Scripture Reading: Gen. 14:1-24; Heb. 7:1-4, 25-26; 8:2
Ⅰ
In order to become the Israel of God for His corporate expression, we need to see that the church is a corporate thornbush burning with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the resurrecting Triune God—Gal. 6:16; Rom. 2:28-29; Phil. 3:3; Exo. 3:2-6, 14-15; Matt. 22:31-32:
A
Everyone who is called of God must realize that he is just a thornbush (a redeemed sinner who was under God's curse) with a fire burning within him, and this fire is the Triune God Himself, the great I Am, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—Gen. 3:17-19; John 8:58; Luke 12:49-50; Rev. 4:5; 5:6; 1:14; Rom. 12:11.
B
Because of God's redemption, the excluding flame of Genesis 3 has become the visiting and indwelling flame of Exodus 3, installed in the believers for the glory of the holy God in the church as God's dwelling place—Gen. 3:24; Gal. 3:13-14, 21; 2 Tim. 1:6-7; 1 Tim. 3:15; cf. Deut. 33:16; Num. 9:15-16; Lev. 6:12-13.
Ⅱ
In order to live a life by faith for the building up of the church as the household of the faith, we need to know the God of Abraham, to "walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham"—Rom. 4:12; Gal. 5:25; 6:10.
Ⅲ
To live by faith, as Abraham did, is to cooperate with Christ in His heavenly ministry, not only by living a life of the altar and the tent but also by fighting for the brother—Gen. 12:7-8; 14:1-24:
A
Lot made the mistake of separating himself from Abraham and moving his tent as far as Sodom (13:5-12); "now the men of Sodom were very wicked and sinful toward Jehovah" (v. 13):
１
To leave Abraham was to leave God's goal and God's protection—cf. Phil. 3:17; 1 Cor. 4:16-17; Heb. 13:7.
２
We need to join ourselves to and follow the proper persons in God's economy so that we may be kept in the line of life and the flow of the Lord's move—1 Cor. 15:33; Prov. 13:20; 2 Tim. 1:15-18; 2:22.
B
Because the land around Sodom was rich, Lot journeyed toward Sodom; eventually, he moved into the city, lived there, and settled there; under God's sovereignty Sodom was conquered and Lot was taken captive—Gen. 14:12; cf. Jer. 2:13; 1 Cor. 1:9.
C
Abraham did not count the weak point of his brother and did not take pleasure in Lot's suffering and calamity; as far as Abraham was concerned, it was a shame for him to see that his brother had been captured—1 John 5:16a; Isa. 58:6-7; Prov. 10:12; James 5:19-20.
D
When Abraham received the information about Lot's capture, he made a strong decision to fight for Lot; also before he went out to war, he prayed, lifting up his hand to Jehovah, God the Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth—Gen. 14:14, 22; 1 Tim. 2:8.
E
Abraham decided to take his three hundred eighteen men and fight against the four kings and their armies due to the fact that behind the scene, Melchisedec was interceding for Lot, Abraham, and Abraham's fighting—Gen. 14:18-20; Heb. 7:1-4, 25-26; 4:14-16; Rom. 8:26-29, 34:
１
To know the God of Abraham is to know Christ in His heavenly ministry as our kingly High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec—Heb. 5:6, 10:
ａ
In His earthly ministry Christ was a High Priest according to the order of Aaron for the putting away of sin (John 1:29; Heb. 9:26); in His heavenly ministry Christ was designated a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec to minister to us the processed God for our overcoming of sin (Gen. 14:18-20; Heb. 8:2; cf. Zech. 6:13).
ｂ
To know Christ as the High Priest in His kingship as the King of righteousness and the King of Salem (peace) is to be under His headship and lordship, allowing Him as the life-giving Spirit to rule within for us to become the New Jerusalem, where both righteousness and peace reign—Heb. 7:1-3; Isa. 9:6; 32:1, 17; 2 Pet. 3:13; Eph. 1:10.
ｃ
To know Christ in His priesthood is to contact Him so that we may be saturated, soaked, and mingled with Him by entering into His praying for us, taking care of our case before God, and ministering to us the processed God as the bread and the wine—Matt. 26:26-28.
２
The apostolic ministry in cooperation with Christ's heavenly ministry "fights for the brother" by interceding for the saints according to God and His economy and by ministering the processed God into the saints for their overcoming supply and enjoyment—Heb. 7:25; 8:2; Luke 22:31-32; John 21:15-17; Acts 6:4; Rev. 1:12-13; cf. Exo. 28:9-12, 15-21, 29-30.
３
The way to enjoy Christ in His heavenly ministry as the kingly High Priest is revealed in Psalm 110:3—"Your people will offer themselves willingly / In the day of Your warfare, / In the splendor of their consecration. / Your young men will be to You / Like the dew from the womb of the dawn."
F
The manifestation of our enjoyment of Christ in His heavenly ministry is seen in the way we handle our material possessions:
１
For the Lord's move on earth, we need to follow the pattern of Abraham by honoring our ascended Lord with our earthly substance; "and Abram gave him a tenth of all"—Gen. 14:20; Heb. 7:2, 4; cf. Mal. 3:8-10; Luke 6:38.
２
For the Lord's move on earth, we need to overcome the temptation of earthly substance by enjoying the riches of the processed Triune God— Gen. 14:21-24; cf. 2 Kings 5:15-27; 3 John 7-8.