THROUGH THE BIBLE: Genesis 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Genesis chapter 14. In the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Ariok, king of Eleazar, Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goim, these kings made war with Berah, king of Sodom, Birshah, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Adma, Shemeber, king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela, that is Zoar.

And all these joined forces in the Valley of Sidim, that is, the Salt Sea. Twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the 13th year, they rebelled. In the 14th year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth, Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathayim, and the Horides in their hill country of Seir as far as El Paran on the border of the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat, that is Kadesh, and defeated all the country of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazon's Tamar. Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Atma, the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar, went out and they joined battle in the valley of Sidim with Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, Tidal, king of Goim, and Raphael, king of Shinar, and Ariad, king of Elazar, four kings against five.

Verse 10, now the valley of Sidim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom and his possessions, and went their way. Then One who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the ox of Menre, the Amorite, brother of Escol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram.

When Abram heard that his kinsmen had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his horses against them by night, he and his servants and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the possessions and also brought back his kinsmen, Lot, with his possessions and the women and the people. After his return from the defeat of Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh, that is, the king's valley. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine.

He was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted my hand to the Lord God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abraham rich. I will take nothing. but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre take their share. Amen.

This is the word of God. Beloved, here we have chapter 14. This is, of course, a continuation of those things that we have studied in chapter 12 and in chapter 13. And it sounds obvious, but it's very important that we say that this is a continuation because the book of Genesis It's not necessarily always a sequential narrative of acts that happen in history. Chapter 14, it is a continuation of that which happened in Chapter 12 and Chapter 14.

So if we want to understand what we have here in Chapter 14, it's very important that we have this big picture of what happened in Chapter 12 and Chapter 13, because it's not only beneficial for understanding of Chapter 14, but also for what God is going to do with Abraham, who later will be Abraham. We have to remember that chapter 12 is crucial and vital in this development of Genesis. In chapter 12, the Lord has given to Abram the promise. He says to him, move from the land and from your family and go to this other land that I'm going to show you, and I'm going to make you a great nation in this land that I'm promising you and I'm going to give you. Whoever blesses you, I'm going to bless, and whoever curses you, I'm going to curse.

This is the promise that God has given to Abraham of leaving and departing and going to that promised land. As he starts that path, we know and we remember that in chapter 12, there is a famine in the land and then he goes to Egypt. In Egypt, we know all that happens and then he comes back to the path with Lot and his wife. They come back to the path of going towards that promised land. In chapter 13, we remember that there is a manifestation or there is a test to the faith of Abraham.

Once again, in front of Abraham, there is a possibility of taking a land that is rich and prosperous, just like the Garden of Eden, and also a land that is as rich as the land of Egypt that he had just left. He is tempted to take that rich and prosperous land, but then he says too much. Because of our prosper lives and all the things that we have, this land is not enough for us. So we're going to have to divide this. And then he allows or he lets a lot to take possession of the Jordan Valley, which is this rich land.

Once Lot has departed, and because of this manifestation of Abraham's faith, that he submitted himself to the promise that was given to him in chapter 12, and he says, Lot, you can choose whatever you want. I'm going to continue walking by faith towards the land that God promised that he was going to give me in chapter 12. After Lot departed, God confirms the promise that was given to him in chapter 12. But now, beloved, here, the author of Genesis, Moses, is going to take our eyes a little bit apart from the immediate context of Lot and Abram, and he's going to give us a picture of how society was working back then. He's going to remove us from this immediate context, and he's going to show us how society was working and organized back then.

So that's why in chapter 14 now we see kings named after the other. There are many kings, and here we have the story of primarily nine kings. Nine kings that are organized in two different groups, one of five and another one of four. But let me just give you a little bit of understanding of how things were organized there. We see here there are kings mentioned one after the other.

And we can see here, not only that they were organized in a kingship manner, but also we can see, more importantly, that these kings had a relationship, one to the other. Verse 14 says that some of these kings were serving a king that his name was Kedorlaomer. So Kedorlaomer was a king that had a higher power. He was a greater king, and other kings were serving him. It seems from the text that all of these eight other kings were serving Kedorlaomer.

But in verse four, we are given some information. Some of those kings, namely Sodom, Gomorrah, Atma, and Bozahim, they rebel against Kedorlaomer. They served him for 12 years, and then in year 13, they rebel against him. We can see here that there were lesser or smaller kings that were subordinated to this great and more powerful king, Kedorlaomer. This is very important, beloved.

Please pay attention to this. This is very important because society was organized in that way. My possessions, my protection, and my provision was defined by the relationships that my king will have. So a greater king will have relationship with lesser kings and he will provide protection and provision to those lesser kings and the lesser kings will serve him and probably pay him some taxes or some money in retribution for that protection. Probably these lesser kings found out that the payment or the retribution of the tax that they were paying to Kedorlaomer was too high, and for that reason they rebelled against Kedorlaomer.

But now we see something very important, because Kedorlaomer then spends one year planning his recovery of those kings that had rebelled against him, these four kings that had rebelled against him. So he plans for one year, and then in year 14, he starts a journey of war. a journey of war. He then goes to a land that is called Zaire, and then he's going to defeat four groups of people. He defeats those.

And then he moves to a different land, and then he's also going to defeat another two groups of people here, the Texas the Amalekites, and the Amorites. So Kedorlaomer, with the purpose of recovering these lesser kings, he starts his journey of war, defeating and destroying these people. And then he comes back to this valley, this valley of Sidim, and this is the place where the battle between the lesser kings that rebelled against him and Kedorlaomer with his group of kings is going to start. Beloved, this is very important what is going to happen here. Kedorlaomer, it is greater and it is more powerful than these other kings, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the two others, and then he's going to defeat them.

He defeats Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other two kings, and he takes possession of everything that they had. The greater king, more powerful, mightier than the other lesser kings. Now, because they rebelled, he comes and defeated them, and he takes possession of everything. Now, this is showing us a couple of things. First of all, how this was organized, how my provision and my protection depended entirely of my relationship to a greater king.

But also, Kedorlaomer made just a little bit of a mistake, because we know from chapter 13 that Lot the relative of Abram, had gone in the way of Sodom and Gomorrah. And when Kedorlaomer defeated the king of Sodom, he took all the possessions and he ended up taking also Lot. Now, Mr. Lot was not a nobody. He was as powerful and as mighty as Abram was.

Abram was very rich. We know that he had lots of things from chapter 13, that he was very, very rich. And Lot was also very rich. But not only that, he was a relative of Abram. So then someone who escaped from the war came to Abram, and he says, you know, your relative has been taken by one of these kings, Kedorlaomer.

So now here is when the faith of Abram beloved, is going to be tested once again. And this is what we have to learn from this chapter. In chapter 13, the faith of Abram was tested in the way that the glorious and rich and prosperous land was set in front of his eyes, and he could have chosen that, but then he decided to let Lot to take that greater land, and then he kept walking by faith towards the land that was promised to him. Now here, When all events happened, this guy came to him and said, Lord, he's been taken by this person. And then Abram is going to take 318 men who were born in his house, and he's going to go and make war against Kedorlaomer.

Now, remember that Kedorlaomer has defeated many kings, so he's mighty and he's powerful, and Abram had did not have any type of relationship to any other king. All of these kings, they had these agreements, these Luserian vassal agreements, or greater king, lesser king agreement. They had all of these agreements, but Abram, or Abraham, just was by himself. He took 318 men, and these 318 men, at night, they were divided, they attacked, and they defeated not only Kedorlaomer, but also the other kings. Something very important is gonna happen.

Abram is returning to the land, and now two kings are going to approach him. One of them is going to be the defeated king, Sodom, the king of Sodom. And the other one is going to be a person that is introduced here. His name is Melchizedek. Now, beloved, pay attention to this, because this is glorious, and this is majestic here.

Because the faith of Abram is gonna be tested once again. And let me submit to you that what Abram does here defines entirely our salvation in Jesus Christ. The decision that Abram took when his faith was tested in front of the king of Sodom and the king of Salem, which is Melchizedek, that decision that he made is foundational for our understanding of our salvation. And not only our understanding, but had he not made that decision that he made, Salvation, as we know it, would not have been possible. So he comes.

He has two kings in front of him, the king of Sodom and Melchizedek. And both of them, in a sense, are going to offer him something. And he is going to reject one offering, and he's going to accept one offering. And that answer, or that act of Abram, is going to teach us a lot. because Kedor Laomer, the greater king, he had taken everything that belonged to the king of Sodom.

So the king of Sodom then comes empty-handed and then he says to Abram, give me the people and then you can take all the possessions. We do not perceive it very well in the English, but in the Hebrew, he's doing something that is rather not polite. He's coming with a language and he's saying basically, give me the people, take the possessions. He had no right to do this, because every time that a greater king would defeat a lesser king, he was able to take his possessions. That's what happened with Kedorlaomer.

Kedorlaomer defeated Sodom, and he took all of his possessions. Now, Abram had defeated Kedorlaomer, so he had all the right to take the possessions that belonged to Kedorlaomer and all the kings that were defeated under him. So he says, give me the people and take the possessions. Had someone else been there, I would have said, what are you saying? And then send all the 318 men and destroy also this king and take all the possessions.

But he's going to do something very important. Abraham says, I'm not going to take anything from you, lest you may say that you have made me rich. But we will not understand this statement if we don't see the other side of Melchizedek. Because Melchizedek also comes and he offers to Abram bread and wine, what probably signifies a kingship tribute because of his victory. And then he accepts that.

But after that, Melchizedek is going to do something very important. He's going to bless Abram. He's going to give a blessing to Abram. And Melchizedek is going to recognize the God Most High, who is the possessor of everything in heaven and on earth. And he's going to approach Abraham, claiming to be a priest of the Most High.

Abram accepts the offering that is given by Melchizedek. He accepts the bread and the wine, but not only that, he accepts the blessing. How do we know that he accepts the blessing? Because after the blessing, he gives the tenth of everything that he had obtained or everything that he had. So Abram accepted the offering of Melchizedek.

And therefore, beloved, pay attention to this. The claim of Melchizedek of being the priest of the Most High, and not only that, the king of Salem, was confirmed. He was confirmed as the king of Salem, but not only that, the priest of the Most High. Pay attention to the text. All of them are kings.

Kings of Kedrolaomer, of Sodom, Gomorrah, all of them are kings. But only Melchizedek is the one that is called king, and priest and priest of the most high. So then Abram, by receiving and accepting this offering, he was submitting himself to a greater king, just in the same way that Kedol Lomer had lesser kings, Now Abram was submitting himself to a greater king. Now this is crazy because he had defeated all the powerful kings. He had defeated Ketur-laomer and all the kings that were with him.

And now he comes and he submits to this guy that had just appeared. Without genealogy, without background, he just appears and says, I accept your blessing, not only that I give you a tenth of everything. He acknowledges that he is the King of Salem, or the King of Peace, or the King of Righteousness, and he is also the Priest of the Most High. Also, he rejects the King of Sodom. Beloved, this is glorious because then in Hebrews chapter 7, the author of Hebrews is going to tell us that by doing this, that by giving this 10th and by accepting this blessing from Melchizedek, He acknowledged that Melchizedek was a higher priest, a higher priest.

And then by Jesus Christ giving the stamp or the tithe to this priest, which is Melchizedek, he confirmed a priesthood that was above everything that is of blood and flesh. The Levitical priesthood, beloved, will come from the flesh of Abram and Abraham. The Levitical priesthood is descended of the national blood and flesh, Israel. But when Abram acknowledged the priesthood of a greater priest, Melchizedek, this gave the right to the Lord Jesus Christ to be confirmed as the high priest of God who is not according to the order of the Levitical priesthood, but according to the order of Melchizedek. So then when he goes to the cross, he is acknowledged as the priest of the Most High, and then his sacrifice is accepted.

This is vital and important because for the people of Israel, a sacrifice that was offered by a priest other than a Levitical priest will not be accepted. But then the author of Hebrews says that Jesus Christ belongs to a greater, to a higher order. And this is the order of Melchizedek. Now the priesthood of Melchizedek was confirmed and was accepted by an act of faith of one of the saints, Abraham. Had Abraham rejected in the same way that he rejected the offering, or the ofah, of the king of Sodom, and he had said to the king of Melchizedek, I will not take the bread and wine, and I will not accept your blessing, and I will not give you this tenth of everything, then Melchizedek would have not been recognized by the people of Israel as a priest who is of a higher authority than the Levitical priesthood.

Beloved, We can see here how God in his decree and his power, of course, he knew all of these things and he decreed all of these things, but how he works his story of redemption through the means of his people. Every act of faith of his people going to alignment with this glorious story of redemption that he defined from eternity past. Because guess what? Not even our acts, our faith are produced in and of ourselves, but are as some ministration or a given of the Holy Spirit working from time to time what he decreed and he wanted to accomplish. So the act of faith of the believer plays a glorious and redemptive act or role in that plan of redemption.

And this was pointed to this person of Jesus Christ. This is a glorious type that shows us and symbolizes that the Christ who was to come was the highest priest, not only offering the sacrifice, but being the sacrifice himself. And then is how we can approach this priest with self, with confidence and assurance that with Christ we are united with him in the holy of holies and that nothing can remove and remove us from that place where we are anchored. Our soul is anchored in the holy of holies with our Christ, our forerunner, who is not only our priest, but is also our savior. Amen.