Yesterday we spotted a new store near the restaurant where we had lunch. As granddaughter and I walked in, she asked if her Grandpa would come in also. I said he sometimes waits in the car if he doesn’t feel like shopping. She made some remark that it made me think that I should not take him for granted. How easy it is to do that with a partner when you’ve been married thirty-five years.
This morning I’m reminded that we can do the same with God. We can assume His care—after all, He does always take care of us. We can assume His love—after all, He says it is an everlasting love. Living under the blessing of God can become as comfortable as old slippers. Yet we are also supposed to “worship God with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).
This chapter of Hebrews tells what Old Testament worship was like compared to the new relationship we have with God through faith in Christ. It says to Christians, “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.’ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’”
God gave His law on Mount Sinai. It was a terrifying time for His people. They could not draw near to Him, and even Moses, who was allowed on the mountain, was terrified.
Then the writer of Hebrews says, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
This speaks of Christ opening a new way to God. The language is metaphorical for God’s heavenly dwelling place where angels rejoice around Him and our names are written in His book of life. It speaks of God as the judge of all men, but also as the One who makes perfect those who believe in Christ. There is no terror here, just incredible awe for an incredible God who offers a better way to Himself than the Old Testament blood sacrifices. The blood that Abel offered may have pleased God because Abel gave it in faithful obedience, but the blood of Christ brings redemption, forgiveness, and complete salvation because it “purifies us from our sin.”
Sunday church and morning devotions can become a familiar habit, another routine. I don’t want that to happen. I want to always be in awe of my God, the One who replaced a mountain of fire, an impossible law, and a temporary covering for sin — with mercy and grace, total redemption, eternal forgiveness and complete salvation. I want to always be amazed that instead of a rigid tablet of stone and a heart of fear, He gave me Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment