into some more of these difficult
names to pronounce. When we come upon a chapter like
this, I usually like to let Brother Larry read it. It puts the pressure
on him. But I want us to look and try
to consider most of this chapter. We won't get through it all. There's so many, and I guess
it's the way it should be when we look at the book of Genesis,
the book of beginnings, and we've been trying to make note when
we first see something mentioned, someone's name or an event that
took place or in an office that somebody held, the first crime
that was committed. And it's probably very telling
that it would be difficult to go through this book and deal
with every subject as thoroughly as it should be dealt with. I
imagine when Arthur Pink wrote his commentary on this book,
the reason he called it gleanings in Genesis is because mainly
that's what you do. You just hit some high places
and almost we got bogged down a time or two, So I thought,
well, I'm going to force myself to not dwell so much on one subject
and try to complete a whole chapter if we can, but we're not going
to get quite a whole chapter this week. I want to begin reading
here, and I think this all ties together in verse 1. And let
me read down through verse 11 for us. And I want us to look
at that just for a second. Then we'll go on and tie it in
with the rest of the chapter. Genesis chapter 14, beginning
here in verse 1. And it came to pass in the days
of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arok, the king of Elasa, Kadro'elomer,
that's the best I can pronounce it, king of Elam, Tidal, king
of nations, that these made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and
with Bersha, king of Gomorrah, Shaneb, king of Admah, and Shember,
king of Zeboan, and the king of Bela, which is Zor. All these were joined together
in the Baal of Sidon, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they
served Kedilamer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. And in the fourteenth year came
Kedilamer and the kings that were with him, and smote the
Rithaims in Ashteroth, Curnium. and the Zuzims in Ham, and the
Emims in Sheba, Carthen, and the Horites in their Mount Seir
unto Elpharan, which is by the wilderness. And they returned
and came to Emishpah, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country
of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, and dwelt in Heshazon,
Tamar. And there went out the king of
Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Edmah, and the
king of Zeboim, and the king of Bila, the same as Zorah. And
they joined battle with them in the vale of Sinai. And Kedoklamer,
the king of Elam, with Tynel, king of Dacians, Amraphel, king
of Shinar, and Ariok, king of Elisha, four kings against five. And the vale of Sidon was full
of slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and
fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they
took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their victuals
and went their way. Now, if you ever find you a map,
and it's easy if you maybe have in the back of your Bibles, especially
if you're on Quick Verse or one of those Bible helps, you can
go here to the 14th chapter of this book, and you can see this
was an amazing battle that took place. These four kings united
together and they were going to bring this whole country under
subjection to this one king. They tell us, the scriptural
historians tell us, that this king, this main king here, Ketelammer,
king of Elam, was at this time king of Persia. Now that was
in the far southeast of the land of Canaan. And at this time,
Persia began to be a pretty large empire. This was a mighty king.
Helped these Canaanites and others and taxed them and ruled over
them for years until they rebelled. And this other man here, this
Amraphel, they tell us that he was the king of Assyria. Well,
he told us here that he was king of Shinar, and you and I read
about Shinar. We read who started that kingdom.
Remember the mighty hunter before the Lord, Nimrod? He started
this kingdom. At this time, this man here,
Amraphel, ruled over that kingdom. And then this Ariok king of Elisha,
some say that he was the king of Syria and parts of Asia. So you have a huge country and
countries that started in the southeast and went up through
Assyria and all the way in over to northwest of Canaan in Asia
and Syria. So you have all of these mighty
nations, and they come in, the Scripture tells us here, into
the north of Canaan, and they come down south. They're on the
west of Jordan, if you can get a picture of this in your mind,
conquering these kings, overthrowing these kingdoms. And then when
they're in the south, they come west over the Jordan, come into
south Canaan, and they came back up, conquering the Amorites and
the Amalekites. We've been those nations. They
come into Sodom and Gomorrah. And these five kings, they unite
one with another to try to attempt to stop these invading armies.
And when you consider all of this land, thousands and thousands
of miles of land and countries and kings that were in battle,
this was a humongous war. No telling how many casualties
they had. Almost all of the known world
at that time was in chaos. It was in battle, one with another.
Now, here's what I want to see in this. And this is the first
thing I want to see as we look at these, because we find these
two things here that's mentioned for the first time in our Bibles.
And I think it's very telling how these two things go together.
The first time in the Bible we read of kings. I have no idea
if there was kings before, but here's the first time we read
of kings. And it's also the first time
we read of wars. Ain't it strange how those two
are mentioned in the same verse? Kings and wars, and we're specifically
told here in verse 2 that these made war. Kings made war. I just wonder if you and I could
have some way of knowing all the battles and all the war that
has been shared down through history. I wonder how many wars
have been a just war, how many have been fought on just and
right grounds, And how many have been fought just because some
king wanted to fulfill his ego, or wanted to gain some secret
lust? Kings make war. That's what we
see about them when we first see kings. They made war. You know why James said we have
wars among us? From whence come wars and fighting?
Come they not hints of your lust that wars in your memories? And
when kings rule, So often they make war because they have ambitions,
and they have lust, and they have greed that has to be satisfied. And when the kings rise up to
make war, the problem with that is this. They have influence,
and they have power, and they involve other people in their
wars. If they went out and fought as
individuals, there probably wouldn't be many wars with them. If one
king says, I'm going to meet you out in the field, and you
pick your weapon and I'll pick mine, probably a lot of kings
would never show up. But it's not that way. They recruit
everybody they can, and they usually send the common people
out to shed blood and to die in their stead. And as you and
I read through history, what little history I've read, that's
recorded. Here's what we often find in
1 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 1. Listen to this. And see if
this pretty much doesn't describe the kings. It came to pass that
after the year was expired, at the times when kings go out to
battle. Kings go out to battle. And the
Holy Spirit put that in there as though it began to become
a common thing. Kings! There's a time when kings
go out to battle, and it hasn't changed today, has it? Aren't
you glad we don't have a king? I tell you what, the more I learn
about governments and the rule, the more I'm thankful to God
that we don't have a king. If we had a king, we'd pray for
it. The Lord tells us to. But I tell you what, we don't
have a king, and I hope we never seek after a king. We've got
one of the best forms of government, I think, upon this earth. With
all of its faults, Jim, with all of its failings, I still
think, brothers and sisters, we've got one of the best governments
upon this earth. As far as a fallen government
can be, they set it up to be by the people and for the people. And when you have laws, And someone
wrote a song to secure our liberty and law. And when you have a
government set upon liberty and justice for all, and when the
wicked are punished and when the innocent are protected, and
when you have laws that prevail instead of some king who is a
law unto himself, I think you've got a much, much better government,
don't you? I'm glad we can vote our presidents
in power. I'm glad we can vote them out
of power. I'm glad they have term limits. I wish all of our
elected officials had term limits. Limited power with a limited
time is the best government you have. You take a fallen people
and you gave him too much power and you gave him too much time,
that's not wise, is it? It's just not wise. What do we
see here when we see these kings? Well, we see wars. We see wars. They made war together. You remember the first time that
Israel asked for a king? The Lord was their king. He was
ruling the whole nation. They would sin and He would chasten
them. and send a country against him to whip him, they'd cry unto
him, and he'd raise up a judge to deliver him. And they came
to Samuel the prophet one day, and they said, Samuel, we want
a king to rule over us. He said, why do you want a king?
You know what they said? We want to be just like the other
nation. Want to be like these guys? And he said, okay, I'll
talk to the Lord about it. And he went and asked the Lord.
And the Lord said, Samuel, don't worry about it. They've not rejected
you. They've rejected me. And he said, I'm going to give
them a king. And boy, he did. He gave them a king in his anger
and took him away in his wrath. And he said, here's the kind
of king you're going to get. He's going to take your sons. He's
going to take your daughters. He's going to take your land.
He's going to take your sheep. He's going to take your donkeys.
He's just going to take, take, take, take. And that's what He
did, didn't He? That's what He did. But give
us a King. God don't give us a King. Give
us laws. Give us men to uphold the laws. Give us a society that loves
the laws and obeys the laws. But don't give us kings. I think
there's a reason the Holy Spirit put this in here like this. All
these kings, and what are they doing? Well, they're out making
war, one with another. Now we come here in verse 12
of this chapter, and look at this. These kings got together
and made war. In verse 11, they took all the
goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the victuals and went their
way. And look in verse 12, and they took a lot. Abram's brother's
son who dwelt in Sodom and his goods and departed." Boy, I tell
you what, and you and I saw this last week, that Lot is a beacon
for a believer. He's a beacon for the church
of what not to do. We saw that last week, didn't
we? We saw him begin to walk after the flesh. He walked after
sight. He separated himself from Abraham
and he looked on those well-watered plains. And he chose them. And he pitched his tent toward
Sodom. And what happened to this man
was, he began to walk after the sight of his eyes and not by
faith. And now we find him down here
in verse 12 that he was living in Sodom. He pitched his tent
toward Sodom and because he didn't watch, And because he didn't
pray, he wasn't diligent and sober, now we find him in Sodom. And you know what the Master
tells us about Lot? He tells us that in the last
days, it's going to be like it was in Lot's day. I just wonder
if Lot is not a picture of the church in the last days. Boy,
if it is, it's a sad picture, ain't it? Because when Lot went
down here and dwelt among the Sodomites, he mixed with sinners. He didn't have to, but he did. He lost his testimony. When he
went to warn his sons-in-law that the Lord was going to destroy
their place, they wouldn't even listen to him. They said, who
are you anyway? You're just like us. And they
mocked him. And when these men, these kings
and the army came here to take Sodom and Gomorrah, they took
him too. Who was he? They couldn't tell
any difference between him and somebody else. Who is this man? They didn't say, you know, it's
obvious that this man is different. Here's a man that's obviously
not a native of this place. He don't worship their God. He
don't believe in their God. He don't live and walk like they
do. They didn't make any distinction between him and the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah. So they took him too. Boy, I hope, I hope that the
church don't so fall and be overcome with this world and the course
of it. that she can't be distinguished from this world. Wouldn't that
be sad? But you know, we're back there today, aren't we? As a
whole, and in general, you know, you find little places like this
over in West Virginia and Kentucky. But isn't the churches today
seeking to be like the world? We don't want to offend anybody.
We don't want to do things that the world don't understand. But
what's happening? Losing the testimony on them. Losing the testimony. And what
did the Master say when the salt has lost its savor? It's good
for nothing to be cast out and trodden underfoot. Why does the Lord call His church,
and why is she in this world? To show forth the praises of
Him. that called her out of darkness unto His marvelous light. And
they never saw that in a lot, did they? Never saw it in a lot.
Now here in verse 13 through verse 16, look at this. Well,
we see Abraham in a light here that we've never seen him in
before. We're going to see Abraham in a light today that we've never
seen him in before. Look here in verse 13. 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,
the brother of Enar, and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his
brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, barned
in his own house three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them
unto Dan." Now that's the northernmost part of the country, of Canaan. But he didn't even stop there.
He divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night,
and smote them, and pursued them unto Horeb, which is on the left
hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods,
and also brought again his brother Lot and his goods, and the women
also, and the people." Well, we see Abraham here as we never
saw him before. You know, we saw him before.
Remember what we said about him? Well, we've always said this
about him. And we said this about him last week. We saw what a
meek fellow he was. And how gracious and unassuming
that he was. That one of his favorite words,
remember, I pray thee, I pray thee. He never exalted himself,
never made himself of any repetition at all. Reputation? He never bought any land. He could have. He's a rich man.
He could have bought this land. Never set himself up to be some
great person. You just see him traveling humbly
through the land of Canaan. He stopped some time and built
an altar and he called upon the name of the Lord. Just a common
person. A meek and lowly man. traveling
through this land. But now, what do you see him
as? Well, he becomes a mighty warrior.
He's a king-like fellow. And without any hesitation, and
seemingly without any fear, he girds a sword on his side, he
arms the servants of his house, and he not only pursues this
mighty army, these four great kings and mighty army, he overtakes
them, And He not only defeats them, He slaughters them. And
He recaptures the women and the people and Lot and all their
goods. And the Scripture says here that
He returned it all. He brought it all. I like the
way the Holy Spirit says that. He brought back all. He brought
back all. There wasn't a jot or a tittle,
as we say, that He didn't bring back. He restored all. He brought
back all. Can you imagine what these three
friends... He took these three friends with
him. This Aner, and Eshkol, and Mamre. Can you imagine what these
three friends thought as they watched Abraham? How he handled
that sword. And how He took 318 men and whipped
those mighty armies. Can you imagine what they saw? Boy, we've never seen this out
of this man before. Here we thought He was just a meek and lowly,
gracious person. Look what a mighty warrior He
is. Why, they probably thought to
themselves, He could have all of this land if He wanted it.
Who could stand before Him? Who could resist this man? Why,
he's a mighty warrior. He's a king-like person. And you know something, brothers
and sisters, this was Abraham's land. It was his land. It just wasn't time for him to
take it yet. The Lord had done promised it to him over there
in verse, look here in verse 14 and 15 of chapter 13. The
Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, lift
up your eyes Look from the place where you are northward, southward,
eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seeth, to
thee will I give it." You know what this was when Abraham girded
on his sword and wind whipped all these kings? You know what
that was? That was just a glimpse of what
was coming. That's all it was. You see what
Abraham did? That's just a glimpse of what
was going to happen not too many years after this when Abraham's
descendants came into this land and one man chased a thousand. Just a glimpse. I remember one
time, and this reminded me of this as I was reading this story,
when our Lord Jesus took His three friends. Remember this?
The Lord Jesus took three of His friends with Him up on a
mountain. And they thought, though they
knew the Lord, Peter, James and John, they didn't know Him in
His real glory. They knew that He was the Christ.
They professed that. They said, Lord, You've got the
words of eternal life. But you know, they didn't know
very much about Him. And they went up on that mountain and
the Lord Jesus took them with Him. When he was up on that mountain,
they were looking at him. More suddenly, his countenance
began to change, and his skin began to glow, and his raiment
began to shine like the sun. And Moses and Elijah, in a glorious
farm, came down from heaven and talked with him about his death
that he was to accomplish throughout Jerusalem. And then a cloud come
overhead and they heard the voice of God speak out of that cloud
and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And you know what Peter said
about that? Peter would come down off that mountain and later
on he wrote about that. And you know what he said about
it? We saw the power and glory of His coming. We saw His majesty. Is that what he said? We saw
His majesty. We saw Him as we never saw Him
before. All before, they knew that He
was no ordinary man. They knew that. But they never
quite saw Him in His glory that they saw Him on that day. We saw the power and the glory
of His coming. And Peter said we were eyewitnesses
of His majesty. These four apostles, They knew
the Lord, but you know they didn't know very much about it. They
didn't know very much about it at all. He told them one day,
he said, I'm going up to Jerusalem. I'm going to Jerusalem. And you
remember what Thomas said? He said, Lord, don't go up there. They're going to kill you. The
Lord said, I'm going to Jerusalem. Thomas said, well, we're going
with you. We're going to die with you. We're going to die with
you. Because if you go up there, you
know, you're just a meek and lowly fellow. And they're going
to kill you. They're going to kill you. So
we're going up and we're going to die with you. They're in the Garden
of Gethsemane. Remember that? When that band
of soldiers comes to get the Lord Jesus. They've got their
sticks and their staves and some have got swords. And Peter draws
out his sword. We're going to have to defend
him. We've got to take his part, you know. We ain't going to let
them take him and do him any harm. So he cuts off the ear
of the servant of the high priest. The Lord takes his ear off the
ground and puts it back on his head. And he said, could I not
call my Father? And he had sent me twelve legions
of angels. He would not have had to call
for angels. All he had to do was just speak. Who are you seeking? He said. We are seeking Jesus
of Nazareth. I am he. And what happened? They
all fell back to the ground. He did not need angels. He did
not need these poor apostles. They just could not see the glory. Sometimes he unveiled it. Just
like Abraham, when he girded on that sword and defeated those
armies, his three friends saw him in a light he had never seen.
You know, most people, most people never saw the Lord Jesus in His
glory, did they? He went there to the cross. They
never saw the glory. They never saw what was going
on there. He had it veiled. They didn't know He was bruising
the serpent's head. They didn't have eyes to see
that. He was destroying him that had
the power of death. They didn't see that. They didn't
see Him atoning for sin. They didn't see Him reconciling
us to God and making peace through the blood of His cross. And you
know why they didn't see it? They didn't have eyes to see
it. They didn't have eyes to see it. The Lord Jesus is in
heaven right now in the right hand of the Father. And what's
He doing? He's doing a great work. But
you've got to have eyes to see it. He's binding the strong man
and dragging him from the heart. He's building His church, securing
His church. He's delivering His elect from
the power of darkness. Why can't the world see that?
They just see Him as little Jesus, don't they? They don't see His
glory. You've got to have eyes to see
that. You've got to have eyes to see that. If you hadn't been
with Abraham that day, you'd never saw Him. You'd never saw
Him. Someday, when heavens part, the
Lord Jesus will be seen coming in His power and in His great
glory. He'll deliver His people from
the power and the bondage of corruption, and He'll crush His
enemies under His feet. And you know something? He could
do that right now if He wanted to. Who could stand before Him? Who
could resist Him? And the only reason He's not
doing it right now, it's just not time. Why didn't Abraham
come back and take the land? It's just not time. It's just
not time. We've heard of the kingdom and
patience of our Lord Jesus Christ, haven't we? Patience. His patience. He's waiting. And those who have
eyes to see, they have got a glimpse of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just a glimpse of His glory. And someday, everybody else is
going to see it. The battle is not yet done. Jesus
who died shall be satisfied. And heaven and earth made one. And in the end, here in verse
16, it's going to be said of our blessed Lord Jesus, just
as it was said of Abraham, he brought back all the goods. He brought back his brother Lot.
He brought back the women. and all that was taken captive,
He brought back all. That's what's going to be said
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Adam fell into sin, the
whole human race fell with him. The elect fell in him. We weren't
spared worldly. When we were born, we were born
sinners, just like everybody else. We were dead in trespasses
and sins, held captive by the devil, just like everybody else.
But the Lord Jesus leaves heaven and said, Lo, I come to do Thy
will, O my God. I'm going. What's He going to
do? Deliver His people. I'm going to give my life a ransom
for many. I come that they might have life.
He come to wash us. He come to quicken us. He come
to give us an inheritance. And in the end, it will be said,
He brought back all. He brought back all. If Abraham
done it, and him just a mere man, you think the Son of God
won't do it? He'll do it. Poor Lot got himself
in a mess, didn't he? Well, you and I have got ourselves
in a mess, too. He's no exception, is he? Oh, what a mess we're
in. Don't you feel like you're in
a mess? Oh, wretched man that I am. Never a day goes by that
we're not complaining about our sin and our corruption. And we
feel it. We feel it. And I bet you lot, when he was
up there in captivity, this thought to himself, what a fool I am.
What a wretch I am. And I imagine he watered his
pillow with his tears if he had a pillow. But Abraham went and he rescued
him and brought him home. He brought him home. And what's
the Lord Jesus doing? That's the same thing He's doing.
Someone asked Mr. Spurgeon one time. They had a
big controversy on why Christ died. And some man came up to
Spurgeon and said, Mr. Spurgeon, what did Jesus Christ
intend by His death? And Mr. Spurgeon said, well,
sir, what's He doing? That answers the question, don't
it? What's he doing? I love that verse over in 1 Peter
chapter 3, where it says, He suffered for our sins, the just
for the unjust. And remember, the very next word
tells us the purpose of His death, that He might bring us to God.
He come down from heaven to get us, didn't He? To deliver us,
to bring us to God. to bring us all the way to God.
And he's beginning the process now. And he says, In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it weren't so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you to myself that
where I am, there you may be also. And that's what he's doing.
That's what he's doing. That's why he came down from
heaven. That's why he died on Calvary's tree. That's why he's
living in heaven right now. And he's bringing us home. He's
delivering us. Most people in the land of Canaan
saw Abraham as just a shy, lowly person. They thought he couldn't and
he wouldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. That's what they
thought about this man. But you ask Abraham's three friends
if he could fight or not. You ask Lot. And you ask these
women and all these other captives. You ask them what kind of a man
Abraham was. He is a warrior. He was a king
like man. This world has never seen the
true nature and glory and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. But ask those who have seen it.
They can tell you something about it. He's glorious in holiness. He's fearful in praises. And
He's doing wonders. Doing wonders. Done great things
for you, ain't He? What do you say about it? Oh,
that I may know Him. I glory in nothing but the Cross.
Oh, that I might be found in Him. God forbid that you glory
in anything. That's your opinion of Jesus
Christ. Verses 18 through 20 now. Let's deal with that and we'll
come to a close. Look at this. Look at this. Verse 17, the king of Sodom went
out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Kedrok
Glamor. and the kings that were with
him at the Vale of Sheba, which is the Kingsdale, the Kings Valley.
Now we run on to another first year. This is a man that we've
never read about before, just suddenly comes on the scene and
he leaves it just as fast. Melchizedek, king of Selim, brought
forth bread and wine and he was the priest of the Most High God.
And he blessed Abraham, and said, Blessed be Abraham of the Most
High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the
Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And he gave him tithes of all." Abraham gave him tithes of all.
Now we don't know very much about this man. He just mentioned two
places in the Old Testament here in Psalm 110. But here is basically
the only place in the Old Testament that we are told about him. Then
you have to go all the way over to the book of Hebrews chapter
7 to find out something else about this man. Here are some
things we know about him. His name, we know that, is Melchizedek. We know this about him, that
he was the king of Salem. And thirdly, we know that he
was the priest of the Most High God. Now this is something unique
in itself. He was the king and he was a
priest. We've certainly never seen this
before, but you never see it again. They had some kings who
wanted to be priests, didn't they? But they never had any
priests who were kings. They were a separate group of
people. But here you have this man who was both king and priest. And then in Hebrews chapter 7,
the writer there interprets his name and the city in which he
lives. And here's what he says about
his name. Melchizedek means king of righteousness. And King of
Salem means King of Peace. So his name was King of Righteousness?
That's a pretty big name, isn't it? And King of Peace. And then
the fourth thing we're told about him is what he did here in this
chapter. We're told he did two things.
First, we're told that he met Abraham and these servants that
Abraham had rescued and locked. He met them and all these women,
and He gave them bread and wine. In other words, He gave them
bread to feed them, to strengthen them, and He gave them wine for
the joy of their spirits. And secondly, we are told here
that He blessed Abraham. And He said, Blessed be Abraham
of the Most High God. He blessed Abraham in the name
of God Most High. He blessed God on Abraham's behalf
for the deliverance. He did those two things. He stood
between God and Abraham, and on one hand, He blessed Abraham
in the name of God. He called down the blessings
of God upon Abraham. Blessed be Abraham in the name
of the Most High God, the Possessor of Heaven and Earth. And on the
other hand, he returned the praise of those blessings to God with
the deliverance of Abraham. He was a priest. Now, sixthly, this Melchizedek
was the only priest in his lineage. I think that's what Hebrews chapter
7 is meant to teach us when we're told that this man did not have
father or mother. It's not recorded who his father
was or who his mother was. We know nothing of when he was
born. We know nothing of when he died. He just comes on the
scene and he's a priest of the Most High God. And then he leaves
the scene and we don't know what happened to him. But he was just
a priest. He was a priest continually. And seventhly, the book of Hebrews
tells us about this man that you and I are to see in him Jesus
Christ and His priesthood. That's the
only reason he's here. It wasn't for his sake this was
written. It was that you and I might look upon this man and
see in him our Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture tells us, Jesus
Christ was called of God and high priest after the order of
Melchizedek. God hath sworn and will not repent,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. We
are to see Christ in him. Okay, first of all, how are we
to see Christ in him? I'm going a little bit long,
so be patient with me, okay? We didn't have Sunday school
class, so I don't want to worry you, but I want to look at this.
This is so interesting to me, I just love this. I love to just
look at it and read it and study it with you. First of all then,
Melchizedek, he was king of righteousness and king of peace. Now what does
the Scripture say about the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ?
It says many things about His righteousness. He's called the
righteousness of God. It is said of Him that He brought
in everlasting righteousness. It is said that He is the end
of the law for righteousness to everybody that believes. It
is said of Him that we are made the righteousness of God in Him. All of these things are said
about Him, but His name is called, The Lord Our Righteousness. Now that is a pretty big name,
The Lord Our Righteousness. And He's called the Righteousness
of God. Now that's a pretty big name.
And concerning peace, we're told that He made peace through the
blood of His cross, that He is our peace Himself, and that He's
given us His peace, and we're told that His name is the Prince
of Peace. So He's the Lord of Righteousness,
and He's the Prince of Peace. And the Scripture says, Mercy
and truth have met together and righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Now that's no great mystery for
righteousness and peace to kiss each other in the Son of God.
Sure it does. But they kissed each other in
the salvation of a sinner. How can mercy and truth meet
together and save an ungodly man? In Jesus Christ. How can righteousness on one
hand and peace on the other hand meet and save a poor corrupt
sinner? In Jesus Christ, who is righteousness
and He is peace. And secondly, Melchizedek was
both king and priest. The Lord Jesus Christ is both
king and priest. And He is not just king, He is
king of kings. I want to show you a verse of
Scripture. I want you to mark this because it is so precious.
If you turn to Malachi and turn back one book, or pass to the
left of Malachi, you'll find Zechariah chapter 6. If you go to the book of Matthew,
go to your left of Malachi, go one more book, Zechariah, and
chapter 6, and notice here what's said of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zechariah chapter 6 and verse
12. Look at this. and speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold a man whose
name is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and
he shall build the temple of the Lord, the church. Upon this
rock I will build my church. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and he shall sit and rule upon His throne." He's
a king, ain't He? "...and He shall be a priest
upon His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them
both." He's a priest, and He's a king. And listen to Isaiah
22, 22 through 24, "...the key of the house of David will I
lay upon His shoulder, He shall open, and none shall shut. He
shall shut, and none shall open, and I will fasten Him as a nail
in a sure place, and He shall be for a glorious throne unto
His Father's house." He's not only sitting upon the throne,
He is the throne. He's the throne of grace, He's
the throne of peace, the throne of power. He shall be for a glorious
throne to His Father's house, and listen to this, they shall
hang upon Him. All the glory. All the glory. They hang upon
Him. So He's a King and He's a Priest. And that simply tells us, whatever
He pleads for, whatever He desires, He gets it. He's King. He's King. And thirdly, Jesus,
our High Priest, does for us what Melchizedek did to Abraham. What does He do for us? He meets
us in the way when we've been in our battles,
when we've suffered some wounds, when we're in the war, and we've
had to endure hardness as a good soldier. And what does He do? He feeds us.