Our High Priest

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. I'm so glad to be with you this morning. You know yesterday we didn't get to do coffee and devotions. Nope. There we go. Computer was talking back to me. Yesterday I was sitting right here ready to do coffee and devotions with you and my computer died. Well, it was about to die. Gave me the plug it in soon warning. And of course my little laptop cord was at the house in the basement near the children's bedroom. where they were sleeping. So I did not want to wake them up and then the day got busy. So I'm sorry, I wasn't able to get on here yesterday, but we'll make that up. It's okay. Why don't we have some coffee?
We'll pray and we'll get in the Lord's word. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the blessing it is to come to your word, the blessing it is to worship you, the blessing it is to have your word in a language we can understand. Father, we pray that as we read it, that you would work in our hearts that we might understand it. And that it would not just be knowledge in our minds, but it would change the way we live in our eternal reality.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we are at Genesis chapter 14. Genesis chapter 14 and we're at verse 18. Kind of an interesting story, a little bit cryptic maybe. But also very helpful for what's going on in the rest of scripture and even what's going on in heaven now.
So why don't we go ahead and get into the passage. By the way, I was thinking this morning, do you know who made glasses? I was watching something with the kids the other day, and they said that Ben Franklin was the one who made bifocals. But I was thinking, I don't know who made the first glasses. Maybe you know. Let me know in the comments if you know that.
Okay, here we go Genesis chapter 14 beginning at verse 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine he was the priest of God most high and He blessed him and said blessed be Abraham of God most high Possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be God most high who has delivered your enemies into your hand and And he gave him a tithe of all. Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, give me the persons and take the goods for yourself. But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have raised my hand to the Lord God most high, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing from a thread to a sandal strap. and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say I have made Abram rich, except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Anar, Eshkol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion." Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So first, A, what's this about?
Remember, in the last story, in the last part of this, Abram has gone and he's fought against the different armies who are warring against each other and they've captured Lot. And he goes and he wins. He defeats the armies of Chattelomere and his allies. And as he is returning home with the spoils, he's headed back south. He's going back where he's from. He goes through near Jerusalem, most likely. And here we find an interesting figure. He wasn't listed in the different kings, but now we have Melchizedek, king of Salem, come out.
And he meets with Abraham and he lays out a royal fair for him. He actually brings to him bread and wine. This is a shorthand for this hospitable, gracious meeting to him. and he acts as a priestly king. He comes to Abram and he actually brings to him bread and wine and he pronounces a blessing upon Abram. He says, blessed be Abram of God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hands. He's a priest of El Elyon. He's a priest of God most high, and this is... He just comes out of nowhere. We haven't met this guy. He wasn't listed in the different kings. He seems to have no genealogy.
He just shows up. He's Melchizedek. He is king of righteousness. Melchizedek. And so all of a sudden this guy comes out. He brings bread and wine. He blesses Abram, and then he goes and he blesses God Most High, and Abram does something amazing. He gives him a tenth of all the spoils of war. He pays him the first tithe. Now, it's hard not to see things like the Lord's Supper in this, as he gives him bread and wine, and as he blesses him, and then Abram's response as he gives a tenth of everything.
And this is mysterious. I'm going to pick this up back up in a second when we get into calling. But then we see something else happen. Right. You have. Melchizedek. And then the scene dramatically shifts. All of a sudden, there is the king of Sodom in verse 21, and he's demanding his people. Give me the persons and take the goods for yourself. He is bitter and mad. His forces have been beaten.
And then Abram went and he went and won the battle. And now he has all the people and the goods, the spoils of war from the battle, and he wants the people back. Now it's in ancient Near Eastern terms. I'm not saying that this is right, but they were, according to the culture at that time, all that stuff now belonged to Abram because he was the one who does it.
But Abram, even though he's not required, He wasn't in this for the goods. He wasn't in this to acquire more people. He wasn't in this to somehow aggrandize himself. He wanted to rescue Lot. And so what does he do? He basically says, Hey, look up, look at me, buddy. I ain't taking nothing from you. I am not taking a single thing from your hand. I will not make myself rich. I will not let other people say that this guy just got rich off the back of this wicked king. He says it ain't gonna happen.
And he actually invokes a promise in verse 22. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have raised my hand to Yahweh or to Jehovah God Most High. Just in case you thought that maybe Melchizedek was worshiping a different god or something here, Abram's clear that he knows that El Elyon is specifically Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, Jehovah or Yahweh, who is the God of Abraham. the God of Adam, the God who Noah prayed to, the God who Enoch walked before. And so it is God, creator of heaven and earth. And he says, I've raised my hand, right?
Well, this is my left hand, but I've raised my hand. I've made a vow, I've made a promise to the Lord. I won't take any of your stuff. The only thing I'm going to take is the stuff that my guys ate, the things that we needed to live. And so that's what he brings out. So what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my Bible, I have verse 18, 19 and 20 underlined, and also verse 22 and 23, but that's a lot. Let me know, what would you underline in your Bible? Last see calling, what are we called to do?
Well, it is the book of Hebrews that points out to us that Jesus Christ is a priest forever in the order of not Levi, not Aaron, but Melchizedek. It is Jesus who, though he was born of the tribe of Judah, his priesthood is a better priesthood because it came before Levi was even born, before Aaron was even born. In reality, it was Abram, the chief patriarch who bowed before Melchizedek, the priest of Jehovah El Elyon, the Lord God Most High. And Jesus stands as a priest forever in that order.
And so the question is, is Jesus Christ your high priest? Is Jesus Christ the one who offered up himself as a sacrifice for our sins? Do we trust in Him? Do we love Him? Do we bow to Him? Do we worship Him? Are we thankful to Him knowing that He has come to us and has pronounced the same blessing?
The blessing here, I believe, is also on us. Blessed be Abraham, Abram, God of God, most high possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hands. God has delivered you from your greatest enemies, sin and death. He's made a public spectacle of them on the cross. And in his resurrection, he's assured us of his victory.
Do you trust in Christ? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you sent your one and only son to be our high priest, our king and our prophet. Lord, we pray that you would please work in our hearts that we might know this and believe it. And Lord, we pray that we would bow before you. Worship you and love you in Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. And I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.