2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
In yesterday’s message, we looked at how Christ became the fulfillment of the Law by His death on the cross. That is one example of how God keeps His covenant promises. I also believe that Christ is the King Who will eventually return to establish His eternal Kingdom. Therefore, I see His second coming as the fulfillment of the King part of the Abrahamic covenant. Because, His permanent Kingdom will replace all the temporary human ones that have existed throughout history, God will also be fulfilling the land part of the Abrahamic covenant. The old way of looking at the people (nation) part of that same covenant was to say that through Abraham and Isaac, the Jewish nation was established. However, when we look at what has been the subject of my last few messages, that is the “in-grafting” of faithful Gentiles as described in RO 11: 16-24 into the community of believers, we can see that we must consider the Body of Christ, the church, as God’s fulfillment of the people part of the Abrahamic covenant. The barriers have been broken down between Jews and Gentiles by Christ’s death on the cross. God has opened for us the Covenant of Grace to replace the old Covenant of the Law. He did this by means of Christ’s Atonement, and thus, gave many more people the opportunity for salvation and eternal life. Now, that’s a pretty neat plan in my book!
A question might arise: If everything is so wonderful and perfect in heaven, why did God put that old Jewish worship system in place? God’s wisdom about mankind’s readiness to see the truth is unparalleled. He gave us what we could accept at the time. Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I believe that God knew a group of people would over time come to faith and grow in that faith to the point where He could reveal more about the truth to them. That is why I believe God instituted His system of gradual revelation of His mysteries (secrets). I also feel that God knew we would have to live in a world full of hate, evil, and sin until we are perfected to the point where we are ready to be taken up to Him in heaven. So, He prepared Christ to serve in a very special way in addition to teaching us during His earthly incarnation, dying for us on the cross, and sending us the Holy Spirit. One more manifestation of God’s love for His children was to prepare Christ to be our Advocate and Intercessor in heaven. HE 8: 1-2, “The whole point of what we are saying is that we have such a High Priest, Who sits at the right of the throne of the Divine Majesty in heaven. He serves as a High Priest in the Holy of Holies, that is the real Tabernacle that was put up by the Lord, and not by man.”
We can best understand the heavenly Holy of Holies if we see it’s relationship to the one that is familiar to us on earth. HE 8: 5-6, “The work they [Jewish priests who offered gifts required by the Jewish Law in the earthly Tabernacle] do as priests is really only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. It is the same as it was with Moses. When he was about to build the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, God told him, ‘Be sure to make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.’ But now, Jesus has been given priestly work which is superior to theirs, just as the covenant which He arranged between God and His people is a better one, because it is based on promises of better things.” REV 8: 4 helped me to understand what the incense that was burned was all about. “The smoke of the burning incense went up with the prayers of God’s people from the hands of the angel standing before God.” With Christ there to receive our prayers, He could convey them to God and act as our Advocate and Intercessor in doing this. HE 4: 15 lets us know how God prepared Him to do this job so well. “Our High Priest is not One Who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin.” What a wonderful and merciful God prepared Him in keeping one more covenant promise to us! HE 7: 16-17 sheds even more light on this wonderful blessing God has given us. “He was made a priest, not by human rules and regulations, but through the power of a life which has no end. For the Scripture [PS 110:4] says, ‘You will be a priest forever, as the Successor of Melchizedek.’”
One more aspect that makes this covenant promise kept so precious and wonderful is found in HE 7: 19-22, “For the Law of Moses could not make anything perfect. And now a better hope has been provided through which we come near to God. In addition, there is also God’s vow. There was no such vow when the others were made priests. But Jesus became a priest by means of a vow when God said to Him, ‘The Lord has made a vow and will not change His mind: You will be a priest forever.’ This difference, then, also makes Jesus the Guarantee of a better covenant.” It is this new covenant which has come into our lives that is the most remarkable improvement ever seen in them. We should meditate on how having Christ as our Intercessor and Advocate in the heavenly Holy of Holies impacts our individual lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, You are a Promise-keeper. That blesses us beyond our ability to even comprehend. When we ponder over the fact that You gave us Christ’s teaching during His incarnation, His death on the cross to open the way for our salvation, the gift of the Holy Spirit to direct us while undergoing sanctification on earth, and Christ as a perfectly trained Advocate and Intercessor in heaven for us, we are awed by Your compassion and love. Your wisdom leads You to know exactly how much of Your truth You can effectively reveal to us a any point in our history. We who live in faith today are privileged to have access to You through Christ and the blessings of the Covenant of Grace. We also have Your word to show us what came before us and what You reveal now. We acknowledge what we were told by Christ in JN 14: 6, that He is the only way to You. That is why we dedicate ourselves to continuing examination of our lives against the model for Your will for us that He represents and to making the changes necessary to conform to that model. We openly and honestly confess our sin and wish to repent of it. By our lives, our heartfelt wish is that everyone would know that we are His disciples who center our lives around You. You are the Lord of our lives, and we acknowledge that in joy, humility, dedication, and everlasting gratitude. We are Your covenant partners who love You. We bring to Your altar our offer of adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, diligence, honor, glory, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am directed to look at how the new covenant is an improvement over the old one. None of this would be possible without the profound and eternal love of our Father in heaven. This kind of love suffuses our lives every day no matter where we are or what we are doing. He abides in the heart of every believer, and we should abide in Him. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn