Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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So in Genesis Chapter Fourteen we have
a lot of very difficult to pronounce names,
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so be gentle with your servant and
and let me start by giving just
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a small introduction, as I did
with Psalm forty four. Otherwise I think
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it's easy to get lost quickly.
Essentially, you have four kings who are
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coming to attack another set of kings, five kings north to south, and
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they beat up a bunch of others
on their way. And when these four
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kings come to attack these five kings, they win and in the process they
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take away Abrams, Abraham's relative,
is nephew lot, to go and rescue
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lot, Abraham allies with more people
and they go and attack this great United
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Force of kings that is just previously
defeated this other set of United Kings,
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and Abraham Wins. At the end
of all of that, this person out
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of nowhere comes, we've never heard
of him before, and then we'll never
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hear of him again, and his
name is Melchizedek, and we will,
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and Abraham has an extremely significant encounter
with him. So that's genesis fourteen summarized
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in its content. Let's give our
attention now to the reading of God's word.
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Mask the he blesses it to us. In the days of Amrafel,
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King of Shinar Arioch King of Alissar, Kettalo Mare, king of Elam and
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title King of Goem, these kings
made war with Bearah, King of Sodom,
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Beersha, King of Gomorra, Gomorrah, Shinnab, King of Oddma,
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Shember King of Zeboween and the King
of Bella, that is Zoar, and
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these all joined forces in the Valley
of Sadim, that is the sea,
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salt sea. Twelve years they had
served ked or La Omare, but in
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the thirteenth year they rebelled. In
the fourteenth year, Ketterlat Omare and the
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Kings who were with him came and
defeated the Refaim in the Astroth, Karnaim
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and the zoo, the Zuzim in
ham the Emim and Chavais Kyria, Thaim
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and the horites in the hill country
of sear, as fall it far as
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Elpron on the border of the Wilderness. Then they turned back and came to
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end Mishpot, that is Kadish,
and defeated all the country of the Malachites
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and also the amorites who were dwelling
in Hazezon Tamar. Then the King of
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Sodom, the King of Gomorrah,
the King of Oddma, the King of
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Zebowem and the King of Bellah,
that is Zoar, went out and they
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joined battle in the Valley of Siddim
with Kettlomet, Ketto Lat Omare, King
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of Elam, tidal, King of
Goem Amraphel, King of Shinnar, and
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Ariach, the King of Elisar.
Four kings against five. Now the Valley
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of Sitaim was full of bitumen pits
and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled.
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Some fell into them and the rest
fled to the hill country. So
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the enemy took all the possessions of
Sodom and Gomora and all their provisions and
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went their way. They also took
lot, the son of Abram's brother,
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who is dwelling in Sodom, and
his possessions and went their way. Then
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one who had escaped came and told
Abram, the Hebrew who was living by
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the oaks of memory, the amright
brother of ESHCOL and of annor. These
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were allies of Abram. When Abram
heard that his kinsmen had been taken,
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he led forth his trained men born
in his house. Three hundred eighteen of
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them and they went in pursued as
far as dam and he divided his forces
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against them by night, he and
his servants and defeated them and pursued them
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to Hoba, north of Damascus.
Then he brought back all the possessions and
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also brought back his kinsman lot with
his possessions and the women and the people.
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After his return from the defeat of
Kettalah there and the Kings who were
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with him, the King of Sodom
went out to meet him at the Valley
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of Chaves, Chaves, that is
the king's valley, and Melchizedek, King
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of Salem, brought out bread and
wine. He was priest of God most
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high, and he blessed him and
said, blessed be Abram by God Most
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High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God most high,
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who has delivered your enemy is into
your hands. And Abram gave him a
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tenth of everything. And the King
of Sodom said to Abram, give me
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the persons, but take the goods
for yourself. But Abram said to the
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King of Sodom, I have lifted
my hand to the Lord, God Most
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High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread
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or a sandal strap or anything that
is yours, lest you should say I
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have made Abram rich. I will
take nothing but what the young men have
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eaten and the share of men who
went with me. Let an Aner Eshcol
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and memory take their share. Since
the reading of God's word. Well,
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the word King appears a lot in
this chapter, twenty eight times actually.
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There are all kinds of kings,
kings from the north, kings from the
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south. This king that appears out
of nowhere, the King of Salem,
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Mel Kizedek, a WHO's both a
priest and a king. Abram acts as
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a king, though he is not
called one. He's gathering armies, armies
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and men he has trained. He
goes out and he defeats these other kings.
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But the other one who is not
mentioned, who is of course the
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king of Kings, is God himself, as he is called by Melchizedek,
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God most high. Even the Lord's
divine name that is given to Moses,
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Yahweh, is used here in verse
twenty two, and it says, when
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Abram says I have lifted my hand
to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor
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of heaven and earth. So though
the events on the ground in the first
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half of the chapter seem very,
very theological or it doesn't have much to
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do with God, the end of
the chapter makes clear that he is very
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much present in all of that.
When it says that he is King or
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possessor of heaven and earth, that
means he's not only the one who created
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our world, but he is the
one who is active in it. Abraham
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is in a situation that we all
find ourselves in, not as kings going
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to battle in various ways, but
as people who have difficult decisions to make,
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living as pilgrims in this world.
Abram has been promised the land of
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Canaan, much like we have been
promised heaven. He lives in it in
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a way, even as we,
who have been brought into the heavenly places
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in Christ live in heaven in a
way and yet don't fully possess it.
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He's still living intense, he doesn't
have control of all the land, even
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as we still live in tense and
find ourselves as pilgrim pilgrims, waiting yet
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for the full revealing of the Kingdom
of God. And so though Abraham has
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been given this great promise of the
Covenant Of Grace, where he will possess
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these things and through him God will
bring all these blessings. He also is
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in living in light of another covenant, the Covenant that God made with Noah,
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a covenant of Common Grace which all
the world is under, even the
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animals, God says there earlier in
Genesis, which men'sn Abraham has to navigate
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his life. How does he think
about himself under God, in this world
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and deal with all of these different
situations of it he finds around him,
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and in this per case, a
difficult, very difficult situation, one where
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there are warring kingdoms around him and
his nephew lat has been taken. Remember
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too, that it's a little more
complicated because, as we've seen, lots
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maybe not the greatest guy his nephew, and yet still still family. At
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least that's how Abraham treats him and
that's how he's described here. When Wat
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is described in this passage, the
Holy Spirit reminds us that he is the
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son of Abraham's brother. The word
kinsman is used. The family emphasis is
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emphasized here. So a lot has
made his choice. He's decided to go
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live in this in this these pagan
cities, in Sodom and Gomorah. He
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didn't feel like he could work it
out with Abraham and live in peace.
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They've gone their separate ways this place
of Sodom and Gomorah. The more and
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the further and further we gone in
the genesis of the Holy Spirit keeps foreshadowing
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what is coming. Sodom and Gomorah
continue at every time we hear about these
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cities, we find out more and
more about how evil these places are.
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Things that kind of make you raise
an eyebrow at the beginning will make us
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stand with our jaws open in shock
and horror when we come to realize the
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fullness of what is going on in
these places. And so sodom and Gomora
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have our featured somewhat here, if
I could put it in that way.
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And so, in light of all
of this, Abraham Hays hard choices to
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make. What does he do?
How does he act? And interestingly,
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he will act differently than the people
will act when they do come into full
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possession of the land. For example, when the people of God come into
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full possession of the land, it
will be against the law to ally with
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other nations in these ways, in
these sort of military ways. Abraham does
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it here, though, and he
does it with the blessing of the Lord.
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It's because the time is different,
it's a different era, it's a
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different period. He lives not as
one who is in possession of the land,
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but he possesses it by faith,
as we do. He lives as
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a pilgrim, as an exile.
So, with those things in the background,
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some theological considerations, let's return again
to on the particular details of the
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story. Why are these four kings
going after these five kings? Well,
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Kettalo mayor the king of Alam,
seems to be the leader of this group,
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because we read in verse four that
twelve years they had served this king
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ket along there, but in the
thirteen year they rebelled. So basically we
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have for twelve years these kingdoms in
the south being under the authority of these
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greater kings and cut along. There
in particular, are things worked well,
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at least from Kintlaw Mare's perspective,
until the Kings under him decided we're not
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going to obey anymore, we are
not going to obey. Our kings are
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Suserin's are overlords, are masters.
We are not going to obey, we
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are going to rebel. And so
in the fourteen year kettle all mare pulls
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together a number of forces and they
go to put down this rebellion, to
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retake control of what he believes belongs
to him. Well, what happens?
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They meet in this valley and the
King of Sodom and Gomorrah are featured along
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with these other kings and these five
kings, or sorry, the four kings
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with greater strength and without home court
advantage, if I could put it that
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way. They destroy the King of
Sodom, the King of Gomorrah and the
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others. We read that they are
falling into the bitumen pits, they are
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running literally for the hills, and
the enemy goes and takes all the possessions
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of Sodom and Gomorah, their provisions
and went their way. Verse Eleven,
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Abraham Gets connected to all this in
verse twelve. At to this point he
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has had nothing to do with it, but once his nephew is involved,
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they take lot, the son of
Abram's brother who's dwelling in Sodom, and
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his possessions, and went their way. Once they take him and the news
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comes to Abram, he decides to
go after him. He does this by
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uniting himself with Pagans, unbelieving kings, but who were nenevertheless allies. He
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does this with men that he has
previously trained. He goes out in accord
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with in accord with what he has
already done and in accord with natural principles
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of warfare. What we see here
is Abraham acting as in kind of a
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normal way for a man who has
as much authority and power and control wealth
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as Abram does. He's acting very
much as a king, even though he
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doesn't actually possess of this land.
By virtue of his power, by virtue
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of his wealth his connections, he
is able to rescue his nephew from those
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who have taken him away. Not
all of the Lord's battles go in this
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quote normal way. I'm for example, you may remember member in for Samuel,
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the story of Jonathan and his armor
bearer. I'm there and for Samuel
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it tells how there was not a
sword anywhere in Israel because the Philistines had
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a corner on the market, on
the economy of short swords sharpening, I
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think it was. And so there's
one sword, the Jonathan and his armor
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bearer have it. And there's a
Philistine garrison that is attacking Israel and Saul,
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who is the king, who should
be fighting them, is hiding.
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He's hiding, and so Jonathan,
his son, says, enough of this,
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we're going to go take care of
these guys. We have the Lord
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on our side, much like David
did when fighting Goliath, and so he
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says to his armor bear, let's
go, and they crawl up this rocky
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mountain side while the fills. Is
Not a good military strategy right. The
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PHILISTINES are on top yelling down at
them. They can see them coming.
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They have one sword and they're yelling
at them. They say, come on
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up, why don't you come after
us, you dogs, and things like
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this. They mock them and they
can see them coming right. There's no
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sneak attack here. They get up
to the top and the Lord kills them
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all, all Philistines. Just done. And it says something like Jonathan is
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armorverago and kind of clean it all
up, sort of. They put people
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to death and but it's very clear
that the Lord just takes out a whole
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garrison of people, of his enemies
and his people's enemies, in this way.
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This is not normal warfare right,
no weapons, no secret attacks,
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way much stronger. And yet of
course the Lord wins. Abraham stories different.
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This is all very sort of typical
warfare, typical principles, typical,
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typical kinds of things, but there
are things that are not typical about it,
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particularly in the way that Abraham thinks
about all of this. So he
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pursues all of this and the sort
of normal ways, according to what we
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might call the common kingdom, but
he does it with a view towards the
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king of kings. How do we
know this? One of the ways we
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knows this is that when he returns
from the his defeat of kettle of Maire,
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the Lord's high priest, Melchizedek,
comes out to him and blesses Abraham
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and he blesses Abraham and he says
in Verse Nineteen and Twenty, blessed be
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Abram, the God by God Most
High, possessor of heaven and earth,
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and blessed be God most high,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand.
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So God pronounces that, even though
Abraham did all the right things,
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as we would normally perceive them to
be. You know, he worked with
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others, he amassed his forces,
he trained people ahead of times. He
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won the battle. Nevertheless, he
gives credit to God. Even though it
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wasn't a miracle in the way that
we would normally think of miracles, he
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still gives credit to God. This
is what the Lord's people do because they
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know. We know that even when
we act and accord with wisdom and and
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and and the principles of this world
as God has ordered it, it's still
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all of grace, even if it's
common grace, it's still grace, isn't
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it? In other words, if
you go and you work hard, all
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you every day, and you show
up to work on time and you write
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your thank you notes and you look
your boss in the eye and you ask
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how can I help you, and
you do, you check all the right
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boxes and you grow in your job
and then you get promoted, the Christian
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will still say the Lord has provided
this, because we know how easily all
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things for all apart. We Know
How god is providentially controlling all things.
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We know how he is the ruler
and the king of Kings, the Lord
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of Lords. No matter what all
the other kings of this world and the
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powers of this world would say,
the Pagans that are all around Abraham.
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They boast in their own strength.
Abraham recognizes that what he has is from
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the Lord, and so we see
this in his actions. Abraham, and
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verse twenty, gives a ten of
everything that he has to the Lord.
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This plunder that has, that he
has gotten through of these battles, he
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gives it, gives it to God. Now, in contrast the king of
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Melchizedek or the side of the King
of Salem, we have the King of
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Sodom. One commentator notes that when
the King of Salem we'll kiss it,
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it comes out, he brings something, says he brought bread and wine,
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but when we get to the Kingdom
of Sodom, the first words that he
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says are give me, give me, and this is we have seen.
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Is the ethic of Sodom and go
Mora as a way of helping us to
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understand how all this world works.
When this world separates themselves from God,
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the God who is over all the
world, they become kings, or try
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to become kings, rather unto themselves. Give, give, take, take.
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Everything is about now in the moment, and what they can have.
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Abraham gives freely to the Lord a
ten of everything he has. But even
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after victory. Right, Abram is
just one this victory on behalf of Sodom.
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He's beaten back these kings on behalf
of this pagan nation. For his
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lot, or stories kinsman lot,
most immediately, but this is benefited Sodom.
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Right. Is Abram in a position? Are Is Sodom in a position
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to make any demands on Abram?
He has just rescued them, he is
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just beaten back their enemies. He
has just conquered the people that they were
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being attacked by. Does he have
any right them to go to this great
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man Abraham and say give me the
person's and take the goods for yourself?
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He's not in a position to bargain, but nevertheless he does. This is
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whw the world works. It grabs, it holds, it takes, it
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uses whatever it means it can to
get the things that it wants. And
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then, in verse twenty two,
we come to understand more of Abram's perspective
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and His Holiness in this situation.
Abram says to the King of Sodom,
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I have lifted him my hand,
to the Lord, to Yahwe God,
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Most High Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread
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or a sandal strap or anything that
is yours, lest you should say I
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have made Abram rich. In other
words, Abram, though he is acting
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in a world alongside his neighbors.
Nevertheless, as I said before, he
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has his eye very clearly on God, who is the king of kings,
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and even in talking to Sodom he
wants to make it clear to him and
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everyone else that he is not obligated
to Sodom. It's a confession of faith
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in a way. He makes a
promise, he chooses to act in a
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certain way so that, on the
one hand, though he is working with
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Pagan Kings, he is not going
to become ammeshed with them. He is
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not going to live out his life, even as an exile in this land,
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in a way that ties himself too
closely to them, in a way
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that allows them to have control over
over him and have claims on him.
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So he says, I will take
nothing but what the men have eaten in
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the share of the men who went
with me. Let Ann or escal and
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memory take their share. Doesn't that
sounds similar to the way he dealt with
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lot. You take the right hand
or the left, I'll take the other.
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Where does this kind of generosity come
from? He comes from the Lord.
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Where does this kind of big heartedness
come from? To rescue his unworthy,
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we might say, nephew, to
save and protect, by extension,
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these other unworthy kingdoms, to simp
to give the the spoils of his great
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effort to his lesser allies. Let
Ann or ask Coll memory take their share.
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It's because he doesn't have to worry
about the things of this world,
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like the people of this world think
they have to worry about the things of
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this world. Right, Jesus tells
US similar things. He says don't store
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up your treasures in this world.
Moths eat it, rust destroys it,
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thieves take it away. He calls
us to see our time in this world
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through a heavenly perspective. With him
is the king of Kings, who knows
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how to give all things. Remember
Abraham, not long ago, went into
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Egypt during a famine and comes out
with all kinds of wealth. The white
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not doing very well there. Abraham
perhaps is learning, and hopefully we are
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learning, that God knows how to
bless his children, God knows how to
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fulfill his promises, God knows how
to keep us, even in very difficult
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situations. And so, rather than
trusting in our own power, in our
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own strength, rather than trusting in
the things of this world, rather than
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grabbing and grubbing and trying and striving
and meshing ourselves with everything that is here
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and now, we take a deep
breath, we look to the Lord of
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Heaven and earth, the one who
possesses all of these things, whose sovereign
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over all of this, and we
trust him. Abraham's receives this good word,
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this blessing, through the priest King
Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews will
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tell us that Jesus is a priest
after the order of Melchizedek. He says
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this for a number of reasons,
but one of them is this, this
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priesthood that Melchizedek has. It doesn't
come from Aaron. It seems to come
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out of nowhere, and it does. We've never heard him before, and
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then he disappears, bought or Hebrew
says Jesus is priesthood, is of a
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different order than that of errands.
It's after the order of Melchizedek, and
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it's with this same kind of a
blessing that Jesus, that Melchizedek gives Jesus
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gives to us and, most amazingly, he also is the one who fights
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the battle on our behalf. In
this story, in the bigger story,
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we are lot, we are the
unworthy nephew that's made bad choices and chosen
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to live in a bad place and
have gone after the things of this world.
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and Jesus comes and he with great
victory and great power, he rescues
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us. Except he doesn't do it
in the way that all the world was
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expecting. He doesn't do it with
great armies and great power and allying himself
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with the Roman government and whoever else. He does it by going to a
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cross. He does it as a
priest, by offering his own body as
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a sacrifice for sin. And in
doing this, Jesus does achieve a victory,
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a victory ten thousand times tenzero greater
than the victory that Abraham had.
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Here. This victory will come and
go. Abraham will continue to live as
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an exile, he will continue to
struggle, he will have ups and downs
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and before long his people will all
end up as slaves in Egypt. But
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the victory that Jesus achieves as our
great priests is our great king, as
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the son of Abraham, this promised
one that God promised to bless the world
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with. His victory is final,
his victory is complete, and he does
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rescue us. He blesses us in
that. So as we live as exile
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says, we live as Peter says, is resident aliens in this world,
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we can learn a lot from genesis
fourteen. We can learn to look to
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the God of Heaven and earth.
We can learn to look to Jesus,
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whom God provides for us, to
bless us and to keep us. We
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can learn to work wisely and be
smart and do our best to get along
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with our neighbors and do the right
things, but at the same time know
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that all good things come to us
by the grace of God, and in
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these things we find a Christian way, hoping not in the things of this
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world but in the things to come
through the one who has come and we'll
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come again.
