The peace of Christ graciously given to the believer, part 2. John 14:27; Gen 14Title: The peace of Christ graciously given to the believer, part 2. John 14:27; Gen 14.
The indwelling of the Spirit and of Christ, the guarding of the word of God, the loving of God in return, His love towards the virtue within you, the building of the edification complex beside your soul, and the teaching ministry of God the HS all combine to provide prosperity for the individual believer.
This prosperity is represented by the word “peace” in verse 27. It’s not just any peace, but the very peace of Christ.
John 14:27"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
/The first peace is the substitutionary spiritual sacrifice of Christ. The second peace is the mental prosperity of Christ during His first advent by combining PVTD and the F/HS to gain the capacity for such prosperity. \
/ “peace” – e)irene[eirene] = tranquillity, benefit, prosperity, or happiness. It is a part of the fruit of the Spirit.\
We have noted that:
/Peace, tranquility, prosperity, and happiness are a supernatural result of an affective prayer life, Phil 4:6-7.\
/ Peace, tranquility, prosperity, and happiness are a supernatural result of metabolizing doctrine continually, 2 Pe 1:2.\
In order to understand our next reference it is important to understand the basics of typology.
/The word type may be defined as “a divinely purposed illustration of some truth” (Scofield Reference Bible, p. 4), accordingly a prophetic act, institution, person, thing, or ceremonial.\
What the type illustrates is called the antitype. Christ is the outstanding antitype in all typology.
/Melchizedek is a type of Christ. He was both a king and a priest – the first royal priest. King of righteousness and King of peace [Salem]. \
Heb 7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
Heb 7:2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.
I repeat: /The peace of Christ is akin to the F/HS and PVTD, and so is a covering of shame, a protection from the effects of sin and evil, and the source of prosperity to the believer in time. \
This is where life begins for the believer. Just because you are alive doesn’t mean you know how to live. The life I’m speaking of is the life beyond dreams that your Husband, TLJC, left behind for His bride. He will return when your abode in heaven is ready for you.
This is shown beautifully in the dealings of Abraham and Melchizedek.
Why are you, the CA believer, so in view in Gen 14? You are in the greatest of conflicts, the Angelic Conflict, and you are, through your union with Christ, a royal priest forever.
/The baptism of the Spirit enters the believer into union with Christ making him a royal priest forever. \
This is one of the 40 things received at salvation.
The bonafide priesthoods in history are the family priesthood, of which Abraham is one, the Levitical priesthood of the age of Israel, and the royal priesthood, which is the body of Christ.
Melchizedek falls under the category of royal priesthood, but he was not in union with Christ. He was not a Jew. There were no Jews at this time. Abraham is still a Gentile, but a family priest as the patriarch of his family. He would not become the first Jew until his circumcision at age 99. This makes Melchizedek a unique type of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the only royal high priest.
The family priesthood and the Levitical priesthood no longer exist. The royal priesthood now exists through union with Christ who was born of the royal tribe of Judah.
Since Melchizedek is a king of Salem, or a king of peace, as well as a priest before God, then as a type of Christ, he reveals to us the peace, tranquility, and prosperity that come from PVTD and the filling of the HS (which Melchizedek did not have).
/[map – wall of fire]\ Abiding in Christ is our wall of fire.
We’ve set up the battle and we continue in:
Gen 14:8And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they arrayed for battle against them in the valley of Siddim,
Gen 14:9against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim and Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar — four kings against five.
Gen 14:10Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country.
The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah are as degenerate as their people and degeneracy makes one stupid. They chose a battlefield in the part of the valley that is filled with tar pits and they cannot maneuver or retreat.
/The believer in apostasy continues to make bad logistical decisions and so increases his weakness rather than his gift of divine strength.\
In apostasy a believer is always making bad spiritual decisions, but he is also developing bad decisions about the details of life that a positive believer is master over and in which God blesses him.
/2 Tim 2:4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. \
In the vein of God’s ways are not man’s ways – when the believer entangles himself in the details of life he ignores God’s mandate to seek first the kingdom of God and he cannot master the details, nor is he blessed in them. But when the believer has doctrine first, mandates first, and submits to the filling of the Spirit, the details end up in God’s hands and thus he does master them and he is blessed in them.
All things do not work out for good for all believers, but for those who love God.
/Rom 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. \
Due to their apostasy, Sodom and Gomorrah lose everything. The winners of the battle, under Chadorlaomer, took the spoil of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and started their trek back to their homeland. They also took Lot and all his possessions along with his wife and two daughters. This made Lot a slave along with his family; the owner of nothing.
Gen 14:11Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed.
Gen 14:12And they also took Lot, Abram's nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom.
Self-centered Lot also loses his freedom and in essence loses his life.
/Luke 14:33 So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. \
That doesn’t necessarily mean to give them all away, but it certainly means to give up their hold of you and any mastery over you that they may have.
/Matt 10:39 "He who has found his life [soul] shall lose it, and he who has lost his life [soul] for My sake shall find it. \
One man escapes and brings word to Abram. Abraham, as he will be known soon enough, will have four great victories in this circumstance and the first one is without the sword.
Gen 14:13Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew [no Jew yet – Hebrew means to cross the river (Euphrates)]. Now he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were allies with Abram.
In this part of the world at this time, if you settled alongside another you would have to make a treaty with them. Abraham was very wealthy and that meant large herds and flocks. So he made a treaty with these two groups and under the treaty, when one goes to battle, the others will join. And also, it is without doubt that Abraham revealed Jehovah to them and therefore it is possible that they are believers.
The self-absorbed Lot has not made such friends that were willing to go to battle on his behalf, but Abraham has. This showcases the benefits to the grace oriented positive believer.
The fugitive knows Lot and Abraham, so he was one who had the choice to go with Lot to Funsville or to stay with Abraham. Maybe he ridiculed Abraham for living where he did, but he’s not ridiculing now.
/Those who ridicule the positive believer from their own prosperity will run to the positive believer for help in the emergency, and the positive believer will forgo the “I told you so.”\
When the chips are down and the pressure is on people always come to the believer who has demonstrated stability and divine power in the time of crisis. Men often laugh at the strong believer, until the emergency. In times of distress people always come to the one who is in doctrine, who has stability, who is moving toward supergrace or is in the supergrace life.
/Stability in time of pressure is always the result of the peace, tranquility, and prosperity of Christ.\
From human viewpoint Abraham can do nothing. The army that has imprisoned Lot is the combined force of 4 kingdoms. There could be 50,000 soldiers. Abraham has a force of less then 1,000. Still the fugitive runs to him because he has nowhere else to go.
We will see that when this conflict first shows up at Abrams door he will have four victories, and the victory on the battlefield was definitely not the toughest.
Gen 14:14And when Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
/Abraham’s first victory is in the mental attitude. He doesn’t gloat over the misfortune of Lot who chose the choicest land.\
I’m confident that Abraham didn’t say to the fugitive, “Well, well, well, looks whose running back for help.”
/None of us are fit for battle if we harbor mental attitude sins, even towards the enemy.\
Abraham isn’t at super-grace yet, but he is on his way. There is no criticizing Lot, no judging, no gloating, no callousness, and only action on behalf of his brother (nephew).
/Gal 6:1 Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. \
/Gal 6:9-10 And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. \
Gen 14:14And when Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
Notice that the men are already trained. Abram believed in universal military training for all the men of fighting age. This is not the whole army, but the ones that belonged to Abraham.
/The believer is not able to take the battle line until he is properly trained. The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful, 2Co 10:4.\
It is quite opposite of man’s ways that we must have peace within ourselves before we take the battle line with the enemy.
/Phil 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\ |