Hebrews 7: 25
Therefore He is able, once and forever to save completely those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
The writer of Hebrews has just explained to us how Jesus is our priest, not in the order of Aaron, but in the order of Melchizedek. That is why He saves us completely and totally, nothing else will ever need to be added to it, He has finished it all for us.
Jesus is both the Sacrifice and also the Priest Who offers the Blood of the Sacrifice, as He has entered beyond the veil in the Heavenly Temple (Hebrews 6:19-20).
Hebrews 8: 1-2
The point of what we are saying is this:
All of chapters 6 and 7, about the Law and the Priesthoods.
We do have such a High Priest, Who sat down
Sat down!? Priests never sat down, there were no chairs at all in the Tabernacle or the Temple, their work was never done.
at the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in Heaven,
So His seat is on the Throne of the Majesty in Heaven. His work is done, it's all finished, and He can now sit down, not like any of the priests in the order of Aaron, who never sat down.
and Who serves in the Sanctuary, the true Tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
This "true Tabernacle" is the Pattern that God showed Moses at Sinai, telling him to be sure to pay attention to all the details to get them right (Exodus 25:9, 40; Numbers 8:4). Now Jesus, as our High Priest, serves in the Heavenly Temple, His Blood ever fresh, always washing away all our sins.
At this point in Time, everything that we need for Salvation and Redemption is already finished, ready to be applied to us. When I was born, before I did anything right or wrong, all my sins had already been paid for. But that payment was not applied to my account until that day God revealed to me that Jesus had taken my place by dying the death I deserved on the Cross. That day, the weight of all my sinfulness was taken off my shoulders and placed on Jesus at that moment in Time. All my sinfulness--the sin-nature I inherited from Adam, all the sins I had done in messing up my life, and also all the sins I was yet to commit--all of it was paid off long ago and applied to my account that day.
Now when I make a mistake, or decide on a foolish plan, or allow myself to dwell on a negative thought about another person; I need to admit to God what I have done, confess it as sin, and accept His forgiveness (I John 1:9). I never need to dwell on my wrongdoings, because God has already cleansed me of all of it. I need only to face what I have done and deal with it, for my own mental health.
That is also why I need to forgive others when they sin against me, to let it go and let God deal with that person, not try to get them back. I trust God to be just and merciful, to be powerful on our behalf, and to do everything that will ever need to be done for us and against His and our enemies.
O my Father, thank You so much for Your great love, Your justice, Your mercy and grace, and Your strength and power and authority to accomplish all You have planned. Thank You for Your great wisdom and Your sense of humor, and Your cleverness in all the interesting ways You deal with Your created beings.
Thank You that You are worthy of all my trust, that I can safely lean on You in my weaknesses, and that You have tenderly carried me and will carry me through all the hard, painful times I face in this World. You have shown Yourself faithful to me and to all who belong to You by creation, by purchase, and by New Birth and Redemption.
And thank You that all Your plans are continuing to unfold for this Universe. Show me, Father, where You are working, where I can go to join You in Your work, to do my small part in this grand Plan of the Ages, to place my strand of thread in Your great Tapestry of Time.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, June 2, 2017
Thursday, June 1, 2017
To Proudly Exult
Ezekiel 31: 14
Let the tree of no other Nation proudly exult in its own prosperity, though it be higher than the clouds and it be watered from the depths. For all are doomed to die, to go down to the depths of the Earth (Sheol). They will land in the pit along with everything else on Earth.
O my Father, America has proudly exulted in her own prosperity--I have proudly exulted in America's prosperity and self-sufficiency. We have sinned greatly against You, the God Who granted us the ability to create wealth.
It is You, the Almighty, merciful God, who has blessed our trust in You with mighty power and wealth in the World, and we have turned our backs in rebellion on You and taken, stolen, Your glory for ourselves!
Father of all mercies, please forgive us! Let us cast down all the altars, shrines and idols, forsaking our sins, and return to You! Please wake up Your Church, Lord, bring righteousness back into our personal lives and into our National life. Brings us back to Yourself, Lord, before the end.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Let the tree of no other Nation proudly exult in its own prosperity, though it be higher than the clouds and it be watered from the depths. For all are doomed to die, to go down to the depths of the Earth (Sheol). They will land in the pit along with everything else on Earth.
O my Father, America has proudly exulted in her own prosperity--I have proudly exulted in America's prosperity and self-sufficiency. We have sinned greatly against You, the God Who granted us the ability to create wealth.
It is You, the Almighty, merciful God, who has blessed our trust in You with mighty power and wealth in the World, and we have turned our backs in rebellion on You and taken, stolen, Your glory for ourselves!
Father of all mercies, please forgive us! Let us cast down all the altars, shrines and idols, forsaking our sins, and return to You! Please wake up Your Church, Lord, bring righteousness back into our personal lives and into our National life. Brings us back to Yourself, Lord, before the end.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
The Race We Are Running
Hebrews 12: 1-2
Therefore,
When we see a "therefore" we need to ask what it's there for. Here, we've just gone through God's Hall of Heroes, all the saints that came before us who lived their lives and accomplished great feats, "by faith."
since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses
Here we're told that all these saints are surrounding us, watching us.
to the life of faith,
They're watching us to see how we are living our lives by faith.
let us strip off every weight that slows us down,
Whatever is keeping us from running freely the course set before us.
especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
All the little distractions that tangle our feet, dangerously trying to bring us down.
And let us run
We need to run freely, not walk or saunter lazily, through life.
with endurance
There are many things that we need to learn to endure; many trials, troubles, terrors, weariness and griefs.
the race God has set before us.
This life is a race, so we need to be running. It is a relay race, so we are to prepare the next generation to take the baton of faith after us.
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus,
Jesus is our example. He never did slow down His ministry, nor was He ever in a hurry. He always relied only on His Father, never His own initiative, in everything He did. So we follow Jesus as Jesus followed His Father.
the Author and Finisher of our faith;
He, along with His Father and the Holy Spirit, devised this whole plan, designed our whole Universe including our Earth, and decided before He ever started to create, what He would do to redeem us. And He concluded that part of His Plan of the Ages--we now put our faith in His sacrifice, rather than an animal, to complete our salvation from sin and our redemption from this broken environment of our World System.
Who for the joy that was set before Him
That joy was knowing that we could spend Eternity with Him, in His glory (see John 17:24).
He endured the Cross, despising the shame,
He did not relish the Cross, He had to endure it. He had to hang there unclothed, in full view of the populace, as a condemned criminal--the very opposite of Who He is. And even separated from His Father for the first time in all Eternity! Something I cannot even fathom. It was this joy that gave Him the strength to do it. He loves you and me that much.
and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God.
Now, today, Jesus has died, risen, and ascended back into Heaven, again enjoying the glory He shared with the Father from eternity past. Now that He has accomplished everything we need to be right with God--born into His own Family, cleansed and forgiven--He will complete the rest of His plan to redeem every person who turns to Him in faith, and to redeem this Earth that has been plundered by ungodly men; before He "makes everything new." That will conclude His whole Plan of the Ages, our ages.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Therefore,
When we see a "therefore" we need to ask what it's there for. Here, we've just gone through God's Hall of Heroes, all the saints that came before us who lived their lives and accomplished great feats, "by faith."
since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses
Here we're told that all these saints are surrounding us, watching us.
to the life of faith,
They're watching us to see how we are living our lives by faith.
let us strip off every weight that slows us down,
Whatever is keeping us from running freely the course set before us.
especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
All the little distractions that tangle our feet, dangerously trying to bring us down.
And let us run
We need to run freely, not walk or saunter lazily, through life.
with endurance
There are many things that we need to learn to endure; many trials, troubles, terrors, weariness and griefs.
the race God has set before us.
This life is a race, so we need to be running. It is a relay race, so we are to prepare the next generation to take the baton of faith after us.
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus,
Jesus is our example. He never did slow down His ministry, nor was He ever in a hurry. He always relied only on His Father, never His own initiative, in everything He did. So we follow Jesus as Jesus followed His Father.
the Author and Finisher of our faith;
He, along with His Father and the Holy Spirit, devised this whole plan, designed our whole Universe including our Earth, and decided before He ever started to create, what He would do to redeem us. And He concluded that part of His Plan of the Ages--we now put our faith in His sacrifice, rather than an animal, to complete our salvation from sin and our redemption from this broken environment of our World System.
Who for the joy that was set before Him
That joy was knowing that we could spend Eternity with Him, in His glory (see John 17:24).
He endured the Cross, despising the shame,
He did not relish the Cross, He had to endure it. He had to hang there unclothed, in full view of the populace, as a condemned criminal--the very opposite of Who He is. And even separated from His Father for the first time in all Eternity! Something I cannot even fathom. It was this joy that gave Him the strength to do it. He loves you and me that much.
and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God.
Now, today, Jesus has died, risen, and ascended back into Heaven, again enjoying the glory He shared with the Father from eternity past. Now that He has accomplished everything we need to be right with God--born into His own Family, cleansed and forgiven--He will complete the rest of His plan to redeem every person who turns to Him in faith, and to redeem this Earth that has been plundered by ungodly men; before He "makes everything new." That will conclude His whole Plan of the Ages, our ages.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
False Prophets
Lamentations 2: 14
Your prophets have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They did not save you from exile by pointing out your sins. Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope.
Who are you listening to? How is your pastor preaching? What are the televised and online preachers saying? Are they promoting God's majesty, holiness and purity? Or are they giving you encouragement in your worldly attitudes, your common-sense plans?
God is not willing to condone any variance from His own character. Even the slightest closeness to perfect is not perfect. Every member of Mankind has inherited the DNA defects of our father, Adam. The church has traditionally called this, "original sin," and more recently, "the sin-nature." This handicap leads us into making foolish choices, that lead us away from God and His ways.
There is nothing that we can do in our humanity that God can accept, as even our best intentions and our most helpful philanthropies are no better than filthy, uncleanable menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6). So we can't help ourselves.
That's why God sent His only Son, the Lord God of the Old Testament, who we now know as Jesus of Nazareth. He alone was born fully human from His mother, but without that defect, because His Father was not Adam, but God Himself. Isaiah tells us that the child would be born, but the Son would be given, the One Who has been the Son from eternity past (Isaiah 9:6-7).
It is Jesus Who is God's Christ, His Anointed, for us. He it is Who has been anointed to be our Perfect Lamb, sacrificed to take our death, Whose Blood does not only cover, but fully washes away our sinfulness--all our sins as well as that DNA defect. He said that He will make all things new (Revelation 21:5), because He is the Creator who made all things in the first place, so He can always decide to rearrange all the molecules into new bodies, a new Earth and a new Heaven; just like my son could dismantle and re-build his Lego castles and cities.
So if any of your teachers is telling you that you can do anything, without relying fully on God, dump them. Find honest, godly teachers who will inform you of what you really do need, to be remade. Who will tell you straight out that you are a sinner, born under wrath, and Jesus took your wrath on the Cross, in your place. Then God will work His miracle in you, cleansing you of all that is contrary to His holiness, and placing His own Holy Spirit in you to live in you, making your dead spirit alive. And He will teach you how to hear His still, small voice that you will hear as a sure knowing deep in your spirit. He also speaks to us in His Word the Bible, in circumstances, and through His other sons and daughters.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Your prophets have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They did not save you from exile by pointing out your sins. Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope.
Who are you listening to? How is your pastor preaching? What are the televised and online preachers saying? Are they promoting God's majesty, holiness and purity? Or are they giving you encouragement in your worldly attitudes, your common-sense plans?
God is not willing to condone any variance from His own character. Even the slightest closeness to perfect is not perfect. Every member of Mankind has inherited the DNA defects of our father, Adam. The church has traditionally called this, "original sin," and more recently, "the sin-nature." This handicap leads us into making foolish choices, that lead us away from God and His ways.
There is nothing that we can do in our humanity that God can accept, as even our best intentions and our most helpful philanthropies are no better than filthy, uncleanable menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6). So we can't help ourselves.
That's why God sent His only Son, the Lord God of the Old Testament, who we now know as Jesus of Nazareth. He alone was born fully human from His mother, but without that defect, because His Father was not Adam, but God Himself. Isaiah tells us that the child would be born, but the Son would be given, the One Who has been the Son from eternity past (Isaiah 9:6-7).
It is Jesus Who is God's Christ, His Anointed, for us. He it is Who has been anointed to be our Perfect Lamb, sacrificed to take our death, Whose Blood does not only cover, but fully washes away our sinfulness--all our sins as well as that DNA defect. He said that He will make all things new (Revelation 21:5), because He is the Creator who made all things in the first place, so He can always decide to rearrange all the molecules into new bodies, a new Earth and a new Heaven; just like my son could dismantle and re-build his Lego castles and cities.
So if any of your teachers is telling you that you can do anything, without relying fully on God, dump them. Find honest, godly teachers who will inform you of what you really do need, to be remade. Who will tell you straight out that you are a sinner, born under wrath, and Jesus took your wrath on the Cross, in your place. Then God will work His miracle in you, cleansing you of all that is contrary to His holiness, and placing His own Holy Spirit in you to live in you, making your dead spirit alive. And He will teach you how to hear His still, small voice that you will hear as a sure knowing deep in your spirit. He also speaks to us in His Word the Bible, in circumstances, and through His other sons and daughters.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, May 29, 2017
Promises To Israel
Jeremiah 32: 42, 44
This is what the Lord says: "Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them. ... For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken."
God had Jeremiah buy that field from his cousin, and seal the deed in a jar so that it would last a long time, as though Jeremiah himself would be with those who would return, to claim his property. And Jeremiah trusted what God said, so he did it, and he fully expected to still be alive to return.
Today they are back in the Land God gave their ancestors, and they've even been a Nation among the Nations of the World for almost 70 years now, yet they have not returned to God. How can they claim that God gave them this land without claiming God?! They are a secular nation, surrounded by enemies whose hatred for them is so strong and passionate that they seek to wipe them completely off the face of the Earth.
This Nation Israel has been attacked repeatedly through the millennia, but has never been destroyed: Conquered and scattered throughout the world for a thousand years, gathered and destroyed in concentration camps, and still scattered into every Nation on Earth. But they have never been destroyed, because God has yet to fulfill His promises to them.
When Jesus, the Lord God of the Old Testament, returns again to rule the World, that will be the Day that all Israel will be saved, when they see Him Whom they have pierced, and I believe it will be they who will repopulate all the Nations of the World during the 1000 years Jesus will rule from His Throne in Jerusalem. Then all the promises He made to them will be fulfilled, to the letter.
O my Father, please help all of Your children, Your church, to wake up and seek Your Face; and support Your people Israel, even before they turn to You. Show us each how we can do good to the people of Israel, both in the Nation and throughout the Earth.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
This is what the Lord says: "Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them. ... For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken."
God had Jeremiah buy that field from his cousin, and seal the deed in a jar so that it would last a long time, as though Jeremiah himself would be with those who would return, to claim his property. And Jeremiah trusted what God said, so he did it, and he fully expected to still be alive to return.
Today they are back in the Land God gave their ancestors, and they've even been a Nation among the Nations of the World for almost 70 years now, yet they have not returned to God. How can they claim that God gave them this land without claiming God?! They are a secular nation, surrounded by enemies whose hatred for them is so strong and passionate that they seek to wipe them completely off the face of the Earth.
This Nation Israel has been attacked repeatedly through the millennia, but has never been destroyed: Conquered and scattered throughout the world for a thousand years, gathered and destroyed in concentration camps, and still scattered into every Nation on Earth. But they have never been destroyed, because God has yet to fulfill His promises to them.
When Jesus, the Lord God of the Old Testament, returns again to rule the World, that will be the Day that all Israel will be saved, when they see Him Whom they have pierced, and I believe it will be they who will repopulate all the Nations of the World during the 1000 years Jesus will rule from His Throne in Jerusalem. Then all the promises He made to them will be fulfilled, to the letter.
O my Father, please help all of Your children, Your church, to wake up and seek Your Face; and support Your people Israel, even before they turn to You. Show us each how we can do good to the people of Israel, both in the Nation and throughout the Earth.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, May 28, 2017
City On A Hill
Jeremiah 33: 9
Then this city will bring Me joy, glory and honor before all the Nations of the Earth! The people of the World will see all the good I do for My people, and they will tremble with awe at the peace and prosperity I provide for them.
This was God's plan for His people Israel. This is why He chose them out of all the Nations of the World, to give them His Law, and have them follow it. If they had only taken Him seriously, and done all the proscriptions the Law demanded, then they would have experienced all the good God wanted to do for them, and provide the peace and prosperity we all want.
But Israel never did fully implement all the provisions the Law described. They picked and chose the ones they thought were "reasonable" and ignored the rest. For instance, they never did let all the fields lie fallow every seven years, or celebrate the Jubilee in the fiftieth year. So God took them from the land, into exile far away for 70 years, all the Jubilee years they didn't observe during the 490 years they were in the land.
God wanted Israel to be the City on a Hill that would draw all the other Nations to the knowledge of the Lord. That was their advantage, that they had the Law, all the rules to follow to cooperate with how God made this Earth to operate, and enjoy all the benefits God designed it to provide. But they were drawn away by their own pride, and thought they knew better. So they were enticed and seduced by all the idols of the peoples around them. They refused to submit to God, so were deceived, and they suffered the consequences.
Many years later, our Founding Fathers based our Nation, America, on God's eternal principles as laid out in His Word, and God honored that and blessed us with peace and prosperity. And all the Nations of the Earth beheld us as a great city on a hill, because all the peoples saw all the good God did for us, and they came to America to begin new lives. Others did tremble with awe, and plotted against us in envy.
And we, also, in our pride, thought we knew better, and have been drawn away from God's pure, righteous ways, and decided that good is evil, darkness is light, and we twisted the pure ways into unrighteous, unhealthy acts. And we are experiencing the moral, ethical, physical, relational and financial repercussions of our ways.
We have turned against God in our prosperity, deciding that we got our wealth of ourselves. And in our foolishness we have opened the door to our enemies to come in and destroy us. And they will destroy us, if we don't turn back to God and His ways.
O my Father, please grant this Nation repentance! Wake up Your church, bring us great revival. Turn our faces away from all the idols we have set up. Cast down all their shrines and altars, and bring Your righteousness back, so that we can again be that shining city on a hill, to draw others to You and Your ways, to Your glory!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Then this city will bring Me joy, glory and honor before all the Nations of the Earth! The people of the World will see all the good I do for My people, and they will tremble with awe at the peace and prosperity I provide for them.
This was God's plan for His people Israel. This is why He chose them out of all the Nations of the World, to give them His Law, and have them follow it. If they had only taken Him seriously, and done all the proscriptions the Law demanded, then they would have experienced all the good God wanted to do for them, and provide the peace and prosperity we all want.
But Israel never did fully implement all the provisions the Law described. They picked and chose the ones they thought were "reasonable" and ignored the rest. For instance, they never did let all the fields lie fallow every seven years, or celebrate the Jubilee in the fiftieth year. So God took them from the land, into exile far away for 70 years, all the Jubilee years they didn't observe during the 490 years they were in the land.
God wanted Israel to be the City on a Hill that would draw all the other Nations to the knowledge of the Lord. That was their advantage, that they had the Law, all the rules to follow to cooperate with how God made this Earth to operate, and enjoy all the benefits God designed it to provide. But they were drawn away by their own pride, and thought they knew better. So they were enticed and seduced by all the idols of the peoples around them. They refused to submit to God, so were deceived, and they suffered the consequences.
Many years later, our Founding Fathers based our Nation, America, on God's eternal principles as laid out in His Word, and God honored that and blessed us with peace and prosperity. And all the Nations of the Earth beheld us as a great city on a hill, because all the peoples saw all the good God did for us, and they came to America to begin new lives. Others did tremble with awe, and plotted against us in envy.
And we, also, in our pride, thought we knew better, and have been drawn away from God's pure, righteous ways, and decided that good is evil, darkness is light, and we twisted the pure ways into unrighteous, unhealthy acts. And we are experiencing the moral, ethical, physical, relational and financial repercussions of our ways.
We have turned against God in our prosperity, deciding that we got our wealth of ourselves. And in our foolishness we have opened the door to our enemies to come in and destroy us. And they will destroy us, if we don't turn back to God and His ways.
O my Father, please grant this Nation repentance! Wake up Your church, bring us great revival. Turn our faces away from all the idols we have set up. Cast down all their shrines and altars, and bring Your righteousness back, so that we can again be that shining city on a hill, to draw others to You and Your ways, to Your glory!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, May 27, 2017
The Heavenly City
Hebrews 11: 13-16
All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God. They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on Earth. And obviously people who talk like that are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had meant the country they came from they would have found a way to go back. But they were looking for a better place, a Heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a Heavenly city for them.
This chapter is called God's Hall of Fame, all the earlier saints who put their trust in God in spite of horrendous circumstances. They were looking forward to the Sacrifice that would take their sins away, as we can now look back at the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, that actually takes away all our sins.
As they each put their hand on their lamb, to be sacrificed on the altar in their place in death, and the blood splashed on the sides of the altar to cover their sins; when Jesus died, His Blood splashed the sides of His altar, the Cross, and all these Old Testament saints' covered sins were washed away, and they could now enter Heaven, from the Paradise side of Sheol where they had been waiting. And we can now enter Heaven directly, Jesus being our personal Lamb that takes our place in death.
All these Old Testament saints believed God, and believed what God said. They put their full trust in Him. Even though they didn't receive what was promised in their lifetimes, they still trusted God to do what He said He would, and He will.
God knew that they could not have been complete without us with them, and He has prepared a City that will come down from Heaven to this Earth, made new. And we will all live and reign with Him in that wonderful, glorious City that He is even now preparing a place for us in.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God. They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on Earth. And obviously people who talk like that are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had meant the country they came from they would have found a way to go back. But they were looking for a better place, a Heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a Heavenly city for them.
This chapter is called God's Hall of Fame, all the earlier saints who put their trust in God in spite of horrendous circumstances. They were looking forward to the Sacrifice that would take their sins away, as we can now look back at the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, that actually takes away all our sins.
As they each put their hand on their lamb, to be sacrificed on the altar in their place in death, and the blood splashed on the sides of the altar to cover their sins; when Jesus died, His Blood splashed the sides of His altar, the Cross, and all these Old Testament saints' covered sins were washed away, and they could now enter Heaven, from the Paradise side of Sheol where they had been waiting. And we can now enter Heaven directly, Jesus being our personal Lamb that takes our place in death.
All these Old Testament saints believed God, and believed what God said. They put their full trust in Him. Even though they didn't receive what was promised in their lifetimes, they still trusted God to do what He said He would, and He will.
God knew that they could not have been complete without us with them, and He has prepared a City that will come down from Heaven to this Earth, made new. And we will all live and reign with Him in that wonderful, glorious City that He is even now preparing a place for us in.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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