Daniel chapter 3 and In Daniel chapter 3, I want to
read this because it moves me to read it again. In Daniel chapter
3, verse 13, Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded
to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because they wouldn't
bow down to his image. Then they brought these men before
the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said to them, is it true,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Do not ye serve my gods, nor
worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you be
ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute,
harpsack, butt, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music,
you fall down and worship the image which I have made well.
But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the
midst of a burning, fiery furnace, and who is that god that shall
deliver you out of my hands? Oh, Nebuchadnezzar was proud.
And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said, you can hear
their voice, very calm, collected. They said to the king, O king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this
matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver
us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of
your hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto
thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar
full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded
that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it
was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty
men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then those men,
These men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their
hats, and their other garments, and they were cast into the midst
of the burning fiery furnace." That's a wonderful scripture,
isn't it? Therefore, because the king's
commandment was urgent and the furnace was exceedingly hot,
the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. The men who threw them in died.
It was too hot. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astonished, and he rose up in haste and spake and said to
his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into the midst
of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, true, O king. He answered and said, lo, I see
four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt. The form of the fourth is like
the Son of God. Who do you think that one was?
Was it like the Son of God or was it the Son of God? He had
to be the Son of God. He was like him, though. And
who is like the Son of God? But the Son of God. In chapter
7, the same book, in verse 13, listen to this. I saw in the
night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with
the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they
brought him near before him, and there was given him dominion
and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages
should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed." The Son of Man. He was like the Son
of Man. Was he the son of man? He was. Who is the son of man?
The Lord Jesus Christ. When did this happen? When he
ascended on high and his father gave him the kingdom and sat
him in his own right hand. He ascended on high and is exalted
and from there he sent forth his gifts. to the church to save
his people, as it says in Ephesians 4. And only one more place of
this same thing to help you on this. Revelation chapter 1, it
says this in verse 8, Jesus is speaking to the Apostle John.
He says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come,
the Almighty. The Jehovah's Witnesses hate
this verse. John chapter one, I'm sorry,
Revelation chapter one, verse eight, is what I just read. Verse
nine, I, John, also, who also am your brother and companion
in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and
for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He was persecuted for the gospel,
and I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me
a great voice as of a trumpet. What is this voice that sounds
like a trumpet? the voice of our Savior, saying, I am Alpha
and Omega, the first and the last, what thou seest, write
in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia,
unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira,
and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned
to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,
one like unto the Son of Man, who was it? It was the Son of
Man. It was the Lord Jesus Christ.
So in Hebrews 7, we're not concerned that it says He was made like
unto the Son of God, that He couldn't also be the Son of God.
Because that's the way Scripture speaks. The Son of Man, the one
like the Son of Man, was the Son of Man. The one like the
Son of God, the form of the Son of God, was the Son of God. And
Melchizedek was made like unto the Son of God because none but
the Son of God could be like Him. Who else could be the King
of Righteousness, the King of Peace, the Priest of the Most
High God, forever without end but the Lord Jesus Christ? Now,
because of time, we're not going to be able to finish this. But
I want to just point out a couple of things here before we close
here, significant things here. When we read about these things,
it We see that it's all talking about Jesus Christ, isn't it?
Then we wonder, how is that significant? We do that because we're, I don't
know about you, but I have that problem. It has to really get
a hold of me for scripture to really speak to me. Where am
I in this? Well, we're in the grandstands.
He's the one in the center of God's purpose. He's the one who's
done the work. He is our High Priest. No one
comes to the Father but by Him. And if He is our High Priest,
if He by Himself purged our sins with His own blood and made atonement
on that day, and made our peace with God and established our
everlasting righteousness." What is God saying here? Look upon
Him. See what He has done. The one
who did this is seated on Heaven's throne. Nothing will be withheld
from Him. All things are in His hand. He
has the possession of all things, not only all heavenly and spiritual
blessings, in a way that we don't understand yet, but especially
our righteousness and our peace with God, as we just heard Romel
speaking in John 14, 26. My peace I give to you. Peace
I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as
the world gives. There is no peace with God except
that which Christ established for his people. There's no peace
of a sinner with God except the peace that Christ made in his
own blood. If you have peace with God, you
can only legitimately have that peace in looking to Christ as
all of your righteousness, all of the cleansing for all your
sins. So that's why it's significant to you and me, oh sinner, Because
the Lord Jesus Christ is everything. We just don't see it until we
see our need. And then we wonder, how is that
going to be met? And we say, oh, I see God met it from before
the foundations of the world. He saw anticipating my need in
his own glory. And he fulfilled it all in our
Savior, the Lord Jesus. So that's the big message here.
But you also see that the victory God gave to Abraham and announced
through Melchizedek to him is the same as our victory we have
in Christ. What does he say in Romans 8,
37? We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. Abraham
conquered the conqueror. And we, Satan's gonna be put
under our feet, isn't that true? He's gonna subject all things
to the church. These people who in themselves
are weak, small, helpless, but he's clothed them in his own
righteousness and put his beauty upon them and given his word
to them and now they take that word throughout the world and
sinners are subdued to the Savior and Christ is glorified. And
so Abraham goes forth. Melchizedek is the one who brought
him that victory. That's why he brought the bread
and wine. What is bread and wine? That's the food of faith, isn't
it? The blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what we're about to do. We're about to take of the bread
and the wine as symbols of the broken body and the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that blood made the New Testament. That blood brought all the blessings
of it and fulfilled all the conditions of it. And the bread is the bread
of life. We live by looking to Christ
and believing Him. And we come to God by Him. It's
the only way we can come. So this is very, very significant.
This is what was being built up to. The whole law in the Levitical
priesthood is going to be set aside, but the writer to the
Hebrews has to build it up and bring it to a point in Melchizedek. See, he's greater than Abraham,
way greater than Abraham, infinitely greater than Abraham. No beginning,
no end, a priest forever, king of righteousness, king of Salem.
God swore by an oath to him, you're a priest forever. and
he's not going to repent, and he is seated. He's our surety.
He can save us to the uttermost because he forever lives and
makes intercession for us. That's the message of chapter
seven. And so we delight in knowing we have such a high priest. And
that's what the first verse of chapter eight says. All right,
let's pray. Father, thank you that you foresaw
our need. and you foresaw our need in light
of your will to glorify yourself in your grace and in all of your
perfections, your wisdom and your justice and righteousness,
your truth and in your peace, in all that you are, in your
power and your life-giving power, exceeding great power, and do
it all in our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, our High Priest, and
our King, who has sovereign rights and possesses all things and
gives them freely to us at His sovereign will, to our eternal
salvation, and He's able to bring us to Himself, nothing lacking,
nothing missing, save to the uttermost, in the very presence
of God to present us faultless with exceeding joy. And we look
to Him. We know He has to do it. We know
He did it. We know He has already entered
our inheritance, and we have it there because of Him. In Jesus'
name we pray.