The lesser is blessed by the greater

[Pamelasv]

Hebrews 7:7

'But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.'

This verse comes after the writer mentions that Melchizedek blessed Abraham who had the promises after Abraham gave him a tenth of the choicest spoils. ( Not sure how revelent the last part is pertaining to my question).

So what do you think about this, the lesser being blessed by the greater?  How does that work? 

[Ezra]

19 hours ago, Pamelasv said:

Hebrews 7:7

'But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.'

This verse comes after the writer mentions that Melchizedek blessed Abraham who had the promises after Abraham gave him a tenth of the choicest spoils. ( Not sure how revelent the last part is pertaining to my question).

So what do you think about this, the lesser being blessed by the greater?  How does that work? 

Blessings flow downwards -- from God to men. When Melchizedek blessed Abraham it showed that he was greater than Abraham, even though Abraham is held in the highest regard as the father of nations, as well as the ancestor of all Hebrews.

Melchizedek was in fact a Theophany or Christophany, in that Christ appeared to Abraham and blessed him. And the giving of the tenth of the spoils was in fact an offering of a tithe to God. As you read further in Hebrews, Melchizedek was no ordinary man.

[Pamelasv]

7 hours ago, Ezra said:

Blessings flow downwards -- from God to men. When Melchizedek blessed Abraham it showed that he was greater than Abraham, even though Abraham is held in the highest regard as the father of nations, as well as the ancestor of all Hebrews.

Melchizedek was in fact a Theophany or Christophany, in that Christ appeared to Abraham and blessed him. And the giving of the tenth of the spoils was in fact an offering of a tithe to God. As you read further in Hebrews, Melchizedek was no ordinary man.

If Christ appeared to Abraham in this form, that does not make sense reading further on in Hebrews.  It compares Christ with Melchizedek in ways.  Melchizedek will probably be a mystery until we get to heaven. 

Clearly tho, yes, if this is a heavenly being in the form of man, then he would be able to bless!  But does this mean for people to people on earth?

[Your closest friendnt]

Christ is Jesus and was not born yet. And Jesus was not an angel at any time, before his birth and after his birth. 

And if that was an angel,

I have heard of prophets blessing for a reward, (Balaam), 

But I never heard of an angel blessing for material gain and what an angel would do with the hundreds of horses, and swords, and bows, and clothing, and the captives, 

And Melhisedec was not alon for he brought a fairly large amount of breads, and wines for all the people and the army. 

I could go on, but by now the point has been made. 

The scriptures in Genesis portray Melhicedec as a contemporary and ally of Abraham, he must have been mature in age like Abraham, and like him he was train in the arts of wars. 

Melhicedec was the King of the town of Salem. 

And he was a priest of the Lord God as Anraham was, as a priest he must be also a prophet and the word of  God must come to him. 

He must offer burn offerings to God like Balaam,  they did not have sacrifices like the people had within the Law of Moses.

A priest is like a mediator , and for whom did he mediate?

Melhisedec was one of the Kings of the the souroundimg areas, like the other kings who were together with Abraham or the ones Abraham fought with. We don't know their names of their mothers and fathers the same for Melhisedec. Should we say the same things for them as we say for Melhisedec,  Because we don't know anything about them before or after.

As for Jesus if read the scriptures you can fine Jesus Christ beggining, not only when he appear on the earth born from his mother Mary. But before that we know who he was and what he did as the Lord God of Israel, in that we are not mistaken, we don't say we know his very beginning like we speak of our self the year of so and so, but we can say before this even or after this event.     

[Ezra]

12 hours ago, Pamelasv said:

If Christ appeared to Abraham in this form, that does not make sense reading further on in Hebrews.  It compares Christ with Melchizedek in ways.  Melchizedek will probably be a mystery until we get to heaven. 

It makes perfect sense to read right through the book of Hebrews and see why Christ is our High Priest "after the order of Melchizedek", and why the lesser (Abraham) was blessed by the greater (Christ).  If Melchizedek was an ordinary man, the Holy Spirit would not state (Heb 7:2,3):

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;  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; 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.

If you remove all the punctuation marks (which would not be in the Greek text), this passage goes from “For this Melchisedec... abideth a priest continually”.  He can only abide as a priest continually if He is indeed the Son of God, who was (in His pre-incarnate state) without father, without mother, without descent, HAVING NEITHER BEGINNING OF DAYS, NOR END OF LIFE. In Scripture, there is only one King of righteousness and King of peace -- the King of kings.

[gdemoss]

Col 2:18 ....intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.

The vanity of my human mind is an abyss that leads to the pit of hell.

On the road to Emmaus Jesus met a couple of men who he opened the scriptures up to.  He declared all the things about himself that were sealed away from the sight of the blind about himself.  He openly declared to the Pharisees that the old testament scriptures spoke of him.  The writer of Hebrews appears to be showing us how the fortelling of Christ was hidden in plain sight in the old testament for hundreds of years with no one being the wiser.  It appears that God had Moses write down only the details about Melchisedeck that were necessary to fortell of the coming Christ so that after it was accomplished it could be shown that it was all foretold.

One day the fact that even our day has been foretold about in the scriptures will come to light and God will open the eyes of those whom he will and show them.

Until then their shall be no shortage of people who rise up and declare they know how this all fits together though it all be vain glory in human reasoning from the abyss.

[Pamelasv]

18 hours ago, Ezra said:

It makes perfect sense to read right through the book of Hebrews and see why Christ is our High Priest "after the order of Melchizedek", and why the lesser (Abraham) was blessed by the greater (Christ).  If Melchizedek was an ordinary man, the Holy Spirit would not state (Heb 7:2,3):

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;  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; 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.

 

If you remove all the punctuation marks (which would not be in the Greek text), this passage goes from “For this Melchisedec... abideth a priest continually”.  He can only abide as a priest continually if He is indeed the Son of God, who was (in His pre-incarnate state) without father, without mother, without descent, HAVING NEITHER BEGINNING OF DAYS, NOR END OF LIFE. In Scripture, there is only one King of righteousness and King of peace -- the King of kings.

Well, ok....

[Widor1]

On 11/29/2015, 7:20:12, Pamelasv said:

Hebrews 7:7

'But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.'

This verse comes after the writer mentions that Melchizedek blessed Abraham who had the promises after Abraham gave him a tenth of the choicest spoils. ( Not sure how revelent the last part is pertaining to my question).

So what do you think about this, the lesser being blessed by the greater?  How does that work? 

I agree that Melchizedek will probably be a mystery until we get to heaven. But the lesser being blessed by the greater... seems that God plays this out a lot throughout the bible! Isaac was named by God to be Abraham's heir, even though Ismael was his older son; Jacob received the blessing of Isaac that was meant for Esau, the older son; David was the youngest son of Jesse, who became Israel's king; and so on. Jesus mentions this a lot:

Mar 9:35  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

Mat 19:30  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Mat 20:16  So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."

Mat 20:27  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
Mat 20:28  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Mar 9:35  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

Luk 13:30  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

God is after the heart, not status, age, money, etc. By nature, we are selfish and self absorbed. We are determined to be right in an argument, to be first in line at the grocery store, to have more than everyone else...that is humanity in a fallen creation. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit we are being molded back into the way God designed us, or rather, or hearts are being changed to mirror God's heart. Jesus said the two greatest commandments were to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. We are capable of putting others before ourselves when we put God before all.

Mat_5:3  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat_5:4  Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Mat_5:5  Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Mat_5:6  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Mat_5:7  Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Mat_5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Mat_5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Mat_5:10  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat_5:11  "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Mat_11:6  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."
Mat_13:16  But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;  

When we truly desire to be the lesser, we will be blessed by the One who is the greatest of all.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Widor1

[Pamelasv]

10 hours ago, Widor1 said:

I agree that Melchizedek will probably be a mystery until we get to heaven. But the lesser being blessed by the greater... seems that God plays this out a lot throughout the bible! Isaac was named by God to be Abraham's heir, even though Ismael was his older son; Jacob received the blessing of Isaac that was meant for Esau, the older son; David was the youngest son of Jesse, who became Israel's king; and so on. Jesus mentions this a lot:

Mar 9:35  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

Mat 19:30  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Mat 20:16  So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."

Mat 20:27  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
Mat 20:28  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Mar 9:35  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

Luk 13:30  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

God is after the heart, not status, age, money, etc. By nature, we are selfish and self absorbed. We are determined to be right in an argument, to be first in line at the grocery store, to have more than everyone else...that is humanity in a fallen creation. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit we are being molded back into the way God designed us, or rather, or hearts are being changed to mirror God's heart. Jesus said the two greatest commandments were to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. We are capable of putting others before ourselves when we put God before all.

Mat_5:3  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat_5:4  Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Mat_5:5  Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Mat_5:6  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Mat_5:7  Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Mat_5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Mat_5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Mat_5:10  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat_5:11  "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Mat_11:6  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."
Mat_13:16  But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;  

When we truly desire to be the lesser, we will be blessed by the One who is the greatest of all.

That was a good post about being the least to be the greatest.  I was thinking about that and wondering how that might pertain to the lesser being blessed by the greater, if that pertains also in humans to humans.  Which when you think about, anybody following g God more closely and being humble and meek and servant of all would certainly be a blessing to others.  Those kind of people are always a blessing to us.   It is naturally pleasant to be around godly people, peacemakers.  

I went off a little there but I was originally thinking along the lines of greater people than us maybe being pastors in our church, or elders who have followed Christ at least longer than us.  

But also, the humblest are also more heard by God, so their prayers may be more effective.  

Rambling thoughts...  

 

[Leonardo Von]

On 11/29/2015 at 11:20 AM, Pamelasv said:

Hebrews 7:7

'But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.'

This verse comes after the writer mentions that Melchizedek blessed Abraham who had the promises after Abraham gave him a tenth of the choicest spoils. ( Not sure how revelent the last part is pertaining to my question).

So what do you think about this, the lesser being blessed by the greater?  How does that work? 

Dear sister Pamelasv,

 

Grace and mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

·        “Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: but he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.” (Hebrews 7.4-8)

 

Here, Jesus show Himself to Abraham in person of Melchizedek. That is, Melchizedek was a Jesus’ theophany, that is to say, someone who had the visage of Jesus, but still was not a human being like us. That is, Jesus had shape and characteristics of a human being, but still was not 100% as gave itself when He became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1.14).

What this excerpt is showing is the greatness of Christ. Though He were not priest, not even levite, anyway Abraham saw in Him a dignity such that, even without any obligation (the law was only established by Moses), yet he gave voluntarily the tenth part taken of the best spoils.

And why he had such joy? Because, in this meeting with Jesus, he can admire the day Jesus would give his life for love to us (note on bread and grape juice that Melchizedek brought Abraham – John 8.56; Genesis 14.18).

It is clear that Jesus didn’t need of this spoils. Nevertheless, Jesus (Melchizedek) received the tenth part of all because wanted the fruit of the Spirit of Eternal grew in life of him (see Philippians 4.17). And the fruit grows insofar as we allow the Spirit of Eternal use us to express His love for the neighbor.

Furthermore, not forget that Melchizedek was priest ministering bread and grape juice (also called wine due to the fact that, for there is no refrigerator, soon grape juice began to brew), i.e., He was priest of the alliance that the Eternal would do in Christ.

And repair as, while in the Alliance of the Law the priest offered in hoping to receive the Eternal’s favor, in the Alliance of Eternal’s Favor was He who offered what was necessary to our salvation and holiness. What we need to do is deliver all that we have and we are to the Eternal (not only the tenth part of what we received of the other persons), certain of that His grace supplies us in all areas.

What about the fact that the lesser is blessed by the greater, this shows a mistake that the individuals commit: the one of they want to bless the Eternal (doing something for Him) in order to consider themselves worthy to receive His Favor for us.

Well, the lesser never can bless the greater, nor a blind can guide other one (Matthew 15.14). In other words, we only may be blessed when we are able to receive the good gifts directly from the Eternal (James 1.16,17) and convey them with fidelity (1Peter 4.10,11) to those who are close to us, hoping that they can grow more than us and, thus, have conditions of being used by Jesus to bless us.

May Jesus help us consider the other superiors to ourselves (Philippians 2.3) or, if you prefer, to seek the superiority that there is in each one, and the sovereignty of Christ (Matthew 28.18) so that we can always be blessed by the Eternal through those who He put in our lives.