And consider the timing of when Abraham met that original Melchizedek, for it was in the very chapter preceding the very covenant (of the previously made Promise in Genesis 12:2,7) Promise which God made with Abraham! To wit, it is in Genesis 15, the chapter after Abraham met Melchizedek, wherein God's covenant repeating the Promise is made with Abraham. For God brought Abraham "forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, SO SHALL THY SEED BE.
"And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
"And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees ((O Zerubbabel, know you not that that is Babylon? And know you not that Abraham had obeyed God's call in Genesis 12:1-2 to leave Babylon, thereby demonstrating his faith in God?)), to give thee" the promised land. (Genesis 15:5-7.) And so the covenant was made!
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seedS, as of many; but as of one ((single seed)), And to thy SEED, which is Christ." (Galatians 3:16.)
Yes, "Christ hath redeemed us... That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Galatians 3:13[a],14.)
For "the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe ...that we might be justified ((that is, rendered innocent)) by faith." (Galatians 3:22,24b.) Indeed, the "righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: as it is written ((in Habakkuk 2:4)), the just shall live ((that is, shall have life)) by faith." (Romans 1:17.) "For by grace are ye saved through faith". (Ephesians 2:8a.)
Indeed, unto all who be Christ's, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ...And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's SEED, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:26,29.) Alleluia! Hallelujah!
© October 4, 1997, The Standard Bearer
P.O. Box 765, O.O.B., ME 04064
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