Who is Melchizedek?, Part 2

Turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter 7 Hebrews chapter 7, looking and answering the question, who is Melchizedek? Hebrews is a Jewish book It's written to the Hebrews, it's Jewish people And so for you to better understand Judaism, we study the book of Hebrews because Christianity is rooted in Judaism Christianity is the fruit of Judaism And so you need to understand how it all began with the Jewish nation And the book of Hebrews is about that

And so as we study the book, we realize that the author is trying to help this Jewish audience to recognize the beauty and supremacy of Jesus Christ our Lord That he is the Messiah of Israel And as the Messiah of Israel, he is the king of the earth And as the king of the earth, he is the one to be worshipped because he ushers in a new covenant, a better covenant than the old covenant And to understand Judaism, you need to understand the priesthood And Hebrews 7, 8, and 9 focus in on the priesthood of Israel and how it is Jesus Christ is the ultimate high priest

And so we began looking last week at who is Melchizedek by looking at three particular points The first one is that Melchizedek is a picture The picture of Melchizedek Why is that important? Because we told you last week that he is a type of Christ Typology is an Old Testament picture of the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord

Now last week as we were talking, some of you got a little glassy-eyed and some of you got a little deer-in-the-headlight kind of look as to, man, what are you talking about? This is way, way beyond us. I came to fix my marriage and you're talking about Melchizedek. I come to get some word of encouragement You're talking to me about the Judaistic priesthood Well, listen, everything is about the Christ And if you come to know the Christ and understand the Christ, then everything in your life pales in comparison to who he is And so we want you to understand Jesus Christ our Lord

To understand that, you need to understand this guy named Melchizedek because he is a type of Christ He is a picture of Christ that's been painted in the Old Testament and now has come to fruition in the New Testament as you understand who Jesus Christ is So typology is very important And we talked to you about different types in Scripture There are places, there are people, there are events and situations that paint that picture We talked to you about the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage That was a type of Christ We talked to you about the brazen serpent in the wilderness

That was a type of Christ Jonah in the big fish was a type of Christ, the resurrection of Christ And so there are many typologies in Scripture And there are different men like Benjamin and Joseph, like Isaac in the Old Testament All of those are types But remember the type pales in comparison to the reality So you need to understand the picture of Melchizedek because if he's the picture, he is painted to show you who Christ is But once the real comes, Jesus Christ comes, it pales in comparison It's like a picture

When you look at a picture on the wall, you can see the beauty of the picture, but you can't really get into the real thing until you're actually in the picture And Jesus Christ is the reality And so the Old Testament paints pictures Melchizedek is one of those pictures that's painted And that's what led us to the second point, the passage concerning Melchizedek It's in Genesis chapter 14, because that's the first place he's mentioned And then for a thousand years later, he's mentioned in Psalm 110 verse number four And then a thousand years later, he's mentioned in the book of Hebrews

So there's this big gap between what he's mentioned, but the two times he's mentioned in the Old Testament is the encounter with Abraham in Genesis 14, and then that Messianic Psalm, which every Jew knows is Messianic, Psalm 110, and is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament is about Christ being in the order of Melchizedek That's very, very important

So the question comes, who is Melchizedek? And what does that mean for us who are here today? And how do we understand that? So you look at the picture of Melchizedek in the Old Testament, then you look at the passages surrounding Melchizedek himself, and then you look at the preeminence of Melchizedek over the Levitical priesthood, and that's in Hebrews chapter 7 And the preeminence of Melchizedek over the Levitical priesthood is absolutely important And there are five things you need to understand We gave you two of them last week

We gave you the universality of his priesthood and the royalty of his priesthood Very, very important Why? Listen to what it says in Hebrews chapter 7 verse number 1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him Now, why is that important? Because it speaks to a priesthood that's universal versus a priesthood that's national

Remember, we told you this last week that the Jews saw their God, Jehovah, based on the four Hebrew letters in the book of Exodus, because those four Hebrew consonants in the book of Exodus speak to the name of God When Moses asked, what is your name? And the Lord God from the burning bush said, I am that I am And those four Hebrew consonants make it the name of God So Israel looked at Jehovah as their God They personalized their God And all throughout the Old Testament, God referred to Israel as my people, my people, my people

Those of you who have been to Israel with me, we go on top of Masada The only reason we go to Masada, which is the the most frequented visited site in all of Israel, is because of one thing and one thing only And that is the scroll of Ezekiel 37 that was found in the synagogue on top of Masada during the time it was being excavated back in the early 70s Because in that scroll, God refers to Israel as my people, my people, my people Because that's how they were viewed and that's what God called them So they saw Jehovah as their God because they were his people They're the chosen, chosen nation

He chose Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, brought him across the river He started a nation with Abraham, the Jewish nation They were his people He was their God And so if that's the case, then if Israel was Jehovah's people, then Israel's priesthood is Jehovah's priesthood And that's how they saw themselves Because when they were offering sacrifices for the sins of the people, they didn't offer sacrifices for anybody else other than God's people They didn't offer sacrifices for the Canaanites and Jebusites and Canaanites and everybody else on the outside

They only offered sacrifices for the Jewish people because they were God's priests And along comes Melchizedek before, before the nation itself ever existed And he was a priest But he wasn't a priest to Jehovah in their sense of the word He was a priest of the Most High God And that's what it says in the book of Genesis It's El Elyon, which speaks to the fact that he is the Most High God who possesses heaven and earth And Abraham, as you recall back in Genesis chapter 14, verse number 22, he told the king of Sodom that he offered gifts to the Lord, the Most High God

So Abraham recognized El Elyon because Melchizedek was a king priest according to the Most High God In other words, Israel's priesthood was limited and Melchizedek's priesthood was unlimited In other words, Israel's priesthood was limited only to the Jewish people, but Melchizedek's priesthood was universal That's why he is preeminent over Israel's priesthood because it encompasses everybody That's why he's the savior of the world Remember in that in Matthew chapter 1 when the Lord said to Joseph you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin

Which would emphasize the fact that Jehovah is a savior of the Jewish people, but he really is a savior of the entire world because he is El Elyon, the God Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth You follow that through? You see that? So that's very very important So Melchizedek as a type of Christ is superior over the Levitical priesthood because he is a universal priest, not just a national priest So the universality of his priesthood makes him preeminent Number two, the royalty of his priesthood makes him preeminent

Now I know I'm reviewing, but you know a lot of you were gone for President's Weekend last week, so I got to get you caught up to speed And for the rest of you, well, you were so glassy-eyed last week you forgot what I was saying So the royalty of his priesthood because he is the king of Salem He's a king He's a king So in Israel's economy, they knew nothing of a priestly king or a king who was a priest because that didn't happen In Israel's economy, the priests were subject to the kings And never, never did God allow the priests to operate as kings or the kings to operate as priests

That was a specific function of the tribe of Levi But yet, before the nation was ever born, this is very, very important, before the nation was ever, ever born, right? Before the seed ever came to Abraham, which is Isaac, before he was ever born, there was a priest who was a king His name? Melchizedek He was a priest to the Most High God Now, why is this important? Because remember, in Hebrews chapter 6, Abraham becomes the quintessential illustration because he is the father of the nation Everybody knows Abraham Everybody loves Abraham Everybody believes in Abraham

All those who believe fall under the category of Abraham because he believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness So he becomes the quintessential illustration in Hebrews chapter 6 of somebody who never kept any laws, any rituals, because none of them had existed yet He just believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness

So he continues on with the illustration in Hebrews chapter 7 because Abraham is still the central figure when it comes to Melchizedek and the priesthood, and that's how he's going to introduce the priesthood that's superior to the Levitical priesthood as he goes through this letter he's writing to those in Hebrews Or the synagogue or however many people it was he was addressing Very, very important The context is crucial And so he says that this Melchizedek was a priest who was a king He was the king of Salem, king of Jerusalem

It used to be used to be called Jebus because the Jebusites occupied Jerusalem before King David would would overrun the Jebusites So there was a king in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem before David was king in Jerusalem His name? Melchizedek Very, very important Why? Why is that important? Why would God have a king in Jerusalem before Isaac was born, the nation was birthed, they had been led out of Egypt, and they settled in the land of Canaan, and David became king after King Saul, and Jerusalem became the city of peace Because in Psalm 132, this is what the psalmist says

Verse number 13, for the Lord has chosen Zion Zion is a place, and Zion is a people The place is Jerusalem, and the people are the Jewish nation And it says, for the Lord has chosen Zion He has desired it for his habitation This is my resting place forever Here I would dwell, for I have desired it Of all the places in the world, Psalm 87, yeah, Psalm 87, verse number two, the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other places of Jacob Why is that? Well, Psalm 132 tells you why It's because that's where he dwells That's where his presence is Now, we know he's omnipresent

We know he's everywhere, right? But yet, he specifically uses Zion, he specifically uses Jerusalem as his dwelling place Because he loves that place more than all the other gates of Jacob Did you know? Did you know that there is an archaeological dig going on in the city of David, even as we speak? It's been going on for years But do you know that in their digging, they believe that they have come across the gates that Abraham would have walked through to pay tribute to Melchizedek 4,000 years ago This is very important

And if you go back to Psalm 9, Psalm 9, verse number 11, sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion This is his dwelling place, okay? So before the nation was birthed, before there was a Levitical priesthood, before Israel had a king, there was a priest who was a king His name is Melchizedek So because of his universality, he is a universal king and priest And because of his royalty, he is superior over the priesthood of Israel You with me so far? Nope Okay, so that's where we were last week Just got to get you caught up to speed because you need to understand this Very, very important

If you come to grips with this, you begin to realize how supreme, how sufficient, how marvelous Jesus Christ is And so remember, Israel believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob They believed his name was Yahweh, or as we call him, Jehovah But he goes way beyond that He's El Elyon The Lord, God, most high, who possesses all of heaven and all of earth And that God is a delivering God That God is a saving God So, point number three

Not only because of the universality of his priesthood, and the royalty of his priesthood, is Melchizedek more supreme than the priesthood of Israel, but also because of the quality of Melchizedek Very important, because he is called the king of righteousness and the king of peace His name, Melchizedek, means king of righteousness Salem, or Jerusalem, means city of peace So, Melchizedek is the king of righteousness He is the king of peace So, whatever he did, he did in a righteous way, and he did it for the peace of the people

Now, we don't know much about Melchizedek other than Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 But what it says about him speaks to the quality of his person Now, remember, in Israel's priesthood, they would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people of God In order that somehow the people would be able to get to God, because priests were bridge builders They had to receive somehow the forgiveness of sins, and it happened through God's ordained process, through animal sacrifices And through that blood sacrifice, without the shedding of blood, there was no remission of sins

But in Hebrews chapter 9, it says that all the blood of all the goats and all the bulls could never take away Israel's sin Now, it would cover their sin, right? And so when they would sin, they would go in and offer a sacrifice, their sin would be covered, and at that point they'd have peace with God And then on their way out, and then coming across their neighbor, they might sin again, and if they were going to get right with God, they had to go right back in and offer another sacrifice, and they had to seek peace with God There was nothing temporary, nothing permanent about it

It was all temporary, because all of it prefigured the ultimate sacrifice that was going to come See, this is very, very important, because what was happening in the sacrificial system was a type of Christ That lamb that would be sacrificed was a type of Christ, because he is the lamb who takes away the sins of the world That's what John the Baptist said, behold the lamb of God, he takes away the sins of the world Their sins had been covered, but never taken away, never removed, because the Levitical system only would cover their sins for a brief moment, until they sinned again

And they had to go back in and offer another sacrifice It was only temporary And through that sacrifice, they then would obtain some semblance of peace with God until they sinned again There was no permanent peace There was no permanent righteousness Even Melchizedek could not give them permanent righteousness or permanent peace, but he's the type Because he's the king of righteousness, he's the king of peace, and Christ, according to Jeremiah 23, 5, and 6, the branch, the Messiah is the Lord of Righteousness The Lord of Righteousness

And according to Zechariah chapter 6, verse number 12, it is that branch who is a priest who sits on his throne So they knew that the Messiah would be the Lord of Righteousness They knew the Messiah would be a king, a priest, who would sit on his throne And all of it was about the descendant of David So what the New Testament does, it connects all the dots for us It puts everything into proper perspective for us And that's what the writer of Hebrews is trying to do Because Christ's priesthood was based on who he was The quality of his person He is the Son of God

That's why Melchizedek is made like unto the Son of God He is not the Son of God, but he's made like the Son of God So he's a type of the Son of God Because he is the king of righteousness, he is the king of peace And by the way, that's always the order Remember what Paul said in Romans 14, 17? The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but it's what? Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit Without righteousness, there is no peace Without peace, there is no joy The order is significant That's what the kingdom of God is

It's righteousness, man being declared right with God, therefore having the peace of God, therefore experiencing the joy of God That's what the kingdom of God is Having been justified by faith, having been declared right by faith, Romans 5, 1, man is at peace with God But the permanency of that only comes when Messiah arrives Everything up till then was symbolic, prefigured the coming of the ultimate sacrifice Now, you've heard me say this over the years before, this is so important because remember, the Messiah is referred to as a lamb, okay? One time in the Old Testament

The Passover, everything about the Passover, about the sacrifice of the lamb, where the Jewish people would take that lamb into their home for three days, and they would love on that lamb and care for that lamb, and then they would slaughter the lamb, okay? All symbolic But the Passover symbolized Christ, 1 Corinthians 5, 7, who is our Passover, who was sacrificed for us And so in all their sacrificial system, it prefigured the ultimate sacrifice that would completely remove all their sins Because up to now everything was covered, but it was not removed

But only one time in the Old Testament does Messiah specifically refer to as a lamb That's Isaiah chapter 53 In the New Testament, he's referred to as a lamb twice in the book of John, once in the book of Acts, and once in 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter's epistle Okay? So four times in the New Testament, Jesus is specifically referred to as the lamb But in the book of Revelation, at the very end, he's referred to as lamb, who knows, how many times? 28 times. 28 times in the book of Revelation Why? Because throughout all eternity, he will be seen as the lamb who was slain Worship is the lamb

Blessed is the lamb Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive glory and honor and praise This becomes very significant And so when you realize who the Messiah is, who the lamb of God is, and realize the quality of his being, he far supersedes anything that happens in the Judaic system So Melchizedek becomes the type of king who is righteous and brings peace to man, not just temporarily, but ultimately, permanently Very, very important So the universality of his priesthood, the royalty of his priesthood, the quality of his priesthood, and then thirdly, the dignity of his priesthood

Listen to what it says Hebrews chapter 7 To whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils was first of all by the translation of his name, King of Righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is King of Peace Verse 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life Now this is where most commentators who believe that that Melchizedek is a pre-incarnate Christ a Christophany, an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament before the incarnation, that Melchizedek would fit that role because he has no genealogy He has no father

He has no mother He is has no beginning He has no end That's got to be the Christ, right? Who else could it possibly be? Why would the writer of Hebrews put this in here? This is so beautiful Why? All it means is that there is no record in Genesis of his genealogy In other words, he has no father or mother There is no record of his genealogy There is no beginning There is no end Okay? That's all it means

Why is that important? If I'm a Jew, the only way I can be a priest is if I'm born in the tribe of Levi. I'm a descendant of Aaron. I can't be a priest if I'm of the tribe of Judah. I can't be a priest if I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I can only be a priest if I'm in the tribe of Levi Because you see, Israel was more concerned about their pedigree than their purity So if I am of the tribe of Levi, I can be a priest even though I might be a debauched person. I can still be a priest Because I've been born into the right tribe

Everything was based on their pedigree, had nothing to do with their purity That's why Melchizedek is different Because he was trying to show that Melchizedek was a priest long before there was ever the Levitical priesthood, those from the tribe of Levi See? Because if there existed another priesthood before Israel's priesthood, if there existed another king of righteousness before Israel had a king, then why could there not be a king and a priest? After Israel That's superior to Israel See, that's very important to understand

So he's trying to get them to grasp the importance of Melchizedek who was king not because he inherited the, or he was a priest, not because he inherited the priesthood Because he didn't He was from a different order than the Levitical priesthood And yet he was a priest to the Most High God He was a universal king priest He had a priesthood that was all-encompassing, not just a national priesthood And he was a priest not because he was born in the tribe of Levi You couldn't trace his priesthood back to Aaron Because Aaron didn't even exist yet See? Very important Isaac didn't exist yet

All this is crucial to understand Why? Because Jesus, the ultimate priest, is not from the tribe of Levi So how can he be a priest? He's from the tribe of Judah That's why the rite of Hebrews has to put this in here Because if there existed a priest to the Most High God who wasn't from the tribe of Levi, okay, which in the Levitical system you had to be, how do you let the Messiah be a priest when he's not from the tribe of Levi? Because the prophet said in Zechariah 6, the priest, the branch, will sit on his throne The tribe of Judah was the kingly tribe, right? Genesis 49, 10

The scepter should not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes, the one to whom it belongs, right? To the Messiah comes The scepter shall not depart from Judah until the one, the Messiah, to whom it belongs, arrives Because he is the ultimate king But this king was not just any king He would be the king priest in Israel That's why it's so important You see, Christ is a priest because of who he is, not because of where he was born or what line he was born in

Now, Kisadek is a priest not born in the line of Aaron, in the tribe of of Levi, because he existed way beyond that, way before that, excuse me, and by the way, he existed beyond that Which speaks of the fifth element, not only because of his universality, his royalty, his quality, his dignity, but also because of his perpetuity, his continuing on Look what it says It says these words It says, Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually

Well, does that mean he lives forever? No That just means the order of the priesthood of Melchizedek continues on It doesn't mean he continues on Listen, everybody, oh, by the way, the word without genealogy is a unique word, only used one time in scripture and nowhere else found in Greek literature Nowhere else It's not found in any Greek literature anywhere because everybody has a father, everybody has a mother So it's a word you never have to use, right? But the Holy Spirit uses a word not used in any Greek literature anywhere, only used one time in the Bible, it's used right here

Because everybody has a genealogy Everybody has a father, everybody has a mother But there just happens to be no record of Melchizedek's father or mother Without father, without mother, without genealogy, right? No beginning, no end Why? Because it's a perpetual priesthood It continues on The order of Melchizedek continues on, like Christ himself is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek Hebrews 5 verse number 6, Hebrews 6 verse number 20, taken from Psalm 110 verse number 4, to show you the perpetuity, the continuation of the priesthood of the Messiah Melchizedek is a type of Christ

He is not the Christ He is not the real thing He is a picture of what's about to come and the one that he pictures has arrived He is Jesus Christ and that is the argument in the book of Hebrews He is superior to everything, every angel, every prophet, every king He's superior to the old covenant and that's what his argument is going to be throughout Hebrews 7, 8 and 9 Everything about the old covenant pales in comparison to the coming of the Messiah who is a fulfillment of all the law and all the prophets who ushers in a better covenant, the new covenant that he ratified with his blood

See that? That's why you need to understand the preeminency of Melchizedek over the Levitical priesthood So we've seen, number one, the picture of Melchizedek, the passage surrounding Melchizedek, the preeminence of Melchizedek, and now I want you to see the prominence of Melchizedek over even father Abraham Why is this important? Because if he is preeminent over father Abraham, and the Jewish nation is the descendant from father Abraham, he's greater than the Jewish nation He's greater than all the tribe of Levi

He's greater than all the kings, because all the kings in Judaism, all the priests in Judaism, are in the loins of their father Abraham And if Melchizedek is superior to Abraham, then all Israel is superior to Melchizedek And if Christ is in the order of Melchizedek, everybody is inferior to the superior Christ, the Messiah That make sense? You with me so far? You get that? I don't want to lose you. I, you know, some of you out there thinking, man, where is he going? You need to understand this

So, so verses four down to the end, down to verse 10, are a lot of words that say basically three things Let me read them to you, because we didn't read them last week Hebrews chapter seven, verse number four Now, observe how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch, which means what? First father, right? Abraham's the first father, first father of the, of the Jewish nation Observe how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the choicest spoils

And those indeed of the sons of Levi who received the priest's office have commandment in the law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham, but the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises But without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater In this case, mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them of whom it is witnessed that he lives on And so to speak through Abraham, even Levi who received tithes, paid tithes

For he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him All that says is three things, okay? Number one, Melchizedek recognized, I'm sorry, Abraham recognized Melchizedek's position Melchizedek rewarded Abraham's submission And Melchizedek reveals Christ's perfection That's all it says First of all, Abraham recognizes Melchizedek's position Now remember, Abraham went to war He had to rescue his nephew Lot because Sodom had been taken captive

Some of the inhabitants of Sodom were taken captive and the spoils of Sodom and other cities had been taken captive by the four kings from the east And so Abraham went after his nephew, brought him back, and when they went to war, those kings fled, leaving all the spoils So Abraham collected all the spoils They're all his now, okay? On his way back, he encounters not just the king of Sodom, but Melchizedek, the king of peace, the king of righteousness In Genesis chapter 14, it says he gives him, as Hebrews records it, the choice spoils Okay, it literally translated the heap on top

That's how you translate it The heap on top, which means the best of what there is And Abraham, in coming across Melchizedek, recognizes his position as a king and priest to El-Elyon, the Most High God Now, we don't know what Abraham knows about Melchizedek, and we don't know what Melchizedek knows about Abraham We have no idea what each of them knew because the Bible doesn't tell us But we do know this, that when Abraham came across him, he would give him the choice spoils He would give him the best of what he had captured, the best that he had, he gave to Melchizedek

And listen very carefully, very important He gave a tenth of what he had without obligation He gave a tenth of what he had without the law, telling him he had to give a tenth because the law had not been given yet He gave a tenth of what he had because the tenth of what he had was the best of all that he had As Melchizedek is a type of Christ, so Abraham, in his giving, is a type for the believer He pictures in the Old Testament the giving patterns of the believers who will follow Not, listen, not in how much he gave a tenth, but in how he gave

He gave as a priority and he gave out of his generosity and he gave freely without any obligation That is a pattern of New Testament giving Generously, freely, without obligation or compulsion, but as the number one priority of a worshipful life when you understand the King of Righteousness, who is the King of Peace That make sense? That's very, very important He gave the choice of spoils That's why, that's why the Lord God condemned those in the book of Malachi, because they brought him the lame and they brought him those that were the best when it came to sacrifices

And God says, I don't want that. I don't want your lame sacrifices. I don't want anything other than your best. I don't want your leftovers If you're going to give me leftovers, don't give anything Give me your best That's what God wants That's what God deserves He deserves our best He doesn't deserve leftovers Abraham didn't say, you know, I'm keeping this for me and I'm going to give this to my nephew Lot. I'm going to give this to Sarah because, oh, Sarah just needs some new jewelry

So I'm going to give it to Sarah because she does look really pretty when she goes before the King of Righteousness, the King of Peace So I'm going to give this to Sarah. I'm going to give this to Lot. I'm going to give this to some of my farmhands. I'm going to give this to some of my soldiers And then whatever's left over, I'm going to give to the King himself So what he did, he gathered it all together, picked out that which was the best, the heap of the top and said, here, I'm giving this to you because I'm in the worship of El Elyon, the God Most High

See that? How about you? What do you do? What do you do when you give? You give the leftovers? Not how much do you give? But do you give freely? Do you get the best of what you have? Remember that song, Give of Your Best to the Master? Great hymn, just a beautiful song about giving God the best, not just of my treasures, but giving the best of my time, right? Giving the best of my talents We talked about this on Wednesday night, presenting your body as a living sacrifice That's Abraham's life That's what he did

But Abraham recognized, recognized Melchizedek's position as King of Righteousness, as King of Peace, to the Most High God And in giving it to that King, he in essence was giving it to the Lord God, not just of Israel, but of the world, the possessor of heaven and earth, which by the way, is very unique because he gives it to the God who has everything Why do I give to the God who has everything? Does he need something? No, he doesn't need a thing He just wants our lives He wants us Abraham models that But on the other hand, Melchizedek rewards Abraham's submission

Abraham recognizes Melchizedek's position, but Melchizedek rewards Abraham's submission He blesses Abraham He gives honor to Abraham The Lord God said, he who honors me, I will honor The King of Righteousness, the King of Peace rewards Abraham Now, did he know that Abraham was the father of a nation or going to be a father of a nation before it was born yet? Don't know Have no idea But the Bible tells us very clearly that it says, but the one whose genealogy is not traced from them, collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises Abraham had the promises

Abraham had the promises Now, listen, all the Levites, all the tribe of the Levite, the priestly tribe, okay, were paid by everybody in Israel giving a tenth to the tribe of Levi See, that's how they were, that's how they were taken care of All the tribes paid a tenth to that tribe And so Abraham, before Aaron, before the tribe of Levi, before the priesthood, before the law, gave a tenth to Melchizedek

And because they're all in the loins of Abraham to begin with, because he is the father of the nation, the great father, they in essence are submitting to Melchizedek through Abraham when Abraham honors Melchizedek So if Melchizedek is superior to Abraham, he is superior to all of Israel And if he's superior to all of Israel and Jesus Christ is in the order of Melchizedek as priest and Christ is the perfect King of righteousness and the perfect King of peace, then everybody is submissive to that King, Jesus Christ alone And that's how Melchizedek, see, reveals Christ's perfection

Because from here on out, the writer of Hebrews is just going to let this thing snowball as he gets deeper and deeper into the old covenant and how the new covenant is better than the old because the new covenant was ratified by the blood of the Messiah, the Lamb of God, who takes away all of their sin See, because Christ was able to remove their sin so they would not have to keep going back and back and back, offering sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice day after day, year after year Why? Because there was a sacrifice that was once for all, sacrifice of Christ

And when you believe that and embrace that sacrifice for your sins, not only are your sins forgiven, but you're at peace with the living God And when you're at peace with God, there is always joy Let me pray with you Father, we thank you for today Thank you for the opportunity to look once again into the word of the Lord, to study all this there And Lord, there's so much more we could say We pray that what was said today would open all of our eyes to the truth of your word

Our prayer, Lord, is that you would take your word and plant it deep in our hearts, that everyone in the room would know the true king of righteousness, the true king of peace Because through you comes a permanent standing in the presence of the living God For that we are grateful in Jesus name Amen.