Hebrews Chapter 7b Will The True Melchizedek Stand Up!

Transcription

1 Pastor Scott Velain Hebrews Chapter 7b Will The True Melchizedek Stand Up! LAST WEEK: We talked about who Melchizedek obviously was not. And according to the author of the book of Hebrews... Melchizedek WAS NOT... Jesus: Heb 7:15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, Heb 7:16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. Heb 7:17 For it is witnessed of him, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." WHAT IS THE AUTHOR OF HEBREWS TALKING ABOUT? Psa 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." This is what the author of the book of Hebrew is talking about. It was an oath sworn by God himself that Yahshua Jesus would be a priest forever... it does not say anywhere in the scripture that he already was a Priest. It says in Hebrews 7:16 and I quote... who has BECOME a Priest... not who already is a Priest or was a Priest... and once again even God himself tells us that Yahshua Jesus would be and I quote... AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK. Heb 7:11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? Once again we're talking about Yahshua Jesus who became a Priest, and once again we see that he became a Priest when? After the order of Melchizedek... and not before. Again Yahshua Jesus is called Another Priest and it is said that he follows After the order of Melchizedek, and that Yahshua Jesus is In the likeness of Melchizedek, and the author of the book of Hebrews is very clear about the fact that Yahshua Jesus is not and I repeat NOT 1

2 Melchizedek. THE POINT OF THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK OF HEBREWS: 1. Jesus is NOT Melchizedek but rather he is in the likeness of Melchizedek, and follows After The Order Of Melchizedek. 2. There are two Priesthoods. One Priesthood is temporarily ordained by the law.. and the other Priesthood is permanently ordained by the oath of God himself. Once again.. one is temporary... and one is permanent and everlasting. 3. Yahshua Jesus is that permanent and everlasting High Priest that is not of the order of Aaron... but rather in the order of Melchizedek NOTICE HEBREWS 7:28: Heb 7:28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. When did the Word of the Oath come? It came (and I quote) Later Than The Law. In other words the Oath that made Yahshua Jesus a High Priest forever came when? It came AFTER the law. When was Melchizedek blessing Abraham?... BEFORE the law. So Yahshua Jesus was not made High Priest until After The Law and once again there fore can not be Melchizedek who was a High Priest Before The Law. SO LETS BE CLEAR: Yahshua Jesus was not Melchizedek according to the scripture. Yahshua Jesus did not become High Priest until AFTER THE LAW and AFTER THE ARONIC PRIESTHOOD.. not before. So if Yahshua Jesus did not even become High Priest until after the law was given to Moses, and after the Priesthood of Aaron... then there is no way that Yahshua Jesus could have been Melchizedek. WHAT WE MUST UNDERSTAND BEFORE MOVING FORWARD: The Bible does not tell us who Melchizedek was specifically. Speculation is acceptable IF it is not in direct opposition to the scriptures. Some things in the scriptures can only be spiritually discerned. We must stand on the scriptures. We must read the whole book if we are ever going to understand. 2

3 WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT MELCHIZEDEK ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE? 1. We know he was a King. 2. We know he was the King of Salem. 3. We know what his name stands for. Heb 7:2 He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 4. We know that he was a High Priest. 5. We know that his Priesthood had nothing to do with the Aaronic Priesthood of Aaron or Moses, or the Levitical Priesthood. 6. We know that according to the author of the book of Hebrews: Heb 7:3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. So lets address number 6. The author of the book of Hebrews says that this King of Salem... that he says is a Melchizedek Priest... is without father or mother or genealogy... and that he has neither beginning of days nor end of life... and he says that this King of Salem resembles... the Son of God... and that he continues as a priest forever. So lets stop and think about this for just a moment. If someone comes to you.. and they say there's a father daughter dance at my daughters school... but she has no father... what would you think? Have you ever heard of a boy with out a father? That's common language even in our time. Now we know that these children are not truly with out a father. That's obvious. You can't be born with out a father. Even Yahshua Jesus had a father. But what I'm trying to convey here is that we often times will say that a child has no father, or has no mother. And when we speak in this way we're speaking figuratively... not as a matter of fact. So here's my question. Who is it that may have seemed to be with out father or mother or genealogy back in Abraham's time? Who is it that may have seemed like they had no beginning of days or end of life? We must ask ourselves who might fit that description? It would have to be a person that outlived everyone around him. It would have to be a person that had some form of nobility.. someone who God knew as a High Priest. What if this someone had lived to be over six hundred years old? Would this man... who lived over six hundred years old fit the description given in Hebrews 7:3? It would seem that he had no father or mother or genealogy would it not? And if he kept on out living everyone around him it would seem as though he had no beginning of days nor end of life would it not? Think about it. What if you met someone just 30 years ago who did not age over 3

4 time? What if they had no father or mother to speak of? What if they knew things from hundreds of years ago that no one else knew? And what if even though this man looked younger than you... outlived not only you... but every one else around him? Let me ask you my friends... was there such a man alive at that time? And was that man alive during the time of Abraham? Think about that for just a moment. So if this High Priest resembles Yahshua Jesus.. and if this High Priest was a High Priest before the law was given to Moses and before Yahshua Jesus was a High Priest.. then we must ask ourselves what Biblical character could possibly fit this description? Who would people think had no father or mother? Who would people think had no beginning of days or end of life? There really is only one other person that fits this description... and that man is Shem the son of Noah. Shem lived to be 600 years old... which means... that Shem would have been 390 years old when Abraham was born. Abraham only lived to be 175 years old. So Shem would have outlived Abraham by 35 years. So as we study our scriptures we can clearly see that Shem was indeed alive when Abraham met this Melchizedek Priest. Some historians even believe that it was Shem and his family that built the pyramids, and although I can find no biblical evidence of that... I also can't find any biblical rebuking of that idea either... so the truth is... we simply don't know. And we have even more evidence that it was indeed Shem the son of Noah who was this Melchizedek Priest... and we'll get into that as we move forward so stay with me. WHAT WAS SO UNIQE ABOUT THIS MELCHIZEDEK PREISTHOOD? DUAL AUTHORITY OF BOTH CHURCH AND STATE: MELCHIZEDEK HELD THE OFFICES OF BOTH CHURCH AND STATE: Gen 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) Melchizedek was both King of a city... so he had civil authority... and he was a High Priest... who had religious authority as well. He held a dual authority unlike any Levitical High Priest. 4

5 CHURCH AND STATE WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE SEPARATED! Separation of church and state where manufactured by men to protect the church from the state...here in the United States... separation of church and state was not meant to protect the state from the church. Separation of church and state was meant to protect the church... from the government. The very reason that governments and kings fall is because they almost all virtually at one point in time or another decide to kick God out of Government. And when they make the decision to kick God out of government... that government surely falls. It's just a matter of time. And by the way... that historical fact applies to both the United States and Great Britain as well. When we begin to kick God out of our schools, and out of our halls of justice and even out of our churches in many cases... it's only a matter of time before these empires will become nothing more than a memory in history. WHAT MAKES THE MELCHIZEDEKIAN PRIESTHOOD DIFFERENT? This Melchizedekian Priesthood is not handed down from Father to son as a birth rite... but rather this Priesthood is passed down by Oath... from one man that God has chosen... to the next man that God has chosen. WHAT IS A MELCHIZEDEK? I would submit to you that Melchizedek is not a name at all... but rather an office. Psa 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Melchizedek is an order...not a name. Melchizedek is the order of High Priests that were designated personally by God to be High Priests, and Yahshua Jesus was after that order of High Priests which lead up to him. I would submit to you that the Priesthood of Melchizedek pre-dated the King of Salem. The Levitical Priesthood that was created through the law of God was instituted by God to show man how things were going to be in the future. The Levitical Priesthood was a type and shadow of the Melchizedek Priesthood that would end with our Messiah at the helm. 5

6 The Levitical Priesthood showed man what sin was, and why it was forbidden. It pointed to the coming Messiah. The Levitical High Priest was nothing more than a representation of Yahshua Jesus who would be our heavenly High Priest... not in the order of Aaron, or the Levitical Priesthood... but in the order of a higher Priesthood... the Priesthood of the order of Melchizedek. I want us to understand that Yahshua Jesus was not a Levite... nor was he in the blood line of Aaron. So according to Levitical law... Yahshua Jesus could not be a High Priest. At least not with in the confines of the Aaronic law put forth by Moses. Yahshua Jesus was a Jew who came from the house of David and the tribe of Judah and therefore could not have been a High Priest according to the law. And yet... our Messiah is the only mediator between man and God. 1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 1Ti 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Yahshua Jesus is that High Priest in the order of Melchizedek who tore the thick veil between the alter and the holy of hollies in two... so that we also could become Priests.. through our Messiah... and so we too... can now come before God ourselves and make our petitions. But we can only come before the father in the name of the Messiah. 1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. NOAH THE 8TH PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: I believe... that Adam had held the office of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and that Priesthood was handed down from Adam to Noah. The Hebrew Bible: 2Pe 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah the eighth, a herald of righteousness, bringing a flood on a world of wicked ones; Note: Some Bibles may say with 7 others or with 7 other people but the original text makes no mention of 7 other people, and even if it did... Noah would have been the Patriarch... so he would have been the first... not the 8 th. 6

7 We find in 2nd Peter that Noah was the eighth person.. a preacher of righteousness... WHAT DOES THAT MEAN... EIGHTH PERSON? So the question then becomes who were the other 7 preachers of righteousness... if Noah was the 8th preacher of righteousness? Noah was not the 8th generation of man... Noah was the tenth... generation of man. So what then does 2nd Peter 2:5 mean when it says that Noah was the 8th preacher of righteousness? I believe what 2nd Peter 2:5 is telling us is that Noah was the 8th... in the order of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Lets think about this for just a moment. Adam was the first. He lived for 930 years... Seth was the next in the succession. When Seth died Enosh would have been the third. When Enosh died Canaan would have been the 4th. When Canaan died Mahalaleel would have been the 5th. When Mahalaleel died Jared would have been the 6th. When Jared died Methuselah took his place because Enoch was taken away by God... so Methuselah would have been the 7th Melchizedek Priest, and when Methuselah died Noah... would have been the 8th Melchizedek Priest... the preacher of righteousness. Noah took the roll of the order of the Melchizedek Priesthood because Lamech had already died. Noah was 8th in the line of succession of the order of the Melchizedek Priesthood. A Priesthood that began with the first man Adam.. 7

8 So who would have been after Noah who was the 8th in the order of Melchizedek Priesthood? Who would have been alive when Abraham rescued Lot? Who was the Melchizedek Priest then? Noah's son Shem. I want us to understand that according to historical literature... and the book of Jasher which is mentioned three times in scripture...both say... that Shem was the Melchizedek Priest that met with Abraham. And the book of Jasher my friends can be found in the 1611 King James Version of the Bible. They took it out of the King James Version because the Protestant churches didn't like the fact that the Catholic church included the Apocrypha in their cannon. 8

9 THE FAMILY FUED! Now... if you think that's stunning... you need to fasten your seat belts because we've only just begun to understand what's gong on here. Lets turn back to Genesis 14:17-20 Gen 14:17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). Gen 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) Gen 14:19 And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; Gen 14:20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Now... why do you suppose that out of the four kings that Abraham just slaughtered in order to rescue his Nephew Lot... Chedorlaomer... was the only king mentioned in verse 17? Chedorlaomer my friends was a descendant of Shem. Chederlaomer was the king of Elam (Genesis chapter 14 verse 1). And Elam was the son of Shem.. (Genesis chapter 10 verse 22). And Abraham was also one of Shems descendants through Ahfexsad. So Abraham... a descendant of Shem had just slaughtered Chederlaomar another descendant of Shem... and of course the Melchizedek Priest (who is at that time Shem)... comes to meet Abraham and Abraham tries to make peace with him by giving him a tenth of everything and the Shem who is the Melchizedek Priest at that time offers Abraham bread and wine to make peace with him... this is a family feud my friends that we're seeing unfold here before our very 9

10 eyes. And this is why Shem the Melchizedek Priest comes out to meet Abraham on his way back from the battle. This is a type and shadow of what will take place very soon my friends. Yahshua Hamashiach... Jesus the Messiah who is now our High Priest in the order of Melchizedek... is going to come and bring peace to a family feud after a great war.. between kingdoms and nations my friends. And I want us to also notice that the name Shem in Hebrew means Name... Hashem... the name... so once again we see this all tie into the plan of God. I also want us to turn to Psalms chapter 2... Psalms chapter 2 is also quoted in Hebrews chapter one and again in chapter 5, and this is a run down of what just took place in the battle of Abraham and these four kings... one of which was a descendant of Shem: Psa 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? Psa 2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, Psa 2:3 "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." Psa 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Psa 2:5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, Psa 2:6 "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." Psa 2:7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Psa 2:8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. Psa 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Psa 2:10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Psa 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Psa 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Gen 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. The Melchizedek Priesthood was always ordained by God.. not by blood line or by birth rite, and so we see this Priesthood being passed down to men like Samuel and David who was after 10

11 Gods own heart. We must remember once again how God selected David to be the next king of Israel after Saul. Lets turn to 1st Samuel 16:1-13: 1Sa 16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." 1Sa 16:2 And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' 1Sa 16:3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you." 1Sa 16:4 Samuel did what the LORD commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, "Do you come peaceably?" 1Sa 16:5 And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 1Sa 16:6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before him." 1Sa 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." 1Sa 16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." 1Sa 16:9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." 1Sa 16:10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these." 1Sa 16:11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here." 1Sa 16:12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he." 1Sa 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. As we can clearly see David was given that duel authority over both church and state, over civil and religious matters, and was chosen and ordained by God personally. Notice what David says in Psalms 110: 11

12 Psa 110:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." Psa 110:2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Psa 110:3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. Psa 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Now why does David mention this in the Psalms? Think about it for just a moment. David sinned against God. David lied... he was an adulterer... he was a murderer... and he did all of these things while he was king! And yet he was not executed for doing such things. Now most modern day Pastors will simply tell us that this was the magnificent grace of God upon David and it was because David wept, or because David was genuinely remorseful, or because David knew how to cry out to God... and this may have much to do with why God did not kill David... but I would contend... that the reason that David could do these things without the required penalty.. is because God had bestowed upon him the duel authority of the Melchizedekian Priesthood. God had chosen David directly to be the one to lead his people and to be... the King of Israel. We must remember that David intruded into the office of the Priest... and yet God did not slay him. David ate the Tabernacle Show Bread. 1Sa 21:6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. Now if David was king only... and not of the Melchizedekian Priesthood... then David would have had no right to the show bread. Remember... David was not a Levite, and there fore not qualified to be a Priest according to the order of men. So the only way that David could have eaten the Show bread was if he indeed were a Melchizedek Priest. We also see David doing other Priestly duties like appointing Levites to be Priests and David also wore a linen ephud that only the High Priests were to wear. David also blessed the people... this was another job for the Levitical Priesthood... and God never disciplined David for doing any of the Priestly things that he did, and we have to ask ourselves why. The only logical explanation is that David himself was indeed part of the Melchizedek Priesthood. He was chosen by God to be a Melchizedek High Priest. Davids Priesthood far exceeded that of the Aaronic Levitical Priesthood. God had chosen David just as he had chosen the other Melchizedek Priests. The Melchizedek Priesthood was a Priesthood that began with 12

13 Adam and ended with Yahshua Hamashiach (Jesus the Messiah). The Levitical Priesthood was a shadow of the Melchizedek Priesthood, given through the law and that's what the author of the book of Hebrews is trying to tell us in Hebrews chapter 7. Lets turn back to Hebrews chapter 7 verses 9 through 11: Heb 7:9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, Heb 7:10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. Heb 7:11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? So what the author of the book of Hebrews is trying to convey to us is that perfection was not attainable through the Levitical priesthood. Perfection was only attainable through the Melchizedek Priesthood that was God ordained by God himself. JESUS CAME FROM THE HOUSE OF DAVID WHO WAS A MELCHIZEDEK PRIEST Luk 1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, Luk 1:27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. Luk 1:28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" Luk 1:29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. Luk 1:30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Luk 1:31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Luk 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, Luk 1:33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." CONFERMATION OF THE MELCHIZEDEK ORDER: Heb 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, Heb 6:14 saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." Heb 6:15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 13

14 Heb 6:16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. Heb 6:17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, Heb 6:18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. Heb 6:19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, Heb 6:20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So between verses 13 through 20 God swears by two things. The Abrahamic covenant... and the Melchizedek Priesthood... that would last forever. In closing I want us to also understand the definition of Righteousness according to the Bible. After all we've been talking about the Melchizedek... and Melchizedek means King of Righteousness. Melech means king... and zedek means righteousness. So what is Righteousness according to the Bible? Lets read 1st John 28 and 29: 1Jn 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 1Jn 2:29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. So in other words just as it is written in 1st John 2:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.. Yahshua Jesus said and I quote If you love me... keep my commandments. And what commandments are those? His Fathers commandments... Yahashua did not come to re-write his own commandments... he tells us very clearly in Joh 7:16 he says "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. Joh 7:17 If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. Joh 7:18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Yahshua came not to preach his own commandments, and his own holidays, and his own birthday, and his own Sabbaths, and his own appointments... he came to preach his Fathers commandments, feast days, Sabbaths and his fathers moedim... not his own. Righteousness... is understanding the biblical definition of the love of God: 1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 14

15 1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. The Melchizedek Priest... the King of Righteousness... Yahshua Hamashiach who is our High Priest... not in the order of Aaron... but in the higher order of Melchizedek... came to preach his Fathers word and his Fathers word, and what he says... is... Righteousness. 1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 15