Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #36 of Genesis, chapter 14 and we are going to read Genesis 14:18-22:

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. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto JEHOVAH, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

We find that the title “most high God” is spoken in verse 19 and then it said He is the “possessor of heaven and earth.” We find this restated in verse 22: “the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.”

Again, we know the deeper spiritual meaning of what is going on here is that it typifies Judgment Day at the end of the world and this is where we find ourselves in history. But why is it said, “Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth”? It is interesting because the Hebrew word translated as “possessor” really means more than just being the owner or possessor of something. This Hebrew word, Strong’s #7069, is not normally translated as “possessor.” It was translated that way here in both cases and, perhaps, in a couple of other places, but most often it is not translated that way. It is a word that is typically translated as “bought” or “purchased.” When Abraham later purchased a field in which to bury Sarah, it was this word. When Jacob bought a parcel of land, it was also this word. Of course, the relationship between “purchasing” and “possessing” is clear because when you buy something it belongs to you.

We follow the same guideline today, do we not? We go to a store and all the merchandise belongs to the store until you take something to the checkout stand and you buy or purchase it. Then you can walk out with whatever item you bought and it now belongs to you. You have purchased it and, therefore, you possess it. You take it home and use it for the purpose you bought it.

This is the word God uses here and it is literally saying, “Blessed be Abram of the most high God, purchaser of heaven and earth.” He is the “buyer” of heaven and earth. This is rather strange. How did God buy it? And when did God buy it? Apparently, He had already bought it because it does not say He “will be” the purchaser, but it is stated as something that has already happened. He is the purchaser of heaven and earth.

Let us look at how this Hebrew word is used and I think you will get the idea quickly. It says in Genesis 25:10:

The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

He purchased the field for money.

It says in Exodus 15:16:

Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O JEHOVAH, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.

This refers to the Israelites very close to the time they came out of Egypt. It goes on to say in Exodus 15:17-18:

Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O JEHOVAH, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. JEHOVAH shall reign for ever and ever.

We know this relates historically to the coming out of Egypt. God speaks of that as redeeming His people. I believe this word is also translated that way or, at least, it is very close to it. It was the “buying” of the Israelites and the re-establishing them in the land of Canaan, delayed by forty years. So, God first purchased His people and then established them at a later point.

This word is used in Ruth 4:5-6:

Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.

Then it says in Ruth 4:9-10:

Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

Of course, this historical marriage between Boaz and Ruth the Moabitess was a picture of the spiritual marriage of Christ and His eternal church, which consists of everyone God has saved. Boaz is said to have “purchased” or “bought” his wife, Ruth the Moabitess, and that is exactly what Christ did for His spiritual bride, the elect. How did Christ purchase them? How did He redeem them? He took upon Himself their sins and made payment for their sins. It is just like when you go to a store to get something you want, you make payment for it. Jesus made payment for the sins of all those He chose to save before the foundation of the world. The payment required was death and He bought them. Remember the language in the New Testament in 1Corinthians 6:19-20:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Your body and your spirit and my body and my spirit are not our own – they belong to God. Why do they belong to God? It is because God paid for them. Jesus, who is Eternal God, made payment for our sins to satisfy the demand of the Law that required death for those transgressions and He bought us. That is why we are obligated to do whatever God tells us to do in the Bible. First, we are obligated on the “creature level,” as we were created in the image of God and we were originally created to do service unto God. We rebelled and we refused to serve God and, instead we chose to serve sin. And, yet, God pursued and grabbed hold of His elect and He drew us to Himself and saved us. He bought us by making payment for all our sins, that enormous debt of sin that we owed and could never pay. We would have died forever, an eternal death. Although the Bible does not use this word, the Bible teaches annihilation and that was the enormous debt we owed.

Remember the parable where a man was forgiven ten thousand talents, an incredibly large debt. Then his fellow servant owed him one hundred pence, but he refused to forgive that tiny debt owed him and he demanded payment. And, yet, his master had forgiven him that vast amount, but he lacked forgiveness to his fellow servant for a much smaller amount. God is teaching us that our sin debt is enormous. Charity covers a multitude of sin and we are all guilty of a multitude of sin, in thought and word and deed. We have sinned against God and sinned against God and our debt has multiplied, like a person with no self-control would use a credit card with no credit limit and he keeps using it and using it and the debt just keeps climbing to hundreds of thousands or even millions and it becomes a debt he could never repay. It has become such a huge debt that he cannot possibly pay it off himself. That is the debt Christ paid for us when He bought us. So, when He tells us, “Take up the cross, and follow me,” He is not telling us as if we are “free agents” and belong to ourselves. He is not speaking to us as if we have a choice to follow Him or not to follow Him, but we are bond servants. We have been bought. In Genesis 17, it said that many of Abraham’s servants were bought. He paid for them to do service to him. And Christ has paid for us with the greatest payment imaginable – His own life. He died and made payment for us and, therefore, He has purchased us.

It says in Romans 12:1:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

It is nothing great or spectacular. We are not “doing God a favor” when we serve Him. We cannot think, “Oh, I did something wonderful because I obeyed God on a point He commanded.” But, it is fully expected and it is our duty to do because we belong to God. We belonged to Him originally, like a vessel belongs to a potter, but we became a marred vessel and God put us back together and made us a vessel unto honor. He redeemed us. He owns us. He has purchased us. God has as much right of ownership of you and me and all His elect as you do with your possession, if you own your house, your car, your clothing or your money in the bank. You own that money. It belongs to you. It is your possession and you can do with it what you please. And God can do with us what He pleases and it just so happens He is a good and benevolent God toward His people. You and I could not have a better Lord or Master than God who owns us. Therefore, He commands us what we should do and we are to do the will of God.

Let us go back to our discussion of the Hebrew word, Strong’s #7069, and see how it is used in a couple more places. It says in Psalm 74:2:

Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

When theologians approach this verse, they are most likely going to relate it to God purchasing His people when He brought them out of Egypt. By the way, what was the key blow that finally forced Pharaoh to let the people go? It was the death of the firstborn. Christ is the firstborn Son of God, the firstborn from the dead. The plague of the death of the firstborn pointed to God’s salvation program, as Christ died and rose again to be declared the Son of God, the first begotten to come from the dead. Therefore, it ties in with redemption, so God does refer to buying His people out of Egypt and theologians look at this and they see the plain, historical reference and that is as far and deep as they go with it. They would say, “The congregation is national Israel. God purchased them of old when they came out of Egypt. They are the rod of His inheritance and they are mount Zion.” They would apply it to the Jews, but the child of God knows the Bible is a parable and God has hidden truth. When He speaks of purchasing a congregation, it is not the outward physical congregation of the New Testament church or the outward physical nation of Israel. But it is the spiritual church or the eternal church that is comprised of everyone that is truly saved. It is spiritual Israel that is made up of “true Jews,” circumcised in heart and not in the flesh.

So, when we read, “Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed,” we know it has everything to do with the death Christ died on behalf of His people to make payment for their sins. You see, many theologians do not make that connection because it is speaking of purchasing this congregation “of old” and everyone knows this Psalm was written hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus would be born and go to the cross, so how could this be speaking of Christ when He had not yet entered into the world to accomplish His atoning work in 33AD? However, now we have more information and God has opened and revealed truth concerning when the atoning work of Christ took place and when payment for sins occurred – it was at the foundation of the world. So, at any point in history, like a thousand years ago, or so, before the birth of Christ and ten thousand years, or so, after creation, it could be said that God purchased His congregation of old, because it happened *“of old” in eternity past at the point of the foundation of the world. And the point of the foundation of the world was when Christ died, because His death was the basis for the creation of this present world and the creation of the world to come, the new heaven and new earth. Christ’s death served as the instrument of purchase for God to later create this present heaven and earth and the heaven and earth to come. We can see that very clearly concerning the heaven and earth that still await us, because we know that it is only those that have been “purchased” that will dwell in that new heaven and new earth. Therefore, Christ’s purchase of all those people by dying on their behalf also served to purchase the new heaven and new earth. If He had not died for them, God would not be creating a new heaven and new earth. They are intimately related and you cannot separate them, like we see in the language used in Romans, chapter 8, where the word “creature” can be understood as “creation.” It says in Romans 8:20-23:

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

That was not the verse I was thinking of, but the verse I was thinking of is in Ephesians, chapter 1 where God speaks of being sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise in verse 13 and then He says in Ephesians 1:14:

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

You see, the Holy Spirit is the down payment, which takes place at the moment of salvation with the indwelling Holy Spirit. That is the down payment until the rest shall be given, our new resurrected bodies and the new heaven and new earth. It is all part of the “purchased possession” and we will be the beneficiaries of all this; it is our inheritance, based upon the death of the Testator, the Lord Jesus Christ. We will receive the promise given to Abraham of an eternal dwelling place. We receive eternal life, to go along with it. What incredible rich blessings will be showered down upon us for evermore and this is what God has in store for all His saints. It all has to do with a purchase that has been made. It is the purchase of each of us, individually, and we are now owned by Him, but Christ “purchased” the new heaven and new earth. That is why it said in our verse in Genesis 14 that God is said to be “the most high God, possessor (purchaser) of heaven and earth.”