Bible Diary - Hebrews 10:19-25
October 19, 2008
Along with countless Christians before me, I find these words tremendously encouraging, especially during those times when God seems distant and the going is rough. What I need most during such times is renewed confidence that Jesus always stands ready to translate my feeble prayers into something that pleases the Father. In short, this Reformed Christian needs a High Priest.
Drawing Near to God in Enduring Faith
10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 10:20 by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. 10:23 And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. 10:24 And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, 10:25 not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near.
This passage points out that:
- The gift of confidence to draw near to God is unqualified because of the Cross of Jesus,
- Jesus presides as High Priest over God’s house, ready to intercede in my behalf,
- This is because my sin-stained soul has been washed in the pure water of the Cross,
- My hope need not waver; the promise is trustworthy,
- I need the encouragement of other Christians, and we need to spur one another in our faith and good works, and
- I can take comfort that the day of Jesus’ return is drawing near.
These seven short verses carry a lot of freight and deserve frequent study. They are words that must sound silly and weak to those who do not believe, but to the believer they have the power of objective truth.
Dave
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Bible Diary - Hebrews 10:8-18
October 12, 2008
If the finality of the Atonement isn’t apparent, the author points to these verses, from Psalm 40 and Jeremiah 31.
10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first to establish the second. 10:10 By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 10:11 And every priest stands day after day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again – sacrifices that can never take away sins. 10:12 But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, 10:13 where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. 10:14 For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. 10:15 And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying, 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,” 10:17 then he says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.” 10:18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
And that is good enough for me.
Dave
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Bible Diary - Hebrews 10:1-7
October 5, 2008
Recognizing the validity of the Ten Commandments and striving to keep them perfectly in order to find favor with God is a fool’s errand, for the law only points to a reality yet to come.
Concluding Exposition: Old and New Sacrifices Contrasted
10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. 10:2 For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin? 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 10:4 For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. 10:5 So when he came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
10:6 “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.
10:7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am: I have come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book – to do your will, O God.’”
The logic of the uselessness of offering sacrifices year after year to take away the stain of sin is clear. This practice mistakes the shadow for the reality, for we remain conscious of sin in our lives. The insufficiency of sacrificial offerings is described in the quotations from Psalm 40. It takes a perfect man to sacrifice himself for our sins - and make it stick. We know that only one perfect man ever walked on this earth, and He is Jesus the Christ of God.
The author of Hebrews winds up his argument that Jesus is the one and only perfect High Priest in verses 8-18 to follow.
Dave
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Laughing Waters
September 29, 2008
Or, if you are an Osage Indian, hahatonka or, if you are at the Lake of the Ozarks, Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Here is an excellent site that tells all about this unique State Park. It is the location of Missouri’s eleventh largest spring, one that pumps out an average of 48 million gallons a day at a frigid 55 degrees all year round, more than enough to make the water downstream ripple and laugh. Here is what the spring looked like during a recent visit with daughter and son-in-law Linda and Kim Schmidt.
The spring feeds the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks. Another attraction at the Park is a ‘castle,’ perched at the top of a steep bluff some 316 steps and 200 feet above the spring. I just have to mention that this septuagenarian negotiated those steps without puffing, first down and then back up. Here is the castle as viewed from about halfway down the steps.
The castle was built of limestone blocks. The link above gives some of the details. The several buildings were built in the 1930s and destroyed by fire in 1942. Today, many of the blocks are still scarred by the fire. The view of the Ozark forest from the castle looks like this.
There are many nature trails for the hikers and naturalists. There can’t be many better ways to spend a fall day.
Dave
Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:24-28
September 28, 2008
This passage is the concluding part of the author’s argument about Christ’s service in the heavenly sanctuary, an argument tailored to his primary audience of newly minted Christian Jews of his time. Jesus Christ is the unique perfect High Priest who eliminated for all time the necessity for repeated human intercession before God on our behalf.
9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands – the representation of the true sanctuary – but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us. 9:25 And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, 9:26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice. 9:27 And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, 9:28 so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.
How should I understand that Jesus ‘put away sin’ by suffering death on a cross some 2000 years ago? What does it mean that Jesus bore my sin? My starting point is to admit that my understanding is only partial and that I am just part of the crowd of those who are waiting for the promised time of full understanding. What I do understand is that I have the peace of knowing that my sin has been dealt with, even if I am not yet aware of the full implications of that truth. I am also told here that a final chapter of God’s plan is yet to come. Some day I will get the “rest of the story.’
Dave, feeling dumb but loved.
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Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:15-23
September 21, 2008
I don’t know for sure what provision God made for Old Testament believers, but this passage makes it clear the role Jesus plays in dealing with my violations of God’s call. In this passage, both the new and old covenants are likened to a will, which becomes valid only at the death of the maker of the will.
9:15 And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant. 9:16 For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be proven. 9:17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it carries no force while the one who made it is alive. 9:18 So even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 9:20 and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep.” 9:21 And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood. 9:22 Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 9:23 So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these.
In Old Testament times, this death was symbolized by sprinkling of the blood of sacrificial animals. Without this shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness. Blood ritual, however, was only a sketch of purification in heaven, and the ritual had to be performed over and over again, because the people and their priests knew that their forgiveness was not complete.
The passage to follow explains how the new covenant under Jesus Christ completes the sketch and provides true forgiveness.
Dave
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Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:11-14
September 14, 2008
There are two reasonable responses to the words below - the response of faith and the response of human skepticism to all things supernatural. We naturally wonder why one reasonable person responds one way and another equally reasonable person comes down on the other side of the divide. In a sense the whole Bible exists to answer just that question.
Christ’s Service in the Heavenly Sanctuary
9:11 But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, 9:12 and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption. 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity, 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.
If I am becoming more aware of the huge gap between my fumbling, stumbling effort to “be good” and the perfect “goodness” of the God of the Bible, in all His omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign power; and if I crave some sort of fellowship with my Creator, these words have the ring of truth, and I can respond to that truth.
And yet, …and yet, my neighbor and friend, also a pretty smart fellow, and a reasonable person, reads these same words as patent nonsense. Why?
Which is to ask why God operates on some people’s thinker one way and doesn’t extend the same gift to others. The only possible answer seems to be “just because he did.” Who am I to question God’s judgment when a better response is my heart’s response of “thank you?”
Dave, just a lump of clay in God’s hands.
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Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:1-10
September 7, 2008
In today’s largely atheistic culture, it’s hard to appreciate what a big deal sanctuary worship was for those people of long ago living under the first covenant. Unlike so many of us, they had a strong sense of their need of forgiveness. Their elaborate and tradition-based sanctuary with their priest’s elaborate rituals had but one purpose: to remove the guilt of sin. It never quite worked.
The Arrangement and Ritual of the Earthly Sanctuary
9:1 Now the first covenant, in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary. 9:2 For a tent was prepared, the outer one, which contained the lampstand, the table, and the presentation of the loaves; this is called the holy place. 9:3 And after the second curtain there was a tent called the holy of holies. 9:4 It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 9:5 And above the ark were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Now is not the time to speak of these things in detail. 9:6 So with these things prepared like this, the priests enter continually into the outer tent as they perform their duties. 9:7 But only the high priest enters once a year into the inner tent, and not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 9:8 The Holy Spirit is making clear that the way into the holy place had not yet appeared as long as the old tabernacle was standing. 9:9 This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper. 9:10 They served only for matters of food and drink and various washings; they are external regulations imposed until the new order came.
Today most would deny the guilt of sin. And yet, in those rare moments when we are alone with ourselves and not distracted by the busy-ness of our frantic lives, the idea that we are somehow missing the mark steals in on our consciousness. It makes us uneasy, so we quickly yield back to our busy lives.
The sanctuary with its annual ritual of atonement for sin did not solve the problem of man’s guilt and sin. External regulations are not enough. In the fullness of time, God established a new priesthood to bridge the infinite gap between God and man. Stay tuned.
Dave, too often distracted.
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Bible Diary - Hebrews 8:7-13
August 31, 2008
Why does an omniscient God need to create a second covenant with his people? There can be only one answer: It was simply unmerited grace. After all, it wasn’t God who screwed up the first covenant! God loves His created beings so much that He gives them a second chance. The evidence of this extraordinary love was sending His Son. He simply chose, for His own good reasons, to be merciful.
8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. 8:8 But showing its fault, God says to them,
“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
8:9 “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.
8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people.
8:11 “And there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.
8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.”
8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.
Only God knows the beginning and the end. He is in control of His creation, from the new galaxy still forming, millions of light-years away, to the babies that were born on Earth this day. There can be only one response to this great mystery: joyful praise.
Dave
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Bible Diary - Hebrews 8:1-6
August 24, 2008
The starting point for me to understand these high priestly passages is simply to acknowledge my sin. As Paul states in Romans 7:15, “For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.” I know what he means. Just trying hard to please God isn’t enough. Like my Jewish counterpart in the First Century, I need someone to stand in the gap between me and a Holy God. Jesus Christ, the true High Priest, does this.
The High Priest of a Better Covenant
8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 8:2 a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. 8:3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one too had to have something to offer. 8:4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 8:5 The place where they serve is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the design shown to you on the mountain.” 8:6 But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises.
This passage says that no human intermediary can completely fill the gap between sinful man and holy God, although even “a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary” is valuable in that it points to the heavenly sanctuary. The author’s main point is that only the Son of God can intercede for me before God.
Dave, pondering and giving thanks for this great mystery.
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