Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The Eternal Sacrifice

Blogging is difficult to do on mornings that I have class.  No class on Wednesdays though so praises for pockets of time like to today when I can breathe.

This morning I read Hebrews 10:1-18. My study bible splits it into 3 parts so I will look at the verses in three parts.

The first is verse 1-4 which say "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins."

As a believer today in our world, the idea of animal sacrifices is just an abstract idea.  After all, we have the New Covenant that we use and usually abuse.  As a result I feel like we can never really appreciate the gravity of this passage from old to new. I will not recount the rituals needed to be done to be cleansed.  For that I point you to the Deuteronomy which is where I believe it is recounted in painstaking detail.  Rather imagine with me once a year taking your family and whatever animal you happen to need to a priest so that he can cleanse you and your family.  In this sacrifice, you carry all the guilt you have.  All the shame of whatever wrong doings you have committed go with you to this sacrifice. Now imagine watching the blood pour out of the animal, being told you are clean but, and this is an important but, in the back of your mind you know you will have to do this again because you are not really clean.  For a moment sure, but the moment you sin, which lets be real for some of us it would be right as we leave the synagogue,  another sacrifice is necessary.  I cannot feel that sense of foreboding of another sacrifice, nor can I feel the joy of momentary cleanliness.  If the sacrifice is enough, should we not, as the scripture says, have no more consciousness of sin?  But we do when the sacrifice is not enough.  Every subsequent sacrifice you make is a cleansing and a reminder that your failures will always outweigh your sacrifice.  You are told though if you make enough sacrifices (reminders of sin) and live uprightly, you will be right in Gods eyes.  The writer of Hebrews states it plainly in verse 4 "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins".

The next section is verses 5-10 and verse 5 starts with a "therefore" which I was taught is always a clue to look and understand what the therefore is "there for".  In this case it is because of verse 1-4 and specifically verse 4.  Sacrifices were always shadows and symbols of the real thing, the final sacrifice, Jesus.  Verses 5-7 says "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.  6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come--in the volume of the book it is written of Me--To do Your will, O God." Verse 9 goes further and says, "He takes away the first that he may establish the second." Sanctification was never possible though the shadows and symbols of the former sacrifices.  In the final sacrifice of Jesus, God stripped away the shadows of animal sacrifices and established the eternal sacrifice.

Verses 11-18 are about Christ sanctifying us.  The writer makes the contrast between the priests who stand in the same place every day preforming the same sacrifices that have zero eternal significance with Jesus, the Son of God, who offered His life as a sacrifice and then sat down at the right hand of God until "his enemies are made His footstool." (V. 13)  There is a difference in triumph in the sacrifices.  In the old sacrifice there is no triumph, only a reminder of sin.  In Jesus there is triumph because sin has been forgiven. I cannot with my words express fervently enough how stark a contrast this is and how confusing this must have been for the people hearing these words.  Until I consider the Jewish man who had been seeking these sacrifices day after day, year after year, and then come to the realization that the Man he saw die on the cross makes it so that he never has to sacrifice again.  That man is no longer bond to sacrifices which are there own kind of chains.  He is free.  Until I consider that man I cannot appreciate these verses.

It gets better though.

It is not just the promise and act of sanctification from Jesus' sacrifice, the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord: I will put my laws in the their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." (V. 16-17) We receive simultaneously eternal forgiveness but also the promise of our Helper to help us understand this great work the Lord has done through His son Jesus.  Imagine again that Jewish man with me.  The dawning realization that the sacrifice of reminding is unnecessary AND the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of Gods glory, will help you understand all of these things and plant His law in your heart and mind.  The holiness that this man as been chasing for so long through sacrifice is now his. As a grand exclamation point to this whole passage is verse 18 which says "Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin."  Glory Hallelujah our chains are gone, we've been set free.  These words take on new meaning in light of these verses.

So what does this mean? I have, in some small way, crafted a story of 18 verses about sacrifice but why does it matter. I think that a lot of times Christians are that Jewish man, seeking sacrifice after sacrifice, unaware that the final sacrifice is the "one sacrifice for sins forever" (v. 12).  I see many brothers and sisters, myself included, that miss the joy and faith of embracing Jesus for what he did and instead, remind themselves of what they've done.  I can be the poster child for this if that you make you more comfortable because I am a sinner of the highest order.  What I am saying though is it doesn't matter. These verses ask for trust, faith, and hope in Him.  I hope that this can serve as a reminder of our precious freedom because that is what it was to me. Thanks for reading.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Morning Meditations 7/7/14

Hebrews 12:25-29

Continuing from yesterday, Hebrews 12:25 starts right off by telling the reader to not refuse Him who speaks.  As a christian, this is one of those passages that we hear/read and pass over quickly because why would we ever refuse Him who speaks?  The issue i think is that we refuse Him more than we would like to admit.  Maybe not every believer but certainly a large subset of them.  Essentially whenever I choose sin I refuse His voice. This passage though is speaking more to those who are contemplating turning away from Christ, which some days would be me I guess.  The writer again recalls those who rejected God at Mount Sinai as "they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth." (v. 25)  He likens those who turn away from Him who spoke on earth to us who turn away from Christ now, saying, "much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven." (v. 25) I think this is again drawing the parallel between old and new testament just as the previous passage had done.  This one is different though.  The last passage contrasted the foundations of two belief systems and how one was rooted on the earth and the other was rooted in heaven.  Here, the writer is exhorting the reader (I think) that though the foundations differ in wonderful ways, it is imperative that you still do not turn away from His voice.  He requires obedience regardless and to turn away would be at your own peril.

Verse 26 describes His voice as shaking the earth but adds, "now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." (v.26) Verse 27 and 28 elaborate, "Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."  I think this is again referring to the temporal nature of the earthly kingdom and contrasting it with the eternal nature of the Heavenly Kingdom.  I wonder after reading this passage and the last if this is a useful text in sharing Christ with Jewish people? I have no way of knowing, maybe one of yall can shed some light on that.  Anyway, the passage ends in verse 29 which says "For our God is a consuming fire."  This is a good meditation verse I think.  The human heart and spirit needs to understand the nature of our God in order to serve and love Him.  I invite anyone who happens to read this to think on Him being a consuming fire.  I think it is a beautiful description of Him in light of everything else He is, particularly when contrasted with our enemy.

Thanks for reading, this is of course all for His glory.  I hope this blessed someone today.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Morning Meditations 7/6/14

Hebrews 12:18-24

From what study I have been able to do this morning, 18-24 is a contrast between Judaism and Christianity and it is a drastic one at that.  Judaism being described as "the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore." (v. 18-19)  Well dang.  Verses 20 says that they could not endure what was commanded and verse 21 says that the sight was so terrifying that Moses himself said "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling."  I am sure this can be unpacked more.  Verse 18 is referring to Deuteronomy 4 when Moses is recalling what happened at Mt. Sinai way back in Exodus.  I am sure there is someone more read than I that could perhaps lead me to deeper wisdom (this is an invitation) but I interpret this brief description in Hebrews as recalling the foundation of Judaism.  The writer then contrasts that foundation with what appears to be the foundation of Christianity.  Another context clue is the writer says in both v. 18 and 22 the word "mountain" or Mount which I interpret as being the broad foundation on which greater things stand.

Where Judaism is described as being dark and gloomy, Christianity (keeping with the interpretation of these verses as provided by my study bible) is called "Mount Zion, the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God  the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." (v.22-24) The writer says in 18 that we have not come to that mountain but instead we come to the one just described.  Aside from contrasting two types of beliefs, it also is contrasting the old and new covenants.  The Old bring fear and separation and the New overwhelming blessings.

 I think this contrast is helpful to understanding where our faith as come from and where it is now.  I think a lot of times believers can make the mistake thinking we come to that old mountain.  The truth is much different actually.  We do not come to the mountain where we cannot keep what has been commanded of us, where Moses himself trembled with fear.  We come to a different foundation, the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem.  This is important for our salvation as far as knowing where we stand in the kingdom.  It is interesting to note that in the old covenant, God was Judge and he is mentioned as such in verse 23.  God is still the same and always will be.  The foundations are different though.  Luke 10:20 is reference in verse 23 and it says, "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."  There is eternal assurance in the New covenant and in Christianity.  The same cannot be said of Judaism, at least not according to this passage.

If anyone as further input or thoughts, please share. Lets grow together. Thanks for reading.