WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC #42
FEBRUARY 18, 2001
Brian Kocourek
This morning we will turn
our thoughts again to the Sermon Who is this Melchisedec that Brother Branham
taught us. We will begin our study today beginning with paragraph 29.
Who is this
Melchisedec 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.
1
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;
2
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).
3
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.
Who is this Melchisedec 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.
Let's
turn in our Bibles again and read verse 4.
HEBREWS 7:4 Now consider how great this man [was], unto
whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
Notice
the Apostle Paul tells us this was a man, a person, not a myth, not some
Spirit, not a Ghost or a cloudy vapor, but a man. Now, let's go back and review
the story as told to us by Moses in the Book of Genesis.
GENESIS 14:18 And
Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he [was] the priest
of the most high God.19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed [be] Abram of the
most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20 And blessed be the most high
God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes
of all.
Now, I would like for you to notice
that Paul had called Melchisedec a man. And I want you to notice the first
thing Moses called him is a King. The Hebrew Word used here is Melek, and it is
the same in the Aramaic. It means King. And not only did mOses call him a King,
but in fact he called him the King of a Specific place. Salem, in the Hebrew
spelled Shalem, and pronounced Shaw-lame. It is means peace. And it's root
meaning is 1) complete, safe, peaceful, perfect, whole, full, at peace -
finished- unharmed
In
reference to a covenant it means peace of
mind) It also means perfect,
complete (of keeping covenant relation) And refers to being in a covenant of
peace.
Therefore
this King of Salem could not be a myth as some would believe, but a real life
person Who came to Abraham representing a Kingdom and a relationship with God.
For Moses tells us that this King is also a Priest. And not just any priest,
but Moses says, He was THE PRIEST OF THE MOST HIGH GOD. The Priest. Not a priesthood, because that would imply
many. But THE PRIEST of the Most High God. And what does the word
"of" mean? Think of the two
letters "o" and "f" as an acronyn for two words,
"o" for "Out" and "f" for "From".
"Out from"
Notice
Moses said He was The Priest "OF" "Out From"
the Most High God. Now the Word Priest
used here is a Hebrew Word, Kohen, which means 1) priest, principal officer or
chief ruler and is used not only of the Priests of Jehovah, the Levitical
Priests and the Aaronic priests, but it is used also of the High Priest.
However it was also used of the Pagan Priests as well, so in essence it refers
to the office of Priest.
Now,
I want you to notice that Melchisedec did not just come down to visit Abraham,
nor did He come with just a Message for Abraham, but He came in the Role of
High Priest, For Moses called Him, "THE PRIEST" of the Most High God.
Notice
what this Melchisedec brought with him, Bread and Wine. Now, why would "THE PRIEST" out
from God, bring bread and wine to Abraham, and then bless Abraham? I believe
this was symbolic. Bread is the staff of Life and Symbolizes Life.
For
Jesus said in, JOHN 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore
give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never
hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And
then in verse 48 Jesus said, I am that bread of life.
Now,
Jesus said, the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Therefore, this Staff of Life was a symbol of the
Promise of Life to Abraham. Another thing is that bread is made from seeds.
"Wheat and rye and other seeds which are also carriers of life. I believe
this was a most appropriate gift that was given to Abraham because it not only
carried with it the blessings of Life but represented Seed Life. That is why
Melchisedec blessed Abraham and said, And he
blessed him, and said, Blessed [be] Abram of the most high God,
possessor of heaven and earth: 20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath
delivered thine enemies into thy hand. Notice the Blessing: Blessed
[be] Abram of the most high God.
Of
or out from showing where Abraham Himself had come from. And in the Blessing
Melchisedec showed Abraham Who it was that watched over and protected him from
his enemies.
Notice also that Melchisedec
brought Wine with the Bread. Now, Wine in itself has various meanings in the
Scripture. In Proverbs it is spoken of as the fruits wealth showing forth the
increase. PROVERBS 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits
of all thine increase: Remember, this is exactly what Abraham did,
He gave Melchisedec tithes of all. Notice the next verse. 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses
shall burst out with new wine.
In NUMBERS 15:7 we read, And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the
third [part] of an hin of wine, [for] a sweet savour unto the LORD.
Now, What was Melchisedec
doing when He gave Abraham the Bread and Wine? I believe He was showing Abraham
the essential elements necessary to Worship God. After all, he was the High
Priest of God. Therefore, He was bringing to Abraham the essential elements
necessary to worship God. To show Abraham how to worship God.
Now, we have already shown
that the Bread represents the Staff of Life, or the bread of Life. The Life is
in the seed and the seed crushed releases the life and therefore the Bread of
Life. The Wine stands for the pouring
out of the Life.
GOD'S GIFTS
ALWAYS FIND PLACE 63-1222 31 David crying out, "If I could drink once more (See?), from
that well," where he used to water his sheep when he went out of a morning
from the corral, they'd want a drink of water. And these men pulled their
swords and fought through fifteen miles of men, brought this water back. And
David said, "Far be, that I drink it." And he poured it upon the
ground as a drink-offering to the Lord. What a beautiful type of the same thing
of this John 3:16 tonight.... God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son,... And what did Christ do? The Life that He
had to live Eternally, He poured it upon the ground from His veins, His natural
life, upon the ground as a sin-offering for us.
MATTHEW 26:26 ¶ And as they were eating, Jesus took bread,
and blessed [it], and brake [it], and gave [it] to the disciples, and said,
Take, eat; this is my body. 27 And he
took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, Drink ye all of
it; 28 For this is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
I CORINTHIANS
11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat:
this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also [he took] the
cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood:
this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and
drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 27 Wherefore
whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread, and drink of [that] cup. 29 For he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,
not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many [are] weak and sickly
among you, and many sleep. For if we
would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
Now, in getting back to this
great King-Priest, The King of Peace, and the Priest of Peace, we see that he
brought to Abraham a Peace offering. Communion then is a peace offering showing
forth that we are at peace with God, utilizing the same elements Melchisedec
brought to Abraham. God was showing Him
Life, and the blessing had to do with receiving that Life. Then what ought it
do to us, who are at peace with God.
JOHN 6:53 Then Jesus said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son
of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth
in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I
live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This
is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna,
and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
How important is the
Communion service, when Jesus Himself said, Unless you eat it and drink it you
have no part with me. And if you take it unworthily, you drink condemnation to
yourself and will suffer in this body, perhaps even to the point of death. That
ought to make every child of God straighten up their life, and walk worthily of
this great covenant of life and Peace.
Jesus Himself said, JOHN 6:53 "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink
his blood, ye have no life in you. 54
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I
will raise him up at the last day.
That is a promise. If you
don't believe any other promise, believe this one. That ought to make you never
want to miss a communion service again. If you eat and drink you have Life, and
will never come into the judgment. But if you don't partake, it is because
there is no life in you. You are dead, dead, dead. Take your choice this
morning, Do I turn my nose up at God and say I don't believe it? Or do I say,
"Lord, Help Thou my unbelief. Help me to never miss another communion
service as long as I have breath in my body."
COMMUNION 65-1212
17 Now, we only have three physical Divine
orders left to us: one of them is--is communion, feet-washing, water baptism.
That's the only three things. That's the perfection of the three. See? And that's
the only three orders we have. We realize that that was the issue given by
Saint Paul in the New Testament.
And yet just showing up for
communion won't do it either. You've got to be cleansed first by the Holy Fire
of God as brother Branham said.
FUTURE HOME 64-0802
37-1 No man, no person,
no woman, boy, girl--I don't care who he is--is fit to go in the pulpit, or
even claim to be a Christian, without being filled with the Holy Ghost. You
have no right to the Lord's supper or any Communion or feet washing or
anything, until you've been cleansed by the holy Fire of God.
So that places you in a
live, die sink or swim situation. God! Either slay me right now, or cleanse me
by the Fire of Your Word. Psalm 119:
says, "How does a young man cleanse himself? By
taking heed to the word thereof." Washed in the washing of Water by the
Word. If you walk in the Light as he is in the Light, the blood of jesus Christ
cleanses you from all of your sins. But you've got to walk in it.
COMMUNION 57-0418
19 In the taking of the communion, was the difference between life
and death. Those who were on the inside under the shed blood took the
communion. No one could take the communion outside being under the shed blood.
The blood of the lamb was shed first, and then was put on the lintel and the
doorpost. The lintel is the cross timber. And on the doorpost... And then the
lamb was roasted, and was--and--and was eaten with bitter herbs. And they
girded themselves. After the blood was shed, and they had passed under the shed
blood, they were girded and ready for the march. And now, it's a very beautiful
type tonight of people who take communion is not to be associated or
affiliated with things of the world anymore. They must come under the Blood
first and be cleansed from all sin (which is unbelief), and then be shod with
the preparation of the Gospel, having on the whole armor of God, ready for the
summons at anytime.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 7
PT 1 57-0915E 299-67 See that
Melchisedec? Hundreds of years before, when He met Abraham after the battle was
over, He gave bread and wine. And here Jesus gives the disciples, after His
hard battle was over, He gave them bread and wine. Watch. Watch the future
coming. And he took the cup, and--and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed
for sins... and remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink
henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew with
you in my Father's kingdom.
299-68
We are in the battle now. We're after our fallen brother, that God,
before the foundation of the world, saw and predestinated unto Eternal Life.
And the things of the world's got him caught up in a whirlwind. He's out into
societies and classes, him and his wife, walking up and down the streets,
smoking and drinking and carousing, trying to find peace. And the Spirit of
Christ in us, as it would be in Abraham, we're gone after him. With all the
armors of God, the Angels of God encamped about, we're gone to bring back our
fallen brother.
300-69
And when the battle is finally ended, we will meet Melchisedec again
(Bless God), Who blessed Abraham there, and gave him the blessing, and give him
bread and wine, the communion. And when the battle's over, we'll meet Him. We
who are the heirs of the promise of Abraham, joint heirs with Christ in the
Kingdom, shall meet Him at the end of the road and take bread and wine again
when the battle's over. Who is this Melchisedec? The One that had no father,
had no mother, had no beginning of days or the ending of life, He'll be there
to give the communion again. You get it?
300-71
When we pull up... On the certain nights when we come together and take
communion from the hands of the ministers, representing that we believe in the
death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, that that veil, His body
that He was inveiled in, God... We take it as a representative we're dead to
the things of the world, and been borned anew of the Spirit. And we walk with
the body of Christ, all the believers together.
When the great
battle is finished, and we come up again with Christ, we'll take the communion
with Him in the Kingdom of God anew, and eat the flesh, and drink the blood of
the grape again in the Kingdom of God. Oh, there's Melchisedec. That's Who He
was.
300-73
Now, let's read just a little further about Him here, and the 18th
verse. And Melchisedec king of Salem brought forth bread and wine:... (You get
it?)... and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and
said, Blessed be Abraham of the most high God, possessor of heavens and earth:
And he blessed him,... And he blessed... And blessed be the most high God,
which has delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him a tenth of
all. (He paid tithes to Melchisedec. Abraham give Him a tenth of the spoil.)
301-74
Now, I want you to notice here as Paul goes on, giving a background for
the coming lesson now. And the king of Sodom said unto Abraham, Give me the
persons, and take thou the goods to thyself... (Now, the king of Sodom said,
"Now, you just give me back my subjects, and you take the goods to
yourself.") And Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my
hand unto the LORD, the most high God,... (Elohim, the Possessor of heavens and
earth there)... the most high God, the possessor of heavens and earth, That I
will not take from a thread even to a shoelatch,... (He didn't have a great
campaign to take up money; he only wanted his fallen brother.)... and that I
will not take any thing... of thine, lest thou shall say, I have made Abraham
rich: Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men
which went with me,...
301-75
Now, I want you to notice. Abraham said, "I'll not take from a
thread to a shoelatch." He didn't fight the war to make a lot of money.
And real true battles are not made with selfish motives. Wars are not fought
for money. Wars are fought for--for motives, for principles. Men fight war for
principles. And when Abraham went out to get Lot, he didn't go out because he
knowed he could whip the kings and take all their possession; he went out for
the principle of saving his brother. And any minister that's sent out under the
inspiration of the King of heaven, will not go for money; neither will he go to
make big churches; neither will he go to inspire denominations. He'll only go
for one principle, and that is, to bring back his fallen brother. Whether he
gets a dime in the offering or whether he doesn't, it won't make a bit of
difference to him. As I say, "Real wars are fought and waged for
principles and not for money." And men and women who join church and come
into church to be popular, because the Joneses belong there, or they change
their church from a little church to a big church, you're doing it for a
selfish motive and the right principle's not behind it. You should be willing
to stand at the battle front.
302-78
In this Tabernacle here, when things go wrong and you men and you women
will run and go over somewhere else, or lay out till the little fuss or the
stew is over, there's something wrong with your experience. That's right. We
have a custom here. We have a--we have a order here; this church is based upon
the principles of the Bible. If there's somebody in here not doing right, and
you think they're not, you go to him and talk to him. If you can't reconcile
him, then take some brother with you, one or two more. If he won't be
reconciled then, then tell it to the church; and the church will dismiss him,
have no more fellowship with him. And Jesus said, "Whatever you loose on
earth, I'll loose in heaven." That's the reason you have so much troubles,
because you don't follow the Bible principles. If somebody in the church is
causing a disturbance, or something going wrong, it's not your duty to go talk
about that man or that woman. It's your duty to go to that man or woman and
tell him his error. And if he won't hear you, take some other one with you. If
he won't hear that, then the church looses him. Jesus said, "What you
loose on earth, I'll loose in heaven. What you bind on earth, I'll bind in
heaven." That's the power of the church.