PROMISES, BATTLES, AND BLESSINGS

A Battle Fought and Promises Fulfilled

Last week, we got to see Abram at his best and at his worst. When famine drove him and Sarai into Egypt, Abram feared for his life. As he considered the beauty of Sarai, he began to worry that the Egyptians would kill him so that they could have Sarai for themselves. In that moment, he forget about the promises and faithfulness of God. So he asked Sarai to tell everyone that they were siblings. Because of his deception, Sarai was taken to Pharoah to be his wife. In spite of Abram’s fear, doubt, and deception, the Lord protected him and Sarai. Not only did he protect them, but he brought them out of Egypt with even more riches, thanks to the gifts of Pharoah. After this time of weakness, Abram’s faith was strengthened by the Lord’s faithfulness. Before long, there began to be strife between his herdsmen and the herdsmen of his nephew Lot. There possessions were so great that the land couldn’t support them both. As the leader of the family, and God’s chosen one, Abram could have wielded his authority to put a stop to this conflict. Instead, he took the high road. He told Lot that he could choose wherever he wanted to settle and Abram would take what was left. He showed great trust and confidence in the Lord’s promises, and great compassion and selflessness to Lot. The Lord reaffirmed His promise to Abram and told him that all of the land that he could see was going to belong to him and his descendants. This week, we are going to see how Abram responds to disaster striking his family. Let’s read our passage.

So apparently, five cities from the land of Canaan were vassal states of Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam. Because of the strength of Elam, they had served Chedorlaomer for 12 years. But in the 13th year, they had had enough of serving the king of Elam, so they decided to rebel and assert their independence. To put a stop to the rebellion, Chedorlaomer allied with 3 neighboring kings. These 4 kings came to attack and subdue the 5 Canaanite kings, which included the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. The 4 kings from the east came from the northeast and basically conquered everyone in their path. When they came to land of the rebels, there was a battle in the Valley of Siddim; 4 kings against 5. Chedorlaomer and his allies won the battle, and the Canaanite armies fled. So they took all of the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and went away. They also took Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

During this time, Abram was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite in Hebron. Abram had apparently made an alliance with Mamre and his two brothers, Eschol and Aner. Someone who had escaped from the battle came and told Abram what had happened to his nephew Lot. When Abram heard this, he got all of his trained servants that were born in his house, which numbered 318, and went off in pursuit of the conquering kings to rescue Lot. His 3 allies also came to help in the upcoming fight. Just in this little passage, we get a glimpse of how richly the Lord had blessed Abram. Having over 300 trained servants was a sign of incredible wealth. Abram pursued them all of the way to the north of Damascus, which would have been around 150 miles. He divided his forces and attacked them at night. Through the blessing of the Lord, Abram and his allies did what the 5 kings of Canaan couldn’t do. He defeated Chedorlaomer and brought back Lot and all of the possessions and people that had been taken captive.

I want to take a moment to look at the faithfulness of God in keeping His promises in this passage.

Isaiah 46:8–11 ““Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

There has been one truth that we have been seeing repeatedly throughout our study of Genesis. God is always faithful to keep His Word and fulfill His promises. There is no one like the Lord. He declares the end from the beginning. His counsel will stand and He will accomplish His purposes. Let’s look at one of the promises fulfilled in this passage.

Genesis 9:25–27 “he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.””

In this passage, we see Chedorlaomer conquering the kings in Canaan. Chedorlaomer was the King of Elam and was a descendant of Shem (Genesis 10:22). We see God’s pronouncement that Canaan was going to be a servant of Shem come to pass. That’s not the only promise that God fulfilled here.

Genesis 12:1–3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

God had promised to bless Abram and to make him great. He promised to bless those who blessed him and to curse whoever dishonored him. We see this as Chedorlaomer takes Abram’s nephew Lot captive. This is, in effect, an attack on Abram since Lot is one of his family. So the Lord brought about the defeat of these 4 kings to keep His promise to Abram. It didn’t matter that Abram only had 318 men in his militia. He had the Lord on his side, so who could stand against him? I’m reminded of what King Saul’s son, Jonathan said.

1 Samuel 14:6 “Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.””

It also reminds me of what happened when Gideon led Israel against the Midianites. The Midianites had 135,000 men, while Israel had 32,000.

Judges 7-8...

Judges 8:10 “Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.”

It doesn’t matter how big the obstacles or how big the army, nobody can thwart the Lord’s plans and purposes.

The Order of Melchizedek

When Abram returned, 2 kings went out to meet him. One was the king of Sodom, who we have already been introduced to. But the other king is a very enigmatic character. His name is Melchizedek and he was the king of Salem, which was the ancient name of Jerusalem. Not only was he the king of Salem, but he was a priest to God Most High, the true God. He went out to meet Abram and brought wine and bread. He blessed Abram and praised the Lord for His deliverance of Abram. In response to this, Abram gave him a tenth of the spoils of war. Meanwhile, the king of Sodom requested that Abram return his subjects, but offered to let Abram have all of the other spoils of war. Abram responded that he had made a commitment to the Lord that he wouldn’t take anything from the wicked king of Sodom. He didn’t want anyone to be able to say that he had acquired his wealth from this wicked king. He just asked for the share that fell to his allies to be given to them, and for what his men had already eaten. Now I want to us to briefly look at this mysterious person, Melchizedek. This is the only place in Scripture that mentions him until the 110th Psalm.

See Psalm 110:1-7...

A Son of David is coming who will be King and Priest. And He won’t be a Levitical priest, though. He will be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He is greater than David, so David calls Him Lord. So this coming Messiah will be a king, a priest, and God in the flesh. You have to turn all the way to the book of Hebrews to see this elaborated on. Hebrews is one of my favorite books of the Bible, because it is all about the unrivaled supremacy and superiority of Christ. In it, we learn that Christ is greater than men and angels. He is greater than Moses. The rest that He offers is greater than the rest offered in the Old Covenant. His priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood. As High Priest, He is greater than Aaron. His New Covenant is superior to the Old Covenant. His sacrifice was greater than the Old Covenant sacrifices. His Kingdom is greater than any earthly kingdom. It goes on and on. But Hebrews 5-7 talks about how Christ is a fulfillment of Psalm 110, and is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 5:1-10 tells us a bit about the role of a high priest. They are chosen to represent the people before God by offering gifts and sacrifices for sin. It let’s us know that nobody can claim the role as high priest themselves. They must be appointed by God. Then we are told that Christ has been appointed by God as a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:13-20 speaks of God’s promise that He made to Abraham. We learn that because God’s promises and oaths are so certain, those of us who have fled to Christ for refuge can have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. Christ is a sure and steadfast anchor for our soul. Then it tells us that Christ has entered behind the curtain into the holy of holies. He is a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. So through Christ’s priesthood, we have access to God’s presence in heaven. It isn’t until Hebrews 7 that we finally see some details about what makes this priesthood superior. We are going to see that Melchizedek was a type of Christ. He was a type or shadow that pointed to the greater Priest, which is Christ!

We see that Melchizedek’s name means king of righteousness, and his title means king of peace. He doesn’t have his birth, death, or genealogy listed. We don’t see anything about his priesthood beginning or ending. Because of that he is a type of Christ, in that Christ’s priesthood is eternal. We see that he was greater than Abraham, which is why he blessed Abraham and received tithes from him. It tells us that since Levi was still in the loins of Abraham, he paid tithes to Melchizedek as well. In light of that, the Levitical priesthood is inferior to the order of Melchizedek. We read that the Levitical priesthood was incapable of making anyone perfect. We need a better priesthood. And if there is a change in the priesthood, there is a change in the Law. He inaugurates a better covenant. And since His priesthood is eternal, He can save us to the uttermost, since He always lives to make intercession for us. Thus what we see is that Melchizedek, the priestly king, is a type, a foreshadowing, of Jesus Christ. He is a historical personage who points ahead to the Redeemer. He is the shadow, while Jesus Christ is the reality. And this High Priest, Jesus Christ, can save us to the uttermost!