Sermon Tone Analysis

In Order to Improve Our Understanding of the Bible…

We’ve Been Trying to See the Bible as a Unified Story that Leads Us to Jesus

And We’ve Been Doing that By Taking a Look at Several Major Themes that are Found in the Bible

Themes are People, Places, Things, or Ideas that Continue to Pop Up and Play an Important Part in the Story

We’ve Looked at the Tree of Life, Babylon, Sabbath, and Temple so Far

There are So Many Interesting Themes that We Could Look at:

Exile

The Holy Spirit

Spiritual Beings

The Day of the Lord

The Image of God

Law

Covenant

Holiness

Sacrifice

Atonement

Messiah

Gospel

I Want to Look at All of These Eventually

But For Now, We Are Going to Go Back to Looking at a Few More Tips and Tricks of Better Bible Study

2 Bible Study Tips and Tricks We Talked About Previously Were:

Memorize, Study, and Think About the Text

Recognize Your Biases

Tonight We are Talk About:

Paying Attention to Details

It’s Very Important for Us to See the Bible as One Big Story

To Step Back and Try to See the Big Picture

To Recognize How Each and Every Unique Book of the Bible Connects to All the Others

How It’s All About Jesus and His Redemptive and Reconciling Death, Burial, and Resurrection

But it’s Also Important to Pay Attention to the Details as Well

To Zoom in and Focus On Certain Stories Told Throughout the Bible

And to Even Focus On the Specific Words Used By the Biblical Writers

Not Only Does the Story as a Whole Matter

But Each Individual Word Used to Tell the Story Matters

When the NT Writers Studied the OT, They Payed Attention to the Most Minute…

And Seemingly Insignificant Details of the Text

It Will Transform Your Bible Study When You Begin to Do the Same

Let’s Look at Some Examples of How the NT Writers Payed Attention to the Details

Melchizedek

Genesis 14:18–20 (NASB)

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a 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.”

He gave him a tenth of all.

These 3 Verses Contain All the Information We Have of Melchizedek

Taking a Basic Look at These Verses, What Do We Know About Him?

He was King of a Place Called Salem (Later Known as Jerusalem)

He was a Priest of God Most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth

In Verse 22, Abraham Refers to YHWH as Being God Most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth

He Blessed Abram

Abram Gave a Tithe of His Spoils to Him

That is Very Few Details

It Would Be Easy For Us to Skip Right Over These 3 Verses…

And Assume Melchizedek is Just Another Background Character Who Plays No Important Role in the Bible

But Not to the Writer of the NT Book of Hebrews

We First See Melchizedek Mentioned Hebrews 5

In Hebrews 4, Jesus is Described as Our Sympathetic High Priest Who Has Passed Through the Heavens

Hebrews 5:1–6 (NASB)

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.

And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.

So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”; just as He says also in another passage, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

The High Priest is Chosen By God to Offer Gifts and Sacrifices for Sins

As God Appointed Aaron and His Lineage to Be High Priests…

God Appointed Jesus to Be High Priest

Then the Writer of Hebrews Quotes From One of the Most Quoted Texts in the OT - Psalm 110

Psalm 110 (NASB)

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew.

The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.

He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country.

He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head.

The King Who Would Come From the Line of David, God Swore Would Be a Priest Forever According to the Order of Melchizedek

He Would Be a King and Priest Just Like Melchizedek

But the Hebrews Writer Isn’t Even Close to Being Done with Melchizedek

Hebrews 7:1–2 (NASB)

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.

Notice How the Writer of Hebrews Pays Attention to the Details

He Recaps What We Learned From Genesis 14

But By Digging Deeper into the Details…

He’s Able to Pull Out More Information

He Translates Melchizedek’s Name For Us

It Means “King of Righteousness”

And He Also Brings Significance Out of Where Melchizedek was King

He Was King of Salem

Salem Which Means “Peace”

Just By Paying a Little Bit Closer Attention to the Details…

We Learn that Melchizedek Was “King of Righteousness” and “King of Peace”

He Uses These Details to Show Further Comparison Between Melchizedek and Jesus

Hebrews 7:3 (NASB)

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

One of the Things Genesis Tells Us Nothing About is Melchizedek’s Family History

That May Seem Insignificant to Us

But the Writer of Hebrews Even Capitalizes On the Lack of Information to Show Melchizedek as a Foreshadowing of Christ

We Have No Information of Melchizedek’s Birth or Death

Almost as if Melchizedek is Eternal

Though Melchizedek Wasn’t Eternal…

The Hebrews Writer Pays Attention to the Details (or Lack of) to Make a Comparison to the Eternal Christ

We Have No Indication that Melchizedek Ever Stopped Being King and Priest

Just as Jesus Will Never Stop Being King and Priest