The Book of Hebrews 7:1-10 The Life of Abraham
Hebrews 7:1-10 · Vern Peterman · Oct 13, 2013
Hebrews, No. 26
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492644183016

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We today are going to be actually looking at the background to this Hebrews 7, 1-10 passage. We're going to be looking actually at Genesis 12, 13, and 14, so that next Sunday when we take a look at the Hebrews 7, 1-10 passage, we'll have the full background on it. What we're going to do here is to make the point about Jesus Christ. Hebrews 7, 1-10 is mostly about the man Abraham and about the man Melchizedek. So that's what we want to look at today is the background from Genesis 12, 13, and 14.

Because Abraham the man had quite a history leading up to when he encountered Melchizedek, we'll talk about him first. And so we'll first do an overview of the life of Abraham up to the time when he met Melchizedek, the king and the priest. And there's actually two kingships hidden in Melchizedek's name and title. So we'll take a look at that.

So both Abraham and Melchizedek are major themes here in this book of Hebrews. As a matter of fact, the theme of Melchizedek continues on after this passage, 1 through 10. And Abraham continues to be brought up in subsequent chapters as well. So the reason that Abraham and Melchizedek are major themes is to focus on Christ.

So that's ultimately what we're doing today, is looking at Abraham and Melchizedek in order to focus upon Christ, as this passage here points us to. Christ, as Hebrews has been telling us, is, present tense, our High Priest. We, of the body of Christ, have a High Priest, and that is Christ, who in the heavenlies serves as our High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek.

Now you have, I believe as a front page on your handout, a supplement and this shows the route on the top part. It shows the route of Abraham beginning at the city of Ur, Ur of the Chaldeans, and shows him first going up to Haran and then down into Canaan. We're going to track that. And you have on the bottom part of that handout several different events, some of which we'll be looking at here particularly, several different events over the course of the life of Abraham once he gets to Canaan or, as we'll see here briefly, Egypt. So how this begins is Terah, Abraham's father, took his family to Haran.

That's at the top part of that upper map that you have. So Abraham had married his half-sister, Sarah. Now, during this particular time and in this particular culture, it was actually highly prized to have a sister wife. So Abraham, having a half-sister, Sarah, was actually quite delighted and proud to have had this sister wife. So that's his wife, Sarah, his half-sister.

Terah, Abraham's father, brought his family from Ur, which was a major city, had been there actually a few centuries, at least before the time of Abraham, a major city there near the Persian Gulf. So he had brought them from Ur up to Haran, which is at the top part of that map that you see there. What we show in a picture here is the ruins of ancient Haran that's been excavated. Now included in the move to Haran, other details are given, but Abraham, his wife Sarah, and Abraham's nephew Lot, those three would continue to be important as they went down to Canaan, as we'll soon see here. They settled there until Terah's death, and then came the covenant, and so we'll be looking at that shortly.

So Abraham, and we want to give this insight, Abraham was called Abram. If you read the account, he keeps calling him Abram. And Sarah was called Sarai until God changed their names in Genesis chapter 17. So if you read the account, I'm going to continue to call him Abraham, so we know who we're talking about. But you will see if you read the account, he continues to be called Abram and Sarah, Sarai, up until Genesis chapter 17, when both of them were given new names by God.

So here's Genesis 17, 3-5, here Abram fell on his face, God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, exalted father, but your name shall be Abraham, father of a multitude. For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

That's why his name was changed and the significance of it. Sarai was changed to Sarah, reported later on in that very same chapter, chapter 17, in verses 15 and 16, God said to Abraham, as for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. Went from a name meaning contentious to princess. So both of their names were changed. We're going to go calling them Abraham and Sarah just for the sake of consistency here. Now, God made a gracious covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12, 1 through 3.

He continued to expand on that, and he continued to actually add to it. But let's step our way through it. Now, the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you. So he hadn't seen it yet, right? The land which I will show you. So God's going to show him the land. and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

Let's step our way briefly through that. Do you see any ifs in this passage? Do you see the word if anywhere? So God is going to unconditionally carry out this covenant with Abraham. If you do this, I'll do that. But he does say, go forth from your country, and that is an act of faith.

And by the way, verse 1, it's code. Verse 1 is code. It's code for kiss off your family inheritance. That's what it's code for. Because when you go forth from your country and from your relatives, from your father's house, you're leaving everything behind and you're taking God on faith that he's going to do everything else and make it worth your while. You see that? Kiss off your family inheritance. I've got something better for you. So by faith he will go forward.

And in verse 2, I will make you a great nation, greatly multiply, and I will bless you, and those blessings are going to be material, and I will make your name great so that you shall be a blessing. You will bless others, and I will bless those who bless you. So God's going to carry out this principle, I'll bless those who bless you, and this is not seen in the English, and the one who curses you I will curse. Those words curses and curse are two different words in the Hebrew. It basically says this, the one who treats you ill or speaks derisively of you, I will bring judgment upon him.

See that? I will bring judgment upon him, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Jesus Christ, the one who died for the sins of the whole world, the one by whom we are blessed, Jesus Christ is descended from Abraham, and all the families of the earth are blessed in him." Now, having quickly stepped through that, let's take a look here.

So, go forth from the place where your family is, Haran, and that area, and come down to Canaan, the land that I will show you. That's what God's telling him. So, starting at Haran and heading towards Canaan. In chapter 15, and we won't go into any detail, God is ultimately going to promise to Abraham to take the land all the way from the Mediterranean all the way over to the east to the Euphrates River and give it to him.

So the land that I will show you is he's going to see a lot more ultimately than what he is going to see initially here. Now we have this strange little sideways note that I put on your handout, because you can turn it 90 degrees and I have a tough time standing straight. So I'm going to do it this way.

God continues throughout the book of Genesis from chapter 12 here to chapter 24. He continues to repeat, tell them again the same things, and expand upon the covenant with Abraham on into Genesis chapter 24. Was God compelled, was God forced to make promises to Abraham. No. Completely gracious, unconditional promises, and yet God kept promising more and more things. Can you imagine that? Why would God do that? If God isn't compelled to do it, it's because God is gracious, infinitely gracious. Okay.

So, Abraham and Sarah And Lot, that's the nephew, Abraham, Sarah, and Lot, and all the rest of their company, that is servants and all sorts of things like that, head from Haran towards the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan. So that's the first place that's brought out. Here are the ruins of ancient Shechem. By the way, it's also the place where Joseph's bones are now buried, and it is also the place where Jesus talked to the woman at the well. So it's a very eventful place in the Bible history. There at Shechem, Abraham builds an altar to the Lord.

To sacrifice to the Lord. And God made a promise to him. God said, to your descendants I will give this land. To your descendants I will give this land. Now here's something. Did he say, Abraham I'm going to give this land to you? To your descendants I will give this land. To your descendants I will give this land. And so Abraham was going on faith. He would never see the land given to his descendants. He was entirely acting on faith in God. He would never see the land given to his descendants.

As Abraham moved on to a mountain between Bethel and Ai, He built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord. So he built another altar. He called upon the name of the Lord, the Lord by name. And he went from there to the Negev, which is the south. He went further south in this land.

So here we see on the map that you have on the bottom part there, God tells Abraham that this is the land, right here where you are, this is the land I'm going to give to your descendants, not you, your descendants. Abraham also built an altar to the Lord there between Bethel and Ai. So you see those two.

The next thing we're going to see is Abraham is going to head down to Egypt because of a famine. So let's step into that part next here so in and out of Egypt the famine land of Canaan and by the way if you read through Genesis you keep running into famines matter of fact why why did Jacob send his sons down to Egypt so they could meet up with Joseph, right? Because of the famine. The famine was bad. And so a repeated cycle of famines happened to drive a lot of things in biblical times. And we even find those famines continuing to be significant on into the Book of Acts. So, famine in the land of Canaan drives Abraham to go to Egypt. So Abraham came up with a story.

She's my sister. Because he just knew, you know, Sarah must have been quite a babe, you know? I mean, really. So, at any rate, she's my sister. That's the story that he's supposed to come up with. Tells her this is the party line. So, anyway, she gets taken into the harem there.

So Pharaoh likes the looks of Sarah, just as Abraham expected. But that meant lots of livestock. Oh, Abraham, you got one, really? Gorgeous sister and so here's a bunch of livestock for you to compensate for loss of your sister. We'll take her in Well, the the Egyptians apparently just love plagues, you know, they keep getting them and and so big plagues start coming and and the pharaoh puts it together you know ever since i took that woman into my uh... you know harem uh... just really bad things keep happening around here and i'm not liking it very much so he goes back to abraham and says hey what are you doing what are you doing to me? take your back take your livestock and get out of here so sarah gets returned to abraham and Abraham, Sarah and Lot, and all the rest, go back to the land of Canaan, richer by some more livestock." So guess what? God has blessed him. Even though calling, you know, Sarah his sister and pulling this off with the Pharaoh is kind of stupid, God blessed him still. Okay.

Now, they came to a point where Abraham and Lot both have such large herds of livestock that their herdsmen are getting in conflict with one another. By now we're stepping into Genesis 13, 1-18. So here, imagine that they have such large livestock, the problems with mixing herds, using up the resources that are there, not having an easy way to manage their flocks together. So anyway, Abraham comes up with this idea.

He says, look, you go one way, I'll go another. So he offers this choice to Lot. You pick one land, I'll pick another one. I'll go my way, you'll go yours. Lot, seeing the well-watered land down in the land around Sodom and Gomorrah, picks that spot for himself. Now, that area now is not a very well-watered land, unless you really like salt and salt water. But it is clear that in the past, it was a well-watered land. As a matter of fact, the places that are mentioned have been excavated.

God promises Abraham abundant offspring. Abraham settles in Hebron where he builds an altar to the Lord. Boy, this guy loves building altars, doesn't he? Alright, so here's Abraham. He has built this altar and so now we find, here's Hebron on the map. I've got, not on yours, but on mine, this yellow dot where Hebron is located. So Abraham builds an altar to the Lord again there at Hebron.

Now, take a look at this green line that's on your bottom map, because that's the path of the four kings from the north who are coming down and they do a surprise attack. They come down from the north and loop around and attack the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities on the plain. And so that's the next thing that's going to happen here. So in chapter 14, 1 through 13, it describes these four kings coming down.

And what we say here is the rebellion and fighting might not have mattered to Abraham. And when we say rebellion, I'm talking about the rebellion at Sodom and Gomorrah and how evil and wicked they were, right? And the fighting amongst these guys wouldn't have mattered a whole lot to Abraham because he's up at Hebron, right? He's away from it, and he says, whatever they're going to do, it doesn't matter to me. Except Abraham's nephew Lot had taken up residence in Sodom. And so that creates the problem. So here's Sodom.

Like I say, these areas have been excavated and fairly well identified and located. The four kings of Mesopotamia had grabbed Lot and all of his many goods along with the city's food supply. And the four kings were headed north then. What did they do? They headed north along the west side of the Dead Sea. They headed up north and actually fairly close to where Abraham was. But the farther they got to the north, the harder it was going to be for Abraham to go and rescue Lot and his goods, to get everything and everybody back.

Traveled hard so the chase is on this is chapter 14 14 and 15 the chase is on The four kings didn't know they were being pursued by Abraham and 318 interesting exact figure 318 troops and this word for trained troops. That's the only place in the Bible that word is used It is a special word. Yes. These guys are they they are the ultimate for that time they were the ultimate in having training and going after these guys and it even says the exact number of these guys they're high tailing it and chasing these four kings but the four kings don't know it these guys are coming in fast and they attack at night Abraham also had other allies from Sodom and the adjacent cities in the surprise night attack on the troops of the four kings So they come in at night and start their attack completely by surprise on these four kings.

So Abraham took them on over 120 miles to the north. Imagine pursuing them up 120 miles to the north up at the city of Dan, which is north of what we call the Sea of Galilee. So he caught up with them there. So he started at Hebron. took his 318 trained troops, made a night attack, coordinated with the other soldiers coming out of Sodom and Zohar and those cities. Abraham didn't really need to wipe them out. He didn't need to go in and take them out altogether. He just needed to get locked and all, lots of people, and his goods, lots of goods, back from them, which is exactly what he did.

So, when we come to chapter 14, verse 17, we begin the account that includes Melchizedek, and this is where we're headed and where we're aiming. So let's take a look through that. So this is Genesis 14, 17 through 24. This is on a half sheet size slide on page two. So then after his return from the defeat of Keter Laomer, I practiced that for a half hour, right? Okay. Keter Laomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom, went out to meet him, that is Abraham, at the Valley of Shaveh. That is the Kings Valley. Now, before we go further, let's ask, where is that? Where is that? If you look north towards the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock, they're in Jerusalem now. Here's the Dome of the Rock there on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

So this view is looking to the north from the air. Then, what you see is a white outline. This is the outline of the city of David, but that's about 1000 BC. This is happening 1000 years earlier. But that gives you the outline of the city of David as it later showed up.

This valley right to the east between Jerusalem and what's later called the Mount of Olives is the Kidron Valley or the King's Valley. That's the valley we're talking about. And this is a very eventful place. It was the spring in that valley where Solomon was anointed.

Later on, Abraham's going to go to that rock that's underneath the dome to sacrifice his son Isaac. This is the place where the temple will be built that Jesus will walk in. So this place is full of all kinds of import. But it is also at this time the place where Melchizedek is king of this city and priest of God Most High. So it's a very eventful place. It's just to the west of there where Jesus will be crucified and buried. The place is full of all kinds of import. Now, let's go back to the passage and read through it here.

In verse 18, And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. Now he was a priest of God Most High, and he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram, of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he, that is, Abraham, gave him a tent of all. And that's what the passage in Hebrews is talking about.

We'll talk about that more next week. So now, different discussion. The king of Sodom said to Abraham, give the people to me and take the goods for yourself. And Abraham says, I'm not doing that. Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have sworn to the Lord God Most High Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread, or a sandal-fong, or anything that is yours. Not going to happen. For fear you would say, I have made Abraham rich. I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Anir, Eshkol, and Mamre, let them take their share. But I'm not taking your deal. I'm not biting this hook. I'm not going to do that. So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to take first a look at this passage here in the King of Sodom because I want to end up talking about Melchizedek. So we're going to take it in reverse order here from what you see. Because I want to end up talking about Melchizedek because he's the real key guy. But just so we get the whole passage covered. So here's Abraham on his way home. And 120 miles to the south, Abraham comes across two leaders who are very different in character. So one is Melchizedek, king of Salem, and Barah, the king of Sodom. We know that name from elsewhere than in this passage we just read. So Melchizedek, king of Salem, and Barah, king of Sodom. Now, let's take a look at Melchizedek, king of Salem. There's some things we need to unpack here. Salem, or in the Hebrew, Shalom, means peace. So, king of peace, and that's what the Hebrews passage points out. Now, there's one more thing we've got to unpack.

The name Melchizedek. Melchi, that part of it, means the king of and Sedeq is righteousness so he is the king of the name means the king of righteousness and being by his place the king of Salem means the king of peace and both those points are made there in the Hebrews passage so we'll get to that passage but just so we unpack those two things that's where it's from so Melchizedek king of Salem and Bera king of Sodom As we'll see, our friend Abraham's interaction with each of these men was also of a different character, very different. You can tell Abraham did not trust the king of Sodom, and he'd already sworn before this conversation what he was going to do and not do. Period. I know that guy, I know his character, and so I know in advance what I'm going to do.

Now with Melchizedek, he does quite the opposite, and we'll see here shortly. So with Bera, the king of Sodom, Abraham was cautious not to be compromised. Bera was an incidental ally, a military ally, as king of his nephew's city. Abraham refused to take anything from Bera that might compromise Abraham morally or spiritually.

I don't want to owe that guy anything. I don't want to owe that guy anything." Abraham may also have been wanting to avoid anything that would create an obligation to bear or to the city of Sodom at some later point in time a further opportunity for compromise. He didn't want to be in that spot.

There are some New Testament passages here that run parallel to it. 2 Corinthians 6 14 and 15, do not be bound together with unbelievers, for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, and what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? This would be one relevant New Testament passage.

Here's another one, 1 Thessalonians 5, 21 through 22. But examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form, and the footnote has appearance of evil. So those would be a couple of relevant New Testament passages addressed to us. Ah, but with Melchizedek, different kind of approach altogether. With Melchizedek, however, Abraham interacted with him very differently from how he interacted with the King of Sodom.

Abraham accepted his offer of bread and wine, but that's not all. Abraham received him as a priest of the Most High God. As a matter of fact, you even see Abraham speaking to the King of Sodom using some of the same words that Melchizedek used. Accepting both Melchizedek's blessing upon God and upon himself, Abraham. Both blessings, Abraham accepted.

Though Melchizedek was not a military ally, doesn't mean he was against him, but his status was not, you're a military ally, but rather you're a true spiritual ally. A true spiritual ally. Psalm 110, 1-4 has this, the Lord says to my Lord, and by the way, you say, what? The Lord says to my Lord? This is God the Father saying to God the Son, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Hebrews 1.13 and Hebrews 10.13 both quote verse 1, looking at it as a fulfillment of Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father. until he comes again in his kingdom. Verses 2 and 3, which all pass over, also refer to Christ's reign on the earth when he comes again. But verse 4 is the one significant to us right now.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. God the Son, Jesus Christ, is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Not the Jewish line of priests, but Melchizedek. So Hebrews 5, 6, and 7, 17, which we'll get to, quote Psalm 110, 4. Discussion then of Melchizedek is in this passage we're studying today and then continues on into verse 16. Now, let's take a look at Genesis 14, 20, and blessed be God most high. who has delivered your enemies into your hands. So here is Melchizedek blessing God. Hey, by the way, did you ever do that? Bless God?

Very interesting, because that same set of words rearranged, the same set of words rearranged shows up in Ephesians 1.3. Bless be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bless be the God and is the same set of words only blessed is pulled forward to emphasize it in Ephesians 1.3. Both the Old Testament here with Melchizedek and the New Testament with the Apostle Paul speak of blessing God.

That's something very interesting. It's not something we talk about very much. It's speaking well of God. Speaking well of God. Now, here's some points for us to ponder here. God is the one who makes the gracious promises and keeps them. God is not urging us to go and make a bunch of promises and try really hard to keep them. Key point. God is the one who makes the promises and keeps them. He has not called us to go and make promises and to try real hard to keep them. Living the Christian life is not by my own effort. He doesn't want that. That will not please Him. Our place is to have faith in what He has promised and done and revealed to us. That's our place, not making promises and trying real hard to keep them. Our place is to have faith in what God has promised and done and revealed to us.

The way we have put it here, I like to underscore it because it's one of those things where people need to have it riveted in their head, okay? Faith in the facts is like the train in the tracks, and the feelings follow. And the reason I keep emphasizing this, and we will keep doing that, the reason I keep emphasizing this is our culture is telling us something different. Our culture is telling us something different.

The culture in much of Christendom wants to feel blessed. Matter of fact, I was in one church situation and I heard some guys who were in leadership talking about, if I felt blessed, then it must be true. If I felt blessed, then it must be true. Feeling blessed is not the standard of truth. What's the standard of truth? God's Word, right? The culture in much of Christendom wants to feel blessed, looking for the feelings. The Bible uses the words bless and blessing in various ways. But it is either earthly or heavenly and it's objective. It's not talking about how you feel. It's not talking about how you feel. Many people, in pursuing subjective feelings of blessing, forget to declare God to be blessed for His blessing of us.

Blessing God is something taught here in Genesis 14.20 and Ephesians 1.3. It's very appropriate for us to bless God. Faith in the facts about what's been revealed, including our blessing, okay? Including our blessing. Not looking for feelings of blessing, but faith in the facts about our blessing is key. With the feelings of blessing following, okay? You don't see too many trains going back and up for miles and miles and miles with the caboose in the lead, right? Not too often. Now, more points to ponder.

God's promise to Abraham did not mean that Abraham would not have any troubles. So here God made promises to Abraham, and I'm going to bless you, and he who blesses you I'll bless, and so Abraham never had any difficulties, right? Not so much. He got spit out of Egypt, and now he has to go chase his nephew Lot down and rescue the guy. Abraham was to follow in faith, not to pursue happiness or freedom from pain.

Many Christians will get this backwards. They'll say, you know, I'm mad at God because God didn't stop this and God let that happen, right? We're to follow faith in the facts, not the feelings. Pursuit of happiness is a fine thing to put in our Declaration of Independence, but it's not something that's in the Bible. It's not in the Bible. And freedom from pain is something you can get guaranteed from the Bible, you're not going to have. Rejoice when you encounter various trials. You know that word various? That word various is the same word we get our word polka like in polka dots, okay? You get little ones, big ones, long ones, short ones, okay? There's variety in those trials. Rejoice when you encounter them, okay? And don't think that it's God's job to keep you happy and free from pain. If that's God's job, He's doing a terrible job, okay? Awful!

Now, Melchizedek showed up in Abraham's life without prior notice. Do you have any warning before you get to chapter 14 that he's going to encounter Melchizedek? No, you don't. Yet he established, Melchizedek established, an eternal order that's still in place and always will be. Surprise! This Melchizedek shows up. Whether pleasure or trial, pain or joy, God has an eternal purpose for everything in our lives. Everything. In fact, we could put it this way. You need what's happening to you. I need what's happening to me. You see, we human beings tend to get ticked off when God, you know, boy, I wanted this, but not that. Well, guess what? God is the one who writes the prescription for our lives, and it's not about what's nice here.

He's getting us ready for there. Now, Bertha's done getting ready, right? Bertha's done getting ready, but He's getting us ready for there. All this is just getting ready for what's next. It isn't about here. This isn't the be-all and end-all. It isn't about here. He's getting us ready for what's next.

And things will show up by surprise. Just like Melchizedek here showed up by surprise. He had no prior notice that he's going to be there. But God does something forever with this guy about whom he had no prior warning, no prior notice. Whatever God brings into your life is there for a purpose. We need what's happening to us. God will have an eternal purpose for things that happen in time, even if they're only for a short while.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truths that come out of it, and we look forward to what uh... you're going to be showing us about abraham about uh... milk is a deck and ultimately to point to christ and lord we thank you for the things that you are doing in our lives we thank you that we uh... have revealed because you love us they have revealed these precious uh... truths and uh... what you want is for us not to pursue a feeling or freedom from a feeling but rather to pursue Life by faith in you. Faith in what you've revealed because you love us. And teach our hearts that, Lord. That that is what you want. You don't want us to try to be a good Christian. But living out the Christian life is your job. And we entrust it to you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.