WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E 27 Don't you love Him? Let us bow our heads now. Dear gracious God, with this little note here of a few things to say to the people and back again to refer back to this morning, for that's what the people come to hear. I pray, God, that You'll let the people see that God loves and cares. And it was not me that give that, Lord; it was vindicated that it was the Truth. So I pray, dear God, that Your love will always remain among the people. Tonight to have to separate after this meeting and go to our different homes, it--it kinda pulls us, some, deep, Lord. I pray that You'll bless these people. Now, as we approach the Word in prayer, and approach the written Word, we ask that You will take this written Word and make It alive to us tonight. And when we leave this building tonight to separate to go to our different homes, may we say like those who came from Emmaus, that had walked with Him all day and still didn't know Him... But when He got them inside the room that night, and the doors all shut, He did something just like He did before His crucifixion. By that they knowed He had risen again. Do it again tonight, Lord. Grant it, while the doors are shut and Your little group here is setting, waiting. And, Father, when we go to our homes we'll say like they did, "Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us along the way?" We commit ourselves and all in Your hands, Lord; do with us as You see fit. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

29 Now, let's get right into the service now quickly, turning now with me if you will to the Book of Hebrews. And another revelation on the Message, we'll speak for just a few moments tonight, the Lord willing. And then while reading the first three verses of Hebrews 7:1-3, and then commenting on this... And we don't know what the Lord will do. We do not know; the only thing we do is just believe, watch, pray (That right?), and believe that He'll make everything work together for good to them that loves Him, because He promised to. For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; (Let's read a little farther). Without father, without mother, without descent,... neither beginning of days, or end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

30 Think of this great Person, of how great this Man must be. And now, the question is: "Who is this Man?" Theologians has had different ideas, but since the opening of the Seven Seals, the mysterious Book that's been mysterious to us... According to Revelations 10:1-7, all the mysteries that's wrote in this Book that's been hid down through the age of the reformers is supposed to be brought out into view by the angel of the last church age. How many knows that's right? That's right. Supposed to be brought... All the mysteries of the mysterious Book is to be revealed to the Laodicea messenger of that age.

Seeing there is much dispute about this Person, and this subject, I think it behooves us to break into it to find out Who this is. Now, there's several schools of thought on Him. One of the schools are--claims He's just a myth; He wasn't actually a person. And the others says that it was a priesthood, that was the Melchisedec priesthood. That's the most likely one that hold better to that side than they do to the other, is because they say it was a priesthood. It can't be that, for in the 4th verse it says He was a Person, a Man. So in order to be a person He has to be a personality, a Man, not a order, but a Person.

32 So He was not just a priesthood order, neither was He a myth; He was a Person. And the Person is eternal. If you notice, He had no father, He had no mother, He had no time He ever began, and He had no time He ever ended. And ever Who it was is still alive tonight, because the Bible said here that He had neither father, nor mother, beginning of days or ending of life. So it would have to be an eternal Person (Is that right?), an eternal Person. So it could only be one Person; that's God, 'cause He's the only One that's eternal--God. Now, in I Timothy 6:15 and 16, if you'd like to read that sometime, I'd like for you to read it. Now, the thing that I contend is, that He was God, because He's the only Person that can be immortal. And now, God changing Himself into Person; that's what He was: no father, no mother, no beginning of life, no ending of days.

1Timothy 6:15 I TIMOTHY 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, [who is] the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Now, this scripture brings up one very important attribute that we must consider in knowing God. God is Sovereign. Most people do not believe that God is Sovereign. In fact I am sure that many of you do not fully comprehend this sovereignty of God.

Among Christians today most do not even believe in the sovereignty of God much less understand it. There are more Catholics making up Christendom than any other group of people and among them it is banned to believe in the sovereignty of God. In the Official Catholic records they say, “Let him that believes in predestination be anathema, which means to be branded a heretic and fit for destruction.

You may find some, and I mean very few people who even claim to believe that God is Sovereign, but how far they allow themselves to believe in God’s Sovereignty, is not too clear.

However, in our reading from brother Branham’s sermon on Who is this Melchisedec, this morning, He says this man who came to meet with Abraham was none other than God Himself. Then he qualifies his statement by taking us to 1 Timothy 6:15, and that is where we want to focus our thoughts this morning

You know we have spent an awful lot of time on trying to get to know Him more. In fact I believe our number one effort as a Christian is perhaps the time spent whether reading His Word of in Prayer, trying to get to know Him better. I believe that is the desire of every true born again son or daughter of God.

But notice what scripture Brother Branham takes us to first in our study of Melchisedec. 1 Timothy 6:15. Now why would this be his first scripture.

1Timothy 6:15 I TIMOTHY 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, [who is] the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Notice Paul tells us that God is the Only Potentate. Now this word Paul chooses to use is the Greek word dunateo which means to be powerful or mighty, to show one’s self powerful, to be able, to have power.

This I believe speaks of the sovereignty of God.

A.W. Pink wrote in his book “The sovereignty of God”, “The sovereignty of God is an expression that once was generally understood. It was a phrase commonly used in religious literature. It was a theme frequently expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth which brought comfort to many hearts and gave virility and stability to Christian character. But today, to make mention of God's sovereignty is, in many quarters, to speak in an unknown tongue. Were we to announce from the average pulpit that the subject of our discourse would be the sovereignty of God, it would sound very much as though we had borrowed a phrase from one of the dead languages. Alas! that it should be so. Alas! that the doctrine which is the key to history, the interpreter of providence, the warp and woof of scripture, and the foundation of Christian theology should be so sadly neglected and so little understood.

The "Sovereignty of God." What do we mean by this expression? We mean the SUPREMACY of God, the KINGSHIP of God, the GODHOOD of God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that GOD IS GOD! To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High, "doing according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou? (Dan. 4:35), To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the possessor of all power in heaven and earth so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, nor resist His will (Psa. 115:3). To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is "the governor among the nations" (Psa. 22:28), setting, up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as pleases Him best. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the "only potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords" (I Tim. 6:15). Such is the God of the Bible.

As you know, we believe in the Godhood of God. If you remember when we studied this subject of the Godhood, we began by showing that it is a compound word taken from two words, God and hood a suffix meaning the state or quality of being. Therefore in studying God’s Godhoodedness, we must keep in mind the first and most important thing. God is God period, and there are no others like Him.

When we examined the suffix hood as to it’s meaning we saw how that it is used in referring to a young boy, in the word boyhood, but then we showed how that when that boy becomes a man we now longer think in terms of youth or boyhoodedness, but in terms of what attributes would show forth into manifestation of manhood. Thus Paul also tells us in 1 Corinthians 13: 9-12, in speaking of this transition, he says, “When I was a child I spoke as away a child and I acted as a child because I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put childish things. (Let’s read it).

We also see in Hebrews 5:13 that Paul again makes reference to the difference between the habits of a child and the habit of a man. (read).

Therefore the Godhood of God speaks of the quality and state of God being God. What He is essentially and what He is intrinsically, which has to do with His true Nature, His inward Nature, His Innate Being.

And we know in order to understand the Godhoodedness of God, we must be able to see Him in His True Nature, as He really is. And Since God is not a visible Being, then there must be a vehicle whereby we may see Him as He really is.

And that brings us to 1 John 3: 1-3. (read) And we see then that God used the Appearing in this hour to make Himself known to man in a way which He has not in 2,000 years.

God used His Son to declare Himself and show Himself but man botched that by confusing the understanding of the Godhead and making the Son one of three persons which make up the Godhead.

Jesus, the Son is not in the Godhead. No, not in any way shape or form. But the fullness of the Godhead was in Him because it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.

"Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." (Rev. 4:11)

Sovereignty characterizes the whole Being of God: let us observe how it marks all His ways and dealings.

In the great expanse of eternity, which stretches behind Genesis 1:1, the universe was unborn and creation existed only in the mind of the great Creator. In His sovereign majesty, God dwelt all alone. We refer to that far distant period before the heavens and the earth were created. There were then no angels to hymn God's praises, no creatures to occupy His notice, no rebels to be brought to subjection. The great God was all alone amid the awful silence of His own vast universe. But even at that time, if time it could be called, God was sovereign. He might create or not create according to His own good pleasure. He might create this way or that way; He might create one world or one million worlds, and who was there to resist His will? He might call into existence a million different creatures and place them on absolute equality, endowing them with the same faculties and placing them in the same environment; or, He might create a million creatures each differing from the others, and possessing nothing in common save their creaturehood, and who was there to challenge His right? If He so pleased, He might call into existence a world so immense that its dimensions were utterly beyond finite computation; and were He so disposed, He might create an organism so small that nothing but the most powerful microscope could reveal its existence to human eyes. It was His sovereign right to create, on the one hand, the exalted seraphim to burn around his throne, and on the other hand, the tiny insect which dies the same hour that it is born.

If the mighty God chose to have one vast gradation in His universe, from loftiest seraph to creeping reptile, from revolving worlds to floating atoms, from macrocosm to microcosm, instead of making everything uniform, who was there to question His sovereign pleasure?

BEHOLD THEN THE EXERCISE OF DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY LONG BEFORE MAN EVER SAW THE LIGHT.

With whom took God counsel in the creation and disposition of His creatures? See the birds as they fly through the air, the beasts as they roam the earth, the fishes as they swim in the sea, and then ask, Who was it that made them to differ? Was it not their Creator who sovereignly assigned their various locations and adaptations to them?!

TURN YOUR EYE TO THE HEAVENS and observe the mysteries of divine sovereignty which there confront the thoughtful beholder: "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory" (1 Cor. 15:41). But why should they? Why should the sun be more glorious than all the other planets? Why should there be stars of the first magnitude and others of the tenth? Why such amazing inequalities? Why should some of the heavenly bodies be more favorably placed than others in their relation to the sun? And why should there be "shooting stars", "falling stars", "wandering stars" (Jude 13), in a word, ruined stars? And the only possible answer is, "For Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Rev. 4:11)

COME NOW TO OUR OWN PLANET Why should two thirds of its surface be covered with water, and why should so much of its remaining third be unfit for human cultivation or habitation? Why should there be vast stretches of marshes, deserts and icefields? Why should one country be so inferior, topographically, from another? Why should one be fertile, and another almost barren? Why should one be rich in minerals and another own none? Why should the climate of one be congenial and healthy, and another uncongenial and unhealthy? Why should one abound in rivers and lakes, and another be almost devoid of them? Why should one be constantly troubled with earthquakes, and another be almost entirely free from them? WHY? Because thus it pleased the Creator and Upholder of all things.

LOOK AT THE ANIMAL KINGDOM and note the wondrous variety. What comparison is possible between the lion and the lamb, the bear and the kid, the elephant and the mouse? Some, like the horse and the dog, are gifted with great intelligence; while others, like sheep and swine, are almost devoid of it. Why? Some are designed to be beasts of burden, while others enjoy a life of freedom. But why should the mule and the donkey be shackled to a life of drudgery, while the lion and tiger are allowed to roam the jungle at their pleasure? Some are fit for food, others unfit; some are beautiful, others ugly; some are endowed with great strength, others are quite helpless; some are fleet of foot, others can

scarcely crawl-contrast the hare and the tortoise; some are of use to man, others appear to be quite valueless; some live for centuries, others a few months at most; some are tame, others fierce. But why all these variations and differences?

What is true of the animals is equally true of the birds and fishes. But CONSIDER NOW THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. Why should roses have thorns, and lilies grow without them? Why should one flower emit a fragrant aroma and another have none? Why should one tree bear fruit which is wholesome and another that which is poisonous? Why should one vegetable be capable of enduring frost and another wither under it? Why should one apple tree be loaded with fruit, and another tree of the same age and in the same orchard be almost barren? Why should one plant flower a dozen times a year and another bear blossoms but once a century? Truly, "whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven, and in the earth, in the seas, and all deep places" (Psa. 135:6).

CONSIDER THE ANGELIC HOSTS. Surely we shall find uniformity here. But no; there, as elsewhere, the same sovereign pleasure of the Creator is displayed. Some are higher in rank than others; some are more powerful than others; some are nearer to God than others. Scripture reveals a definite and well-defined gradation in the angelic orders. From the arch-angel, past seraphim and cherubim, we come to "principalities and powers" (Eph. 3:10), and from principalities and powers to "rulers" (Eph. 6:12), and then to the angels themselves, and even among them we read of "the elect angels" (1 Tim. 5: 21) Again we ask, Why this inequality, this difference in rank and order? And all we can say is, "Our God is in the heavens, He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (Psa. 115:3).

If then we see the sovereignty of God displayed throughout all creation, why should it be thought a strange thing IF WE BEHOLD IT OPERATING IN THE MIDST OF THE HUMAN FAMILY? Why should it be thought strange if to one God is pleased to give five talents and another only one? Why should it be thought strange if one is born with a robust constitution and another of the same parents is frail and sickly? Why should it be thought strange if Abel is cut off in his prime, while Cain is suffered to live on for many years? Why should it be thought strange that some should be born black and others white; that some be born idiots and others with high intellectual endowments; some be born constitutionally lethargic and others full of energy; some be born with a temperament that is selfish, fiery, egotistical, and others who are naturally self-sacrificing, submissive and meek? Why should it be thought strange if some are qualified by nature to lead and rule, while others are only fitted to follow and serve? Heredity and environment cannot account for all these variations and inequalities. No; it is GOD who maketh one to differ from another. Why should He? "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight" must be our reply.

Learn then this basic truth, that THE CREATOR IS ABSOLUTELY SOVEREIGN, EXECUTING HIS OWN WILL, PERFORMING HIS OWN PLEASURES, AND CONSIDERING NOUGHT BUT HIS OWN GLORY "The Lord hath made all things FOR HIMSELF" (Prov. 16:4). And had He not a perfect right to? Since God IS God, who dare challenge His prerogative? To murmur against Him is rank rebellion. To question His ways is to impugn His wisdom. To criticise Him is sin of the deepest dye. Have we forgotten WHO He is? Behold, All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? (Isa. 40; 17,18) What ought to be our attitude toward the sovereignty of God?