4 posts from 2007

Wow! What a blessing to be reminded of the grace and mercy of God. The the author spends so much time explaining to these faithful Jews how Jesus is the fulfillment is reality of what they had been practicing symbolically for so long made me ponder the Old Covenant. These poor souls had to come time after time presenting sacrifice after sacrifice to an earthly priest. Then, as they were reminded over and over of their sin, they had to hope that the guy they knew had his own sin issues did everything correctly so that they could be forgiven. All of this would seem to me to be very stressful, making me feel that there were many things that I and this other guy would have to "do" for me to be right with God. Thank You, Jesus for 8:12!!!!!!!! Keeping all this in mind explains why the author went into such detail about how Jesus, instead of presenting a heretical new teaching, is the true substance of every piece of symbolism in the Old Covenant. From High Priest, to Sacrificial Offering, He is the entirety of the New Covenant. The heart of the matter is this:If we were capable of living without sin, sacrifice wouldn't be necessary. If sinful humans offering the blood of animals and performing ceremonies could atone for sin, the Old Covenant would be fine. Here's the fly in the ointment, though. There's something inside of us that just knows that neither of these is true, and that's why we need Jesus. Here's the application. In light of 10:14, we should be able to live 10:23, enduring with a hope, peace, and joy that enables us to stand apart from the world and the worldly.And conversely, when we are tempted not to do that, we should consider the penalty of taking our salvation and our Savior lightly, allowing the proper fear to redirect our choices.Here's the Truth. There are only two choices: Jesus..........or judgement.                 Love ya, Kent 

The author presents evidence here that considering Jesus as the eternal High Priest of the New Covenant is not a blasphemous turning away from God at all. Rather, accepting Jesus as Mediator is acceptance of God's recorded word that they had already known and believed. Furthermore, through the ancient writings it is obvious that Jesus did not appoint Himself, but instead was called by God just like Aaron whom they esteemed.Also, the correlation of Jesus having parallel nature with Melchizadek, whom they had no problem with at all, should have been effective for tearing down defenses and arguments against Jesus. The book does take a little side trip here to take a jab at the readers, comparing those who were still weak in their faith and understanding to babies. While there is no disdain for a baby who can only handle milk for sustenance and needs constant help, this is only true for the appropriate amount of time. At some point, a healthy baby grows stronger and more self sufficient, as should th dedicated believer. This becomes more and more important as we go because when the attacks of the enemy come we will need the discernment and strength that can only come from being solidly grounded in the "solid food" of the word. Those who still have only a basic understanding of who they are and who our Lord is don't always have the discernment to distinguish that which is from God from that which is from the enemy. Thsi is a big deal because scripture warns us that the enemy has the ability to pose as an angel of light.           In Chapter 6, verse 4 there appear some very disturbing words, "impossible..... to renew again"in regard to those who understand, partake of the Holy Spirit, and taste of the  "good word of God" and yet fall away.This is a scary section of scripture that, in my opinion, should spur us to be very afraid of being anywhere else other than right beside Jesus.In my Bible there were several explanations given as to what scholars think this means. Most of them tried to put people's minds at ease, stating that this could never be a referance applicable to a true believer. For me this reminds me of Romans 11:22, and so I'm not so sure that we should be trying to ease our minds about this. I don't make any claim to know for sure that this means someone can turn away from their salvation after having begun the journey, but I do say that if we are going to err on the side of caution, let's do it by standing as close to Jesus as possible and fearing the thought of ending up anywhere else. At any rate, the safe course is verse 12.  Just like prison doesn't scare me because I'm not a criminal, being "cut off" doesn't have to scare me if I make my decisions based on faith in my Lord.             Chapter 7.... There is a property taught in Algebra that says this "If 6 is less than 8, and 8 is less than 10, then 6 is also less than 10."  The author uses this same logic to strengthen his case that Jesus is better as a High Priest than those appointed by humans. It goes like this. Melchizadek was better than Aaron becaused he received a tithe even from the patriarch Abraham who was far higher on the food chain than his Levite descendents who receive tithes from others akin to themselves. So, if Jesus was called of God and is eternal like Melchizadek but is also made Lord of All,  then He outranks Melchizadek which automatically puts Him higher than Abraham, which automatically puts Him higher than the Levitical priesthood. Once again, as always, the author of this book is trying to carefully argue and explain these believers over the stumbling stone of the Old Covenant. What does that mean to us? We didn't grow up under the law with its rites and ceremonies, but we have all sorts of rocks in our way anyhow. Because of our pride and haughtiness we search for any way that claims to lead us to eternal bliss without having to submit to a holy God, and there are people out there teaching any number of ways that claim to do just that. But, if every other belief system is less than the Old Covenant, and is the Old Covenant is less than Jesus, then every other belief system leads to death.........Application-Hang onto verse 25-28. Accept it. Understand it, Believe it. Rejoice in it.                         Love ya, Kent 

As we get into this book, it's helpful to remember that the author is writing to Jews who had the Old Covenant embedded in them and had lived by it all their life. To some it was heretical to give up the traditional system of sacrifices and priestly moderation for the Way. Also, for the ones who did latch onto the New Covenant, it would be easy to be drawn back into the old as soon as they began to feel pressure from others or experienced any form of persecution. For this reason this entire book is a carefully crafted argument of how Jesus is better than the old system. Cleverly, the author points out that these people who had so much faith in the prophets, Moses, the priests, and even angels should feel excited that now they could have faith in and follow the Son of God instead of just the messengers of God. Simply put, you are closer to the king when you welcome his only son than when you accept one of his many servants.                    In ch. 2, however, there is also a stern warning to go along with the gentle teaching. The point is made that if you have always been faithful in your "religious" adherance to the messages of the angels,prophets,etc, then you should definately not reject the message of Jesus-neglecting the very salvation that all of these other servants were pointing to all along. Then it's right back into the teaching, pointing out the beauty of God's plan in sending Jesus to live here as a human. From our own experience we can see that it is always easier to help someone when their problem is something that you have already made it through. You can not only be more understanding, you can speak with greater authority. That's what God's plan is like for us because no matter what we go through here we can always call on the Savior's help in full faith and trust because he conquered everything we will ever fear-even death.It's hard to remember this in the moment but this is why it's not always the right thing to do to pray for a problem to go away. Sometimes, praying for how to endure and triumph over things is the best way to prepare us to answer the call when someone else who is hurting asks for help.          Now back to the not so subtle warnings. Chapter 3 reminded the Jewish audience of that time and us as well that all thise who followed Moses out of Egypt had great faith in God and that they were confident that He was taking them to the Promised Land. They saw signs and wonders like nobody else on the journey even to the point of seeing a literal glow on the face of Moses every time he was allowed to come near to the presence of God. There could have been no doubt that God was literally with them all the time, and yet eventually almost every one of them lost their faith, turned from their previous belief, and received the judgement and punishment of a Holy God in that they died in the wilderness not being alloweed to enter into the place of rest. What does this mean to us?.........Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. There are dire consequences for losing your faith in God, up to and including not being allowed into the rest He promised for all of us. Examine yourself and exhort one another constantly so that none of us receives this penalty.                 This theme is stressed again in ch. 4, stressing faith, reminding us again how the Jews heard the truth but didn't believe it. Knowledge without faith is useless. Again, though, I am reminded of the beauty of Jesus having been here and walked the earth as a human. He understands our weaknesses, our difficulty in keeping the faith, and so is able and willing to strengthen us and help us in our time of need. Do the right thing and hold fast to verse 16                    Love ya, Kent