Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #25 of Genesis, chapter 14 and we are going to be reading 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. We had begun to look in to this character Melchizedek. In our last study, we were in Hebrews, chapter 5 and it says in Hebrews 5:5-10:

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.

It is very interesting that Christ is said to be a “high priest after the order of Melchisedec.” What does it mean that he was “after” the order of Melchisedec? It means that Jesus was not first in this order of priesthood. It does mean that, does it not? Jesus in the “flesh” as He entered into the world and went about His ministry to the cross was “after” someone else – His priesthood was not original. It is interesting to look at this in the Bible and this all started, I guess, when the Lord opened Mr. Camping’s eyes to the statement in Revelation 13, verse 8, where it says of Christ that He was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” When we look in the Bible, we find that John the Baptist declared of the Lord Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin the sin of the world.” So, we are reading of two Lambs, a Lamb that was slain who was Christ on the cross in 33AD and another Lamb that was slain before the history of the world; at the foundation of the world a Lamb was slain.

What do we know concerning a sacrificial lamb? God required that the high priest of Israel was to offer up a lamb as a sacrifice once a year on the Day of Atonement. By necessity, when a lamb is sacrificed, there must be a priest. Jesus, being the High Priest after the order of Melchisedec and being the Lamb of God, offered up Himself. That is why it is important that He be of the priesthood because He was performing the offering as well. He was not just the Lamb, but He was the Priest offering the Lamb. He offered up to God His own self as an offering and, therefore, He was both the High Priest and the Lamb.

If we are correct in our understanding that Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, then it would also require there to be another High Priest to offer up that Lamb at the point of the world’s foundation. Obviously, it could not be a priest of the tribe of Levi and of the order of Aaron because those priests did not come into existence until man was created and many thousands of years of earth’s history had unfolded. So, that would have stopped the whole idea, would it not? You have a Lamb that was said to be offered at the foundation of the world, but when a Lamb was sacrificed it required a High Priest, but there was no High Priest to offer that Lamb. Is that correct? No – it is not correct because, amazingly, the Bible speaks of this mysterious individual named Melchisedec, King of righteousness, King of Salem or King of peace. He suddenly appears on the pages of history in the days of Abram and Abram offered tithes to him. God makes a point to tell us that Levi was in the “loins” of Abram at the time that Abram gave a tenth of all to Melchisedec and the Lord said the tithe was from the “lesser” to the “greater;” that is, the priesthood of Levi was less than the priesthood of Melchisedec. Remember what we read in Hebrews, chapter 7 concerning Melchisedec? 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.

This Melchisedec is an eternal Being. He has no father or mother; He has no beginning of days or end of life. That is a description of God Himself, a Being that is from everlasting to everlasting and who had no beginning. If you could search eternity past, you would find no beginning point of God and when you look in to eternity future, you would find no ending. This Melchisedec is an eternal Being and an eternal High Priest, which means that at the foundation of the world Melchisedec existed. He was there. Again, how do we know He was there? It is because He had no beginning. At whatever point in eternity past that the Lamb was slain at the foundation of the world, there you would find Melchisedec existing and living. Of course, Melchisedec is Jesus Christ – He is the Word that was with God in the beginning and was God. He is Christ who was also the Lamb slain, but just as Jesus necessarily had to be a High Priest to offer up Himself, so, too, did the Word of God, Christ of eternity past. He took upon Him the sins of all His elect and died for them and in His death He offered up Himself, thereby performing the role of High Priest in that eternal priesthood of Melchisedec. This Melchisedec (Jesus Christ the Lamb of God) is the One that offered up the Lamb (who was Jesus Christ) and the Lamb was slain as Melchisedec performed His priestly duty.

So, this Melchisedec is an extremely important character as we lay out this new information that had been held back because the Lord had sealed these things throughout history until the time of the end, which was reached recently when we reached the Great Tribulation and beyond. God has unsealed the Bible and revealed this wonderful and glorious truth. It is an amazing thing that Christ died at the point of the world’s foundation. Christ’s death in eternity past was the very basis for this present world and for the world to come after this present world is destroyed. Christ’s death served as the basis or foundation of all creation that would follow and the Bible speaks of two Lambs being the sacrifice: one Lamb offered at the foundation of the world and one Lamb offered as a demonstration to make manifest (shed light upon) that previous offering in a second offering of a Lamb at the cross. So, we have two Lambs in the Bible and they are both Jesus and we have two High Priests that are qualified to offer the two Lambs. And the two High Priests are also Jesus: Melchisedec at the foundation of the world and the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the High Priest after the order of Melchisedec. Melchisedec’s order came first. He was established first, just as Christ was the Lamb slain at the foundation of the world (first) and then He entered into the world to show forth that first offering because no one was around at the foundation of the world; there was no audience and no one to witness it, so God determined to assist mankind in understanding the wonder and beauty and glory of the Messiah and the atoning work of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. God graciously, kindly and lovingly sent His Son into the world to reveal these things and to shed light upon this truth and to be a “sign” that pointed to the reality that took place long before. We know Christ was a “sign,” if we turn to Luke 11:30:

For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

Think about that. Read it slowly and consider it. Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites. He spent three days and three nights in the fish’s belly and it was all a sign, was it not? We do not think that was the actual atonement or that Jonah was Christ, but we recognize him as a “living demonstration” to the Ninevites and also to the readers of the Bible. “For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.” What shall He be? He was a sign to this generation. That is what signs do – they point to deeper truth or deeper spiritual reality. And Christ was a pointing sign during His entire life and ministry and His journey to the cross and His resurrection. Everything was pointing to what He had already accomplished, the finished works performed at the foundation of the world. What a wondrous thing the Lord Jesus Christ did by entering into the world to be a sign. What enormous love and compassion He showed forth to all His elect in that He was willing to suffer and die. And He truly did suffer – there was nothing phony or false about the suffering of Christ. He was in real agony in the garden and He learned obedience by the things He suffered, as we read in Hebrews 5, verse 9 and through that suffering He was demonstrating. It was all done by the will of the Father to shed light upon the atoning work of Christ that was accomplished at the foundation of the world.

Some people say that Christ making payment for sin before the world began somehow “lessens” the cross. They do not know what they are talking about because it highlights it even more. No wonder the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane was beseeching the Father that the cup might pass from Him, not once, but three times: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Why would He beseech the Father? After all, payment for sin had already been made long ago. “What need is there Father that I suffer to this degree? Since the payment has already been made and the elect have already had their sins washed away by the baptism performed at the foundation of the world, is it possible that this cup pass from me during this living tableau wherein I am suffering this horrible separation from you and you have forsaken me? Is it possible that this cup might pass?” This is the reason why it says the Lord Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered. It is one thing to suffer and die a horrible, shameful death in bearing the sins of your people at the foundation of the world when you know there is no other way to save these chosen individuals, but it is another thing to have to suffer a second time for the sake of showing forth or portraying what you did the first time. You can just see the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, as He was being afflicted and smitten, approaching the Father three times with the request: “O, let this cup pass from me.” Finally, the purpose of God is revealed in that the cup cannot pass and the demonstration was necessary. The great, great love of the Lord Jesus Christ was demonstrated. To do something like this once is great love, but to do it twice when there was no need for a second payment and, yet, to do it in obedience to the Father to shine the light upon these things is just enormous love. It was great, great love that was revealed through His action of entering into the world and going about His ministry until the shameful death of the cross. Even after His resurrection, He was showing forth that He had already resurrected at the foundation of the world.

All these things speak to God’s glory and they glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and we just stand in wonder as we read the Bible and we see that we can pinpoint two Lambs and we can pinpoint two High Priests. Remember, Moses, a figure of the Law of God, when he struck the rock? “And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice.” How many times did he smote it? Two times. The word “smote” is oftentimes translated as “killed” in the Old Testament. Moses is a figure of the Law and if we take this historical parable and apply the methodology that Christ has taught us, we see that Moses is the “Law” and he “smote” the “rock,” and who is the rock? In 1Corinthians 10, verse 4 it says, “and that rock was Christ.” As we look for the deeper spiritual meaning, we see that the Law of God smote Christ two times, putting Him to death. The Law (Moses) killed the rock (the Lord Jesus Christ). Why twice, if the Lord only died for sin at the cross in 33AD for His people? Why does God speak of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Why does God speak of this mysterious Melchisedec as an eternal priest? Why was the rock smitten twice?

The Biblical evidence for this doctrine is enormous. When I first heard it, I was as shocked as anyone else and I had no clue that this is what the Bible taught. But, then, you cannot deny that there is a direct statement in Revelation, chapter 13. Mr. Camping did not pull that statement out of his hat. In Revelation 13, verse 8 the Bible speaks of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” And Hebrews 4, verse 3 speaks of His works and says, “although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” And Matthew 25, verse 34 speaks of the new heaven and new earth and says, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

It is not us that are coming up with these things, but as we look in to it we find all kinds of support. Maybe we will look at this in our next study, but we are going to look at the fact that when we read that the Lord Jesus is the only begotten Son, the Bible defines the time that He became the only begotten Son was not at His birth, but at His death and resurrection. He is the firstborn from the dead. That is why He is called the “Son of God,” but the churches have never understood this. They could not understand it because it was hidden and they have always mistakenly thought that Christ was called the “Son of God” because of His birth to the Virgin, conceived of the Holy Spirit. No – it has nothing to do with that. Christ is called the firstborn or first begotten Son of God based on the fact that He was the first to rise from the dead.