Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #23 of Genesis, chapter 14 and we are going to read Genesis 14:18-20:

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram 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.

I will stop reading there. As I mentioned at the end of our last study, we are going to spend some time looking at Melchizedek, this very interesting man that suddenly appeared. Where did he come from? We are not told. We are simply told that he was “king of Salem” and the word “Salem” means “peace.” We know this because in the New Testament it says in Hebrews 7:1-2:

For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 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;

God is saying that the name Melchisedec, by interpretation, means “King of righteousness,” but He also says Melchisedec is “King of Salem, which is, King of peace.” This Melchisedec is both King of righteousness and King of peace and, based upon that alone, we could conclude that this “man” is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the essence of righteousness: “…by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” It says in 1Corinthians 1:30:

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness…

He is our righteousness. Therefore, He is the King of it. To be king means you have rule, authority and power. You are the owner and possessor of it and it belongs to you. You have dominion over what you are king over and He is “King of righteousness.”

Likewise, He is “King of peace.” Concerning peace, it says in Ephesians 2:13-16:

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

He is our peace. The Bible says in Isaiah: “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” There is no peace apart from the peacemaker, the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, there is enmity or warfare between God and man. God is terribly angry with the rebellion of mankind and his transgressions of His Law and God will destroy man in that war. It is certain. Of course, no man can win the battle against God. God is all-powerful and He will, assuredly, destroy the sinner forever with eternal annihilation. That is the lot and the situation for every individual in the world, except for those that the Lord Jesus Christ interceded on behalf of by taking upon Himself their sins that the Law of God was angry against and God poured out His wrath upon Him (Christ). God’s Law demanded death as the wages of sin and Jesus died at the hand of God the Father and the Law of God. He was put to death and God’s anger was appeased and the Law of God was satisfied for the elect. Christ died by that anger, but then He rose again and resurrected from the dead. He was without sin because it had been fully paid for and Christ was the essence of peace and righteousness.

All the elect that had been named before the foundation of Christ, likewise, found peace through Him with God. God was no longer angry with them. What was there to be angry about? When God looked at Abel or Noah or David or any of these people that were chosen and elect by God to have their sins cast upon Christ, He found no sin. No matter how diligently God looked upon that person, there was no sin. He could look at their past or He could look at their present or their future and He would see no sin. Yes, God would see the record of sin in their lives regarding their thinking or things they had done. Yes, He certainly would notice when they were thinking sinfully or transgressing His Law by saying or doing sinful things. He knew they would continue to do that for as long as they lived on the earth in their corrupt bodies until their bodies would be redeemed. But when God saw sinful activities in thought, word or deed in these people, God would go to the Law and the Law said, “I have nothing against that sinful thought because it has already been paid for in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ; that sin was satisfied.” It could be a sinful act and there would be the same judgment. No matter what sins God sees currently or what sins He knew the individual would commit in the future, when God took that record of sin to the Law the Law had nothing against that person because the record stated that every past, present and future sin of the elect had been fully paid. Therefore, the Law was satisfied.

The Law only has an active record for all the sins that Christ has not paid for and the Law will demand satisfaction from those billions of people; the Law is actively seeking vengeance for their sins. But when it comes to one of the great multitude of the elect that are presently alive on the face of the earth, there is no fault. God finds no fault in this one, or that one, or the other one because there is “peace” now between God and each of the elect because Christ is their “peace.” He wrought that peace, as well as righteousness.

So, Melchizedek appeared in this historical setting that identifies with Judgment Day. And Judgment Day is the time of the Law finding fault in mankind and actively seeking vengeance. It is the time of the vengeance of the wrath of God. The Bible uses “vengeance” as a synonym for Judgment Day – it is the “day of vengeance.” The Law of God must be appeased; it must receive satisfaction. There is no future time after this Judgment Day period – it is being accomplished now. The Law’s final demands must be carried out.

And, yet, when it comes to the elect of God that are alive and living on the earth to go through the judgment, there is peace between them and God. Yes, they must make an appearance and be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, but in that manifestation no fault will be found in them. They will go, day by day, through the prolonged period of judgment until its completion, but they will not be destroyed at the end. They will not be found transgressors and, therefore, they will continue “to stand” throughout Judgment Day all the way to its end. They will endure to the end until the point of their final justification and redemption and the Law of God will acknowledge to the Father, “I find no fault with this great multitude, but with the billions of unsaved I find fault.” The unsaved never had their sins paid for as the elect in Christ had their sins cast upon Christ at the foundation of the world. That is why, in the case of the elect, it is a manifestation or appearance or tableau for them as they live and remain on the earth throughout the judgment process. It is only a tableau.

It is not a manifestation for the rest of mankind because they are not appearing “the second time,” but this is the first time they are appearing to answer for their sins and they are found guilty and must die. Their death must be an eternal death and they must be annihilated. So, at the completion of Judgment Day, they will be annihilated with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and because they are weak, finite creatures and they did not have Eternal God that stood in their place to endure the furious wrath of an angry God, they will be destroyed in death and they will not be able to overcome it or revive from it and rise from the dead. Once they die for their own sins, they will remain dead and their death will be eternal destruction. That will be the annihilation of the wicked, as God destroys the earth and the corrupt creation, along with all the unsaved inhabitants of the world. In every part of their being, they will be destroyed. The atoms that informed them and the DNA that defined them will be utterly destroyed by fervent heat and fire. They will be removed from existence. They will be removed from that which is called life, eternally. They will cease to exist and be no more on that last day.

But, again, the Law will make no such declaration regarding all those for whom Christ died and paid for their sins. They will remain. That is why God says in Matthew 24:13: “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” It is why they will be found “to stand” before the judgment seat. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, but the elect will stand.

So, we see Melchizedek, the King of righteousness and the King of peace, making a glorious appearance in history at a point in time that God is identifying with Judgment Day. It is because all the glory, honor and praise is due this “man of mystery” known as Melchizedek, who can only be the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who became King of all righteousness and King of all peace through His atoning work accomplished at the foundation of the world.