I.　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; ch. 14; Rom. 4:12:

A.　Lot made the mistake of separating himself from Abraham and moving his tent as far as Sodom (Gen. 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. Phil 3:17 Be imitators together of me, brothers, and observe those who thus walk even as you have us as a pattern.

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.

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 Melchizedek (meaning "king of righteousness"), king of Salem (meaning "peace"), 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.

II.　After Abraham's victory "Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine. Now he was priest of God the Most High"—Gen. 14:18: Gen 14:18 And Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine. Now he was priest of God the Most High.

A.　Melchizedek is a type of Christ as the kingly High Priest; after Abraham gained the victory, Melchizedek appeared—Heb. 5:6, 10; 7:1-3.

B.　Before his appearing, Melchizedek, a priest of God, must have been interceding for Abraham; it must have been through his intercession that Abraham was able to slaughter the four kings and gain the victory— cf. Exo. 17:8-13.

C.　Today Christ, our High Priest, is interceding for us in a hidden way (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25) that we may be His overcomers to defeat God's enemies, so that through our victory Christ can be manifested openly in His second coming (cf. Matt. 26:29):

1.　We all need to echo the Lord's intercession; if we turn to our spirit and contact Him, there will always be some echoing— cf. Psa. 27:8.

2.　If we go according to that echoing, forgetting our environment, enemies, and even ourselves, we shall gain the victory and "slaughter the kings" (such as the self, the natural mind, the wild emotion, the stubborn will, and other enemies).

3.　At the end of our slaughter of all the kings, our Melchizedek will appear to us; that will be the second coming of Christ; then all the earth will realize that God is the Possessor of heaven and earth.

D.　The priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is mentioned in the Scriptures (Gen. 14:18) before the priesthood of Aaron (Exo. 28:1); the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is higher than the Aaronic priesthood—Heb. 7:

1.　In His earthly ministry Christ was a High Priest according to the order of Aaron for the putting away of sin—9:14, 26.

2.　Then, in His heavenly ministry Christ was designated a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (5:6, 10) for the overcoming of sin, not to offer sacrifices for sin but to minister to us the very God who was processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, signified by the bread and the wine (Matt. 26:26- 28), as our life supply that we may be saved to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25).

3.　To know Christ as the High Priest in His kingship as the King of righteousness and the King of Salem is to be under His headship and lordship, allowing Him as the lifegiving Spirit to rule within us for us to become the New Jerusalem, where both righteousness and peace reign—vv. 1-3; Isa. 9:6; 32:1, 17; 2 Pet. 3:13; Eph. 1:10.

4.　To know Christ in His heavenly priesthood is to contact Him so that we may be saturated, soaked, and mingled with Him by entering into His praying for us, His taking care of our case before God, and His ministering to us the processed God as the bread and the wine —Matt. 26:26-28.

III.　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.

IV.　The way to enjoy Christ in His heavenly ministry as the kingly High Priest (Psa. 110:4) 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":

A.　In the eyes of the Lord our willing consecration, our offering ourselves to Him, is a matter of splendor; although the church has become degraded, throughout the centuries there has been a line of those who have offered themselves willingly to the Lord in the splendor, the beauty, of their consecration.

B.　The word splendor may also be translated "adornment"; the splendor of consecration is an adornment; if we offer ourselves willingly to the Lord, we will be beautified with a divine, heavenly splendor.

C.　According to the poetry here, the dew with which Christ is watered comes from "the womb of the dawn":

1.　We need to enter into this womb to be conceived as the dew with which to water Christ; this involves our morning watch.

2.　If we do not rise up early in the morning to contact the Lord, we will miss the opportunity to enter into the womb of the dawn to be made dew for Christ's watering.

3.　May we respond to Him by saying, "Lord Jesus, I want to be the dew conceived and produced by the womb of the dawn for You to be watered."

V.　After Abraham's victory Melchizedek "blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of God the Most High, / Possessor of heaven and earth; / And blessed be God the Most High, / Who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave him a tenth of all…Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, God the Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, lest you say, I have made Abram rich"—Gen. 14:19-20, 22-23:

A.　Because Abraham, an overcomer, had gained the victory over God's enemies and was standing with God on the earth, God could be referred to not only as the God of heaven (2 Chron. 36:23; Neh. 1:5; 2:4, 20) but also as the Possessor of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:19, 22).

B.　Abraham overcame the temptation of earthly substance, displaying his purity in this matter; 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 —v. 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.