Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #29 of Genesis, chapter 14 and we are continuing to take a detour to look at what the Bible says about Melchisedec, which led us to the Book of Hebrews. In the Book of Hebrews God ties Melchisedec to the Son of God, so we began to look at what the Bible says about Jesus being declared the Son of God based on His resurrection from the dead. He was considered the Son and He took that name upon Himself due to His rising from the dead, the first one ever to rise from the dead.

Colossians, chapter 1 makes as strong a point of that as could be made. Remember, it said He was the “firstborn of every creature,” or it could be said that He was the “firstborn of all creation.” Then it went on to say, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,” and then it said in Colossians 1:17:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Then to top it all off, God declared in Colossians 1:18:

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

We had begun to look at the word “preeminence,” which is only used here, but there is a related word, “pro-tos” that means “first” of its kind. The word “prototype” is an English word that comes from this Greek word. We wonder why God stresses this and why all creation came out of the fact that Jesus was the firstborn from the dead.

I was not planning on talking about this, but it does fit right in with Revelation 13:8:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

This is now a familiar and incredible statement that has opened up so much wonderful information that God had previously sealed. God said this again in Hebrews 9:26:

For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world…

The Greek word translated as “foundation” is “kat-ab-ol-ay,” Strong’s #2602, and it is also the same word used in Hebrews 4:3:

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

This word is translated as “foundation” a few more times and it is also translated in a very unusual way in Hebrews, chapter 11 referring to Sara, Abraham’s wife. It says in Hebrews 11:11:

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

This is highly unusual and the translators were obviously confounded because they translated the Greek word “kat-ab-ol-ay” here as “conceive.” It just seemed very strange and awkward to them to translate it to say, “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to foundation seed.” Since it was speaking of Sara and seed, they translated it as “conceive.” Remember, Sara is typified in the Bible as being the mother of us all and the “seed” she brought forth was Isaac, the promised Son, who points to Christ. Christ is the “seed,” singular and all those He saved were counted for the “seed” in Him. Therefore, the bringing forth of Isaac, the son of Abraham (father of many nations), is a picture of Christ as the Son in relationship to God the Father and Christ was brought forth and declared to be the Son through the resurrection from the dead. It was Isaac that would later be offered up, in a figure. It is Isaac who is mentioned in Romans, chapter 4 in even more curious and unusual language. Speaking of Isaac’s father Abraham, it says in Romans 4:18-19:

Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb:

According to the Bible’s language, the seed was conceived when Abraham’s body was “dead” and Sara’s womb was, likewise, “dead.” In this deadness, there was conception of a seed. I do not think I completely understand why God is using the word “foundation” in Hebrews, chapter 11 as He speaks of Sara conceiving seed, but I think it has to do with the deadness of her womb because at the foundation of the world Christ died (He was dead) and rose from the dead. Christ came out of a “dead” womb, in a sense, as He came from death to be declared the Son, the firstborn from the dead. So, His “womb” was the grave – it was death itself. Through death, He became the foundation. His death and resurrection resulted in the declaration of God the Father that He was the Son of God via the resurrection from the dead. He came back to life out of death and that itself was the “foundation” for the world.

I have talked about this on Facebook, but I am not sure if I talked about this in our Genesis study or in our Question & Answer program, but some people have the wrong idea when they hear “foundation of the world.” They understand that Christ died making payment for sin then, but they think He died and rose (declared to be the Son) the “instant” before this world was created and they think this is why it says, “foundation of the world.” They think that the world was then created immediately. No – that was not necessarily so. The Godhead worked this out in eternity past, knowing all things that would happen once the world was created and Christ bore the sins of the chosen ones; He became sin for them and as the Lamb of God He was slain at the hand of the Father for those sins. He died and rose again and the declaration was made upon His rising, just as the Father declared of Jesus at His coming up out of the waters of baptism, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” So, too, in eternity past the Father made the declaration, “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased,” and Christ’s death and resurrection is itself the basis for the creation that would be created at some point.

But, again, when we look at eternity past, how was there progression from one point in eternity past to the next, without time? I do not know, but it could have been “eons of eternity past” until, finally, God the Son created the world. But at whatever point He created the world, it was created on the basis or on the foundation of His death and resurrection. His atoning work performed in eternity past served as the foundation for this world and for the world to come. It is why God stressed that Jesus was “before all things.” Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation.” Jesus is the “beginning,” the “firstborn from the dead.” The point is that this creation and the new heaven and new earth still to come were (or will be) created due to His death and resurrection. The fact that He died and paid for the sins of His elect and performed that great and glorious work of atonement is why God proceeded to create the world and allowed history to unfold and allowed sin to occur and allowed man to rebel for thousands of years. The entire purpose of all this has to do with Christ’s death and resurrection at some point in eternity past and that was the beginning. In performing that grand work, it was the beginning of all later creation and that is why this is so extremely important and why God stresses this so much. We recognize that through Jesus’ death and resurrection and His being declared the Son of God, the firstborn and first begotten of the dead was the beginning and nothing comes before it. All creation must follow that death and resurrection.

Of course, we can see the terrible problem of placing the atoning work of Christ at the cross in 33AD and believing that was when Jesus died (for sin) and resurrected and was declared the Son of God. None of that fits. It is all completely out of place. It raises all kinds of questions. Why did God say in Hebrews, chapter 1 that He brought the firstborn into the world? How could Jesus be called the firstborn? How could He be called the Son of God in the Gospel accounts when He had not yet died and risen to be declared the Son of God? It throws off kilter all these statements in Colossians, including that He was the firstborn of all creation. Of course, He could not be if He had not died and resurrected until 33AD, which was 11,046 calendar years and 11,045 actual years from the creation. How could He be the firstborn of all creation and be considered the beginning and first born of the dead? How could He have preeminence? How could He be the “prototype” and the first, as His name declared in Revelation where He is called “Alpha and Omega,” the first and the last.

God permitted the erroneous doctrine of the churches and congregations throughout the church age regarding this point because it was His intention at the time of the end to bring forth this wonderful truth.

Going back to Genesis 14, we saw the battle of four kings against five represented the Great Tribulation. Then we saw Abram and his servants battled those four kings, a picture of Judgment Day, and then Melchizedek appeared “out of nowhere.” It so happens that a proper understanding of Melchizedek and a proper understanding of how the Lord Jesus Christ became known as the “Son of God” did not come about until the Great Tribulation when the end stage of the world had arrived. And, especially, as we spend more and more time in Judgment Day itself, we can see that it is because we needed to understand the “tableau” or demonstration so that God can teach us more about our own demonstration of being made manifest before the Judgment seat of Christ, as we are presently doing.

But, again, these things were kept hidden by God until the time of the end and now God is opening these things up and there is just no way that people should be holding on to this doctrine of Christ paying for sin at the cross. I am sorry that some prefer that Christ died at the cross for sin in 33AD and that there be no other death or payment. I understand, because at first it was troubling for me and everyone when the Lord corrects us on something we had assumed we knew all about. We thought it was so simple and so obvious – it was happening right before our eyes in the Gospel accounts: “There it is! Jesus is dying on the cross and, obviously, that is when payment was made.” However, we had been doing what the corporate bodies, like national Israel and the New Testament churches, had consistently done over the course of time as they mistook the “sign” for the “reality.” The Jews thought there was some value and worth in getting right with God through sacrifices, keeping the Sabbath and through circumcision of the flesh and being an earthly descendant of Abraham. Likewise, the New Testament churches were self-deceived in thinking that water baptism could bring about salvation or that the Lord’s Table could impart grace in some mysterious way, and so forth. You see, these were “signs” and ceremonial laws that pointed to spiritual realities. We individually did the same thing when we looked, without understanding, at what Christ said in Luke 11:30:

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

Jesus is saying, “For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites, I will be a sign to this generation.” If it is a sign, it is not the reality. Christ was without sin and Pilot declared, “I find no fault in this man.” Christ’s Spirit never made payment for sin when He was on the cross because He did not die in Spirit and, necessarily, He would have had to die in Spirit. If He was making payment for sin, He would have had to die in His whole personality, but His Spirit did not die at the point of His physical death; His Spirit went to be in heaven. That is what He said to the thief: “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” He commended His Spirit unto the Father and there was no death in Spirit. Even His body did not see corruption. Corruption would be something that would indicate payment as the penalty was being exacted as the body saw corruption and the Spirit died. But none of that happened at the cross or afterwards. The body, alone, was put in the grave. Christ was not making payment for sin – it was a sign. It says in Hebrews 7:15:

And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,

Please, note that verse. Read it carefully and ponder it. It says, “after the similitude of Melchisedec, there arises another priest,” and “similitude” means “likeness.” It is related to the word “like” when we read, for example, that “the kingdom of heaven is like…” This word is Strong’s #3665. Look up the related words and you will see that it is a word used in parables. So, it is saying that “after the likeness” of Melchisedec, there arose another priest. Be careful that you do not read this as meaning that Melchisedec is in the likeness of Jesus. It is the other way around and Jesus is after the likeness of Melchisedec, or we could say that Jesus is after the similitude of Melchisedec. In other words, Christ is the “tableau” and Melchisedec is the “reality.”