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We're actually dealing with Melchizedek and so we're going to be talking about Melchizedek and if I was to put a title on this sermon it would be the Order of Melchizedek. But before we get to Melchizedek we have this battle or this story dealing with in verse 9 there at the very end it says four kings with five. What we have here is we have five kings that are rebelling against these four kings and they go into battle and those five kings are fleeing before the four kings. And so starting there in verse 1 it says and it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Elazer, Kidar Eloomer king of Elam and Tidal king of nations that these made war with Birra king of Sodom and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah and Shemiver king of Zeboam and the king of Beelah which is Zohar. So a lot of fun names in there but basically what you see here is these four kings at the beginning here Amraphel, Arioch, Kidar Eloomer and Tidal they're all together they're all basically fighting and they're basically but Kidar Eloomer seems to be the one big one. But if you remember from our dealing with the nations and where they come from Shinar where Shinar you know the plain of Shinar is where Babylon's at or you know where the tower of Babel was at and Elam was right next to that and so these are those that's where these nations are kind of coming out you know where we're looking at those. But then we also see we see two big ones that we remember is Sodom and Gomorrah so those are two of the five kings that we would automatically know what we're talking about Sodom and Gomorrah right. And so Shinar is up north you know where we think of Babylon and all this stuff Sodom and Gomorrah and these places are more so east of Canaan okay so we know that from where Lot went he went east of where Abraham was and it was towards the plain of Jordan where Sodom and Gomorrah were at. So basically they go into this battle and basically this is all self-explanatory so I'm not going to beat this over with a dead horse or beat this as a dead horse I mean basically it pretty much just tells you exactly what's going on verse three it says all these were joined together in the veil of Sidom which is at which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Kedorlaomer and the thirteenth year they rebelled. So basically these five kings were serving the king of Elam and probably with these other kings as well and they were serving them for twelve years while in the thirteenth year they rebelled. Well then basically a year later is where these four kings are coming against the five kings and so in the fourteenth year it says in verse five came Kedorlaomer and the kings that were with him. Now notice they start taking out other people before they get there but it says in verse five there and smote the Rephaims and Asheroth, Carnam and the Zuzims and Ham and the Emims and Shavee-Keretham. Say that five times fast and then it says and the Horites in their mount Seir unto El Paran which is by the wilderness and they returned and came to Mishpat which is Kadesh and smote all the country of the Amalekites and also the Amorites that dwelt and hazes on Tamar. So basically what we see here before we get to where they're dealing with the king of Sodom and Gomorrah and the king of Admah is that they're taking out all this stuff as they're getting there. And so you can see some of these things look familiar. The Horites in mount Seir, mount Seir is very particular to Edom. Now obviously Edom hasn't come on the scene yet because he hasn't been born yet but Seir, mount Seir is a famous place of where the Edomites or Esai takes over and the Zuzims and the Emims and Shavee-Keretham, if you remember that these people, what's interesting about this is you'll see that these people were actually giants. They took these people out, they smote these people, not utterly because in Deuteronomy chapter 2, in Deuteronomy chapter 2 it talks about what they called the giants. What the Moabites called the giants and what the Ammonites called the giants. And in Deuteronomy 2 9, you don't have to turn there but it says, and the Lord said unto me, distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle for I will not give thee of their land for a possession because I have given are unto the children of Lot for a possession. The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a great people and many and tall as the Anakims, which also were accounted giants as the Anakims, but the Moabites called them Emims. So it should make sense that okay, we're talking about the possession of Lot, where did Lot dwell after he was, you know we haven't got that far yet obviously where Lot comes out of there and it's interesting because it talks about the Moabites called them Emims. Well did you know that one of his children, you know he had two children out of incest, two sons out of incest, one became the children of the Moabites, Moab, the other one became the children of the Ammonites. And so those are the two that came out of Lot. So when you see Moab and Ammon, you're dealing with the children out of incest from Lot. And right back after that in Deuteronomy 2, as you go down to verse 19 it says, And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them, for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession, because I have given it unto the children of Lot for possession. That also was accounted a land of giants, giants dwelt therein in old time, and the Ammonites called them Zamzums. Now I think Zamzums is probably just the same as the Zuzims, okay. They all got the zzz, you know, like stuff in there, the Zuzims or Zamzums, Zuzims, whatever. So I'm not speaking in tongues, I promise you so, but basically I just wanted you to see that, just kind of putting some, you know, connecting the dots here, that these people that they took out were mighty people. These weren't just like little pushovers. So that's before they even get to Sodom. So you get past Mount Seir, and then in verse 8 there is where they finally get down to the kings that they were wanting to deal with. So in verse 9, or I'm sorry, verse 8 it says, And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboam, and the king of Bela, the same as Zohar, and they joined battle with them in the veil of Sidom. And there's Kedorlaomer, the king of Elam, and with title, king of nations, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Ariah, king of Eleazar, four kings with five. So that's why that means four kings with five, because there's four kings, Kedorlaomer, you know, of Elam, these four kings that are going against Sodom, Gomorrah, and these other five, the five kings, right? And so, as it goes on here, it says, And the veil of Sidom was full of slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their vittles, and went their way. So basically, they took all of, you know, they took over Sodom and Gomorrah, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled from them, and it tells us there were slime pits there. And so, we see what's going on there with how this battle goes. I mean, Sodom and Gomorrah, they lose, and they're fleeing. And so in verse 12, though, we get into Lot. So in verse 12, it says, And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods and departed. Now one thing I want you to see there is that he dwelt in Sodom. Remember, in chapter 13, he was pitching his tent toward Sodom, but he wasn't there yet. But in this chapter, he's there. And so, we don't know how much time has passed, you know, as far as this is going on here, but he was in Sodom when this went on, and he was taken. And so, notice it says Abram's brother's son. So we know that Nahor had Lot, but he died, you know, Lot's dad died, and that's where basically Abraham was taking him under his wing, and then, remember, they had to depart. In chapter 13, their herdmen were basically, there's a strife among them, and so they departed. And Lot chose the playing of Jordan, pitched his tent toward Sodom, and it just shows us that he fell into it. And so, he's getting, you know, captured here, and I believe that his whole family or whoever's with him was captured as well. And so, pretty simple to see what's going on here. Now Abraham steps in. Now what's interesting about this is that Abraham, you know, was 75 years old when he left and came into Canaan, so I mean, he's not exactly a young whippersnapper here. But when he hears about this, notice in verse 13, verse 13, it says, there came one that had escaped and told Abram the Jew. Oh, I'm sorry. Abram the Hebrew. Bunch of Zionists out there. They just want to put Jew everywhere. Now you won't find that until you get to the second kings, but Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Ashkel, and brother of Anir, and these were confederate with Abram. So confederate just means basically they were rebelling with him, or they basically weren't on the side of these kings, the king of Shinar and Elam. In verse 14 it says, when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his train service. Now one thing I want to point out, first of all, is that it says that his brother. Now this is just for future reference, okay, because there's been a lot of, you know, like contradictions in the Bible, okay. And right before this it says that Lot was Abram's brother's son. But you can see here that in the same breath, or the same couple verses down, he's calling Lot his brother. So we see here that Abram's his uncle, but he's calling Lot his brother, okay, because you're going to find some places where it says someone's brother in some place, and it actually means his uncle. And it says that about Jacob calls Laban, or they call each other brother, and that's actually his uncle, because Laban is Rebekah's brother, okay. So I just want you to see that, that that's not a big deal, okay, when you see that, when you see brother, and sometimes it can be like an uncle or something like that. Just as much as when you say father doesn't mean that it's your directly your father, it could be your grandfather. Or if you say son, like Jesus was the son of David, but there's many generations from there. There's 14 generations from David till the captivity of Israel, they're going into Babylon, and then there's 14 generations from that to Jesus, so what, that's 28 generations difference. So it's not a big deal. I just want you to see that, that right here, this kind of is a precedent to that. So when you see this when you're going through the book of Kings, and you see in Chronicles it says, you know, Jehoiachin's, you know, brother Zedekiah, but in other places it's his uncle. It's not a big deal, okay. But as you go on there in verse 14, it says that he armed his trained servants born in his own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan. So basically he takes 318 of his servants that were born in his house, so these are people that have been from birth, that they've been there. So 318 people, and he goes to take out these five kings that just took out giants and took out all these people. So this army with these four kings just did a magnificent work. And they basically did a, they just won this major battle. They just came in and just did work, so to speak, right. And now Abraham is going to come in with 318 of his people, of his servants, and he's going to go take out these kings. And so look at verse, look how he does it though, because he doesn't just go up and like meet them in the field in the daytime, okay. And so, you know, some guerilla war tactics we got right here. All is fair in love and war, right. And so it doesn't matter, you know, it's all about the victory. And so verse 15, it says, and he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. Now if you understand geography, it says that he pursued them unto Dan. Dan, you always hear this phrase from Dan the Beersheba. So when you're dealing with Israel, Dan is like the northern portion of Israel, and Beersheba is the south. And so when they say from Dan to Beersheba, they're basically saying from the north to the south of the whole land. We would say from coast to coast, that's kind of one of the ways we would say like from one end of America to the other, and that's kind of the phrase that they use in the Bible dealing with Israel from Dan even to Beersheba or from sea, you know, from the sea to the dead sea, you know, the salt sea, you know, between the seas. And so that's kind of how they show their borders. And so they're going, he's going all the way up to the, you know, the Israel that they would eventually get, and they're pursuing all the way up to that point. And so in verse 16, in Damascus, they said to the left hand of Damascus, Damascus is the capital of Syria. So if you know where Syria is on the map, you know where they're kind of at. And so verse 16, it says, and he brought back all the goods and also brought again his brother Lot and his goods and the women also and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Kidar Leomer and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. So it's a victory. Abraham goes in with 318 of his people and annihilates, kills all the kings, kills all four of them. And so this is, this is kind of amazing and an amazing story that Abraham, basically you just see the power of God on him and how he did it with 318 people. I mean, you kind of think of Gideon with his 300 and how they, you know, had their pictures and you know, the lamps and all that stuff. And they made it, and they were by night as well. And you can imagine that, you know, it said he divided himself against them and by night. So it's kind of an earlier Gideon story a little bit. And so it's just an amazing story to see this with Abraham and how God used him and just this mighty battle. You never think of Abraham as a fighter. You never think of him as a general, but right here he just won this battle and is brought up in the New Testament as well, which we're going to get to. But something I want to point out, you know, this is kind of a good chapter to see. What does the word veil mean? Now there's a lot of different spellings for veil, so they can have different meanings based off that. So we're not talking about like the veil like in the temple, okay, and that actually has two different spellings. It could be with an E or an A. It could be V-A-I-L, it could be V-I-L, and it's the same word. It's just spelled differently in some places. Even in the King James Bible, it's the same, it could be quoting a verse and it'll say the same thing. But then there's veil, V-A-L-E. Veil is just a shorter way or a poetic way of saying valley. So in this chapter, you'll see that they're talking about the valley of Sidom, and then they'll call it the veil. And then it will call it the king's dale. All those words are synonyms. So veil, dale, valley, okay? So when you're reading through the Bible and you see veil, you're like, well, what is that? Because obviously you have hills and valleys, but it's just another way of saying a valley. So if you say in a dale or in a veil, that's what it's talking about. And so that one's for free. So that's your dictionary. But this is a good chapter to see it, because it's going back and forth with all three of those words. And so it's talking about the same place, but notice it says valley in a place, and it says veil, and then it says the king's dale. And it was all in Shavee Keryatheum. It was all in this valley of Sidom. And so anyway, that's kind of the story. I mean, you see the story with Abraham rescuing Lot and his family and how inadvertently he's helping out the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, we saw from chapter 13 that Sodom and Gomorrah, it says that they were sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And so it's not like they deserved getting rescued, but because of Abraham's connection with Lot, they got saved out of this situation. And so sometimes you'll see that. Sometimes the wicked nations will kind of get a reprieve based off of righteous people. But at the end of the chapter, and so we're going to talk about Melchizedek. That's going to be kind of the point of the sermon or a big part of the sermon. At the end of the chapter, the king of Sodom comes up to Abraham, and he wants to give him basically all the spoils. He basically says, give me all the people, you can have all the spoils. And Abraham refuses. It says in verse 23, or verse 22, it says, and Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich. And so that's powerful right there. And that shows the faith that he has in Abraham. He's in a land that God has not given him so much as a, you know, for his foot to possess. And this king of Sodom is basically offering him all the spoils of this battle, obviously so, because he won the battle, he should, he deserves it. But basically he, it looks like he made an oath that he wouldn't take anything. And the big reason is he didn't want the king of Sodom to say, hey, it was because, you know, Sodom made me rich. And so I can understand that, where you don't want, you don't want some wicked person to take credit for anything that you have, and I wouldn't either. You know, if some wicked person wanted to give me something, I'd just be like, you know, let your money perish with you, you know, that's the way I kind of think about that. And so Abram's just a great man of God, obviously he's called the friend of God, and so just his faith and just trusting in the Lord and not wanting, he wants God to get the glory for what he has and what he possesses. And so that's some places you'll see in the Bible where that's why he only wanted 300 people to be with Gideon, because he said, lest the people think that you won this battle by an arm of flesh. And so, and obviously no one would have said that here, because they're just, you know, 318 people take out these kings. So that's really the story that we see in chapter 14, but we kind of have this little piece that just gives us a whole bunch of information about what's going on in that time period, dealing with the high priest, dealing with sacrifices, dealing with how Abraham would, you know, basically communicate with God. So in Genesis 14, verse 18, and really this is, these three verses is really where we're going to kind of park it and talk about. And so in verse 18, verse 18, it says, 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 Abraham of the most high God, or Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the most high God, which had delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he gave him tithes of all. So this is where Abram is meeting Melchizedek, and actually, you know, the New Testament gives us a little more clarification because you think, well, he gave him tithes of all, did Melchizedek give tithes to Abraham? I mean, so you can see where you can see, well, where's the he? What's the antecedent to he, to that pronoun? Well, in the New Testament, there's no doubt that that's Abraham, and we're going to get to that in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 7. But first I want you to see something, and I was just kind of, when I was reading this today, I kind of saw this, because what we're going to talk about is how Melchizedek is an old, a pre-Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. And so I want to talk about that. I want to talk about the difference between, obviously the similarities, but also the difference between Melchizedek and the man Christ Jesus. But notice in verse 18 there, it says, and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. Can you think of another, how that would be significant to Jesus? The Last Supper. What were the two things that we were supposed to use to remember Jesus was the bread and the wine. But what did the bread and the wine, or the bread and the fruit of the vine, now wine here I believe is unfermented grape juice. I mean, it's just another word for grape juice. But what does that represent? The body and blood of Christ, flesh and blood. And that's the, I'll say the blood is the big thing, I'll say is what the difference I see between Melchizedek and the man Christ Jesus, because there is a difference, I'm going to show you that. But I do believe it's a pre-Old Testament appearance of Christ. That was Christ standing there talking to him, but it's different than when Jesus came in the flesh of the Virgin Mary, and we're going to see that. But go to Hebrews chapter seven. So Hebrews chapter seven, that whole chapter, this whole chapter is dealing with Melchizedek. I don't know if we'll get to all of the stuff in it. The main thing I want to get to is talking about basically the difference between Melchizedek and the man Christ Jesus, because I do believe that Melchizedek is just a pre-Old Testament, and I say pre because this is the order of Melchizedek. This is before the Old Testament had started. The Old Testament doesn't start until the day they came out of the land of Egypt. And so in Hebrews chapter seven, we'll see more information about Melchizedek, but think about this. Now we talked about this with our Old Testament versus New Testament. When we see Melchizedek, the only time he's mentioned besides the prophecy of Jesus being the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, which we'll see, the only time that he's mentioned by name in the Old Testament here in Genesis, it talks about him bringing forth bread and wine. What started the Old Testament? The Passover. What started the New Testament? The Passover. The true Passover. And so it's interesting that with Melchizedek, we see he's bringing this forth. It's almost like a foreshadowing, like, hey, I'm going to bring this forth. And it happened with the Old Testament, with the picture with that, then it also happened truly with Jesus in the New Testament. And so the Bible truly is magnificent, just all the parallels, all the different things, just all the stuff that you can find in here, how it all fits together. But Hebrews chapter seven, verse one, it says, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. So when you're reading through Hebrews, you may wonder, what's it talking about? Abraham slaughtering kings? Well, that's what it's talking about. He literally slaughtered kings in chapter 14. And so Abraham was a valiant man, even at over, he's probably over 80 years old at this point. I don't know how old he is exactly, and this chapter doesn't tell us, but he's over 75. We know that for sure. But in verse two there, it says, to whom also Abraham gave a 10th part of all. So who gave tithes of all? He gave tithes of all, it was Abraham gave Melchizedek tithes of all. And it says, first being by interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. So first thing to see here, Melchizedek, what does that mean? What is the word, what does the name Melchizedek mean? King of righteousness. That's what Melchizedek means. And so the Bible defines itself, you don't need to learn Hebrew, you don't need to go back to some language you don't understand, the Bible defines it, it's king of righteousness. Now it doesn't say that in Genesis 14, it says Melchizedek king of Salem. Now it also defines what does Salem mean? Peace. So he's the king of righteousness and he's the king of peace. Melchizedek literally means king of righteousness and he was called the king of Salem, while Salem means peace. And so you can see in Jerusalem the word peace is inside of that. And so you can define terms or figure out the definitions of terms just through using the King James Bible. And so, but I'm not here to break down all the words of the Bible tonight, I just want you to see that. That's just a definition, it just tells you exactly, he's king of righteousness, he's the king of peace, wasn't Jesus, isn't he going to be called the prince of peace? And so you can see all these correlations and obviously he's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And so, but notice verse three, this is where it gets really interesting and I don't see how anybody can get around the fact that we're talking about that Melchizedek was God. Because this verse right here I think puts it to bed, unless you're just going to explain it away somehow, and people do. But in verse three it says, 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. That's very interesting. Melchizedek didn't have a father, didn't have a mother, didn't have beginning of days, didn't have an end of life. Now we're talking, obviously this is talking about physically, right? Because Jesus obviously has a father, the heavenly father. But that's very interesting to see. And so this Melchizedek is a pre-Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. He's made like unto the Son of God. And so he's basically a man walking around, and this isn't the only place, we'll see that there's other places as well, but what's interesting is in chapter seven of Hebrews it says that Melchizedek was made like unto the Son of God, but then Jesus was made after the similitude of Melchizedek. So it goes back and forth. And so there's a reason, because obviously they're both the Son of God, but it's basically showing that Melchizedek was kind of like this foreshadowing of who Jesus was going to be and what he was going to do, and that's why obviously his priesthood was after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron. But in chapter seven there, verse 14, notice what it says. So I just want you to see that back and forth, because it's not saying he's made like unto the Son of God, like he's not the Son of God, but he's kind of like the Son of God. It's kind of showing you, it's kind of like the man Christ Jesus is like the Son of God, right, because he is the Son of God, but it's showing that obviously there's the man Christ Jesus and then there's the Son of God. The man Christ Jesus had a beginning, meaning he was born into this world through the Virgin Mary, but the Son of God has always been, right? And Melchizedek didn't have beginning and days and end of life because he was never born into the world. That's just how Jesus appeared on earth, and that's what I'm going to show you, but in Hebrews chapter seven, verse 14, it says, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of the tribe of Judah, or out of Judah, I'm sorry, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood, and it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest who is made not after the law of a cardinal commandment but after the power of endless life. So do you see how it goes back and forth, Melchizedek was made like unto the Son of God, and the Son of God is made after the similitude of Melchizedek, okay? And so Melchizedek is a great picture, and it shows us, kind of, it foreshadows what Jesus is going to do. All the way back, way before the Old Testament was even instituted, it was showing us, hey, this is how Jesus is going to do this. He's going to be the priest of the most high God, he's going to be the king of righteousness, the king of peace. He's going to bring forth bread and wine, which is his body and blood, right? And it shows us how he is the Son of God, and that's how Jesus came. But I want to talk about the differences between them, okay? Because you say, well, I see that, I'm feeling that out, right? You see how he didn't have a father, didn't have a mother. That's the key I want you to see there, is in verse 3 of Hebrews, it says, without father, without mother. That's the big difference between Melchizedek and the man Christ Jesus, because Jesus, the man, had a mother, married. And so, without father, without mother means that he didn't come of blood. And so, if you remember, there's a difference, and I'm not saying that his body, when he was here on a body, that that was a spiritual body. It's not the resurrection body like Jesus has now, but it wasn't a body like we have, like flesh and blood, right? And so, that's something different. And so, that's what we're going to see, is that there's a difference between that. And so, but it also says that Melchizedek was a man in verse 4. So after we get through all that, that he abideth the priest continually, verse 4, now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. So you say, well, see, it was a man, it wasn't God. God appeared as a man in many places, actually, and that's what I want to show you. So I don't want to go too far in this into Genesis 18, because we're going to obviously get to that, but in Genesis 18 and verse 1, it says, and the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And then it goes on with the story and talks about how three men met him. And one of those men was the Lord, because two of those men ended up being angels. So it's kind of like the angels, how they can come down here and appear like men, the Lord does the same. The thing is, the Bible calls God a man in some places, it basically calls, in Exodus, it says in Exodus 15, 3, the Lord is a man of war, the Lord is his name. And so it's not wrong to say that God's a man, now he's not a man like a sinful man, right? But he's not a woman, okay? I'll say that much, he's not a woman, and he's not like neutral, he's not like gender neutral or whatever that is, I don't know. There's plenty of places, I don't want to go to all the places, but in Joshua chapter 5, now this is Old Testament instituted, but in Joshua chapter 5, there's an interesting passage dealing with, I believe, another, this would be an Old Testament appearance of Jesus, and I just want to show you this. So the fact that in Hebrews 7, 4 it says, now consider how great this man was, it's just as much as when you said that Jesus was a man, it doesn't take it away from the fact that he's God. But there is a big difference, he doesn't have a mother, Melchizedek didn't have a mother, so that means he wasn't of any of Adam's seed, does that make sense? He didn't have literally the blood of any man in him, and so now he appeared as a man. Now in Genesis, Joshua chapter 5, verse 13, notice what it says, and it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand and Joshua went out unto him and said unto him, art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he said, nay. I love that. He's saying, are you forcer against me? He said, no. The reason he says no is because, well we'll see here, what does he say? He said, nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come, and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him, what saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy, and Joshua did so. You know why he did that? Because he's standing in the presence of God, and just like when he stood before the burning bush when God spoke to him, that's the only other place that I can think of where he says loose off your shoe, and it's interesting that with Jesus, you know, the loosing of shoes is always brought up, you know, like John the Baptist says, I'm not even worthy to unloose the shoe latchet. And so obviously there's many parallels with that, but you see here, you know, when it says that Melchizedek was a man, that's not out of the ordinary to call, you know, God a man because he appeared as a man in some places. You know, he does in Genesis 18, we haven't got there yet, but we will, and he appears to Abraham as a man, and then it says that he's a man of war. It says that, you know, this man appeared unto him and he was the captain of the Lord's host. He wasn't for him or against him, you know, that's always a funny story to me, but, you know, it's clearly he worshiped him. Joshua worshiped this man that came to him, and you don't see where the captain of the Lord of hosts says, don't worship me. This wasn't just an angel, because actually other places in the Bible where you'll see like he's talking to an angel, and in Revelation they'll bow down and worship him, and he says, see thou do it not. And so you don't see that here in Joshua. And so, but, okay, so what's the difference between Melchizedek and Jesus? Well, go to Galatians chapter 4, Galatians chapter 4, I think Galatians 4 and verse 4 really just clears up the big difference, okay, because God being manifest in the flesh is not just appearing as a man, okay, and that's where Melchizedek was appearing as a man, he was walking down here and he looked like a man, but he wasn't in the flesh like Jesus was in the flesh. That's what it says in Galatians 4, it says, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. So we see here that, what's the big difference? He has a mother. Now he doesn't have a father, so you can still say without father, because Jesus didn't have a physical father, but he had a physical mother that gave him his flesh, gave him his blood. Okay, remember, this is he that came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and blood. That's the big key that bears witness, and why is that the case? Why did he have to come made of a woman? Well go to Hebrews chapter 2, because it explains this, that this had to be this way. He didn't just do that for fun, you know, there's a reason why he came in the flesh, why he was born of the Virgin Mary, why he had to be partaker of flesh and blood as you'll see here. So in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14, Hebrews 2, 14, is as for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, notice why, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, and things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, for in that he himself had suffered being tempted, he is able also to succor them, or he's able to succor them that are tempted. So why did he become flesh and blood? Because he had to. He had to become the high priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, he had to become one of us to die for us. And so the big difference though is, notice the flesh and blood, Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine, but he didn't have flesh and blood, and he wasn't born of a virgin, he wasn't born of a woman, he wasn't made under the law. And so that's the big difference, so you have the order of Melchizedek that pictures that, it pictures what Christ was going to do eventually, and then you have the Old Testament, which obviously is using human beings as high priests. Now Melchizedek, it never said that he was a sinner. When you read through Hebrews, and we'll see that in a minute, when you go through Hebrews it never says that Melchizedek had sin, when it's talking about Melchizedek, it never said that he had infirmities or anything like that, but when it's talking about the Levitical priesthood it says that men which have infirmities, they're giving gifts unto God and making sacrifices, and obviously Christ who had no sin is the ultimate high priest. But Hebrews chapter 4 touches on this again. So Hebrews 2, it definitely hits, why did he have to become flesh and blood? Well because he had to become like his brethren in order to make reconciliation for them. That's why the angels can't get saved. He wasn't made of the nature of angels, he was made of the seed of Abraham, so the angels have no hope because they don't have a propitiation for their sins. They don't have a substitution for their sins, they don't have an atonement for their sins, we do. And so Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14 it says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Notice what it says here in verse 15, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. There's another big difference between Melchizedek and Jesus is Jesus was in all points tempted like as we are and he is not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Big difference. And so I'm not against Melchizedek but what I'm saying is that that's a big difference. He wasn't tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. And Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8 also gives us that idea as far as he didn't just have flesh, he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh the Bible says. In Romans chapter 8 verse 3 it says, for what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not of the flesh but after the spirit. So he's made in the likeness of sinful flesh but in him is no sin out of those gallows found in his mouth. He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin but he is not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was tempted in all points but he never sinned. And so he's a high priest in Hebrews chapter 2 it says for in that he himself has suffered being tempted he is able also to succor them that are tempted. And so see the big difference between that and obviously the blood I believe is a huge difference okay. He was born of a woman. He had the blood of David. He was the root and the offspring of David and Melchizedek couldn't say that. Obviously David wasn't born yet so that would be weird anyway right because Melchizedek was born of that. But that's what I'm saying is that all this stuff had to come true. He had to be of the seed of Abraham, he had to be of the seed of David and obviously going back to the seed of Adam he was God but he was also and as a man he was a descendant all the way from Adam and he became one of us to die for us, to pay for our sins, to be the substitute and that same man that became one of us is sitting up high in the heavens at the right hand of God making intercession for us. So that's a big difference between Melchizedek and Jesus but you see it still doesn't take away the fact that that is Jesus in the Old Testament there or before the Old Testament that's Melchizedek. It's just the fact that he's a man, he's manifesting himself as a man but there is a difference between that and when he came in the flesh when he was born of the Virgin Mary. That's a huge event. And so the order of Melchizedek. So what does that mean after the order of Melchizedek? We'll go to Psalm 110, I just wanted to show you where this prophecy came from that we see in Hebrews. So when we say after the order of something I'm going to explain to you what that means because I know it's simple but I just want to kind of break that down. But in Psalm 110, it's a short psalm so there's a lot in here about Jesus so we're just going to go ahead and read the whole psalm. It says, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, rule thou in the midst of thine enemies, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast to do of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies, he shall wound the heads over many countries, he shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift up the head. So there's a lot of stuff in here obviously dealing with Jesus. The very first verse, that also shows you why Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and says, why is he calling them David's son? Why is the Christ called the son of David? Because he says, how do you answer this? The Lord said unto my Lord, so David's calling Christ his Lord, why he then calls him Lord if he says son? Well, it's because Jesus is the root and offspring of David. But here's where you see, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now the word after here doesn't mean like after this, I went to the store. After can also mean according to, when it talks about after his likeness or after this, it's talking about according to, so there's different definitions for the word after. So basically he's a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek and you just think of order, it's just talking about basically how it was done, like that ordinance. We would say an ordinance of some sort, right? Or you think of the new world order, right? It's kind of like an establishment, it's basically a institution so to speak. You would think of an order and I can't think of anything else right now. So I'm just trying to think off the top of my head of an order of something. New world order is all I can think of off the top of my head. But basically it's just basically an institution and it's according to that. So when it says that Jesus Christ is the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, it means that it's according to that institution of Melchizedek. So it's like that is pretty much what it's saying. And so he's basically picking up the reins of what Melchizedek left off. So when we think of Melchizedek, what I believe personally is that Melchizedek was on the scene from Adam all the way up until when the Levitical priesthood started. So even when they were in Egypt, sojourning there for 430 years, I believe Melchizedek was still on the scene. If not, what was going on? Who was the high priest? Because after the Passover, who was the high priest? Aaron. And then his sons took over after that. And then there was the order of Aaron, as we'll see. But then after Jesus died on the cross, who was the high priest? Jesus forever. So I believe there was a high priest all the way down from the beginning of time to the end until forever, obviously with Jesus. But I believe Melchizedek was on the scene that whole time. We only see him really, by name, we see him in Genesis 14. And so this gives us, actually Genesis 14 gives us actually a lot of information about what was going on up until Moses, up until the law was given. But go back to Hebrews chapter 5, and if you've ever read through Hebrews, you've seen this brought up a lot. This order of Melchizedek, after the order of Melchizedek, high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And I memorized the whole book of Hebrews, and that comes up a lot, and I'm always trying to remember which way it's said in the different verses because it kind of says it differently. And so I'm always trying to remember which one it is. That's sometimes the hardest thing when you're memorizing a book, is when verses are similar. Because you're always trying to figure out, is this in chapter 4 or chapter 5 that says it this way? And so anyway, so Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 6, it says, as he had also in another place, or I'm sorry, as he set also in another place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So what's he quoting? He's quoting Psalm 110, who in the days of his flesh, that's talking about Jesus when he was here on the earth, 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 and 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 and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. So again, we see, you know, it's after the order of Melchizedek, but what's the big difference here is that he's suffering for us, that he was made like unto us, that it behooved and made like unto his brethren to be made like unto sinful flesh, being tempted in all points like as we are. And that's what you'll see when you're dealing with this, how Jesus is following after the order of Melchizedek, is pointing out the fact that he suffered for us. And Hebrews chapter 6 is another place where it talks about it. Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 17, it says, wearing God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil which the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made and high, praised forever after the order of Melchizedek. And so, being after the order of Melchizedek, you know the Levites after the order of Aaron couldn't go into the holiest of all, and it says that he entered into that within the veil. That's talking about in heaven itself, he went through where the veil was in heaven with his own blood, and not with the blood of others, and went in once for all to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. That's a magnificent thing, but he did it because Melchizedek represents an endless life. We want to know one of the biggest things about Melchizedek is that he continueth ever. He has an endless life. He has neither beginning of days nor end of life, and that's something that's brought up in chapter 7 over and over again is that the fact that Melchizedek continueth forever, it's not after the power of a cardinal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. And so, chapter 7 is obviously a huge chapter, and this is where we'll end, but I just want you to see this, and hopefully that makes sense. You see, Melchizedek definitely is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus, or before the Old Testament, that's who was the high priest. Literally the son of God was the high priest before the Old Testament, but he wasn't made of a woman. He wasn't in the flesh as far as Jesus when he came on the scene later. But it also shows you the deity of Jesus, is the fact that he didn't just become the son of God at Bethlehem's major. He was already doing the high priest, but it was different because he wasn't made like unto us at the time, and he didn't suffer like one of us, and he didn't die for us yet, and so that was coming later, but it was a foreshadowing. And so in Hebrews, chapter 7, verse 11, and you know, for your homework tonight, just read Hebrews, chapter 7, okay, because just with that in mind, you'll see how it all fits together. Hebrews, chapter 7, verse 11, it says, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron. So he's asking a valid question, he's like, why isn't there coming a priest after the order of Aaron then? Why does it have to come out of Melchizedek? Because the order of Aaron has infirmity, the order of Aaron is an earthly priesthood. And going on there, in verse 12, it says, for the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. Now stick that in the Hebrew roots pipe and smoke it, and that's actually one of those verses where if anybody ever comes to you and says, well, you're saying that God's law changed, you know, that, you know, we did all these ordinances in the Old Testament that changed, and what did it say right here? What did it say? There is made of necessity a change also of the law. Not moral law, we're not saying that murder is now right, or adultery is now right, we're talking about the law and cardinal ordinances and commandments imposed on them until the time of reformation. So you've got to make it to chapter nine, okay? Make it to chapter nine, it'll explain what that means. And so the change of the priesthood, there's a made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe of which no man gave attendance at the altar. So this is where it's saying, hey, you know, this is speaking of another tribe, because this isn't Levi. Jesus didn't come out of the tribe of Levi. And I still remember, you know, when I was a young Christian, and I was like, Levi's the one, you know, like, when you're reading through the Old Testament, you're like, and all of a sudden, you see that Jesus came out of Judah, you're like, why Judah? You know, when he come out of the priesthood, you know, when he come out of Levi, but he's making a point that he didn't come out of Levi, because obviously, Judah was the problem, that was who was supposed to come out of, it's supposed to come out of Judah and out of David. And so that's, he's making a point here that he's coming out of a different tribe, he's not coming out of Levi. And so, those were 16, as I was saying, you know, this is a big thing to see, why is he, why is it after the word Melchizedek, because Melchizedek represents an endless life, represents someone that lives forever. And obviously, Jesus rose from the dead, okay, so that's the big key, the resurrection is the quintessential doctrine as far as salvation goes. If he died for our sins, but didn't raise from the dead, it means nothing. But since he rose from the dead, and he ever lived to make intercession for us, that means that we're saved to the uttermost. In chapter, in verse 16 there, it says, who is made not after the law of a cardinal commandment, but after the power of an endless life, for he testified thou art a priest forever, forever after you order Melchizedek. So that's the big key, is that Jesus Christ will never die. Therefore, he's always going to be the priest, it's an unchangeable priesthood. And so, yeah, the priesthood was changed, and there was a necessity, made a necessity to change also the law, but there's gonna be no change in this priesthood. This is an everlasting priesthood, it's a priesthood that's forever, and how many times does it need to say it in Hebrews before someone doesn't understand that the New Testament, that Jesus is the mediator of, that he's the high priest of, is never going to end, so these dispensationalists that want to come out and talk about the New Testament church age and how that's gonna end, is a bunch of garbage. Show me where it says it's gonna end, actually at the end of Hebrews it says it's the everlasting covenant by the blood of Jesus, and he's the high priest forever after you order Melchizedek. How many times do they have to say it? Well, we're gonna look at it, and we haven't got to all of them yet. So in Hebrews 7, and I promise I'm almost done, Hebrews 7 verse 20, it says, and in as much as not without an oath he was made priest, for those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And so there it is again. This is just a complete quote from Psalm 110 that he's a priest forever after you order Melchizedek. Notice it says that these other priests, these Levitical priests, they weren't made priests by an oath. God didn't swear to them that they would be a priest, but he did swear that Christ was gonna be a priest forever after you order Melchizedek. And by two immutable things, and which is impossible for God to lie, and just showing us that how this is concrete, it's never gonna change, and there's a scripture in the Bible where it talks about how it's written with an iron pen and with a point of a diamond, and that's the way I look at this, is that this is never gonna change. That this is written in stone with a pen of iron and a point of a diamond, that this is gonna be the way it's gonna be. And so, but in verse 24 there, it says, but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Isn't that what it said about Melchizedek, that he continue with a priest, a priest continually? And so it's the same language used. So that's why he's after the order of Melchizedek, not after the order of Aaron, because some things keep brought up, and I didn't read all this, but if you read through Hebrews chapter five and read through Hebrews chapter seven again, as you'll see is that the priests have infirmity and they die. All the Levitical priests have all lived and died. None of them lived forever. And so that's the big difference. But at the end there, and the end of chapter seven, it says in verse 28, for the law maketh men, high priests, which have infirmity. But the word of the oath, which was since the law, which was since the law, so that's before the law, before the Old Testament, maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. Now when it says maketh the son, it doesn't mean he's making him, like bring him into existence, it's making him high priest. It's making the son high priest, which is consecrated forevermore. If I get anything through to you tonight, it's that Jesus is the high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek is not going to end. The New Testament is an everlasting covenant. He is the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. There's no end to that. Just as much as there's no end to his kingdom, he will be the king of kings, the Lord of Lords forever, there's no end, it's eternal life, it's eternity. But this just kind of really shows the magnificence of God's word. And something that I just, just reading through this, and obviously I've read through Hebrews many times, but looking back at Genesis 14, and just the simple little things as far as that Melchizedek brought bread and wine, and just what that represents. Because throughout Hebrews, what is one of the biggest things that's mentioned is the fact that the veil was rent, and it was talking about his flesh, and then the blood. Hebrews chapter 9, 10, it's just all about the blood and what that represents, how that paid for our sins, and how Melchizedek was just a foreshadowing of what Jesus was going to do, and he was just showing that. And it was just in the three verses, three verses in the Old Testament and how much information was in there. I didn't even get into the tithing, we already touched that, so I already preached on tithing, but tithing's there too. I mean, you just have in three verses all that information just packed in there, and just how magnificent that is on how all that stuff fits together, and that foreshadowing is perfect, and just how the Bible is just, I just love the Bible. So it's just an awesome book, and just seeing this, I remember the first time I was reading through Hebrews, and it was just like, chapter 7 was just kind of like, wow, what in the world is this talking about, you know? And you see that and you're like, is he the son of God? You're kind of looking at that and trying to figure it out, but to me it makes perfect sense. There's no problem with that, there's no problem with the fact that Melchizedek is just Jesus showing himself and being the high priest back then, but it foreshadows what he was going to do. And so, a great chapter, Genesis chapter 14, and so I love going through Genesis, there's just so much good stuff in it, and today, I mean just today, reading through this and just studying this, just seeing little nuggets in there, it's just always fun to find that type of stuff. So, let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening and pray that you be with us as we go home and pray that you be with us at our jobs, help us financially, but we do pray that you'd help those that aren't feeling well. I think of David Crandall, I think of the McCloy family, my family, and just others that may not be feeling well. I pray to be with Miss Ruth and with their baby on the way and just pray that everything would go well with that and just pray for your protection. And Lord, I pray for my boss's brother who had a heart attack, pray that you'd be with him and help everything go well with that, but Lord, just pray that you'd again be with us tonight and with the fellowship and Lord, we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.