Genesis 14:19a
"And he blessed him, and he said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God,…"
You want to remember, has the Nation of Israel appeared yet? No, Israel isn’t on the scene yet. God is just now beginning to deal with Abraham, and there’s no Law. There’s not even circumcision yet, and so the relationship between this man who is not yet part and parcel of the Nation of Israel is "the Most High God." Though our Bible as we have to day does not contain all the books written that it first had, these books shed allot of light on what the Bible does not say. Two such books are Jasher and Enoch because they reveal that Abraham knew God as "the Most High God" through Shem and Eber as both were high priest of "the Most High God." The young boy Abram was taught by them while he was in their charge for from ten to twenty years before he was returned to his father in Ur. Where our Bible then picks him up. Now don't become alarmed by those two books because portions of both were quoted from by Isaiah, Jesus and Paul and because they were removed those quotes don't show up in our cross indexing systems today. Just know that they are out there and are available to us. How we learned of them had to be a work of God because we like so many of you never heard of them until one day they were at different times brought to us, and that is only done through the Holy Spirits doing, not ours.
Genesis 14:19
"And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth;"
You have almost the same kind of language in Matthew concerning Christ, how that He too was Lord of all. Alright, verse 20:
Genesis 14:20
"And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all."
Do you see that? God is the victor here through the hand of a man, but it is God who works His wonders through us to perform. Then once more in verse 22.
Genesis 14:22
"And Abram again said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,"
Now what does it mean to “lift up one hand unto the LORD”? Well it means to make a vow or covenant with Him or to swear by Him. So this king priest knew of the vow Abraham had made with God and we know this by the language of the verses just prior to this one. Because caused Abram to be victorious over an army of greater numbers. Okay, now I’ve already touched on the one in Psalms. A thousand years later, but nothing associated with it. It’s just that God designates the Messiah, the Son of God as the One Who will be Melchizedek the priest of "The Most High God." Alright, let’s flip back to Hebrews if you will. Chapter 7 verse 2.
Hebrews 7:2a
"To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all;"
Which of course we know, and I’ve made reference to that in previous areas. That the giving of the ten-percent or the tithe, began with Abraham in Genesis. It funneled into the Levitical Law as part of the Levitical provision for the Levitt priests. And then of course the Apostle Paul tells us that we are not under Law, we’re under Grace. Which takes away the responsibility of the ten-percent in our giving. Why? Because we now are to be the tithe in Christ now given to Him. Now Paul says, that we give as the Lord lays on our heart. Big difference. And there is no demand to give a flat ten-percent. But that’s beside the point for now. Now I made a statement here that requires my backing of it up with scripture and it deals with our being now the tithes given to Christ as LORD of Lords and its found within God's divine timetable of Psalm 2 and verse 8 where it says this:
Psalm 2:8
"Ask of me (Elohim), and I shall give thee (Christ Jesus) the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession".
We want to go on now - that He is the King of Righteousness, He’s Holy, He’s Omnipotent, but here’s the part I want to spend the next few moments on. He is the "King of Salem," which, like I said a few moments ago, are the last letters of Jerusalem, or the city of peace, which is to say the King of Peace.
Hebrews 7:2b
"…first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;"
I want you to stop and think for a moment - in all the thousands of years that we know Jerusalem has been on the scene beginning with Abraham at 2000 BC, how many days of peace has Jerusalem enjoyed? Not one. It has been a city of turmoil from day one. And especially in the last 2000 plus years. Just stop and think of all the various empires that have overrun Jerusalem. It has been anything but the city of peace.
Then especially when Israel came back into the land after World War II and fought their war of independence in 1948. Jerusalem was besieged again and she has been over and over up through the centuries with bloodshed and mayhem. It’s unbelievable that the city of peace has never enjoyed peace. Well, look at her tonight. Look at Jerusalem tonight. Is it a city of peace? Anything but. It’s in constant turmoil. Well, you have ask, "Why?" When God has designated it as the city of peace, why has it been a constant city of turmoil. Well again, what do we have to do? Patiently wait. God has promised that it’s going to be a city of peace. Do you believe it? Yes!
I know there'll be no peace in Jerusalem, I don’t care who tries to broker it. There will be no peace in the city of peace until Christ returns. And so a logical prayer for us is, "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." But what does Psalm 2 verse 9 tell us?
Psalm 2:9
"Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
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