Awed by Jesus, my High Priest

 

Someone once told me that she never reads the OT. She said, “I am a NT girl.” This morning, reading Hebrews again blessed me with a heart full of worship and praise, and I felt sorry for anyone who is not reading the OT and connecting it with the rest of the story in the NT.

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. (Hebrews 7:26–28)

A priest mediated between the divine and human realms. Functions included teaching God’s precepts, performing sacrifices and rituals, receiving tithes, pronouncing blessings, and distinguishing between clean and unclean. Now Jesus is called our high priest:

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’ This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:21–25)

Because Jesus lived and died and rose again, He is my High Priest. He did what God promised He would do to change His people, something the law could not do or any efforts to keep it:

I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:6–12)

The OT shows that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Thus God sent His Son and Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, but into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:22–28)

So I eagerly wait. I know that my High Priest forgave and accepted me, enables me to love Him and obey Him, and to not turn away from Him. His blood is called the “blood of the eternal covenant” and God will “work in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ.” I am in awe that Jesus Christ bought this blessing in the salvation purchased at Calvary. My security is in Him, the High Priest that was modeled by the OT priests, imperfect as they were and imperfect as any effort I could attempt to be righteous without Jesus, my forever Priest.

PRAY: The richness of what is recorded in Your Word, Jesus, is almost too much for my feeble mind to fully grasp. I’m so thankful that You also give understanding and let me have glimpses of Your glory, so undeserved on my part yet such a great gift of grace rooted in Your love and mercy. 

Noun or Verb?

 

My dreams are often nonsense and I wake up laughing. The dream I had last night was like that. A woman kept asking people to answer a riddle with a verb instead of a noun. This dream ran through my mind when I read several hundred words in my devotional about the blood of Christ, ending with this statement: “Nothing is more practical, more important, or more delightful to the people of God than the blood, the precious, effectual, cleansing, redeeming blood of Christ.”

The dream made me think: is the blood (noun) what is stressed here, or is it the verb — Jesus died that all these benefits would be mine?

The reading begins with telling how those who heard the gospel and “When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.’ ” (Acts 11:18)

In English, the dictionaries say ‘repentance’ is a noun. In Greek, the dictionaries affirm it as a verb, an action word. I don’t think this is a riddle. It seems that all the verses quoted about the blood of Christ are using this noun as a euphemism for the verb that Jesus died for my sin, an action that is a riddle to those who are blinded by their sin.

The idea of atoning blood is first suggested in Genesis when God killed an animal to provide skins to cover Adam and Eve. Then His people were commanded to kill a lamb so the angel of death would pass over them when He destroyed the firstborn in Egypt. His law said “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.” (Exodus 12:1–14) And the NT often points to the blood of Christ as vital to forgiveness, how God purchased His people and justified them. It says we were bought with a price, brought near to God, and can walk in His light because of the blood that cleanses us from all sin.

While the Bible clearly says that through Christ, God “reconciled to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20) these statements all refer to one action — the death of Jesus Christ which is identified by words about His shed blood. And He did it for us:

He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:12–14)
And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:10–14)
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh…” (Hebrews 10:19–20)

We have victory over Satan because Jesus took our place: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11) and because He has cleansed us, we “have washed (our) robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)

PRAY: Jesus, Your actions on my behalf made possible all things: repentance, forgiveness, redemption, justification, cleansing, victory — a page of positives… including the grace and enablement to obey, love, reject self and sin, go out, share, and more action verbs. And You remind me of all this with a silly little dream and the rich language of Your Word. Oh, what a wonder You are!!

Holiness is freedom

 

 

READ Leviticus 17-20

In ancient days, the religious practices of many included drinking blood. Some continue this practice today with the idea that consumption of blood produces energy as a sexual, healing, or mental stimulus. Today’s reading separates the OT Jewish blood sacrifices from that of other people groups with this command:

For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. (Leviticus 17:14)

God further made a distinction between cultic blood sacrifices and the sacrifice that truly gives eternal life when Jesus said to the people:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53–58)

He quickly explained that His words were not literal but spiritual. That is, faith in Him meant a relationship so intimate that believers share in His life. His shed blood secures our forgiveness yet He dwells in our hearts and gives us His eternal life.

As I read through today’s chapters, I looked for other commands that point to life in Christ but found most of them as commands to stop or not do the practices of pagan religions. Those who disobeyed would be cut off from their people, indicating a serious separation from fellowship with them and with God. Our church has been hearing sermons about the Seven Deadly Sins and while the pastors tell why these sins are deadly, they also tell why God’s way is so much better. Like the above example, life with Christ is far superior to cultic and pagan practices. However, sin makes its appeal to temporary pleasures and leads people to think that holiness is no fun. The OT laws focus on the end result of this mistaken idea of what is ‘fun’ by pointing to our Creator who is holy and obviously knows what is best for His Creation. He says:

For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 18:29–30)

This list of abominations is sometimes surprising. Sadly, most if not all of them are commonly considered ‘not a big deal’ in today’s world yet whenever someone says that the ‘world is going to hell in a handbasket’ usually has one or more of this list in mind. They include:

Disrespect for mother and father, ignoring Sabbath rest, worship and creating idols, oppressing or robbing others, holding back wages, abusing deaf or blind people, partial to the poor or the great, unrighteous judgment, slander, opposing your neighbor, hatred of others, revenge, bearing grudges, eating flesh with blood in it, interpreting omens, fortune-telling, specific haircuts, cutting oneself for whatever reasons, tattoos, seeking out mediums or necromancers, unjust weights and measures, offering children up to false gods, cursing father or mother, adultery, forbidden sexual relations/activities, and the list goes on and on.

Our world is full of these negative and forbidden practices; however the Word of God turns our focus to the opposites, mainly that “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:17–18)

God is not a killjoy; He is the author of joy! Sin makes us too easily satisfied (at least for a short while) with much less than He wants for us. Those who practice any of the above list are totally unaware of the goodness of God in blessing family relationships, our rest and worship, generosity, loving actions toward others, and getting all our needs supplied by the One whose love and care is endless and perfect. He says:

You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. (Leviticus 20:22–24)

Being in the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ gives freedom from the bondage of trying to find lasting joy in anything that cannot last — that can only destroy. Leviticus is not a fun read, but it does point my heart toward Jesus and the freedom I have in His loving care.