The Deep Revelations of Melchizedek
“Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation, named by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing. For although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the revelations of God. You have come to need milk, and not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is not experienced in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby. But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:9-14 WEB)
There are revelations about Melchizedek that spiritually immature believers aren’t ready to accept nor understanding because they aren’t established in the basic Gospel truth about how righteousness comes about: by faith in Jesus and His finished work at the cross, not by the works of the Law.
For those who are ready to receive, consider this passage:
“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, “king of righteousness”, and then also “king of Salem”, which means “king of peace”; without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the best plunder. They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Abraham, but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has accepted tithes from Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises. But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. Here people who die receive tithes, but there one receives tithes of whom it is testified that he lives.” (Hebrews 7:1-8 WEB)
The author is about to reveal the deep revelations about Melchizedek that only spiritually mature Christians can accept and understand.
The name Melchizedek in Hebrew means “king of righteousness”.
He is also the king of Salem (the old name for Jerusalem) which means peace (shalom) in Hebrew.
Who is this mysterious priest to God that was appointed before the Old Covenant of the Law was even given?
He is without parents or genealogy, meaning he wasn’t born—he’s not human.
He has no beginning of days or end of life meaning he is an eternal being who wasn’t created and cannot die—in other words, he is God. Even angels are created beings.
Melchizedek blessed Abraham—he didn’t curse Abraham or impose any laws on him.
We learn that Melchizedek’s priesthood is about righteousness, peace and blessing.
Melchizedek remains a priest continually—an unbroken, unending priesthood.
The author seems to be leading the recipients of this letter to conclude themselves that Melchizedek is Yahweh—the eternal Word of God and pre-incarnate Christ.
Therefore Melchizedek is not a name, but one of Yahweh’s titles that tells us about Himself.
Note that Jesus will be the King of Jerusalem in the Millennium, as well as in the eternal city of New Jerusalem, so He is the eternal King of Salem.
Abraham seems to have had a revelation that Melchizedek is the eternal God, therefore recognizing Him, he gave a tithe to Melchizedek as an act of worship.
Abraham tithed long before the Law was ever given, so he tithed voluntarily out of having a revelation, not because he was forced or threatened with a curse.
In contrast, the Levitical priesthood made up of mortal men collected tithes from Israel because of the commandment of the Law.
It is greater to tithe voluntarily out of faith rather than to tithe under compulsion out of duty.
Aside from this, Melchizedek came to Abraham with bread and wine—a picture of the Lord’s Supper.
“Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High. 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.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.” (Genesis 14:18-20 WEB)
The deep revelations of Melchizedek are this:
1. Jesus is Melchizedek. He is always the high priest to God—before His incarnation, after His incarnation and forever.
2. Tithing is an act of worship to declare that Jesus is great. It also proclaims His resurrection from the dead—that He is alive forevermore. Tithing is the way of receiving God’s blessing of provision.
3. The Lord’s Supper is a meal of blessing that proclaims Jesus’ death at the cross. The Lord’s Supper is the way of receiving God’s blessing of health and healing.
—————
At this link you can read more Christ-centered Bible Studies, devotionals, sermon notes and find ways to support our ministry work ===> https://smart.bio/miltongohblog
#Melchizedek #Jesus
discern meaning 在 Milton Goh Blog and Sermon Notes Facebook 的最佳解答
The religious leaders of Israel did not enter by the door (Jesus) meaning they didn’t get saved through faith, but they practiced and taught justification by obedience to their man-made doctrines.
In this context, the shepherd who enters by the door refers to Jesus, but true pastors (shepherds) also enter by the door (Jesus) — they are saved by Grace through faith in Jesus, and they teach that to their congregations as well.
The gatekeeper (or doorkeeper) is the Law.
The only way to appease and fulfill the requirements of the Law is to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior — Jesus fulfilled the Law on our behalf.
Then the door will open to you and you will enter into eternal life.
If you are a sheep (believer) then you will hear Jesus’ voice through the Holy Spirit that indwells you — not hearing it audibly through your ears, but speaking from within your heart.
The shepherd (Jesus) goes out before the sheep — Jesus will prepare your way and lead you in the direction you should go.
“A stranger” refers to any false preacher or teacher, including the religious leaders of Israel who taught false man-made doctrines.
If you’re a believer with the Holy Spirit inside you, you will be able to discern true teaching from false teaching based on the peace or absence of peace in your heart when you hear it.
The sheep didn’t listen to the thieves and robbers who came before Jesus — the people of Israel were disinterested in the things taught by the religious leaders of Israel because they could perhaps sense that it wasn’t true.
The moment you enter by the door (Jesus) by faith, you are saved and have eternal life.
You can come in and go out freely — you have more freedom and access than unbelievers — the Christian life is not small and restricted.
Unbelievers can’t access the sheepfold beyond the door. You can!
The devil is definitely a thief who kills, steals and destroys, but the passage above is not talking about the devil — in this context, the “thief” refers to the religious leaders of Israel.
They killed the people by stealing the true meaning of the Scriptures from them, destroying their lives.
On the other hand, Jesus came to give eternal life to anyone who believes in Him. Not just to let believers barely survive, but to enjoy abundant life — all the benefits of eternal life and the gift of righteousness.
Partner with this ministry! Receive all my sermon notes ebooks, original devotionals every weekday to your email inbox and be added to our Bible Study WhatsApp Chat Group for daily chapter-by-chapter takeaways when you become a “God Every Morning” Tier or above patron on Patreon: http://Patreon.com/Miltongohblog
#jesus #abundantlife
discern meaning 在 林輝:旅遊寫作人 Facebook 的最佳貼文
還是想知那本《無敵大衛》的內容是甚麼。。。
旅行之間多讀書 - 最近買到一本書,書名叫做:無敵大衛及其古亞美尼亞文《亞里士多德〈前分析篇〉評註》研究。我敢大膽地肯定,光憑這套上兩層書名號的繞口標題,百分之九十九的讀者都不會知道這是本什麼書。所以買下這本書,並不是因為自己學問大,對這麼冷門的領域感興趣;恰恰相反,我就屬於那百分之九十九完全搞不懂這個書名的讀者陣營。雖然我喜歡亞里士多德,可我沒有讀過《前分析篇》,更沒有聽過「無敵大衛」這麼無敵的名字,就別說他用古亞美尼亞文寫的《前分析篇》評註了。但是這個書名就像扣中了某個開關,一見到它,翻了幾頁,我便毫不猶豫地抱住了它。說來可笑,原因只不過是我很想去亞美尼亞,所以只要見到任何一本和亞美尼亞有關的書,我大概都會把它買下來,覺得它會有助於我那不知何時方得實現的旅行。你知道誰是「無敵大衛」,難道會使你在亞美尼亞的行程變得更加方便、有趣,而且豐富嗎?這,我倒沒有想過。
這就是書呆子的處世方式,總是以為世上一切還沒有提出過的問題,書裏早都有了答案。他出門旅行,最重要的問題不是應急藥物有沒有備全,不是換洗衣物是否足以應對各種場合,而是書夠不夠看(還好現在有了Kindle,半夜兩點都能隨時隨地買到想看的書,讓人安穩)。就連他為什麼想去某個地方遊覽,緣起也都和書有關。
我第一次動念要去亞美尼亞,就是因為看了波蘭大作家卡普欽斯基(Ryszard Kapuscinski)的《帝國》(Imperium),他筆下的「亞美尼亞手稿資料館」(Matenadaran)是這樣的:
In Matenadaran one can see the ancient books of the Armenians. To me they are doubly inaccessible: they lie in cabinets behind glass, and I do not know how to read them. I ask Vanik if he understands them. Yes and no, for he can read the letters but cannot discern the meaning. The alphabet has remained the same for fifteen centuries, but the language has changed. The Armenian walks into Matenadaran like a Muslim into Mecca. It is the end of his pilgrimage; he is moved, overwhelmed. In Armenian history, the book was the national relic. The comrade who is our guide(so beautiful!)says in a hushed voice that many of the manuscripts that we see were saved at the cost of human life. There are pages stained with blood here. There are books that for years lay hidden in the ground, in the crevices of rocks. Armenians buried them in the same way defeated armies bury their banners. They were recovered without difficulty: information about their hiding places had been handed down from generation to generation……
Armenians have a measure of time different from ours. They experienced their first partition2,500 years ago. Their renaissance occurred in the fourth century of our era. They accepted Christianity seven centuries earlier than we. Ten centuries before us they started to write in their own language……
我想這是一個任何書呆子都抵擋不住的誘惑。原來這個世界上還有這樣一個古老文明,人們崇拜古籍有如聖跡,古抄本文獻館就是他們的聖地。然後我又找到了其他的書,讓我一窺公元四世紀亞美尼亞「黃金時代」的風華,原來他們從那時候開始就有了自己的泥金裝飾手抄本,而且和西歐的風格完全不同。另一本書則告訴我,這個國家曾經是歐亞大陸的知識寶庫,書籍生產與流通的重鎮,早已消失在其他地方的古代文書皆有可能在此覓得。於是我的想像越加立體,似乎在我還不知道何時方能踏足這片土地之前,我就已經藉着幾本書構築了屬於我自己的亞美尼亞。
問題是既然你已擁有一座你腦海中的共和國,你還真的有必要動身勘察那具體存在於這個世上的現實主權國家嗎?今天這個時代,讀萬卷書,或者上一萬次網,是真有可能取代行萬里路的。所有你要去的地方,都已經有人去過了,他們拍回來無數照片、影像,他們寫下了各式各樣容或自相矛盾的描述與感慨,一切盡在你指掌之間,一點就開。卧遊豈不可以取代真實的行程?另一個常見的問題是,看了那麼多的圖像和文字之後,你會不會因此喪失最直觀的感受,被他人左右你對一個地方的切實認知。
這本來都是些不必要回答的問題,因為它們天真,不是太過相信他人的眼睛,就是以為自己未經反省未經訓練的眼光真是「自己」的。不過,我們也可以因此天真地回答:看了書,不去印證,怎麼知道書裏說的是真是假?
印證是要冒險的,甚至以生命為代價。
詹宏志在《旅行與讀書》裏頭談過他自己的經歷。在一次瑞士少女峰附近的旅行,他被隨身攜帶的旅行指南上的一段話吸引住了:「全瑞士最美麗的景致出現在少女峰區域,……人們的注意力太常聚集在當中的三個巨峰:少女峰(Jungfrau,4158公尺)、僧侶峰(Monch,4099公尺),和艾格峰(Eiger,3970公尺);……但閃閃發光的皓首雪峰只是一半的真相,鄰近山丘與溪谷以綠色、棕色、金色交織而成的景色其實更為美麗……。」敏銳的讀者詹宏志在這段描述讀出了言外之意:「只知道遊覽少女峰的旅客並非真的『行家』,懂得在『鄰近山丘與溪谷』尋求旅遊目的地的人才是真正懂得這個區域的隱藏之美。怎麼辦?照這樣說,我也即將變成一個『外行人』。」
正如所有旅人,絕對不甘只當外行觀光客,他決定一探那「山丘與溪谷」之間的隱密聖境。又像一切書呆子,他在書中尋找線索,找到了一條語焉不詳、標識不明的文字通道。沒想到,接下來卻是一次差點有去無回的絕境穿行。
discern meaning 在 Discern Meaning - YouTube 的推薦與評價
... <看更多>