The Order of Melchizedek

Melchizedek has always made me wonder.  How can someone have no mother and no father and yet still be human?  Here are some of the things I learned.

"Having no mother and no father" may have meant that the man was old to the point where no one knew his heritage.  Jewish tradition suggests that Melchizedek may have been Noah's son Shem.  Shem lived for a long time after the Flood, long enough for Abraham to have arrived in Canaan according to the timeline offered in Genesis.

Melchizedek was his title, not his name.  The title means "King of Righteousness". He is called "a priest of the Most High God".  His name is never mentioned.

Jesus is named a priest after the order of Melchizedek.  According to the Tabernacle/Temple priesthood, any priest had to be from the Levite tribe of the family of Aaron.  Jesus didn't belong to Aaron's family.  He came from the tribe of Judah.  He would have to be a different type of priest.  Melchizedek is the only other  type of priest approved in Scripture.

At the core of what I heard last week is the story about Jesus' baptism.

When an old high priest was about to die, he would name his oldest son to be the next high priest.  This son had to be at least 30 years old.  The son would bathe in the mikvah and dress in the priestly robes.  His head would be anointed with sacred oil.  He would go to his father's bedside (or wherever the ailing old man was) and his father would say, "This is my son.  I am pleased with him."  Then he would go out and fulfill his duties.

When Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized, He did not do it because He needed His sins to be washed away.  He had no sin. 

Let's compare Jesus' baptism with the account of preparing a new high priest.  When Jesus was 30 years old, He went into the water like the priest going to the mikvah.  When He came out of the water, the Holy Spirit came down on Him like the anointing oil.  Jesus received the Spirit to empower Him for the ministry He was about to begin.  And the Father's voice came from heaven saying, "This is My Son.  I am pleased with Him."

Jesus came up out of the river with God's stamp of approval on His ministry - a priest after the order of Melchizedek, King of Righteousness.  (Gen. 14, Ps. 110:4, Hebrews 5:8-10)

May God bless us all.

Kathi

At War with Israel

Les asked me this morning what Bible verse talked about Israel being alone against the world.  I thought of one I wanted to look up, and, as so often happens on the internet, I ended up in a whole different place.

The verses I found talked about God bringing all the nations to war with Israel in the Valley of Jezreel at the foot of Mount Megiddo, also know as Haar Megiddo or Armageddon.  But that wasn't what most caught my eye.

I found an article about Zephaniah 2:1-7 which reads like this:

"1 Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, 2 before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD's wrath comes upon you. 3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.


4 Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. 5 Woe to you who live by the sea, O Kerethite people; the word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. "I will destroy you, and none will be left." 6 The land by the sea, where the Kerethites dwell, will be a place for shepherds and sheep pens. 7 It will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The LORD their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes."

Please note the reference to Gaza which hasn't changed its name in thousands of years.  Does anyone remember the day when the Israelis were kicked out of their houses by the Palestinians who were given Gaza as a homeland?  8,600 Israelis were brought out of Gaza escorted by the Israeli military, often under protest.  "But this is our home!  Where will we go?" they cried as they left everything behind.

Gaza was abandoned by the Israelis.  That was seven years ago in 2005.  God loves the number seven. 

Note the rest of the passage - wrath, destruction, the end of the Philistines/Palestinians.  God says He will do it, and the land will return to Judah.

I watch the news and see an almost inevitable war in the Middle East with Egypt, Syria, and any other Arab nation that wants to pile on, attacking Israel.  It won't be their best move.  God is on Israel's side.  Besides the promise to return the land to Judah mentioned above, you might want to note the last few verses of Amos (chapter 9):

¹³ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
    and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
    and flow from all the hills,
¹⁴     and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.^[f]

“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
    They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
    they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
¹⁵ I will plant Israel in their own land,
    never again to be uprooted
    from the land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

NEVER TO BE UPROOTED AGAIN!  Yes, I'm yelling!  No nation, not all the nations together will be able to take Israel out of their homeland again.  God says so.  Allah will not defeat Elohim, El Shaddai, the Great I AM and His people Israel.

Watch the news.  It's fascinating to match current events against prophecy - to see it all take place as if ancient Bible verses are today's headlines.  I don't believe there's much time left for us to talk to our family, friends, and neighbors about Jesus.

By the way, the verse I was originally looking for is Ezekiel 38:13.  If you are aware of end times prophecy at all, you will know this chapter.  It is about Gog and Magog and their cohorts coming to attack Israel, "a land of unwalled villages".

The part I was thinking about is where the "cubs (or merchants) of Tarshish" shake their fingers at the attack but do nothing to stop it.  Tarshish may very well have been part of ancient Spain.  Where did the merchant ships come from that found and founded America? 

And although our nation has a strong history of supporting Israel, do you think the current administration would lift a finger if Russia and the Islamic nations descended on Israel en masse?  I think they would shake their fingers and their heads, leaving Israel to its fate.

And that, my friends, is when God will step in, when Israel has no one to depend on but its God.

I'm watching the news.  The times we live in are a wonder.  I believe this chapter in time is about to come to an end and a new one begin.  What do you think?

May God bless us all.

Kathi

The Name of America

Scandal piles on top of scandal.  No one knew anything about what was going on" until the day after the election".  We're still supposed to blame Bush for everything going wrong in this country even though he has not been in office and hasn't even said anything in the last four years.  Not a peep.

After watching CNN (Constantly Negative News/Clinton News Network...)  during my lunch date with Les (not exactly the greatest thing for healthy digestion), I have a new name for our country - Ichabod. 

Ichabod - the glory has departed.

We kicked God out of our public places during the 1960's.  We legally adopted evolution and secular humanism before that.  God is a gentleman.  He doesn't hang around places where He isn't wanted.  The only reason, I believe, that our country hasn't been completely sold to our enemies (and it's well on its way) is because there is still a remnant that holds on to the truth - that is, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Don't be deceived.  Our Glory has departed and judgement will come.  The only variable that I can't state with certainty is whether this is the time when we Christians will be taken out first or if there is more to come before the final curtain falls on this "play".

Ichabod.  Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

God bless us all,

Kathi