Genesis chapter 14. We're going
to eventually get over to Hebrews chapter 7. That's where we're
studying at, but we're beginning the study tonight on this man
by the name of Melchizedek. He was the priest back in Abraham's
day. Not too much said of him. He's
only mentioned three times in the Bible. He's mentioned here
in Genesis 14, psalms 110 and then in the book of Hebrews and
that's what we'll look at tonight. Let's begin here in Genesis chapter
14 and let's go ahead all the way
back in verse 11. These four kings came out of a foreign country
were not for sure exactly where they came out of. It was the
first war, by the way. This is the first war that is
recorded in the Bible. These four kings that came against
Sodom and Gomorrah in the cities of the plains and whipped them,
defeated them, and this was the result of that in verse 11. Look in verse 11. And they took
all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their victuals and went
their way. And when he talks about going
their way, I traced as best I could on the computer the route that
these four kings took. And they walked with their soldiers
almost a thousand miles in this whole circuit where they had
this battle. So it was an amazing, amazing thing that they did.
But in verse 12, they took Lot, Abraham's brother's son, who
dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. And there came
one that escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt in the
plains of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eschol, and brother
Arnon, and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram, or
Abraham, heard that his brother was taken captive, He armed his
trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and
eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued
them unto Hobah, 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. And the king of Sodom went out
to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Ched-o-Leomar,
and the kings that were with him at the valley of Seba, which
is the king's dale." Now there is something here I do not want
to pass by because I think there is a principle torch here and
it is this that I just read to you. You remember a lot why he
went down to Sodom. He said he saw the well-watered
plains and he pitched his tent toward Sodom and then he moved
for some reason or another into Sodom. And here Abraham is now
having to arm all of his servants and go to war with these four
kings to deliver Lot and his family. Abraham traveled with
his men almost 200 miles to deliver Lot and get them back out from
these kings. He slaughtered these four kings
and who knows how many more men. But this was a terrible war and
here is the principle that I was thinking about as I read this
today. You know none of us are an island.
We often hear that no man's an island. Sometimes we do things in our
carelessness. It may be our fault. It may not
be our fault. But you know, sometimes our actions
don't just hurt us, but it hurts our family. It hurts those who
care for us. Here Lot went down into Sodom,
and he may have thought, well, I'm not doing anybody any harm
but myself. But look what he involved Abraham in. Abraham
went up to the plain of Mamre. It was a quiet place there in
Hebron. He built him an altar, and that's
where he wanted to live, in this quiet place. He got this news,
your nephew's been taken captive. He had to arm his men and go
after them. So if we're doing good in our
Christian life, it affects people. It helps people. It encourages
people. But you know, if we mess up in our lives, doesn't it affect
people too? I was talking with a young lady
not long ago, and she made the statement to this effect. She
said, I'm tired of being concerned about living my life just with other people in mind. I'm going to live my life and
do what I want to do. Well, she wasn't old enough to
make that sort of decision, but I thought to myself, for her
and if a Christian adapts that attitude, it won't be long, they've
got a lot of trouble, and it won't be long that those who
care for them are probably going to be drug into their trouble
too. Here's what Paul said about this. He said you are the body
of Christ and members in particular. If one member suffers, if you
crush your toe, that's going to hurt, isn't it? But if one
member suffers, what happens? If my toe is smashed, my hand's
hurting. My head's hurting. My arm is
hurting. If one member suffers, all the
members suffer with it. If one member is honored, then
all the members rejoice with it. So we should be so careful,
shouldn't we, to help and encourage one another. Because what happens
to us is going to affect somebody else, just like it did here.
Verse 18, I thought about that as a side note. But this brings
us here in verse 18 to this man by the name of Melchizedek. And
look what it said about him. Melchizedek, king of Salem, 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, Abraham gave
him a tie of all." Now this man held two offices. We are told
here that he was king of Salem. We don't know if that was Jerusalem,
old Jerusalem, or if it was a Salem nearby this place here, but he
was king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. Now he lived in Canaan. Melchizedek
lived in Canaan. He was probably a descendant
of Ham because Ham is the one that settled all over Canaan.
Abraham was the descendant of Shem and they settled east of
Canaan. Jephthah, the other brother,
Noah's son, he settled all the nations of the Gentiles. But
I think it's very interesting here to think that here was a
priest of the Most High God and he ministered in Canaan. He was in Canaan, the land that
was a heathen land And yet he was a priest of the Most High
God. And I guess that tells us that God in His mercy had preserved
the true knowledge of God and the worship of God in the land
of Canaan at this time. I don't know if his descendants,
his people before him, I don't know if any of them were still
alive. I don't know if Shem was alive or Ahab or any of those
guys was alive, but I think it's encouraging to know that in this
heathen land, God had a high priest that taught the people
the knowledge of God. And we know that he did this
because I want you to look at how here he describes God. Here again in verse 19, and he
blessed Abraham and said, Blessed be Abraham. Look how he describes
God. Abraham of the Most High God. And he mentions that three times,
verses 18, 19, and 20. The Most High God. In other words, there may be
some men who have some high position in this world. There may be fallen
angels, there may be elect angels that's holy and they may have
high positions, but who is the most high? Who is over all? Who is above all? God. And that's the way Melchizedek
described Him, the most high God. In other words, He's not
subject to any. He doesn't submit to any. He
really has no rivals. He's the most high God. That's exclusive of God, that
He's above all and over all. And He says something else about
Him here. He not only says He's the Most High God, but He's the
Possessor of heaven and earth. And this word, Possessor, means
several things. It means He's the Architect,
the Creator, the Erector, the Builder and Owner of heaven and
earth. All belongs to Him. He made it. So here you have this priest
living in a heathen land, leading people in worship, and here's
what he's teaching them. God is most high. He's above
all. And He's the architect, the builder,
the maker, the possessor of heaven and earth. And look here in verse
20. He blessed and said, Blessed
be the Most High God which hath delivered thine enemies into
thy hands. And Abraham gave him tithes of
all. Now we know that is the meaning
of that because Hebrews 7 tells us that. But Abraham paid tithes
to this priest. Now you always pay tithes to
a superior. And when Abraham paid tithes
to Melchizedek, he was acknowledging three things. He was acknowledging
that he was inferior to this man, to Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God. Secondly, he was acknowledging
the absolute and exclusive supremacy of the God whom Melchizedek worshipped. He paid him the ten percent,
the tithes, and he was saying, I agree, God is who you say He
is. And thirdly, Abraham was acknowledging
the authority and validity of Melchizedek's office which he
exercised as the high priest of the Most High God. So that's
what we find out about this Melchizedek here, first time he's ever mentioned.
and he brought out this bread and wine. To Abraham who no doubt
was weary, and his servants who were weary, and he gave them
bread and wine, strengthened their body, and cheered their
hearts." That's what he did. Now look at the second place
in Psalms 110 and look in verse 1. This is the second place that
Melchizedek is mentioned. Look here in Psalms chapter 110.
and let's go back up to verse one. Most of you will recognize this
verse when I read it. Psalm 110 verse one. The Lord
said unto my Lord, set thou at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. Now if you want to find out for
sure who this is, you can go to Matthew chapter 22 and verse
44. And the Lord Jesus asked the
Pharisees. He said, who Who is the Christ? What they give Christ, whose
Son is He? They said He's the Son of David. And the Lord Jesus
quoted this verse. He said, okay then, if He's the
Son of David, why did David in spirit call Him Lord? Saying,
the Lord said unto my Lord, said on my right hand. If He's David's
Son, how could He be David's Lord? Well, He's both, isn't
He? But they couldn't answer that.
They didn't know that. But Jesus Christ is David's everlasting
Lord because He was before David was and before Abraham was, but
He was the Son of David in His humanity before He came out of
David's loins. So this is speaking of Jesus
Christ. God said unto Christ, The Lord hath sent the rod of
thy strength out of Zion, rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the
beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning, thou hast the
due of thy youth. And here's the second place he's
mentioned. The Lord hath sworn and will
not repent, thou Christ, thou my Son, art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Now let's turn over to our text
and see how the Apostle Paul interprets some of these things
that we've been reading. He mentions Melchizedek in chapter
5 and verse 10 it says called of God and a high priest after
the order of Melchizedek. And he mentions him again in
the last verse of chapter 6, speaking of Christ the forerunner
is entered into heaven, even Jesus made an high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. And then he goes in our text
in verse 1. Now we know something about verse
1, we already read it in the Old Testament. But look in verse
1, Hebrews chapter 7. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him." Now we know
something about that because we read it, haven't we? But go
on to verse 2, "...to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of
all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after
that also king of salem which is king of peace without father
without mother without descent having neither beginning of days
nor end of life but made like unto the son of god about a priest
continually what the apostle paul is going to do here in this
chapter he's going to continue what he's been doing he's going
to teach them that christ and His priesthood is better than
the Levitical priesthood. We've already saw in chapter
1 that Christ is better than angels. Remember that? Which
of the angels said God at any time? It said on my right hand.
He's better than angels. In the third chapter we saw that
He was better than Moses. He has more glory than Moses.
In the fourth chapter the rest that Christ gives was a better
rest than Joshua gave the children of Israel. because it was rest
concerning salvation, rest for our souls. Come unto Me and I'll
give you rest. It's a heavenly rest too, a rest
that's yet to come. So Christ is better. He's better
than all of them. And here now He's going to teach
us that Christ is better than the Levitical priest. So what do we learn here in verses
1 and 2? Well, we learn that this man,
Melchizedek, this priest, he was king. That's what his name
means. Melchizedek means king of righteousness. He's king of righteousness, and
he was also king of Salem, which is king of peace. He was both king and priest. You know, that's something that
never happened before. All the way through the Old Testament,
you've never seen one man possessing these two offices. He was either
king or priest or priest or king. He never was both. And this describes
for us the Lord Jesus Christ. He is both king and He's priest,
isn't He? He's king of righteousness. Everywhere
we talk about a king shall reign in righteousness. The Lord, our
righteousness. He's brought in an everlasting
righteousness. He's given us righteousness to
justify us. He's the Lord our righteousness.
And He's King of Peace. Listen to Isaiah 9.6. His name
shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. So He's King of righteousness
and He's King of peace. And He made peace, didn't He?
By the blood of His cross. He gives us peace in our hearts,
a peace that passeth all understanding. My peace I give to you, not as
the world gives, give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled.
He's King of peace. King of peace. And He said to
you, He's without a father. You mean Jesus didn't have a
father? In His manhood, He didn't, did He? He was conceived of the
Holy Ghost. And you know, in His Deity, He
didn't have a mother. God don't have a mother. And
He said here that He has no beginning of days nor end of life. The
Everlasting Lord, the Son of God, had no beginning of days
nor end of life in His Deity. So what a beautiful representation
This Melchizedek is, to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
If these Jews could not truthfully deny that Christ was a high priest
after the order of Melchizedek, they couldn't say He's not because
David, hundreds of years before Christ, made this statement,
I swear and will not repent. He's a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. They couldn't deny that, could
they? They knew that Scripture was for the Messiah. They could not deny Melchizedek
was the priest of the Most High God because Abraham bore witness
to his fidelity paying him tithes in the days of his flesh and
therefore acknowledging that he was indeed the priest of the
Most High God. Here are two things they could
not deny. They could not deny that Melchizedek was truly the
priest of the Most High God or their father Abraham would have
contradicted what they said. And they could not deny that
Jesus Christ was a priest after the order of Melchizedek because
David said that in Psalms 110. So this is what we learn here
that Melchizedek was a beautiful type in picture of Jesus Christ.
He was a king. And he was a priest. And you
know something? This is the problem these Jews,
the whole Jewish nation was having up until now. They had already
lost their king. They had no king anymore. Rome
ruled over them. The kings came out of the tribe
of Judah. Where was the tribe of Judah? It had come to nothing. It had come to nothing. So they
lost their king. They weren't about to lose their
priesthood. They were going to hang on to
that Levitical priesthood with all their might. So what the
Apostle Paul is telling them here is another priest was coming. The priesthood was going to be
changed from the Levitical priesthood to one who would be in the order
of Melchizedek. But boy, he couldn't beat them
out of that. They would not turn loose. of their temple worship. You know today they've lost everything,
haven't they? They've lost their prophet. They've lost their priest. They've lost their king. They've
lost their sacrifice. They've lost their temple. They
tremble every day just to keep their lands and to save their
life. They've lost just about everything.
If God would be pleased to open their hearts to see that everything
is restored in one person, Jesus Christ the Lord, oh, they'd be
thrilled to see that. They would be happy to see that.
But their misery to this very day, they can't see that. They've
lost everything and they can't even see that. And that's what
Paul is teaching them here in this chapter. Another one has
come apart from the Levitical priesthood. In chapter 7 and
verses 4, through verse 10. He's going to teach us here that
Abraham was not only inferior to Melchizedek, but Levi, the
father of the priesthood, was also inferior to Melchizedek. Melchizedek was not only like
the Son of God, but the Son of God was so much more superior
to Melchizedek. Melchizedek was just a type of
Christ. And if Melchizedek was superior
to Abraham because Abraham paid him tithes, how much more superior
is Christ, the Son of God, in His priesthood? But look here
how he says it in verse 4, Consider how great this man was, Melchizedek,
unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoil. And verily they that are of the
sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood, have
a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the
law, that is, of their brethren, though they came out of the loins
of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted
from them received tithes of Abraham." That is, Melchizedek
did not come out of any of these tribes. He came out of a completely
different nation. He was not even akin to Abraham.
And He blessed him that had the promises. Melchizedek blessed
Abraham. And without all contradiction,
the less Abraham is blessed of the better, the greater and superior. And here in this priesthood,
Levitical priesthood, men that die receive tithes. all the Levitical
priesthood received tithes of the children of Israel. But there
with Melchizedek, he received them of whom it is witnessed
that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also
who received tithes paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in
the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." And what
Paul is simply proving here is this. Abraham paid tithes to
Melchizedek. And that was proof that Melchizedek
was the priest, the true priest of the Most High God, and that
he was superior to Abraham. So these Jews needed to realize
what kind of a priest was this, that our great father Abraham
that we glory in, that he paid tithes to him, that he honored
him and had so much reverence for him. What is it about this
priest? Well, he was a type of Christ.
He was a picture of Christ. But then he goes on and does
something else. Not only did Abraham pay tithes
to Melchizedek, this priest, but Levi, who was Abraham's great-grandson,
he paid tithes to Melchizedek. How did he do that? Melchizedek
was probably dead when Levi was born. He paid tithes in Abraham. Abraham was his great-grandfather,
so he, Levi, who was the father of all the Levitical priests,
he paid tithes to Melchizedek. What was he acknowledging by
doing that? He was saying, Melchizedek is superior to me. Melchizedek
is superior to the Levitical priesthood. I've often thought
as these Jews got a hold of these epistles, and begin to read them
and see what the apostle was teaching. I bet sometime their
anguish and anger were stirred at this man because Levi, the
father of the priest, they received that priesthood from God. And
they realized how important it was. And now Paul comes here
and proves a point that they can't deny The Levitical priesthood
paid tithes. They paid tithes. And that was
an acknowledgment that we are inferior to the one we pay tithes
to. And who did they pay tithes to?
Melchizedek. And he was no kin to Levi. They paid tithes to him. And
he is like the Son of God. So if he had been a mere man,
And when you think of Melchizedek, don't get caught up with all
this, he was an angel or he was literally the Son of God or he
was Shem or somebody like that. He was just a man. He appeared
on the scene. The Bible doesn't record when
he was born. It doesn't record when he died.
It doesn't record who his dad or mom was. He was just a man. God had called him to be a priest.
But he was just a man. He wasn't the Son of God. He
was just like the Son of God. But he lived, he had a mom and
dad, we just don't know who they were. But he represented to us
Jesus Christ the Lord. And here's the first thing that
Paul proved, his superiority over Abraham. And the Jews loved
Abraham, didn't they? They said, we're children of
Abraham, he's our father. Okay, what did Abraham think
of Melchizedek? He paid him tithe. So look at
the reverence he had for this Melchizedek. He acknowledged
him to be priest of the Most High God. And now here he comes
and David wrote and said, My son, my only begotten son, Jesus
Christ the Lord is going to be a priest like Melchizedek. Boy, you take a Jew that was
honest If he believed this, he couldn't help but see, wait a
minute, something's going on here. Something's going on here.
God has not purposed to keep the Levitical priesthood around
forever. He's purposed that it's going
to be replaced. And here is the one that's going
to replace it. Somebody like Melchizedek. And
who is that? Ain't but one person like that. Ain't but one person like that. Ain't but one person that you
could really and honestly say he had no earthly father. And
in his deity, he had no mother. You can't say of any other man
in this world that he didn't have a beginning. Even Adam had
a beginning, and he doesn't have an end. Who does that apply to? One person, the Son of God. Now next week or next time we
meet we're going to go on and he's going to, I want to read
the rest of this chapter because he's going to give four more
proofs that the priesthood of Jesus Christ is superior. And
that's what he's teaching here in chapter 7. The priesthood
of the Lord Jesus Christ is superior to the Levitical priesthood.
If he can convince these Jews of that, I'm not talking about
the Jews he was writing to. He was writing to encourage them.
But if he can convince these unconverted Jews that the priesthood
of Christ is superior to the Levitical priesthood, they'll
have to give it up. They'll have to give it up for
the superior priesthood. But he goes on here in verses
11 through verse 19, and he tells us that the priesthood could
not make a man perfect or complete. And look what he says here beginning
in verse 11. If therefore perfection, if completeness,
if fullness, were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the
people received the law, what further need was there that another
priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not
be called after the order of Aaron? If the Levitical priesthood
was perfect and it could save people, why did God say all along,
I'm going to replace it? There would be no need to replace
it. But He did because He knew it wasn't perfect. For the priesthood
being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of
the law. For he of whom these things are
spoken pertains to another tribe, of whom no man gave attendance
at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning
priesthood. And it is yet far more evident,
for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another
priest, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment,
but after the power of an endless life. For he testified that our
deprived forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is
verily a disannulling of the commandment gone before, for
the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing
perfect." That is why it was replaced. It made nothing perfect. But the bringing in of a better
hope did, by the which we draw nigh to God. So he's going to
prove, we'll look at this next time, he's going to prove in
these verses that the priesthood was changed. It was changed. And then in verse 20, he's going
to give another argument. verse 20 and verse 21, For as
much as not without an oath was he made priest, for those priests
were made without an oath, but this with an oath by him that
saith unto him, The Lord swear and will not repent, thou art
a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Here is another
way that Christ's priesthood is superior to the Levitical
priesthood. God never swore to Aaron, the
high priest, He never swore to any other priest than the Levitical
priesthood. The only one He ever swore to
that you are a priest forever is His Son, Jesus Christ the
Lord. That makes Him superior by an
oath. Then He goes on here in verse 23 and verse 25. Well, they truly were many priests,
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, because he continueth forever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercessions for them." How is Christ's priesthood
superior? They died and He didn't. There were many of them because
they all died. but His is superior because He
lives forever. And that's one of the reasons
Paul said He could save us forevermore because He ever lives doing this
one thing, making intercession. And then the last proof He gives
that Christ's priesthood is superior over the Levitical priesthood
is found in verse 26 and verse 27. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily, as those priests,
to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sin, and then for
the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself." What was the difference between Christ
and those Levitical priests? They were sinners. And every
day when they offered an offering for somebody else, the first
thing they had to do, even Aaron, he had to bring a sacrifice for
his own sin. Christ didn't have to do that.
He offered for our sins, but he had no sins of his own. He
was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and
made higher than the heavens. And he ends here with verse 28,
and he says this, For the law maketh men high priests, which
have infirmities. And boy, did they ever have infirmities.
But the word of the oath which was since the law maketh the
Son who is consecrated. He's full. He's complete. He's
perfected forevermore. You know what? I am not looking
for another way of access into God's presence. I'm not looking
for another way of salvation. I'm not looking for another road
to heaven. Jesus Christ is the way. He is the way to God. He is salvation. He is the way
to heaven and life eternal. And you're not looking for another
way, and I'm not looking for another way. We have a merciful
and faithful high priest at God's right hand who came to this earth,
satisfied the law, put our sins away with the sacrifice of himself,
was buried, rose again, and ascended to heaven, never to die again.
And he ever lives there at the right hand of God, seemingly
to do nothing but to plead and maintain the cause of his people,
ever living to make intercessions I hope the Lord bless the study
to your hearts. Clarence, would you dismiss us?