Abraham the Priest and Prophet pt.1

Messages for October 2017: Our Month of THE BLESSING

Message for Sunday 22^nd October, 2017

Theme: Walking in the Footsteps of Abraham

Topic: Abraham the Priest and Prophet pt.1

Introduction: Our desire this month has been to know the secrets of Abraham that made him so thick and emulate him to the glory of God. Today, we shall be looking at the life of Abraham as a priest and a prophet even at a time when there were no institutional worship centers and ministerial body ordaining people into ministry. Abraham was recognized at that time by God as a prophet. His priestly ministry can best be described by his habits and what he did claiming obedience to God.

Abraham the Priest: Who is a priest? A priest is defined by the Farlex Dictionary of the English language as one who officiates at the altar or performs the rites of sacrifice. This person acts as a mediator between men and the divinity or the gods in any form of religion. In our case here; the person who mediates between men and the one true God of the universe.

The question is how does this describe Abraham? First we must establish that as at the time of Abraham, man was already cursed and under sin with the death penalty when the ancestral parents of the human race sinned against God in Gen.3. See Gen.2:16-17.

At this time, Abraham was really seeking the true God. He had come to terms with the truth that neither the Sun, Moon nor Stars nor any kind of creature which people worshipped during his time qualified to answer the name: “God.” So he decided to pray and find out for himself who the real God was. When he eventually got a response from God because God spoke to him giving him directions for his life which he promptly followed, he was in no doubt that he had found the true God. In leading him, God taught him to raise altars to him so that anywhere he went, he kept raising altars to God. In Genesis 15, God details to him an altar he was to raise to him and what sacrifices he was to make on it. In response to Abraham’s obedience, God came down on the alter and released his blessing there which transcended time into eternity and affected all the lineage of Abraham forever provided they served the Lord as Abraham did. Let us see some examples of his priestly habits.

1.     In Gen.12:7, we see where the Lord eventually told him where he was sending him because at the beginning, he was just told to go to an undisclosed location. Here God confirms the location and promised to give it to him and his seed. Here, he built an altar to the Lord who appeared to him. When he did that, he was exercising as a priest of God.

2.     In Gen.12:8, he relocated to another part of the land and built another altar there. It is noteworthy that here we are told that he built another altar where he called on the name of the Lord. Thus altars were the ground where he connected with heaven from earth.  

3.     In Gen.13:4, after his brief sojourn in Egypt, Abraham returned to Bethel where he had previously built an altar and called on the name of the Lord there again.

4.     In Gen.13:18, Abraham relocated again and came to Mamre which was in Hebron and built an altar there to the Lord. From here it is evident that it was the habit of Abraham to keep raising altars wherever he dwelt in the Promised Land. He never raised an altar in Egypt and God did not permit him to go back to Egypt. The next time his descendants went to Egypt, they were to eventually become enslaved there. See Gen.15:13.

5.     In Gen.14:18-20, he came in contact with Melchizedek king of Salem also known as the priest of the Most High God. He was obviously a higher priest than Abraham because the bible says the less is blessed of the greater. So he blessed Abraham and declared him to be the possessor of heaven and earth. By that blessing, Abraham became the custodian of the wealth of the world and an agent of God from heaven that is why he was possessor of heaven and earth. Thus the relevance of Abraham is recognized by heaven within time and for all eternity. See Heb.7:1-28 noting verses 4-8; 19; 21-22 & 26-28. See also, Heb.5:6 and Ps.110:1, 4 with Acts 2:22-36.

6.     In Gen.15, we see an account of where God instructed Abraham to build an altar to Him. Here, God gave him a list of the items to be sacrificed and how he was to prepare the sacrifice. Abraham did as he was told and God came down on the altar and covenanted with Abraham and blessed him and his offspring.  This was the usual practice. It was during the dispensation of Moses that we were told the details of the altar and what the sacrifices on the altar meant. Sadly, everything God did, Satan tries to copy with the intent to deceive man and abuse it so that instead of the blessing any man who does anything similar with the devil comes under a curse. This is because when the devil comes on demonic altars, he brings a curse with him and the result is that it would enable him to legally fulfill his mission to steal, kill and destroy. See Jn.10:10 and 1Cor.10:16, 20-21.

7.     As a priest, Abraham received instructions from God on behalf of his people and he immediately implemented them. For instance, God gave him the circumcision instruction in Gen.17 and he promptly obeyed. Today, it is still being practiced in the nation of Israel which is the offspring of the descendants of the seed of Abraham who inherited the blessing. See vs.9-14 & 26-27.

8.     As a priest Abraham was able to intercede for Sodom and Gomorrah in an attempt to prevent the Lord from destroying the land because of their sin. Unfortunately, the land was more corrupt than Abraham had anticipated therefore his request did not match the verdict so the land was judged and became extinct. See Gen.18:23-33; Isa.1:9; Mt.11:23.

We shall draw the curtain on this message here today for want of time and space. We shall continue next week with the part two of this topic by looking at Abraham the prophet.

Meanwhile looking at the priesthood of Abraham would have shown us that Abraham left us a good example in the sense that anywhere he went he ensured he raised an altar to the Lord there. This brought God’s presence to the place and his blessing was also released there. The blessing of Abraham is still speaking today. Someone reading this would like to have this kind of quality walk with God; if that person is you, you can start right away by receiving Jesus Christ into your life as your Saviour and Lord. If you want this, you can say the following prayer out loud in faith and the Holy Spirit will take you up from there at once:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

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