Our Priest Forever

Genesis 14:17-24
Gary Wassermann | Sunday, May 15, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Gary Wassermann

The title this morning is “Our Priest Forever.” Our text speaks of a historical man, Melchizedek, but it also speaks of a major piece of God’s plan of redemption.  It speaks of the priest that God would provide.  I know we can read the Bible many times, and yet still Melchizedek may seem mysterious and obscure, both himself as a person and the theology that he is connected with. But if we miss what God is teaching here, we miss a great and glorious truth that is right at the heart of the message of salvation.  So it is my aim this morning to be plain and clear in my exposition of this passage.

I am going to deal with it by speaking about three blessings.  The first is the blessing of a priest, by which I mean that the priest himself is a blessing.  The second is the priest’s blessings, the words of Melchizedek spoken to Abraham.  The third is the world’s blessings rejected.  This is Abraham’s response to the king of Sodom.

The Blessing of a Priest

Here we are looking at Melchizedek himself and what he represents.  Melchizedek is a real historical figure whose great significance is in his office as priest and king.  So that we may not confuse the significance of his priesthood with what it true of the man himself, I want to start with a few simple statements about him.

First, Melchizedek was a man.  He was a great man, but he was just a man.  Some have thought that he was a theophany or a Christophany, that is, a physical appearance of God or of the Son of God before the time of Christ’s incarnation.  That view is partly based on a misunderstanding of some verses in Hebrews that we will come to later. But when God makes an appearance, he leaves no doubt about it.

Second, Melchizedek was a man of God.  He was a righteous man and a believer.  In the great enmity between the forces of the devil and the people of God, God would always maintain a people who served him faithfully.  Abraham was called out of darkness, but that does not mean that there was only darkness all throughout the world.  As in the days of Elijah, when God reserved seven thousand who had not bowed their knee to an idol, God always has his people, here and there, serving him throughout the earth, sometimes in exactly the places you do not expect to find them, as in the case with Melchizedek in the land of Canaan.  If there were other servants of the Most High God in that day, how much more in ours, when the gospel has spread throughout the earth!

Following the flood, Noah knew and served God, and from him the knowledge of the true God was handed down through the generations to whoever would receive it and to whoever would follow him in serving God.  Melchizedek was among the last of God’s servants from this stream.  Abraham had received God’s revelation and promises, and he would be the head and father of God’s servants in succeeding generations.

But, as I said, Melchizedek is primarily significant for what he was as priest.  That is what the Holy Spirit speaks of when he leads David to prophesy with respect to Melchizedek in Psalm 110:4:  “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind:  ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’”  The author of the letter to the Hebrews cites David’s prophecy in Hebrews 5, and he devotes the whole of Hebrews 7 to working out how Melchizedek prefigures Jesus Christ as our great high priest.

Genesis 14:18, where Melchizedek is introduced, is the first verse in the Bible to speak of a priest.  It is significant that the first priest in the Bible is not a pagan priest to an idol.  The first priest in the Bible is not the product of sinful human imagination.  The first priest in the Bible is priest of God Most High.  As Hebrews 5:4 says, “No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God.” So the priesthood was God’s idea and God’s plan from the beginning, and it was God who called Melchizedek to be priest. The priesthood was part of God’s plan. He was showing what was part of his greater plan.

This priest, Melchizedek, also appears on the scene at a significant point in redemptive history.  He met and blessed Abram before Abram had received the covenant of circumcision.  Circumcision is what marked off the Jewish race as a separate race and as a holy nation, as God’s covenant people.  This point in redemptive history is fundamental to the same argument as the apostle Paul made in Romans 4 to say that justification by faith is not for Jews, but for all people.  So the priests and the priesthood that Melchizedek signifies is not just for Jews; it is for all people.  God is saying through this account of Melchizedek that all men need a priest, and all men need a priest who is for all men, because no man has an advantage above any other man before God.  All are sinners.

What is a priest? A priest is fundamentally a mediator between God and men to deal with sins.  So if God has ordained a priest, and not just a priest, but a priest for all men, it is because no one can come to God without a priest.

This is not a popular idea in the world, and it is vastly underappreciated in the church as well.  In the church we hear and speak about God all the time as indeed we ought, but with that familiarity can easily come contempt.  Simply in the order of being, there is a vast separation between God and men.  God is the transcendent, self-sufficient, Creator God, and we are dependent creatures.  God’s wisdom and understanding are comprehensive and immeasurable.  We have no grasp and no hold on God.  Even though it is true that God made man in his image, there is no spark of divinity within each one of us.  There is no inherent connection we have to God that we should be able to come and commune with him.  Not only that, there is also nothing we can offer to God that God should gain from us and need to open a way to us for us to come to himself.  God is entirely distinct from creation, entirely above creation.

But that sort of separation is not the greatest problem we have.  Man sins.  Man turned his back on God and rejected him.  Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God.”  Man has turned to moral darkness.  As 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “What fellowship can light have with darkness?”  And God is light.  God is the holy God.  He is zealous for his holiness and committed to righteousness, so no man can come directly to God. When we see here and there in the Bible people coming directly to God apart from his mediation and his plan, fire comes out from the Lord and consumes them. They are struck dead.

Now, the world around us objects to this truth.  Men think they can come to God as they like and as they please, anytime and anywhere.  Often people express that as, “I am spiritual, but I am not religious.”  The idea is that “religion” means the propositional revelation in the Bible.  “Religion” means objective truth coming to us from outside ourselves. “Religion” means the church that God has established, and the order and the objective standards that are necessarily inherent in a church.  “I am spiritual but not religious” means “I reject all of that because I don’t need it. I don’t need it to come to God on my own.  I commune with God when I get a certain feeling, or when I meditate, or when I walk in nature, or when I consider myself and what is really true about me.”

This all goes along with a basic rejection of the problem of sin.  People reject the idea that they are basically sinners separated from God.  So if anyone goes directly to God without a mediator, the god they get to is not the God of the Bible.  It is the god of their own imagination, of their feelings, of their whims, created by them in their own image. God condemns people in Psalm 50 on the basis, “You thought I was altogether like you.”  God is not.

But the problem goes even beyond that.  Sin not only pollutes us to make us repulsive to God, but sin is also a master.  By the weakness that sin brings, we come under the power of the devil.  On our own, we are subject to him, tossed and tormented, and continually giving in to our lusts.  We follow the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air.  And apart from an effectual intercessor, we are subject to the power of the devil. We will fail and we will fall because the devil is like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

We cannot come to God on our own.  But the great blessing that God declares through Melchizedek in this passage is that God has provided a priest for us.  All men need a priest for all men, and that priest is Jesus Christ.  He is the priest for all men. He is the priest for sinners. He has passed through the veil and he himself has become for us the new and living way to come to God.  Praise God that he has provided for us one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.  Because of him, we can come to God, but we can only come to God through him.  We always come to God through him.

Jesus Christ owes nothing to any man for his priesthood.  A Levitical priest in Israel could only be priest if he could prove by his genealogy that he descended from priests.  If he could not, he was excluded from the priesthood as unclean.  You can see Ezra 2:62 where this problem arises.

Melchizedek is presented to us as a priest without any reference to him descending from priests.  That is what Hebrews 7:3 means when it says he was “without genealogy.”  He was without a priestly genealogy.  Jesus did not inherit his priesthood from a human father, and that is a good thing.  The son of a human father by ordinary generation would have inherited the sin of his forefather Adam.  He would not be qualified himself to enter the presence of God.  But Jesus came into the world through a virginal conception befitting the God-man.  His priesthood came from the oath of his Father.

There is no need to worry that his priesthood will expire on us while we still need him.  He is our priest forever.  Even Melchizedek foreshadowed that in that his priesthood was also not limited by age or time.  That is what Hebrews 7:3 means when it says that he was “without beginning of days or end of life.”  You see, Levitical priests began their days as priests at age twenty-five (Num. 8:24).  At the age of thirty, they began their regular priestly duties (Num. 4:3).  At the age of fifty, their priestly life ended (Num. 8:25).

Melchizedek was priest before any such regulations had been given, so his priesthood was not bounded by age, set to expire at a certain time.  So also Jesus Christ’s priesthood did not end when he reached a certain age.  He has conquered death and he lives an eternal, indestructible life, always bearing the office of priest for us.  He is priest forever, and he always lives to intercede for us.

Jesus Christ also has a power that goes beyond that, to meet our need that goes beyond the mere pollution of our sin.  He is king.  The word “king” appears twenty-nine times in Genesis 14, and aside from Nimrod’s kingdom mentioned in Genesis 10, this chapter has the first biblical references to a king.  Melchizedek was not only a priest, but he was also a king. Among the many kings of the world, there is one King. There is a king who, as Hebrews 7 explains, is king of righteousness and king of peace.  That is what Jesus Christ is for us. Jesus is a shield to those who come to him in humility as sinners.  He protects us from the assaults of the devil.  He removes us from slavery to sin so that not only is the problem of our pollution dealt with, but the problem of our weakness and our enslavement is also dealt with through him as king.  He enables us under his rule to do what is right and to find peace.

Jesus Christ is still priest today.  He is still bridging the gap between sinners and God.  So put your faith in Jesus Christ.  Come to God as a sinner through the mediation of Jesus Christ.  Come under his rule and under the protection of Jesus Christ.  If you have never done so before, come to him.  He is here; the priest has been given.  Praise God for his provision of a priest!  Look to him afresh if you have trusted in him and come to God through him.  And know that Christ is one.  His kingship cannot be separated from his priesthood.  Submit to his righteous and beneficent rule.

The Priest’s Blessings

The role and the position of a priest primarily is to stand as a mediator between God and sinners.  Through him, God’s blessing comes to man, and, through him, man’s blessing goes back to God.  Melchizedek demonstrates that in verses 19 and 20, first giving God’s blessing to Abram, and then blessing God on Abram’s account.

The fact that blessing can flow from God to sinners and back the other way is a great blessing and mercy of God, as I have already said. But it is a package. Both come together, and I will explain that as we go on.

It may at first sound strange to speak of a sinner blessing God, but this word is used in other passages where it is translated “praise.”  In Genesis 9:26, Noah said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem!”  In Genesis 24:27, Abraham’s servant said, “Praise be to the Lord.” It is the same word. “[Blessed be the Lord], the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master.” In Exodus 18:10 Jethro said, “Praise be to the Lord, [Blessed be the Lord], who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued his people from the hand of the Egyptians.”

This blessing and this praise goes through a priest. Praise to God goes acceptably to him when it goes through our great high priest, Jesus Christ.  Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.”

Now, consider this blessing in Abraham’s case.  “Blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand” (Gen. 14:20).  This is a blessing that transferred the glory from Abraham to God. That is what I am talking about when I say both blessings go together. This blessing that transfers the glory to God must be given.

Think of all that Abraham had expended and risked to win this battle. You see, he was just coming out of a great battle. An escapee from the losing side of the war showed up at Abraham’s tent.  This man apparently knew Lot and reported to Abraham that there had been a war fought between four kings who exercised suzerainty in that region, and five who rebelled.  The four had won and captured Lot.  I’m sure that this escapee was himself a visible picture of the danger in going up against these four kings. But Abraham went.

He went to rescue Lot.  As Rev. Broderick said, Abraham had to travel a long distance—over several days at least—to get to where Lot was.  In doing so, he exposed the women and children of his own camp to some risk because he and his men were not there to protect them.

When he arrived at Dan, where the victors and the captives were, Abraham strategized how best to defeat these armies through a night attack.  He would not have attacked at night if he could have just defeated them during the day.  This was a serious foe he faced. This was a desperate situation.

Think not only of all that Abraham expended to win this battle, but think also of all that he stood to gain from this victory.  He could have claimed the cities for himself—the cities that had been conquered by those four kings and that he recovered in defeating them.  He could have claimed lands and territories.  He could have taken possession of a portion of this land that God had promised to him.  He could have taken to himself the title of king.  Even if he did not, he could have required an annual tribute from the cities he rescued.  He could have gained a reputation as “Abraham the great” or “Abraham the conqueror” and been feared and respected on that basis.

But the blessing to God involved Abraham giving over all of this to God.  Abraham had fought and won as God’s humble servant, and now he was glad to complete his mission in all humility.  God got the glory.  It was not Abraham’s strenuous effort or his strategizing or his bravery that get any credit for this victory.  The way it is spoken, God handed the enemies over to him. This was just done for him.  It was God Most High who handed Abraham’s enemies over to him.  We must give God the glory for what he has done.

This blessing was humbling, furthermore, in that it was Melchizedek, not Abraham, who declared that God had handed the enemies over.  It would be one thing for Abraham to praise God for handing his enemies over to him.  It was another thing for someone else to say it.  It can be easier for us ourselves to give God the glory for something we did than for someone else to say it, because if someone else says it, we don’t even get the credit for giving God the glory.

This blessing was humbling in that it cost Abraham more than just words.  Since the victory was God’s doing, Abraham could not capitalize on it.  He could not claim the territory or the title or the tax.  That had not been God’s purpose for him in going into this battle, and he could not lay hold of it once the battle was over.

This is what blessing and praise to God involve.  We must do his work in his strength, and readily acknowledge that God gave the ability, the growth, and the success.  We must count it as a blessing when someone greater states that.  We must do this because it is right and true.  God is indeed the giver of every good and perfect gift.  Victory rests with the Lord.  This is not a fiction that we gild over the top of our work with.  Fiction is what Nebuchadnezzar said:  “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as a royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30).  Fiction is saying, “I figured out how to win the victory.”  In giving God the glory, we hand over reputation or advancement or apparent security that we might otherwise lay claim to.

But look at the blessing that came from God in the same pronouncement:  “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:19).  What came to Abram was first God’s own smile.  It was God’s approval.  Which is better, God’s approval or man’s approval?  Only God’s approval can register on your soul to give you peace and joy.  Man’s approval can never do that.  It will leave you empty, searching for more. Only a fool would choose man’s approval over God’s, and yet fools do that all the time.  Jesus put his finger on this when he spoke to the Jews in John 5:44: “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?”  So give up your self-promotion and find God’s favor.  God smiles on his humble, believing servants.

Furthermore, while Abraham had given up claim to a small section of Canaan with a few cities, he had the blessing of the Creator and Possessor of heaven and earth.  God would put all of the resources of heaven and earth at the disposal of Abraham as he had need.  That is a much larger blessing to have.  This is like when Paul wrote to the Philippians, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).  When you belong to Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:22 says, “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours.”  Heaven and earth are working for you.

And Abraham received yet more because Abraham’s God was glorified publicly, and Abraham himself was vindicated before the eyes of the people.  When Daniel was delivered from the lions’ den, he testified that God had sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions. Daniel gave God the glory.  So King Darius wrote to all the peoples throughout the land: “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel” (Dan. 6:26).  What greater reward, what greater joy for a servant of the Lord than to hear that he had some part in exalting God’s name in this world!

The people of Genesis 14 could see that the gods of the pagan kings had proved powerless against Abraham and a few of his allies.  This was a miraculous victory.  Through the blessing of Melchizedek, they heard that this miracle was the work of the Most High God.  What then was the conclusion for them?  Rid yourselves of your vile idols, who turned you over to your enemies to be plundered, and accept the Most High God, “who alone does great wonders” (Ps. 136:4).

Previously, Abraham also had been despised.  Perhaps that was part of the reason he had to keep moving around from place to place.  Lot voted with the world when he moved away from Abraham and toward Sodom.  But now, after this miraculous victory, these people stop to see this man who the Most High God has helped in this way.  He who honors God, God will honor.  Melchizedek presents Abraham to the world and declares that only with him, in his house and family, are the kingdom of heaven, salvation, forgiveness of sins, and divine blessing.  Martin Luther supposed that many souls were saved from eternal death when they heard Melchizedek’s words and learned to know the true and living God.

This is a good trade.  Abraham gave up his own glory, his own claim, his own opportunity for advancement in the world, and in exchange he gained the blessing of God.  He gained property in God.   God was his portion, God would provide for him, and Abraham got to play a part in making God known to sinners.  This is a trade worth making for us too.  God will do the same for every son and daughter of Abraham who follows in the footsteps of our father Abraham.  Give over all to God and your all, you will find, is far less than God’s all that he gives to you.

The World’s Blessing Rejected

Abraham encountered two very different kings after this great battle.  Melchizedek was a great man in the sight of the Lord, approved by God to minister before him as priest.  The other king was the king of Sodom.  Before this encounter, Scripture says that men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord (Gen. 13:13).  It would only be about fifteen or twenty years from this point until the very end of Sodom, when God’s angels went and saw what the men of Sodom intended to do, and God destroyed the whole city by fire from heaven.  That tells us something about the king of Sodom.

Abraham, the friend of God, must necessarily respond differently to these two kings.  He welcomed Melchizedek and his blessing, but he rejected the king of Sodom’s proposal.  He would not keep the goods that had been taken from Sodom that he had recovered.  Abraham was not required by law to reject it, but he did, and there are three related reasons why: participation, dependence, and subjection.

1. Participation

First, Abraham would not participate in Sodom.  Sodom was filthy.  Abraham was a godly man, and as a godly man, he wanted nothing to do with their filthy goods.  If he were to keep them in the sight of the king of Sodom, he would be a participant with the people of Sodom.

Proverbs 1:10–14 says, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.  If they say, ‘Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for someone’s blood, let’s waylay some harmless soul; let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder [I imagine that is where the people of Sodom got a lot of their stuff]; throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse.’”  A common purse means you are in basic agreement.  You have a basic commitment to the same ends.  And Proverbs 1:18–19 says, “These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves!  Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it.”  Have nothing to do with the filthy things of this world.

Jude gives counsel in how to deal with people who doubt or stray.  In dealing with those who have sinned most seriously, he says in verse 23, “To others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”  That is what the goods of Sodom were.  The goods of Sodom were filthy lucre.

Later on, when Israel would come to take the whole Promised Land, God would warn them in Deuteronomy 7:25–26 “The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire.  Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God.  Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction.  Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.”  It is detestable to the Lord.

Abraham had the same contempt for Sodom’s good as Peter had for Simon’s money: “May your money perish with you” (Acts 8:20).  The people of God don’t yearn for what the world has, because it is stained with the world’s corruption.

2. Dependence

Second, Abraham would not depend on Sodom.  He wanted the glory of God, and he wanted all men to know that God takes care of his servants.  We can depend on God.  Abraham had come to Canaan as the Lord’s servant, in obedience to the Lord.  The God of glory had appeared to him (Gen. 12).  God again appeared to him and gave him promises and words in Genesis 13.  Melchizedek declared publicly that Abraham was blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.

What sort of God did Abraham believe in?  Most people in this country understand religion as being something like a hobby.  You can have your religion if you want.  You can believe what you want.  You can pray if you want.  If you want to go to a church or synagogue or mosque, you can do that if you want.  But real life is the same. Religion is just an add-on to real life, as the world would put it.  You still have the same needs and the same struggles and the same ways of doing things to get what you need that everyone else does.  Religion is just a moral code plus some positive thinking.  That is the world’s idea of God.

But Abraham served the true and living God, and he served with a living faith. He would not allow his God to be viewed the way the world thinks of God.  God is indeed the possessor of heaven and earth.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth” (WSC, Q. 4). So God, the true and living God, will provide for his servants.  If Abraham had kept the goods from Sodom, the king of Sodom would have said, “Yes, he talks about his God, but when the rubber meets the road, I know where he gets his stuff.  I let him keep some of my possessions.”  And had this happened, Abraham would never have been able to say with a clear conscience that his sole dependence and his sole source of blessing was God.

Abraham’s testimony in action is like that of Ezra the priest.  Ezra gathered a large group to return from Babylon to Israel.  This was a long route to take through some dangerous roads.  This large company of ordinary people, unarmed, would have been a prime target for raiders and bandits.  Ezra could have requested a military escort.  But instead he said, “I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, ‘The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.’  So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer” (Ezra 8:22–23).

We say that God is almighty.  We say that he all-sufficient.  We say that he will provide.  We say his blessings are better than what the world has to offer.  But the world can easily say, “Talk is cheap.  Show me by how you live. Show me how great your God is by trusting in him.”

Do you trust God enough to lean not on your own understanding, but to do what he says in his Scriptures, to do what he says through the wisdom of his God-appointed men, even when you don’t understand how it will work out?  Do you look and hunger for the crumbs that fall from the table of the world, or do you show that you trust God to provide by not hankering after those things?  The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”  It is the one who glorifies God who will enjoy him forever.

3. Subjection

The third reason Abraham rejected the goods of Sodom is that Abraham would not be subject to the king of Sodom, because the king of Sodom was a taker.  The king of Sodom looks like he is offering goods to Abraham, but that’s a deception.  The king of Sodom had no claim to anything.  His first words were “Give me.”  He had no right to any of it.  When a taker gets a claim on you or a link to you, he will keep on taking.  Even while Melchizedek was speaking serious heavenly truths, the mind of the king of Sodom was on how he would get the most from Abraham.

Melchizedek is a very different person.  He brought out something.  The priest-king is a giver and a blesser.  Melchizedek is a type of Christ, and the king of Sodom also represents something.  The devil takes, the world takes, sin takes, but our priest-king Christ gives.

Abraham is the father of all believers, and his life and experiences are a pattern for our own.  We too will encounter the king of Sodom, but we don’t bow down to him.  We acknowledge the kingship and the priesthood of Jesus Christ.  And he blesses us, and he brings things out to us as we travel through life.  The world takes from the pilgrim, but Christ gives.

If you want to know what Christ gives, look at what Melchizedek gave.  He brought out bread and wine.  This is the first time in Scripture that these two come together.  The last time that bread and wine come together is in the upper room when Jesus is with his disciples.  Jesus presented bread and wine to his disciples as something symbolic of giving himself.  He said, “This bread is my body given for you, and this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.”  He gave himself on the cross for us.

In John 6, Jesus our priest-king said, “Do not work for food that spoils.”  That’s what the king of Sodom is interested in.  That is all that the king of Sodom is interested in.  That food is deceptive and the one who gives it is a deceiver.  Jesus continued, “But [work] for food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27).  Jesus said of himself in John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  He also said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).  Our Savior gives himself for us, and he blesses us with every spiritual blessing.  Every blessing is in him, and they come to us through him—all the grace we need, the forgiveness of sins, the blessing of being made right with God, the power to live a Christian life and to overcome, and the pathway to the heavenly city.

Just as Jesus Christ continues to give, the devil continues to take.  He is the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  We don’t want anything from him.

No wonder that Abraham did not want anything from the king of Sodom.  He is separate from the world.  He is not in bondage to him.  He said, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich’” (Gen. 14:22–24).

That is the right approach to the king of Sodom.  Do not prostrate yourself before the world.  Instead, bow before Him who gives himself, his body and his blood, and blesses with all the heavenly blessings of the Most High God.  Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Come to God through him.  Submit to him and obey him.  He will ever be the source of eternal life for you.  Amen.