Who Is This Melchisedec? #16
Bro. Lee Vayle
October 8, 1988
Shall we pray. Heavenly Father we want to thank You again for Your kindness to us, directed to us Lord, and shown to us, proven to us, vindicated in this last hour; making us know the love of God which lies in election, making us know Your power of predestination, Father; making us to know the power of Your office, Lord, that You hold for us, for You mediate and intercede, making it very sure that none is lost. We thank You for that tonight Lord, and now Father may Your Word come to us and may it be preached as living unto living people who are alive in Thee, alive by the Word, Lord, the Life that’s in the Word. Help us to understand what we have not previously understood as such it be tonight, Lord, but above all help us to have such faith in this Word Father that we become identified with it--we and the Word become one. We just commend ourselves to You. In Jesus’ Christ’s Name. Amen. You may be seated.
Now, because it’s communion tonight
and we want to continue, of course, with Who Is This Melchisedec? which would be number sixteen, and to make it
perhaps a little more pertinent to this hour in which we live, and to make it
very pertinent concerning us especially, we want to talk about the ministry,
this Melchisedec ministry as shown here in the Word of God.
Now, we’re going to do a little bit of reading to begin with and we’ll just depart from the text which we’re taking with Bro. Branham’s sermon, but we’ll come back to it tomorrow morning and then another time we’ll finish this message which will essentially be in two parts. One is of course understanding the ministry, what it is about, and also our part in it.
So we go to Genesis the 14th chapter
to begin, and verses 18 and 19, it says.
(18) And Melchizedek king of
(19) And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
And also in the book of Hebrews,
we’ll get back there to about the 7th chapter, and verses 1 to 3.
(1) For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
(2) To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of peace;
(3) Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
And then 14 to 17 the same chapter.
(14) For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
(15) And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
(16) Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
(17) For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
All right, then over, or back I
should say to the book of Matthew, then we’ll try to bring these together,
chapter 26 and I have written down here, 26 to 29.
(26) And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
(27) And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
(28) For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
(29) But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.
And then, over in Mk 10:42-45.
(42) But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
(43) But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
(44) And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.
(45) For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
I think you can understand why I put
these Scriptures together. Now having read these Scriptures, I want to just
consider the fact that there are two priesthoods. One is the Aaronic, and one after
Melchisedec, I suppose that might be called the Melchisedecion priesthood--I
really don’t know, I suppose most just call it the Melchisedec priesthood.
Now Aaron instituted an order of
priests from among men that ministered for men unto God. That’s what the Bible tells us, that a
priest...a man is picked out, a high priest, and he’s picked out from amongst
men, he’s a man, and he has to be because he has to know their infirmities, he
has to know all about them, he has to be one of them so he can do this with a
true understanding and sympathy, knowing just what man is like. He will have the compassion and understanding
to serve God and to go before God for men.
He’s a man who ministers to God for men; he represents them.
Now Jesus became the head of the
Melchisedec order, which is a priesthood wherein He was a priest of God, and
from God, that ministered unto men.
There’s just a reversal there.
One is ministering unto God, and the other is from God ministering unto
man. Now, you’ll notice that Jesus
fulfilled both of these orders, which we can see by reading over here in Heb
9:11-14.
(11) But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
(12) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
(13) For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
(14) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Now that is the Aaronic priesthood
wherein Jesus actually shed His blood and then presented it before God. Now there’s various thoughts on that, Bro.
Branham said, “That the blood of Jesus
fell upon the ground and there it was just, you know, deteriorated. In
another place he said, It was taken up
and purified the heavens.” It
doesn’t much matter how you look at it, the fact is the Blood was necessary
because without the shedding of blood there’s no remission of sins and it is
something that was done for mankind and presented to Almighty God.
Now, notice over here though in
the...looking over here in the same Scriptures we find that as we read over
here in the 7th chapter that Jesus Christ was a priest after the order of
Melchisedec. Which He certainly was, and
we saw that by reading the book of Mark, the 10th chapter, which we did not
necessarily point out to emphasize it but just read it and it says in verse 45.
(45) For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
So you’ll notice in there, He was
already fulfilling the two roles of the Aaronic priesthood and the Melchisedec
priesthood because He was literally ministering to men and He was ministering
to Almighty God. Now, the major thought
we have here, where we’re looking at for this sermon that Bro. Branham brought
us is that God Himself ministered and does minister continually to men by way
of His Presence through the Holy Spirit.
So we’re looking at Melchisedec then, being Almighty God in a human
form. We look at that same One, God in a
human form, and you’ll notice that He’s ministering always to mankind.
Now, what God was He can never be
anything else. You cannot change Him
essentially. You cannot change His ways,
there’s nothing you can do about it. So
if there’s something said in Scripture concerning God, you know that you can
take it from Genesis to Revelation, you can take it from eternity to eternity
as you might call it, from the beginnings to the endings. Always it’s the same so therefore we find: if
God was in Christ and serving mankind, that as a ministry, as a priesthood,
then that is what He has always
done.
And you notice that is exactly what
God did when it came to the fall of man.
As Bro. Branham brought out, God did not trust an angel.
God did not trust any other being, but God Himself went down and
literally ministered to man by helping man to find his position--though that
position, the good one was lost--but to maintain a position before Almighty God. It was God who ministered in the form of a
man to Abraham at the time of the battle, as Bro. Branham said, “When the heat of the battle was over, God
ministered to His weary son.” It
was God ministering through Jesus as we find here in Mk 10:45.
(45) The Son of man came to minister and not to be ministered unto,
It was God ministering, in this our
day, as he used Bro. Branham to bring us the true bread and wine. The true and revealed Word, and proven to be
the truth by the Life that was manifested.
That’s perfect vindication. As I
said many times, many people can say many things and say, “Well I’m schooled,
I’ve got knowledge, I’ve been trained,’ I wouldn’t give two bits for your
training. I have seen trained men fall
flat on their faces when and untrained man could do the job.
By a little old town
here in
“Hey John, do you think maybe you
could fix the machine?”
“Well,” he said, “I figure it this
way, if any body can make it, I can fix it.”
And he fixed it. And the smart guys fell flat on their
faces. I don’t give you two bits for the
smart guys, brother/sister. But if any
body can come by and prove a point like that man there did, I’m interested, I’m
willing to listen. Now, I’m not too
smart but I’m not dumb either, you know, and don’t you sell yourself short
either.
So we see God was ministering in
this hour, absolutely, through a man.
That the Son of Man ministry, not the Pillar of Fire, not William
Branham, but in the form of the Holy Ghost, a ministry coming forth. And God was ministering to us and He was
doing this as prepatory, as causing us to understand what the Word coming
forth--the bread and the wine--to be received in this hour to bring us in a
state of rest and relaxation after the heat of the Seven Church ages all going
by now, this was a vindicated Word to prove that we had the true Word of
Almighty God in which alone there is Life.
And those who caught the reality were fed that spiritual food in its
season and they lived by that spiritual food.
“For man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God.” Bro. Branham
said concerning it, “Nothing outside this Message will come to
life.” How could it be? Because this Message alone has life, because
this is the only Message that is proven to have any life in it.
We today are exactly as it was in
the days of Abraham when he offered up his son to God. Abraham was not allowed to minister to God
until first God had ministered to him by supplying the ram that he ministered
back to God. That’s right. Abraham ministered to God by offering back to
God what God gave him as his own personal acceptation with God. Did you hear what I said? He was not allowed to minister to God until
God first ministered to him and what God ministered to him was his personal
acceptation with God. Then people think
they can get out of here without that Word.
Let me tell you flat, you are thinking wrong, my brother/my sister, and
every type in the Bible proves you wrong in your thinking. God gave to him that alone which would make
Abraham acceptable. Bro. Branham said, “I’ve come to dress a Bride. Come to lead a Bride into truth.” Brother/sister we’re...listen, this is
marvellous. This is wonderful to know
these things.
So we see Melchisedec in this our
day giving us a vindicated Word of Life and we offering it back to God as our
acceptance with God, even as Cain and Abel.
For He said in the Septuagint so beautifully, He said, “Thou hast offered
right, but if thou hast not correctly divided, hast thou not sinned?” And the Bible distinctly tells us that if we
do not correctly divide the Word of God our offering back to God in worship is
sinful. Righteousness is not something
that you and I think is right, brother/sister.
No way.
You just even try to fool the income
tax department on that one. You say,
“Well look, my figures are the same as your figures. What’s the difference?” He says, “Yes but you’ve got to do it my
way.” And if you don’t you get fined and
everything else, even throw you in jail.
God is not mocked, brother/sister.
Now He’s not like the IRS, but He will exact honestly the right penny. See?
Now God the righteous Judge and
remember He is Judge and Priest both as the Son of Man because the Bible tells
us that. Jesus said, “As the Son of Man
judgement is committed unto me.” But
remember He was in the order of Melchisedec.
So therefore He was Priest Judge.
And so we find, God the righteous judge, and He’s both priest and judge,
is the same person, declaring us vindicated as the righteous, sinless, Bride of
the Lord Jesus Christ. On what
grounds? On the grounds of accepting a
vindicated Word.
How could you let anybody come into
your house and tell you and say,
“Hey, you have become heir to a
million dollars.”
Say, “Who in the world are you
anyway? Well you better show me some
authority, and something, I’ve got a million dollars coming to me.”
Well you might run off and be very
happy to think you’ve got something, but how many people have been fooled? Well it’s the old skin game every single
time. Yes sir, that old skin game they
pull. They go to the poor old lady and
say,
“Now listen, you know, why, there’s someone
trying to right a check on your bank account.
I know that and yes sir we’re from the police department. Now what we want to do, we just want you to
give us a check and we’ll take it back to the bank.”
And first thing the poor old girl gives a
check and they take the money and run down the road, or they give her some bag
supposed to be money with paper clippings.
And that goes on in the States all the time. Of course the Canadians are too sharp for
that. You know why? You haven’t got dumb bunnies up there. You get 240 million people like we’ve got and
you’ll find enough them dumb too, they’ll pull those skin tricks. See?
That’s what I’m looking at
here. God did not come with any message
in this hour without vindication.
See? Just the same as He totally
vindicated to Abraham, “Yes I want you to sacrifice, but you’re only going to sacrifice exactly what I give
you under the conditions I give it.” And
Bro. Branham categorically said, “That
God literally created that animal.” And if you want to know the truth then where
did that grizzly bear come from? “So I
don’t know that God creates.” You
don’t? What is your conception of
God? So, God the righteous Judge, both
Priest and Judge declaring us vindicated as the righteous, sinless Bride of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let us consider again Jesus, the
Son of Man, born of a woman but who’s Father was God as the head order of
Melchisedec. Now He’s the head order and
he knows that God is His head because He is going to be from God and offering
to you and me, or serving you and me--He’s ministering. Since He came to minister and not to be
ministered to, and since He came to minister and cannot change, then He is
still ministering to His own, and only His own, for all others have turned Him
aside in this hour, they have put Him outside of His own church in this
age. But notice what the Scripture said,
“Behold I stand at the door and knock, and if any man come in, I will sup with
him and he with Me.”
Now I want to ask you a
question. Do you think for one minute,
under those conditions, you are going to offer something to God or is God going
to offer something to you? Now if you
think you’re going to offer something to God, you’re thinking wrong because
that’s what put Him outside the church.
There’s nothing in there that’s acceptable to Him; neither the people
nor what the people are producing. So
therefore now He must come and do something about it just as it was in the
Garden of Eden. In this last day God is not
satisfied to send somebody, God Himself must come because it was God Himself
who turned away man from the tree of Life, lest he live, eat and live in that
condition for six thousand solid years.
Now then, who will come and remove
the flaming cherubim? Who will come and
invite man back to the tree of Life? Who
will come and see that man was pronounced ready to come back to the tree of
Life and immortality? There’s only one
person going to do it and that’s God and nobody else could do it. “But behold He stands at the door and
knocks.” And ever the righteous servant
because He is the righteous servant. He
desires to serve communion to His own and with His own. Thus we see at this hour, He is the only
mediator and intercessor for His own, in other words, He is only mediator and
intercessor for His own, and for no others because all others have rejected Him
and when you reject the suitors gift you reject the suitor. You know it’s true because it was Eleazer who
took the gifts of Isaac to his potential bride and she said, “Yes, I take the
gifts,” signifying, “I take the man.” Well you turn down the gifts what are you
going to do? Church turned down the
gifts, there’s nothing there. See?
So then How is He going to be
mediator and intercessor for those that turn down the gift of God? And Bro. Branham said, “Just to think that in this day God has given us the gift of His Son in
the form of the Holy Ghost.” We are
right back even in this hour the Son of man, I believe the Son of man period is
completely over, been completely vindicated, you’re right back now to the Son
of God which is the Holy Spirit leading a Bride because Bro. Branham said, “The Pillar of Fire is here to lead a Bride
to the Millennium.”
Now, His final act of service, of
ministering, mediating and interceding is winding down to the Gentiles. He will no longer hold that as a dominant
role. For that role has already begun to
recede and become a sub-dominant role to the fact that He is now not
necessarily, or potentially, Melchisedec, but in reality, as Bro. Branham said,
“That the Lamb from behind the throne, in the midst of the throne, came
off the mercy seat, took the Book out of the hands of the Father sitting upon
the throne, tore the Seals off, the One on the throne came down, Revelation 4, Revelation 5,
Revelation 10, came down with one foot on
land, and sea, and the Lamb climbed on
the throne making Him now positively
King of Righteousness, and King of Peace which peace we have in our
hearts but it’s soon to follow in an earthly kingdom.”
So we have a dominant role now of
the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace and He’s ready to descend at
any time, we don’t know when, but that’s coming very soon. He will descend to take His Bride to Himself
and in the capacity of the King of Peace, He will take us to the Wedding Supper
and from the Wedding Supper and establish us in the Millennium. And you see there again, God is serving His
people in the Melchisedec role. Thus in
this hour we see God Himself, and God’s righteous kingdom serving the sons of
God, who themselves form a priesthood and a kingdom according to Peter, 1 Pet
1:22, beginning, and going into the 2nd chapter.
(22) Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
(23) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
(24) For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: (It fades, it’s gone.)
(25) But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
[1 Peter 2:]
(1) Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
(2) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
(3) If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
(4) To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, (Disallowed again today.)
(5) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
(6) Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
(7) Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
(8) And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
(9) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
(10) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: (and so on).
Now, you can see...now with that
we’re going to go to Hebrews the 3rd chapter and we’re going to look at that
priesthood that we belong to. See? Now, in Hebrews the 3rd chapter, reading all
the way through to the 4th chapter, verse 16 which is for our day as Heb 3:7,
to Heb 4:2 deal with the Exodus which is the type of our going away, so let’s
read it.
(1) Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus;
(2) Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
Now you see, our high Priest, you
know, right there is a Melchisedec order.
(3) For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house.
(4) For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
(5) And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
(6) But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Now watch it coming here.
(7) Wherefore, (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if you will hear his voice,
(8) Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
(9) When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
In other words, they wanted to say
that they said to God, “Listen,” just like they said to Jesus, and just like
they say right today, “We will tell You what we want done, then we’ll believe
if You perform it.” They did it,
absolutely. And then people intrude in
the ministry that only Moses had, see? Now...
(12)
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (See, trying to make a test on your own.)
(13) But exhort on another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
(14) For we are made (It’s not partakers there, but companions.) companions of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;
(15) While it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
(16) For some when they heard, did
provoke: howbeit not all that came out
of
(17) But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
(18) And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
You see, they couldn’t enter in
because they didn’t believe.
(19) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
And the unbelief was turning down
what God did and substituting what they wanted.
And that’s the same thing that man always does with the Word--he leaves
out what he doesn’t want and puts in what he does want.
(1) Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
(2) For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
(3) For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
(4) For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
(5) And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
(6) Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
(7) Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day after so long a time; (Now that’s way down the line.) as it is said, To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
(8) For [Jesus] (Joshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
(9) Now, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
(10) And he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
(11) Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Now watch. Now this is our day right here, again.
(12) For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder soul and spirit; and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
(13) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
(14) Seeing then that we have a great high priest,
Now this is all thrown in there concerning the High Priest, then takes you plumb right down to this hour, Melchisedec. So you can see why Bro. Branham preached this sermon ...on the opening of the Seals. See? Why it had to be.
(14) Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
(15) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Now the tempting right there is the
Aaronic part, that’s concerning man ministering to God for men. But we’re looking now at the fact that this
One has graduated, or been exalted from the Aaronic priesthood to the great
priesthood, which is ministering to man from God. Now Bro. Branham said, “This Melchisedec... Who is this Melchisedec?” Who is this One that’s here today? Who is this One after the battle? It tells you right here. Who is doing this? Discerning?
Who is proving Himself? See? Who is proving the merits of His sinless
blood? Who is telling you to come boldly
to the throne of grace?
Now, He said, “I want to give you
peace.” Let’s talk about that peace a
second. Let’s go to 2 Thessalonians
1. He said here, there 3rd verse.
(2) We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity (love) of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.
(4) So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God (Put a very high assessment on you, seeing you up to the top.)for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure:
(5)
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of
God, that you may be counted worthy of the
(6) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
(7) And to you who are troubled relax with us, (Bro. Branham said, Under the Seventh Seal is relaxation. Relax when?) when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. (Right there.)
(8) In flames of fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
You say, “Well that means right
there destruction.” No it does not
because that word ‘vengeance’ can also mean to avenge. Remember the unjust judge avenged the widow
that cried. Our husband is not dead, but we’re missing him. He’s not here with us. And the righteous Judge has a vengeance by
declaring us the righteous Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let me tell you something, at the same
time He does that, Bro. Branham preached; the trial and the judgement and the
combine. And you cannot have any case in
history, under any law, except there’s an examination of what is right and what
is wrong. And you at this time, we enter
into our peace under Melchisedec. God
ministering to His people and there would be no peace, there could be nothing,
unless God Himself had done it for us.
There is no way whatsoever.
See? So, we look at what God has
done for us. He has brought us right to
this place as we see the Melchisedec priesthood demonstrated before our very eyes. Bro. Branham could never, ever be challenged
on it.
Now, so we are going to the exodus
and getting out of here; and this exodus is besieged, it is fraught with all
the problems that they had back there in the Exodus. Now, with all this prelude that I’ve brought
to your attention, we have set the basic principle that a Melchisedec
priesthood must show forth. There has
got to be a priesthood because one priest does not make a priesthood. It doesn’t do it.
So, we’re going to go back to the
book of Mark again, in order to understand what is before us this hour. And we’re going to read, not just a few
verses I read, we’re going to go right back to Mk 10:35.
(35) And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
(36) And he said, Well what do you want me to do for you?
(37) And they said, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on your right hand, and the other on your left hand, in your glory.
(38) And Jesus said, You know not what you ask: can you drink of the cup that I drink of? And be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
(39) And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, You shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall you be baptized:
(40) But to sit on my right hand and on my left
hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is
prepared. (Now see, even
that’s predestination.)
(41) And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. (They got angry and you can’t blame them.)
(42) And Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, You know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. (That’s a cast system.
(43) But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
(44) And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. (Low man on the totem pole.
(45) For even the Son of man . .
Now remember, He’s letting them know who He is on the grounds of His powerful, vindicated authority. He’s saying, “Look at me,” He said, “I’m going to tell you something. I am the chief One but I’m taking the low position.” He said;
(45) Even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Now they could not give their lives
a ransom; but they could according to Scripture, give their lives as a sweet
sacrifice unto God. And of course the
golden key tells you, “But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever is in
the Melchisedec priesthood, the holy nation, the priest unto Almighty God, will
be ministering to their brethren and will be servants.”
Now, as we look at this and
understand what we’re looking at in verse forty-three. Verse forty-three is not so much comprised of
acts of determination wherein we are constantly forcing ourselves to examine
our actions every day, so that we are deliberately serving, even against our
wills, but it is a philosophy or a way of life that is more inherent than
cultivated because we are being compared to Jesus, the righteous servant, to
whom we could never attribute the attitude of a person who laboriously
ministered, instead of spontaneously responding to the needs of the
people. In other words, we’re not a
bunch of legalists. This is not
something you plan out. Get up in the
morning, say, “I will do this, I will do that, I will do the other thing.” But it is a daily life wherein there is a
spontaneous response to needs. That’s
what we’re looking at in this end time.
That this assessment that I am
giving, is a correct one, is found in Mt
25:31-46.
(31) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
(32) And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (Doesn’t say they are, just says as.)
(32) And he shall set the sheep on his