King Of Peace
December
9th, 2001
HEBREWS 7:1 ¶ 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; 3 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. 4 Now consider how
great this man [was], unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of
the spoils.
Last week we spoke to you
from Who is this Melchisedec where brother Branham was quoting from Hebrews
chapter 7 where Paul was speaking of the Kingship of Melchisedec. He said, "Notice
His title, King of righteousness. Now, Hebrews 7:2: King of righteousness
and King of peace, He's two Kings. Now, watch, Hebrews 7:2, King of
righteousness, also the King of peace. He's two Kings there. Now, since
He has come in the flesh and received His body up, in Revelations 19:16 He's
called the King of Kings. He's all three of them together. See?
Now, there is one more thing
I would like to say about these three titles of King. There is an order to
these titles. How many of you can tell me from what we have read today the
order of these three titles?
#1) First of all He was King
of Righteousness. Then He was…
#2) King of Peace… and
finally He will be…
#3) King of Kings…
Now what is Righteousness?
It is Right-wise-ness. Right-wise-ness is being right! He is the King of being
right! Right with what? Right with the Word! For, He is the Word. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was With God and
the Word was God. Therefore His First Kingdom is the Kingdom of the
Word, for He is the Word. Therefore, the first kingdom was the Kingdom of the
Word, for In the beginning was the Word. Therefore
the first kingdom is the Kingdom of Our God, for God
is the Word, and if He is the Word, then the first of His titles
would have to be the King of the word or the King of
right-wise-ness. He is the God of all truth. For you must have the
Word of God, the Truth before you can have Peace.
In II PETER 1:2 we read, Grace and peace
be multiplied unto you (how?…Multiplied, that means double times
double, etc. and how does this come about?) Peter continues, through the
knowledge of God, and (now, remember, and is a conjunction
linking two things. In fact Brother Branham said the same thing, he said from PHILADELPHIAN CHURCH AGE
60-1210 paragraph 44 Isn't it
strange that many cut off that part there? "And" is a conjunction
that ties your sentence together. See?). Through
the knowledge of God, and (and what? And through the
knowledge) of Jesus our Lord,
By knowing the Father and
the Son we truly come to know the Grace of God. And through understanding this
Grace comes peace multiplied many fold. We can see therefore that it is through
the Knowledge of, or Knowing God and knowing His Son Jesus Christ, that we come
to understand the Grace of God, and His Mercy and plan for that Mercy which He
imparts to us through the death of His Son.
For how could we have peace
were it not for knowing the Grace of our God. And thus knowing God and His Son,
we enter into a special relationship of trust,
Again in the first book of
Peter, we see him acknowledges that Grace comes before peace as well.
I PETER 1:2 Elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and
peace, be multiplied.
Not only in Peters 2
Epistles do we find this acknowledging how peace comes from, but in Paul's
salutations of all his Epistles he always begins by saying, Grace [be] to you and peace from God our Father, and [from]
the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read in more than half of his Epistles
including this one from II CORINTHIANS 1:2 that
we see here.
Again in I CORINTHIANS 1:3, we read, Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and
[from] the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the
grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5 That in every thing ye are
enriched by him, in all utterance, and [in] all knowledge;
ROMANS 1:7 To all that be in
Rome, beloved of God, called [to be] saints: Grace to you and peace from God
our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
GALATIANS 1:3 Grace [be] to you
and peace from God the Father, and [from] our Lord Jesus Christ,
EPHESIANS 1:2 Grace [be] to
you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ.
PHILIPPIANS 1:2 Grace [be] unto
you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ.
COLOSSIANS 1:2 To the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace [be] unto you, and
peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I THESSALONIANS
1:1 ¶ Paul, and Silvanus, and
Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians [which is] in God the Father
and [in] the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our
Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
II THESSALONIANS
1:2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
I TIMOTHY 1:2 Unto Timothy, [my]
own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, [and] peace, from God our Father and Jesus
Christ our Lord.
II TIMOTHY 1:2 To Timothy, [my]
dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, [and] peace, from God the Father and Christ
Jesus our Lord.
TITUS 1:4 To Titus, [mine]
own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, [and] peace, from God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
PHILEMON 1:3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we also see the Apostle
John acknowledge this as well, as we see in II JOHN
1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, [and]
peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Father, in truth and love.
And we even hear these words
spoken from the angel of the Lord say unto John in the Book of the REVELATION of Jesus Christ 1:4, John to the seven
churches which are in Asia: Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from him which is,
and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are
before his throne;
JOHN 14:27 Peace I leave with
you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 ¶ Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go
away, and come [again] unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I
said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
But this is not strange
considering God promised us His Peace as far back as when He set the rainbow in
the sky. For you see, peace is the effects of his Covenant with us.
ISAIAH 54:9-10 9 For this [is as] the waters of Noah unto
me: for [as] I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the
earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains
shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that
hath mercy on thee.
And so we see it is a
covenant of "Peace" that we are looking at. The God of All Peace,
remembering His Word of Promise.
84 times throughout the Old
Testament we hear spoken words describing a "Peace
Offering" that is made by the people to God. That’s the number 3
which is perfection, and 53 times Moses makes mention of this peace offering,
and 5+3 equals 8 which is new beginning.
Now if we were to study this
peace offering, we would find no different than what Peter, Paul, John, and
Jesus taught. That Grace and Peace come by the Knowledge of God and He is the
Word.
EXODUS 20:18 ¶ And all the
people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet,
and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw [it], they removed, and stood
afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear:
but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people,
Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your
faces, that ye sin not. 21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near
unto the thick darkness where God [was]. 22 ¶
And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of
Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 Ye shall not
make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto
me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings,
thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come
unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of
stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon
it, thou hast polluted it. 26 Neither
shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered
thereon.
Now this Scripture is the
first time the words "Peace offering" are spoken in the Bible, and
yet they do not describe the offering itself, but the altar on which to make
that offering.
And if you will notice this
Peace Offering is such an important thing to God that even the place to where
the Offering is to be taken is of great importance to God.
Notice, God said, 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt
sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, and
then he says: in all places where I record my name I
will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.
So we see first of all that it is in the Place where the Lord
has chosen to place his name is the only place where God will accept our Peace
offering. Now, I could take 125 sermons on this subject right here, because I
already have. From November 6th of 1994 until March 10th
of 1996 we spent 125 sermons covering brother Branham's Sermon, "God's Only
Provided Place of Worship". This series is not yet up on the
web, but should the Lord be gracious, it will be soon.
Anyway, we are examining the
king of Peace and we have found throughout the entire New Testament that Peace
comes by knowledge. Now, just any knowledge will not do. The more you know
about viruses and what they can do, or the more you knew what the World Order
is coming to, these things will not bring you Peace. But we are told that Grace
comes and brings Peace as the Apostle Paul said in, ROMANS
15:33Now the God of peace [be] with you
all. Amen.
And as we read through out
the New Testament, this Peace from God Who is the God of all Peace can only
come through knowing Him Who is peace.
Now, in getting back to the Peace
Offering to the god of Peace, we can note that God begins by telling them that
they can only worship where he has Placed His name, and then He commands them
to build an earthen altar, but He tells them that they are not permitted to add
their own work to it. For God is the creator of the earth and all that is in
it. 25 And
if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn
stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
Now, let's follow God's
commandment on how to enter into this Peace Offering step by step.
#1) He says to An altar of earth
thou shalt make unto me…
#2) He says, The Location of your Peace offerings will be
on this earthen altar.. and shalt sacrifice thereon
thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings,
#3) And he tells Moses, that
the only place where we can build this earthen altar for worship is where He
has chosen to place His name. In all places where I
record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee
#4) He says, I do not want
your own ideas as to how to make this altar,
And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone,
thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it,
thou hast polluted it. In
other words, don't add to and don't take away from what I give you. "For the earth [is] the Lord's, and the fullness
thereof" I Corinthians 10:26
#5) He tells us this place
is a place of Holiness, and should never be defiled. 26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness
be not discovered thereon.
You know sometimes we do
things not knowing why we do them, but when I see in the word that God's altar
is a sacred place and he is jealous to protect it against the nakedness of man,
no wonder Brother Branham was so against women wearing short dresses, and no
wonder I did what I was compelled to do when that woman came to dedicate her
child wearing a dress so short that her nakedness would have surely been
revealed on this elevated platform. In the Old Testament, the robes were long,
well below the knees, almost to the ground, and yet that is why God did not
want an elevated altar, so the people would not look u and see the nakedness of
the priest while sacrificing to God.
Naked is defined in
Scripture as being anything below the neck and above the knees being in view or
able to be seen.
Now, so far we have only
come as far as the atmosphere of the place where God will accept this peace
offering. But what of the Peace offering itself? What is it and what does it
represent?
In the book of Leviticus
where the Priests are given more definitive instruction, the peace offering is
mentioned there. LEVITICUS 3:1 ¶ And if his oblation [be] a sacrifice of peace offering, if
he offer [it] of the herd; whether [it be] a male or female, he shall offer it
without blemish before the LORD.
Notice that the sacrifice is
to be without blemish. The word for without blemish here is the Hebrew Word
tamiym which means 1) complete, whole, entire, sound, wholesome, unimpaired,
innocent, having integrity. What is complete/entirely in accord with truth.
Now, this Peace offering is
to produce an effect. And that effect is atonement for sin. LEVITICUS 4:26 And he
shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace
offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his
sin, and it shall be forgiven him.
Now, we know that in Christ
all other sacrifice is to be done away. Therefore it is in Him that we have our
Peace offering to God as Paul tells us in the Book of Hebrews.
HEBREWS 10:1 ¶ For the law having a shadow of good things
to come, [and] not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because
that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3
But in those [sacrifices there is] a remembrance again [made] of sins every
year. 4 For [it is] not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt
offerings and [sacrifices] for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 ¶ Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of
the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8 Above when he said,
Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and [offering] for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure [therein]; which are offered by the law; 9 Then
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he
may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all]. 11 And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins: 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for
ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified. (Now, I want you to ingrain this scripture into your
heart. Memorize it and do not forget it., so let's say it over again… For by one offering, he hath perfected forever, them that
are sanctified. Again…For by one
offering, he hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified Again…For by one offering, he hath perfected forever, them that are
sanctified Again…For by one
offering, he hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified).
Now do you believe that? Then turn to
your neighbor and confess it to them. Again…For
by one offering, he hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified. One
more time for good measure…For by one offering,
he hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified. Good, now
believe it and practice it.
15 [Whereof] the
Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16 This
[is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18 Now where
remission of these [is, there is] no more offering for sin. 19 ¶ Having therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which
he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And
[having] an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the
profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that
promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of
some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins.
EPHESIANS 2:13 But now in Christ
Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 ¶ For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall
of partition [between us]; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
[even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in
himself of twain (TWO) one new man, [so] making peace;
Now, here is the key to our
understanding the father and the Son. Here is our key to the Ling of Peace and
our peace offering to Him by the blood of His Son. Here is the key to all we
desire in our relationship to the Father and to his Son, our Older brother
Jesus. It all lays right here in these few words. for to make in himself of twain (TWO) one new man, [so]
making peace; Let me reword this for you. Paul says here of
Jesus, "for in the making from Two beings in One man into One man, Jesus
Christ, and this is what brought peace between God and Man. Then it is the One God Who dwelt in His Son,
and the Oneness between the Son and the Father Who dwelt in Him that brought
Peace between God and man. Then if the Godhood of God, if even a portion of
that godhood, or god life be in you, it is that coming together of Two beings,
God and You that brings you yourself into this Peace relationship between your
Father and yourself.
For God was in Christ to do
what? God was in Christ, RECONCILING the world to Himself.
II CORINTHIANS
5:16 ¶ Wherefore henceforth know
we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,
yet now henceforth know we [him] no more. 17 Therefore if any man [be] in
Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new. 18 And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech [you] by us: we pray [you] in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.
Now notice how that ties
right in with what we were reading from Ephesians
2:16 And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17
And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were
nigh. 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the
foundation (Remember the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets is
doctrine) And are built upon the (Doctrine)
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief corner [stone] for He is the Doctrine; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth
unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an
habitation of God through the Spirit.
There we have it. The king
of Peace, reconciling us through the body of His own Son, and the knowledge of
this brings Grace and peace to us as saith Peter the Apostle of the Lord.