Sunday Night, February 18, 2018 PM

Melchizedek, Abram, and the Tithe of the Spoils

Yes. Or I sage you talk about I sage norm. Mm-hmm. Well, it's a good guess. So we know that everything worked a whole lot better before sin. Yeah, I've heard that theory as well, so I mean, I don't know that it's a good question for scientists to work through.

Well, it's it's it's something that an eight-year-old is being told one thing. How does it fit with the Bible and if you just read the Bible with them? So what does that say there? So that would include dinosaurs, right?

Yeah, good dinosaurs and and and then you can read about Adam and the Adam had three sons that we know about and He had other sons and daughters. We don't know their names but certainly Cain. Look at the way Cain and his descendants acted like Lamech and they weren't so much cavemen as Cain men.

Which means they were, you know prideful and violent and they still exist today in various forms. Okay. Well, let's talk about Melchizedek. We learn about Melchizedek from Genesis 14 a very curious incident where Abram Hears about his nephew Lot Who has pitched his tent towards Sodom even now living in Sodom gets caught up into regional warfare where the kings of Sodom Gomorrah Adma and Zebulim refused to pay any more tribute to Cheddar Laramore and Three kings with him and so Cheddar Laramore says well that enough's enough and he gathers his army and he sweeps south and around and Raids and pillages and plunders and beats everybody in his way and he's on his way back north with all the spoil by the time Abram and his 318 trained men with a couple of allies catch up splitting his forces into three groups at night attacks and Successfully routes the enemy and gathers back the people that have been taken captive and all the spoils and Then just kind of out of the blue on their way back Abram says we're going to stop over here and they go to the city of Salem or in the Hebrew Yerushalem Transliterated Jerusalem and so they show up at Jerusalem and out comes the king of Salem his name is Melchizedek, which means king of righteousness and He is priest of God Most High.

He is priest of El Elyon and he comes out and to him Abram gives a tithe of all the spoils and later on the king of Sodom says hey if you'll take all the spoils. That's fine. But let me have all my people back and Abram says I'm gonna take a dime from you.

You can just keep them all keep all the keep all the money. But he made sure to give a tenth to Melchizedek who is and I think that is a signal Abram saying God gave us the victory we're gonna give him the glory and Abram knew about Melchizedek a priest of God Most High and Melchizedek Specifically speaks of the God whom he serves as the same God of Abram that Abram serves.

They have this Camaraderie this brotherhood in their worship of the one true God. We don't know how Abram came to know who Melchizedek was. How it was that they first had this relation just kind of pops up out of the blue.

Which again reminds me of what Ishraw and Moodley are talks about an Old Testament scholar the Old Testament Saints knew more and believed more than what was written down. Because how did Abram know this and how did Melchizedek know God and how is there a priest in Jerusalem?

You know a thousand years before David conquers the city just amazing things to think about. Well as we think about Melchizedek It's a very surprising thing and certainly it demonstrates that Abram is casting His lot with God and not with the king of Sodom like his nephew lot did.

He's with he's with God. He's trusting in El Elyon and and and not in mankind. And it just kind of shows that Abram wants to all the glory to go to God. He specifically says to the king of Sodom I'm not going to take a sandal strap from you lest you say I have made Abram rich.

He wants God to get all the glory. Well, that's a remarkable story in and of itself, but it's not the last time that we hear about Melchizedek so for the next time is a psalm 110. Psalm 110 is remarkable for more than one reason.

I suppose the most remarkable thing about this psalm is That we have David king in Judah king of All the land and he is Allowed to eavesdrop in a sense on a conversation on a Communication between God the Father and God the Son an inter Trinitarian dialogue.

Those are fairly rare in Scripture. David says the Lord said to my Lord now. Let's you know, hey, let's let's figure that out. David is the King. All right. Now we don't live in a kingdom. So maybe we need a refresher course in a kingdom.

Who's in charge and Who bosses him around. No, buddy. That was pretty funny though, she said the Queen does yes full points Aaron excellent. But the king is in charge and nobody is supposed to boss him around but David as the king says the Lord Says to My Lord.

David's just listening in The Lord Yahweh, we know who that is is God I am and The Lord is speaking to somebody who's David's Lord who's in charge of David. Well, who's that? So this is why we're saying it's it's David listening in to an inter Trinitarian Conversation.

The father says to the son or the Lord says to my Lord sit at my right hand that sounds really familiar. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. A remarkable statement being spoken a thousand years before God the Son takes on human flesh in the name Jesus over a thousand years before Christ dies upon the cross raises from the dead ascends to heaven to the right hand.

Before this happens now, of course to the Lord what is time to God? What is time a thousand years? Is it's a day and the days is a thousand years. What what. But the Godhead speaks is spoken outside of time and revealed to us in time so that's very hard to understand.

But David hears this by God's intention. Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies a footstool for your feet very clearly. David is King in Jerusalem, but there was a greater King than he. He's a placeholder for the one who is truly to reign in Zion.

There is a greater King than David. The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion saying rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will volunteer freely in the day of your power and Holy Array from the womb of the dawn.

Your youth are to you as the dew in other words Those whom this Lord. Those whom this one reigning from Zion will rule over his. The number of his subjects are More than the droplets of dew given birth by the morning.

And so this is a this is a variant on God's promise to Abram. Of his descendants being as numerous as the stars of the heavens and more numerous than the sand on the seashore. It's another way of saying it and then we come to verse 4 the Lord has sworn.

And will not change his mind. So the father says to the son. This is more listening in you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek and once again, the name just kind of pops out of nowhere.

Didn't expect this one. Interesting thought that's something that One of the older commentators noted that I found very interesting. Who was King in? Jerusalem during Abraham's time. Melchizedek. And he worshipped the one true God.

There he was king in Jerusalem, we don't know anything else about Jerusalem until we get around to the time of David and it's filled up with Jebusites. Arrogant little hotheads saying yeah. Our our cripples can hold off the best of David's army and David says watch this.

And he goes up and takes the city. Now David is the very first God-fearing king that we know of in the scripture to sit on Melchizedek's throne. In Jerusalem, what might have David found in Jerusalem that Melchizedek left behind?

We don't know. But Melchizedek was a priest of God Most High and he was king in that city. He worshipped the Lord he knew who the Lord was. God had revealed himself to Melchizedek and there's nothing said in Genesis 14 of the nature of his priesthood prefiguring anything about Jesus Christ.

About the seed that was promised in Genesis 3. But when David sits on Melchizedek's throne There in Jerusalem, what was what was left behind from Melchizedek's day that impacted David? That made him say something like this.

This is remarkable you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Now, there's some interesting things about this. I think one of the things is that We have this blending of Two offices.

Okay, so we have priest and we have king now in Genesis, I believe that Chapter 14, I'm trying to check. I think Chapter 14 is the first time maybe not at least one of the first times we hear about a king in Canaan and We hear about a priest and they're put together in the same person.

But when we think about the history of Israel. They had priests first of all, didn't they? Okay with with Aaron Aaron and Moses both Levites. But there is this ironic priesthood beginning with Aaron and passed down through the sons that survived and Then we have Kings starting in the days of Samuel.

Much like a protest against God not doing a good enough job. And of course God judges them by giving them Saul and then blesses them by giving them David who is the first really good king of God's people.

But the king was not a priest even though he was to be holy and to worship the Lord and The priest was not a king, although he did have some kind of authority, right? These were distinct offices, weren't they?

Now there was no such predilections about a king being a prophet after all David was called a prophet. David was called a prophet and There were priests who were prophets as well in the Old Testament, but the priest-king combination was not allowed.

There's a story in 2nd Chronicles 26 Uzziah. Was it Uzziah? Who tried this? He went in he was full of pride and he went in to the temple and he was going to do the incense he was going to be a priest a king a priest king and The priest said you know, you're out of your league here.

You're not supposed to be in here. You shouldn't do that and he did it. Anyway, he broke out in leprosy instantly and the rest of his days He was in seclusion for breaking this barrier, but with Melchizedek This was combined and this was a good thing and This makes him an excellent prefigurement of Jesus Christ in whose person the offices of priest and king are combined so what God revealed to David in Psalm 110 is this picture of a king who reigns at the right hand and is also a priest all at the same time a very clear messianic prophecy of Jesus Christ.

Melchizedek and the Priesthood of Christ in Hebrews

Now when we get to Hebrews 7, of course, you know, most of Hebrews is talking about the superiority of Melchizedek as the high priest who fulfills All of what the priesthood was to do and we find that Jesus Christ is most excellently suited to the office of a priest.

The office of the priest embraced three functions. It was the offering of sacrifices. Intercession and giving blessings. Nobody does that better than Jesus Christ who offered up his own blood and the true Holy of Holies.

Who intercede at the father's right hand no better place for intercession and all of God's blessings are to us through him no better person to fill this role and Melchizedek is Prefigurement of Christ.

Now verse 1 of chapter 7 says 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 to whom also Abraham a portion a tenth of all spoils Was first of all by the translation of his name king of righteousness and also the king of Salem, which is king king of peace.

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. Now verse 3 is full of questions. But we should read it like Jews.

Okay. Now the point that the preacher of the Hebrews is making is That Melchizedek is a priest of God Most High. But he is so not by any qualifications of his genealogy. Right Phineas Was a priest because of who Aaron was okay, but Melchizedek was priest not because of his father or mother.

They're not even listed. He doesn't have a genealogy. That's not what makes him priest. He's a priest but without that genealogical Prerequisites to be priest at which the preacher of the Hebrews is building up to something.

I mean Jesus Christ was his genealogy. Oh, he was born of Mary, but he had no earthly father and he's not even of the tribe of Levi. So, why are we calling him a priest? Well, hey Melchizedek didn't have this genealogy.

Did he and he was a great priest far greater than Levi because because far greater than those of the Levites because Abraham was giving tithes to Melchizedek. Melchizedek is obviously greater than Abraham and in like manner Melchizedek is prefiguring Christ.

He was greatest priest of all. And it says that he is having neither beginning of days nor end of life meaning Melchizedek, there's no record of When he began to live or when he died. But that was a big concern about the Levitical priesthood because the Levitical priesthood was based on who you succeeded and who succeeded you and It was a very very big concern about and we'll see this later in Hebrews that the priest the Levitical priests Could not be a priest forever.

But one would die another one had to serve and then they would die another one had to serve and so on and so forth. But that's not like what was with Melchizedek. We don't have any concern about that and with Christ he He serves as a priest forever and it says but but Melchizedek was made like the Son of God so he was made like the Son of God in in a term in terms of an analogy of a Prefigurement as a type and he remains a priest perpetually or continually.

There is no cessation of his of the office of the priesthood when it comes to Melchizedek I Think it's important to note a few things now again. You could read it in one way to say that Melchizedek Was just like the Son of God.

In that he had no beginning and he has no end which makes him divine. And that He is in that sense still a priest. But that is definitely not the point that the writer of the to the Hebrews is trying to make he says that As great as Melchizedek was He was made like unto the Son of God Christ.

It the whole point of Melchizedek was the point to the Son of God and and certainly the preacher to the Hebrews is not trying To say there's a competing eternal priesthood alongside that of Christ. He's saying Melchizedek was a type of one who was to come borrow a language from Paul.

So that that's the best way to read it. This is the think the writers of the Hebrews is taking his cue. From the way that David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Treated Melchizedek in Psalm 110.

That Melchizedek was to point forward to Christ. Where we have the king and priest offices combined in a perpetual superior priesthood to that of the Levites. That's basically its point and we have time for about 12 complicated questions before we.

Questions About Psalm 110 and Melchizedek

No, I'm serious if there's something really really bugging you we can talk about it. We're about five minutes over. Yes Yes I think as you as you the translators are trying to give us a sense of the flow of the words.

So you see in verse 1 the Lord says to my Lord and then the quotation marks Sit up my right hand till I make your enemies a footstool for your feet and you see the same pattern there in verse 4 The Lord has sworn will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. So I think it that stands in parallel to explain. Well save your questions about Melchizedek for next week. We can talk about it more if you want.

It's a hard Topic to get in in a brief amount of time. Let's go ahead.