The Blessing of the Father’s Cup (ANAM)

Text: Genesis 12:1-2

God wants to make us a blessing. We have already been blessed in a measure because we have been made to wear the nature of the seed of Abraham. The new birth does not equate to being Abraham’s seed, it only begins the process of becoming Abraham’s seed.

The Galatian church had already attained the nature of Christ to a measure, not just in their recreated human spirit but also in their souls (Gal. 3:29). Despite that they were a church of Christ, they could still be removed from Christ to give themselves to the beggarly elements of the law (Gal. 3:1-3). Paul had travailed before for Christ to be formed in them (Gal 4:19), but what had been formed in them was murdered.

One temptation that often besets those who have become Christs is the temptation to be men pleasers. Those who want to please Christ can not please men also (Gal. 1:10).

It takes a man who has become Christ to be called Abraham’s seed and to be an heir according to the promise of eternal life (Gal. 3:29). God gave the seed of promise to Abraham and this seed is Christ. Christ must have been preached to believers and received for them to become Abraham’s seed. Likewise, it is only those whose spirits have been recreated as Christ that can hear the preaching of Christ.

One must be in the Kingdom of Christ to be able to proceed into the Kingdom of God and receive the blessing. The blessing of Christ is what prepares us for the blessing. We can not take of the Father’s cup except we have first served Christ to the point of becoming servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:18). Preaching Christ to men sets them free from sin and sets them on the path of the service of God. THe Father’s new cup is a cup of service.

Jesus already attained the age of Christ while He was still in the house of His father, Joseph. This age that He attained was the stature of priesthood. John went through a similar process of being raised as a priest. He was a greater priest than Aaron and did not need to present himself in the tabernacle.

The blood of Christ is regarded as the water of the covenant even though it is also the blood of redemption. Jesus had already become a father but still needed to finalize the Father’s cup and finish the last work. To Jesus, the cross was His own cup. The cross was a very high altar because the One who was hanged on that cross had the stature of a father. 

It takes the Father’s cup to take away the first covenant that God made with the Old Testament fathers. The Jesus who died on the cross was not only Christ but was also a being with an everlasting life. The man who was hanged on the cross was an embodiment of many lambs.

The sacrifice of Jesus as a scapegoat was lifted up for all to see (John 3:14-15). We are expected to have life as we believe upon Him until we break through into eternal life. The cross upon which Jesus was offered is very close to the throne and was the gate for Jesus to the throne. He was a Being of everlasting life who was afterwards perfected on the third day and made to receive the full reward of sitting on the right hand of God.

The energy that recreates the human spirit and makes him Christ is a product of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. This work of resurrection from the dead is what we receive as the forgiveness of sins in our souls even though our spirits already received it the day we first believed (Col. 1:14). 

What God crafted in the Man Jesus is a wondrous work. Before going to the cross, Jesus had already been raised so much that He had the ability to raise the dead, cast out devils and heal sicknesses. He was a blessing while He was alive, in death and even at resurrection. 

God blessed Abraham and made him a blessing (Gen. 12:2-3). Those who are blessed in this manner cannot be cursed. To be this kind of blessing, Abraham’s name had to be made great. According to God’s standard, to be a great nation is to learn the name called “father”.

Adam was more than a father. He was created with a reward and meant to go ahead to learn a higher inheritance for the purpose of receiving a higher reward. He was made as a god over the earth in a similar manner as angels. However, the second man, Jesus, was not made this way. Instead, He had to grow into His own inheritance.

The fathers that God had to deal with were not born with inheritances. Instead, the Lord had to deal with and make them fit for the covenant. The covenant by which God dealt with those fathers is the covenant of the Almighty. 

The covenant God made with Abraham changed his name from being an exalted father to being a father of many. It is possible for one to be exalted without bearing fruit. Abraham joined the king of Sodom and of Gomorrah to wage war against some other kings of nations in those days (Gen. 14:8-9). These Kings that he waged war against must have been fathers also.

We should be cautious of men who carry the spirit of sodomy and not admire them no matter how bright they may appear to be. Lot’s presence in the land of Sodom was what attracted Abraham, his kin, to the war that was going to erode the land. Abraham went to war in order to protect Lot (Gen. 14:16).

It was at his return from the battle that Abraham met Melchizedek who brought forth bread and wine and blessed him. It was after this encounter that Abraham’s name was changed. The cup that Melchizedec served must have been higher than the cup of remission of sins.

The New Testament is contained in the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20). The new testament is only a portion of the things that are available in the blood of Jesus. The disciples were only taking a portion of Jesus’ blood which was shed for the purpose of remission of sins. This portion is the cup that was measured out. No one can fully participate in the New Testament without the cup.

The Spirit is behind both the bread and the cup. He teaches all things and also guides us into them. The cup is what enforces the blessing that is produced by the teaching of the bread. One can have properties of inheritance by the teaching of the bread, but he/she does not fully inherit it until the cup is drunk. Drinking the cup is receiving and becoming the blessing.

Inside the cup is the dynamic of the leading of the Spirit through the path of suffering to make us inherit the blessing. The Kingdom is in the Holy Ghost. A man who has seen the Kingdom in the Holy Ghost may not yet have entered it. It takes the Holy Ghost to measure out the cup for entrance into the Kingdom. We have to agree with the Holy Ghost pattern around the cup. The Holy Ghost will continue to work in us and turn us for the purpose of taking out things that are contrary to the dictates of the cup.

What Abraham received from Melchizedek was actually a blessing that was imparted by bread and wine (Gen. 14:18-19). There was a blessing attached to the bread and wine which Melchizedek brought forth. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek (Gen. 14:20). Definitely, Jesus, who came in a similar pattern, must have payed tithes also.

Of all the twelve tribes that were in Abraham’s loins, the tribe of Levi was more responsive to the Melchizedek priesthood (Heb. 7:5). What God receives as tithes are men (Heb. 7:8). Jesus demands that men produce priests and high priests as tithes to God for the earth. Therefore, the church should be able to produce men who would be able to do all of His will.

We should be willing to part with our goods as tithes to the Lord but that should not be the end of our giving. We start with parting with our goods till we arrive at the point where we can give up ourselves. In the early church, men gave up all their possessions according to grace.

The tithe Abraham gave to Melchizedec was according to what Melchiziedek gave. What Melchizedek brought forth was higher than the cup of remission of sins. Jesus has entered in for our sakes so that He can lead the church into the next level as a high priest like Melchizedek. What Melchizedek served Abraham was a cup that fathers partake of. Similarly, what Jesus is going to serve in His high priestly capacity is the cup of fathers.

What resides in the Father’s cup is a blessing. This blessing is what the high priest has come to offer (Heb. 8:3). The offering that the high priest has come to give is a blessing of bread and wine. The blessing originates from the realm where He is proceeding from. That realm is a place where ordinary men can not access. This is why the high priest has come to offer gifts from that realm beyond the reach of death. Whoever drinks of that cup shall never die.

While the remission of sins is a great blessing, to become a father is a higher blessing. God wants to bring us to a place where we shall be a blessing. Those who bless such men shall be blessed. Every man on earth is wretched because they are unable to locate the blessed path and, consequently, remain as flesh. The devil placed a limitation on man to keep him miserable. However, God has come to eradicate perishing so that men can live in a lasting manner (John 3:16). Only God can help man to break free from the misery that the enemy has put him in.

Man was set on his former course by a consistent and an uninterrupted preaching of the adversary. It will take long stretches of impactful preachings to change the course of men. Paul was a brutal preacher who was mindful about changing the course of men. Paul had to be bound in chains for him to be used for that purpose.

The work that the enemy wrought in men can expire even angelic strength. Gratefully, God has made an oath to engage His own everlasting strength to restore man (Luke 1:73).

Abraham’s seed, whom God intends to bless, is Christ (Gen. 17:7). Without entering the promise land, God will not be able to fulfill the promise of being God over the seed (Gen. 14:8). The reason Melchizedek showed up was for this purpose.

It will take fathers to receive God. God is the God of the living; that is, He is the living God (Matt. 22:32). The living God is also the everlasting Father. He has to first cause us to live before He can bless us. This life is a faith in the holiest that is going to cause us to live in God’s sight until we abide. There is a manner by which men live in God’s sight.

There is a way God lives; there is a dimension of life in the realm of God. The good of God is manifest by Him causing us to live. It is afterwards that we can move into the abiding portion. An abiding son is the one who can go on to receive the reward. Receiving the reward is having God. 

Abraham lived in God until he found an abode in God wherein he started abiding. It was through Melchizedek that Abraham was given the living life. Isaac was product of Abraham’s utilization of the living word. 

Abraham walked with God by the living word. Certain other fathers also walked with God until they found an abiding place. Enoch walked with God until he was no more. Noah also walked with God and built an ark which saved eight souls. It was this walk with God that made him find a place of abode upon Mt. Ararat so that he could abide as a husbandman afterwards.

The abiding realm is enforced by the word of oath. It is the word of oath that brings an end to all strife. Beersheba, the well of the oath, was what put an end to strife in Abraham, who swore an oath by that well. 

It was afterwards that Abraham approached the final lap of his journey in God where he had to sacrifice his son so that God would swear back to Abraham in return. After God swore an oath back to Abraham and declared that He was Abraham’s God. One cannot abide as a priest continually without the word of oath. The word of God has both living and abiding features (1Pet. 1:23). If a man cannot abide, God cannot be his God.

There is one God. What makes Him one is the God property that He has; it is a reward that He carries with Him. ‘One God’ is not limited to one person; it speaks of one reward. The moment God swears an oath, the reward is sure. It is at that point that God declares that “I am your God”, like He swore to Abraham.

God is a Portion that resides in the land of the living (Psa 142:5). A man must first be living for him to arrive at God. In the land of the living is an abode. One must first be living in order to locate the abode like Abraham located Beersheba. Whenever a man finds the well of oath, strife is about to end and that man is about to enter into rest. The waters of oath will consecrate a people and make them to abide. The living waters on the other hand, will encourage men to keep drinking until their thirst is no more.