Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #24 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. In our last study, we were beginning to discuss Melchizedek, who certainly is the Lord Jesus Christ making an appearance in history for various reasons, one of which was to establish in the Law the priesthood of Melchizedek. Once this Law was established, over two thousand years later Christ would be born into the world of the Virgin Mary and take upon Himself His own priesthood as He went about His high priestly duties all the way to the cross and, thereafter, in His resurrection. Jesus could then rightly be said to be of another priesthood, as it was not possible for Him to be of the Levitical priesthood of the order of Aaron because He was not a Levite. Christ was the Lion of the tribe of Judah, so He could not perform the priestly duty of offering up Himself unless He were a priest and, again, He could not be of the regular priesthood, like Aaron, because His descent was of Judah and not Levi. What was God to do? He inserted into history a High Priest who has an eternal priesthood and He was not of the tribe of Levi. He is this “man” Melchizedek, who appeared at the completion of this battle, bringing forth bread and wine and bestowing blessing upon Abram.

This mysterious man Melchizedek is expounded upon in the New Testament Book of Hebrews. We saw in our last study how God explained what his name meant and what it meant that he was King of Salem. It says in Hebrews 7:1-3:

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; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

It is really interesting and curious that God is giving us so much information after being so secretive and hiding his identity in mystery for thousands of years of history until the 1st century AD. Again, Melchizedek appeared after that battle and we discussed how it happened after Abraham was 75, so it was 2080 or 2090BC, perhaps, and over two thousand years before Christ would be born. And there is nothing else prior to that, except a mention in one verse in Psalm 110, but now God explains what his name means and what it means that he was King of Salem; how he was without father or mother and without descent, with neither beginning of days nor end of life. As soon as we read this, we realize this is no ordinary man; there is no man that would match this description. Apart from Adam and Eve, everyone else had fathers and mothers, but Melchizedek was without father, without mother and without “descent.” What human being could be without descent? This description only fits God, the everlasting eternal God of the Bible. Since Jesus is that everlasting eternal God of the Bible, it fits the Lord Jesus Christ. He is “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life,” because He is from everlasting to everlasting.

Then it goes on to say in Hebrews 7:3:

… but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Melchizedek was made a priest “like unto the Son of God.” And because God said this, we are going to look at what this means and the incredible significance of that statement in relationship to this man Melchizedek. He was “made like unto the Son of God” and God also ties this in to his priesthood: “but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.” Why make this connection and tie this in with the fact that he abides a priest continually?

It is all very mysterious. This is an extremely mysterious character in the way God has written about him and mysterious in the way God is explaining who he is and, yet, there is mystery remaining. There has been mystery about Melchizedek throughout church history and it is only recently that we have been able to understand him better, because of the time period in which we live. We live at a time in which God said He would open the Scriptures to reveal much truth and part of that truth concerns Melchizedek and why it was that he was “made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.” So, we are going to take as much time as we need to spend on this. There is no rush. There is no need for us to rush back to Genesis and rush into chapter 15 as fast as possible; it is never good to study the Bible in a hurry. When the Lord introduces a figure like Melchizedek and opens up more Scripture about him, it is worthwhile for us to slow down and take a little detour to look at these Scriptures in the Book of Hebrews concerning this man Melchizedek.

We are going to begin in Hebrews, chapter 5. It says in Hebrews 5:1-10:

For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Here, again, we find that God is tying the fact that Christ is the Son to being “begotten,” in verse 5. We are going to look at what it means that Christ was “begotten.” You know, there is a lot of confusion about that, especially in the churches and congregations and among the theologians. It is “confusion” that has been taught to their congregations. The New Testament corporate churches (and almost all their theological writings) have wrought tremendous confusion regarding what the Bible means when it speaks of Christ as the “Son of God,” or the “beloved Son of God” or the “only begotten,” as these are different ways that refer to Jesus as the Son of the Father. The churches and congregations have erroneously tied the fact that Christ is the Son of God to His birth in time. Yes, Jesus was the firstborn son of Mary. And Jesus is the first begotten of God, but Jesus did not become the “firstborn Son of God” through his virgin birth or even upon His entry into the world. That is where the confusion comes in because they see the “child” conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary and there is a statement in Hebrews, chapter 1 where God says that He brought the first begotten into the world and the churches mistakenly conclude: “Well, Jesus is called the Son of God because of His miraculous birth. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and that would make Him the Son of God, would it not? He was born of the Virgin and He was the firstborn.” They draw their conclusion, but it is completely off base; it is completely wrong and it is far from the truth.

The truth is that Christ was declared to be the Son of God, not based upon His birth, but based upon His death and resurrection. We are going to spend some time carefully going through the Scriptures that prove this. But, for now, again, it says in Hebrews 5:5:

… Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.

Then notice what it says in Hebrews 5:6:

As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

First, we read that Jesus is the Son and then we read of the priesthood of Melchisedec. Then God will say it again a little later in Hebrews 5:8:

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Then it says in Hebrews 5:10:

Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Twice in this context God relates the two – the “Son” is mentioned along with the priesthood of Melchisedec.

We saw it mentioned together again in Hebrews, chapter 7, in speaking of Melchisedec in Hebrews 7:3:

… but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

What is the connection? What is the link between Melchisedec being made like unto the Son of God and this eternal priesthood of Melchisedec?

The link has to do with how the Lord Jesus was made like unto the Son of God. In what way did He become the Son of the Father? There is no doubt that the Bible reveals that God is one God. Moses revealed in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: JEHOVAH our God is one LORD.” And there is no doubt that the Bible also reveals this One God as three distinct persons of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each One may also have other names. God the Father can be known simply as God. God the Son could be known as The Word or other names like Melchisedec. God the Spirit is the Spirit or Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost and there could be other names for God the Spirit, but in essence, there is One God in three Persons and each One is fully and completely Eternal God. At some point in eternity past God determined to develop a salvation program. Everything was worked out at once.

We should not think that thoughts come to God in sequence or in some chronological manner, like it may come to us. We think of something and we build upon it and it grows (in our mind) and we have an order of events and our thoughts came together to form the thing we were thinking about, but God is God and He knows the end from the beginning. He sees it all at the same instant. God conceived of the entire salvation program. God can conceive of creating this present world and the universe along with it and He can instantly see the entire history of this world, including the fall of man into sin, the outworking of generations down through history and the total number of years; plus, He can conceive His judgment program at the same time. They are simultaneously occurring at a point in eternity past (we cannot use the word “time”) and God can know it all at once and He can also know that to work it out and make salvation available He must do certain things. In eternity past, the Word (the Word was with God and the Word was God) would be tasked with the burden of bearing the sins He had already foreknown of all the elect people He would create. The sins of all He determined to save (the chosen) were placed upon God the Word and He would bear those sins at the foundation of the world. It is called the “foundation of the world” not because the world would be created in the next instant, but it is called the foundation of the world because the bearing of sin and being slain as the Lamb for these sins and arising from the dead as justified of these sins would form the basis of the foundation of the present world that would be created and it would also form the basis of the foundation of the world to come (the new heaven and new earth). It was all based on the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ performed at the foundation of the world in eternity past and it was the foundation for the creation that would later follow in this world and the next world.

So, God says that Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and, yet, it all took place in eternity past and we have no idea how that was possible. Our minds are not able to think in terms of eternity because it is outside of time. We think sequentially or chronologically and everything must happen in order according to the movement of a clock and, yet, eternity past has no clock. There is no sun, moon and stars as timekeepers of eternity past. It was then that God worked out His salvation program and completed it, because it says in Hebrews 4:3: “…although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

You see, this is a wonderful, beautiful and glorious doctrine that God reserved until the time of the end for numerous reasons and purposes. He has revealed it to us and it is just full of beautiful information that reveals depths of truth that were previously unknowable. God has greatly blessed us. Do not listen to anyone that disdains doctrine that God has graciously opened up during the end time, especially the doctrine of Christ having made payment for sin at the foundation of the world. It would be hard to find anything more wonderful or more glorious or more beautiful than this or something that is more spiritually nourishing to the souls of the people of God.