2014-10-31
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I answered the Holy Spirit’s direction by beginning to write about why the Covenant of Grace is superior to the Covenant of the Law. Allow me to repeat what I wrote: Like Melchizedek, Christ became a priest “not on the basis of regulation as to His ancestry, but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life” [HE 7: 16]. Now, look at HE 7: 22, “Because of this oath, Jesus has become the Guarantee of a better covenant. (The oath referred to here is found in a section on Jesus being a “Priest forever in the way of Melchizedek.” HE 7: 21 [God speaking], “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind. You are a Priest forever.”). HE 8: 6, 10 compares Jesus’ ministry to that of other high priests. “But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is Mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises…’This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.’” If those words are familiar, they are recalled from JER 31: 33-34 and in other places in the Scriptures. We must remember if something is repeated, it’s important to God, and thus, to us.
Of course, we need to consider what will happen to God’s enemies. This is found in HE 10: 26-27, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” God’s enemies are those who sin serially, rejecting Christ and His teaching. They hate all that is the goodness God has given to us. In addition, they are like the stubborn Pharisees, who refused to believe the truth during their conversations with Christ, Who, in the last week of His earthly life. He tried to convince them that they didn’t understand the content of Biblical truth, but instead, were more concerned with the format of their worship. This is the “way of the written code” over the “way of the Spirit,” referred to in RO 7: 6. Certainly a leader like Nicodemus, who came to Christ in the night to be told that “You must be born again of the water and the Spirit” by Him and believed it, is not an enemy of God [JN 3: 5, 15-16].
One can’t fully appreciate what Christ’s Atonement does for believing mankind without understanding the principle of HE 9: 11-12, 15, and 22. “When Christ came as High Priest of the good things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle that is not man-made, i.e. not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Holy of Holies once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption…For this reason Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant…In fact the law requires that nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. ” His blood shed makes Him our Covenant Partner. This is huge, as it means the heavenly Holy of Holies is open to all who believe in Jesus Christ; they will have everlasting life [RO 3: 24-25; HE 10:10], and moreover, they are eternally forgiven [1 JN 1: 9]. No ordinary human being could have accomplished all of this.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to this truth [HE 8: 10; HE 10: 16; JER 31: 33], and one more amazing truth is revealed in HE 10: 17. God’s words, “Their sin and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Imagine, we get not only redemption and eternal forgiveness, but we also inherit God’s willingness to forget our sinfulness! All we have to do is to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Now, that’s my idea of one audacious blessing arising from one great sacrificial offering by Him! We need to persevere in our efforts to expunge sin from our lives by cooperating with the Lord in His efforts to perfect and purify us [sanctification]. I see this as a great motivation to press on in this respect. HE 10: 19-24, “And since we have a great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God and with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith and having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He Who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” These words from the Bible are so much more delicious, eloquent, and to the point than anything I might have written to say the same thing. In the course of my work with In Search of Shalom, I have tried to find the right things to say to convince our seekers why they should believe in Jesus Christ, so I cite this passage to those who would understand it as often as I can.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have been named our ghHIgHHHHHHHigh Priest forever, and You have been given the authority to make the final Judgment [DN 7: 13-14]. We are blessed that You love us enough to grant us eternal forgiveness for our sins. All we had to do was to genuinely come to and profess our faith in You. You have changed out hearts forever, in keeping with the promise You made, in EZK 36: 26-27, “to remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Yes, Dearest Lord, You truly “transformed us by the renewal of our mind” [RO 12: 2]. You have a unique feature, one not seen in any other god. HE 4: 15, “For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” During Your time on earth, You felt the same pain we feel, You demonstrated the same range of emotion that we do, You know the same losses that we endure. Yet, You did all of this without complaint. Even in Your moment of greatest frustration at being humiliated, scourged, subjected to a kangaroo court, and rejected, You remained silent and took all of this, so that we might have the chance for salvation. For three days, You hung on the cross in the cause of Atonement for our sins, and threw open the heavenly Holy of Holies to anyone who will listen and believe in the truth [JN 3: 16; HE 9: 11-12]. We should not waste the blood You shed for us. That is why we should embrace genuine confession of our sins, willingness to stop sinning, and use our ability to reveal sins, in cooperation with You in continuing sanctification. HE 4: 16, “Let us, then, approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” We thank and praise You for the patient, compassionate, and wise heart You have, for the love You show us every day. We pledge our loyalty and our lives to You, our Covenant Partner, with the intent of being faithfully obedient to You. We are grateful beyond what words can say for hope of the resurrection [2 COR 4: 13-14]. This prayer we offer in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will have a better idea of why our lives are at stake as we consider the consequences of breaking the Covenant of Grace. This is not to frighten us, but to be a warning based on understanding. The Lord’s intent is for us to live happy lives, to be empowered to deal effectively with the challenges the evil one sends, and never to break our resolve to remain faithful to Him. If there is a question about why the Lord Jesus is called the “Mediator,” it is because before we came to faith, we were God’s enemies [RO 5: 90-11]. He appears before the Lord to “plead our cases,” and to intercede on our behalf. Because we remember those sins we committed, we have a contrast between our lives before Christ entered them and afterward. There are also things which we need to know in dealing with the temptations and losses the adversary brings into our lives. Too many of us forget the principle in EPH 1: 18-20, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.” This is the same power Christ has given true believers to battle the devil in His name. When in the belly of the beast, we must remember we have it and be courageous in using it. Then, we too as Christ did in the wilderness [MT 4: 11], can chase the adversary away. Thus, we can prevent him from establishing a stronghold in us. Consider the impact of these blessings-salvation, justification, purification, eternal forgiveness, and eventual glorification—all of which come to us when we are faithfully obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise and thanks forever be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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