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Hebrews 10:5-7, Psalm 40

Jesus is the Meal!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 5, 2020

Verse 4 of Hebrews chapter ten ends with the thought that the blood of bulls and goats could never cleanse our consciences of our guilt and shame. We can cover our sin with them for a short time but then must repeat the process over and over again. These offerings do not give God any pleasure at all. They are merely pictures of the one true offering that Christ will make to bring in the new order. Many of us still live under the old order. We come week after week to church and are reminded of our failure to measure up in a wide variety of ways. Then we offer our sacrifices of service, money, prayers and songs only to leave knowing we’ll be back the next week to do the same thing over again. We fall into this routine and forget that God does not take pleasure in this. Hebrews 10:5-7 says, “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.’ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

The offerings under the old system were simply the “shadows” of the real thing. Christ and his offering is the one and only necessary sacrifice for man’s sin. Yet even today we are so hooked on our religion and its rituals we cannot let them go and trust Jesus. David Guzik quotes William Newell and asks us a profound question, “For example, you need a load of wood: you go to the wood man, and he takes you to a large oak tree in the far corner of the lot. Pointing to the long shadow it casts, he offers to sell you this shadow. Will you take it? Now, if God says that in the Law there was a shadow, not even the very image of the things—and of course, not the things themselves, why will you hold to the shadow?”[1]

To confront religious people with the inadequacy of their religion is dangerous. Jesus was crucified. Paul was whipped, stoned and imprisoned. Stephen was martyred as were thousands after him. What made Jesus’, Paul’s and Stephen’s messages so offensive was the fact that they quoted the religious experts own scriptures to prove their point. This is what the writer of Hebrews has done in Hebrews 10:5-7. He quotes from Psalm 40 to show prophetically that God’s intention was to resolve man’s sin issue not through the blood of bulls and goats but through the sacrifice of His own son who satisfies for us all our debt to God for our sin. Another commentator compares the two by speaking of the difference between the recipe and the meal. He writes, “It would be foolish indeed to prefer reading a cookbook to eating a good meal when one is hungry. Not that there is anything wrong with reading a cookbook—it can be very enlightening—but it is not very nourishing! Yet some of the original readers of Hebrews were doing something very much like that. They preferred to content themselves with the externals of faith—such as the law, the Aaronic priesthood and animal offerings—and to ignore the fulfillment of these things in the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. They wanted the cookbook rather than the meal!”[2]

[1] David Guzik, Hebrews, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Heb 10:1–4.

[2] Ray C. Stedman, Hebrews, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1992), Heb 10:1.

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Hebrews 10:1-4

In Jesus we are forgiven!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 5, 2020

In Chapter 10, the writer of Hebrews repeats some of his previous thoughts concerning the superiority of Jesus’ sacrifice to those offered under the old religious system. Verses 1-4 say, “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The primary point seems to be the repetitive nature of the sacrifices under the law versus the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus. Pfeiffer writes, “The worshiper who brought his sacrifice to the Tabernacle or the Temple did not leave with the thought that his problems were solved. He had performed the prescribed rite, but he carried with him a continuing consciousness of sin. He knew it would be necessary to return again and again. The guilt of sin lay heavy on the sinner.”[1]

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kipper, was a day that came every year over and over. It served not to remove guilt, shame and sin, but to temporarily cover them up. Everyone knew they would have to come back next year. Long writes, “…the whole Day of Atonement ritual, repeated annually, is like a sledgehammer to the human spirit, pounding away year after year after year with its constant battering away on the theme of sin. In other words, it does not work to heal; it works only to drub it into us that we are sinful, sinful, sinful—guilty, and unacceptable to God.”[2] Unfortunately many Christians today have their own day of atonement every Sunday when they go to church. Here’s how Long finishes his comments: “Often churches are far more effective in preaching sin than they are in proclaiming grace. Sunday after Sunday, month after month, year after year, sermon after sermon beats out the message of sin. Every Sunday is the “Day of Atonement,” but sadly an atonement we must accomplish for ourselves. The sacrifices placed on the altar are those of the unfortunate congregation who have come to be told one more time that they do not measure up and, because this is the constant theme, become convinced they will never measure up.”[3]

What a shame that many pulpits focus on our failure to measure up rather than on the fact the Jesus has measured up for us. Christianity becomes just another religion of trying harder, doing more and repeatedly repenting with our sacrificial offerings every week. Thomas Long sees the book of Hebrews as a sermon and often refers to the writer as “The Preacher.” He believes the main point of the sermon is in Christ you are forgiven once and for all. He writes, “The Preacher is driving home the central claim of the sermon, and one could think of this section as a repeated assurance of pardon: ‘In Jesus Christ you are forgiven; in Jesus Christ you are forgiven; in Jesus Christ, I tell you, you are forgiven.’”[4]

[1] Charles F. Pfeiffer, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1962), 77.

[2] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 101.

[3] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 102.

[4] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 101.

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Hebrews 9:27-28, John 14:1-3

Jesus’ Sacrifice is sufficient!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 30, 2020

Ecclesiastes 3 begins by saying, “There is a time for every purpose under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die.” The writer of Hebrews affirms this truth in 9:27-28. He writes, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so 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.” This simple statement denies the doctrine of reincarnation as professed in some eastern religions. Guzik explains, “Though it was not really the point of the writer to the Hebrews to discuss reincarnation, he certainly and completely denies it here. We do not die and live and die and live, facing an eternal reckoning some number of lives down the road. This life is it, and then we face judgment.”[1] Once we are separated from our bodies, we leave this physical realm of constant change in which we are born and enter into the spiritual realm of a stable reality unchanging and unchangeable. When we breach the spiritual realm at our death there is an accounting for our sin, a judgment.

But Christ has already entered eternity for us having taken care of God’s judgment on our sin by taking them upon himself and paying the penalty we all deserve for our failure in time. He has satisfied God’s wrath over our sin. He has accomplished that on the cross and ascended into heaven with his offering on our behalf to God who accepts it unconditionally and receives Jesus and seats him at his own right hand, the highest place of honor. When Jesus returns he isn’t returning to deal with our sins again. He’s already permanently resolved our sin issues. He’s coming back just as He promised to bring us home. In John 14:1-3 he made this clear, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

The whole of chapter 9 of Hebrews deals with what has been accomplished for believers through Christ’s work on the cross. The sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for you and me. The blood of bulls and goats won’t save anyone but the blood of Christ washes away our sins. No one has explained this better than William Cowper in his famous hymn. He writes:

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains.

 

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day;

And there may I, though vile as he,

Wash all my sins away.

[1] David Guzik, Hebrews, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Heb 9:23–28.

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Hebrews 9:25-26, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Jesus puts sin away forever!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 30, 2020

Jesus existed in eternity past in loving fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Becoming obedient even to the point of his death on the cross, Jesus humbled himself and although he was sinless, took upon his being the sin of all mankind and offered himself as a sacrifice on our behalf. He left the Father’s side and was born into this world and lived, suffered, and died on the cross. He then rose from the dead and ascended back into heaven to resume his place beside the Father. He did this once and for all. There will be no repeat of such a sacrifice. Hebrews 9:25-26 says, “Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

Things in the physical realm are subject to passing time and change. Everything experiences a beginning, growth, decay and an ending. Ecclesiastes makes it clear that in the physical realm it is all about time and change. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 explains the various times and seasons in this physical realm with respect to our lives. “There is a time for every purpose under heaven.” It’s specifically addressing “under” heaven, not “in” heaven. Heaven is the realm above time from which Jesus came. He breached the barrier between time and eternity and accomplished something in time that he carried back to eternity for all believers. “There is a time to be born and a time to die.” The writer of Hebrews will mention this truth later in chapter nine when he reminds us all that “it has been appointed for man once to die” followed by the judgement.

In the physical realm things are changing all the time. “There is a time to plant and a time to harvest. There is a time to laugh and a time to cry. There is a time to embrace and time not to embrace.” These changes only happen in the physical realm. Things in heaven are permanent. Thus in the earthly tabernacle sacrifices have to offered over and over again, year after year, and even day by day. But once accomplished in the spiritual realm that satisfies eternity! It never needs to be offered again because once accomplished, it’s accomplished! God has made it so and God has promised to keep it so. Thus, Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, taken to God in the heavenly sanctuary, suffices for all eternity and keeps us, secures us and maintains our position with God in heaven.  Guzik explains, “Imperfect sacrifices must be repeated continually, but a perfect sacrifice can be made once for all time, and genuinely put away sin (not just cover sin, as with sacrifice under the Old Covenant). The message is clear: He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”[1]

[1] David Guzik, Hebrews, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Heb 9:23–28.

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Hebrews 9:23-24, Exodus 33:22-23, John 14:9

See Jesus is to See God!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 27, 2020

Hebrews 9:23-24 says that the earthly sanctuary and all its instruments are simply illustrations or symbols of what really exists in heaven.  The earthly tabernacle was cleansed with blood but it was the blood of bulls and goats. The heavenly realities require a much better sacrifice. It says, “Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”

The phrase “in the presence of God” in the last part of this passage is more literally translated as “in the face of God.” This is interesting because this would be significant to the Jews. Twice in the book of Exodus when Moses wanted to see God, God allowed him to see only his back as he passed by Moses who was protected by the cleft of the rock.  In Exodus 33:22-23 God explains to Moses, “While my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” According to verse 20 of that passage no one can see God’s face and live. When the High Priest entered into the presence of God in the Most Holy place, he came sprinkling the blood of the sacrifice. When Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary, he came on the basis of his own blood. But Jesus was simply returning to his rightful place beside the Father. In John 1:1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was ‘with’ God.” The Greek phrase “with God” is literally “face to face with God.”

As the High Priest took the blood of the sacrifice into the Most Holy Place on behalf of the people, Jesus returned to his rightful place in heaven with his own blood into the actual presence of God on our behalf. He came to Earth, born of flesh to be as John the Baptist said, “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Stedman says, “The rending of the curtain in the temple at the time of the crucifixion is ample evidence to indicate that the blood shed in the death of Jesus was the moment when full atonement for sin was accomplished.” [1] Like Moses, we can only see God when he passes by us. John says in John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” God, in the person of His Son, passed by over 2000 years ago.  We can see God only when we see Him in Jesus. That’s what Jesus told Phillip when Phillip asked to see God. Jesus said, “If you see me, you see the Father” (John 14:9).

[1] Ray C. Stedman, Hebrews, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1992), Heb 9:15.

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Hebrews 9:21-22, 1 Peter 1:19

The Precious Blood of Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 27, 2020

The writer of Hebrews tells us that everything associated with the sacrificial system had to be purified with blood. It’s on the basis of the blood of the sacrifice that forgiveness can be extended. Without blood there can be no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:21-22 says, “And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” A lamb was sacrificed after the first sin from which God made clothes for Adam and Eve. Sheep had become the standard sacrificial animal in the Old Testament. This is why shepherds were involved at the pronouncement of Jesus’ birth. They were not ordinary shepherds but the ones who watched over the sheep that were raised for sacrifices. When a new born lamb passed inspection as an acceptable offering, it was wrapped in swaddling cloth to protect it. That was a sign that Jesus would be what John the Baptist said he was, “The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

Peter explained that the forgiveness of sin had a price. It was a price that none of us could pay simply because we did not qualify. It had to be a perfect sacrifice. He calls Jesus’ blood precious. In 1 Peter 1:19 he says our forgiveness was purchased at great cost but it wasn’t silver or gold. Instead it was “…with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” Christ’s blood is so precious because of all that it accomplishes on our behalf. Notice these things: 1) Our redemption (Ephesians 1:7), 2) Reconciliation with God (Romans 3:25), 3) It pays our ransom (1 Peter 1:18-19), 4) It washes away our sin (1 John 1:7), 5) It makes forgiveness possible (Hebrews 9:22), 6) It sets us free (Revelation 1:5), 7) It justifies us in spite of our sin (Romans 5:9), 8) It cleanses our consciences (Hebrews 9:13-14), 9) It sets us apart as holy (Hebrews 13:12), 10) Opens the way for us to God (Ephesians 2:13), 11) Gives us peace with God (Colossians 1:19-20), 12) Provides power to live by (Revelation 12:11) and many more as well.

Guzik says, “The shedding of blood was absolutely essential for the remission of sin. Guzik writes, “This is a foundational principle of God’s dealings with men. Modern people think that sin is remitted (forgiven) by time, by our good works, by our decent lives, or by simply death. But there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, and there is no perfect forgiveness without a perfect sacrifice.”[1]  In conclusion, Hughes writes, “The blood of Christ makes us acceptable to God and makes our presence and praise more acceptable than that of the angels! No angel can call God his Father. To address God as “Abba, Father” is the believer’s privilege alone. No angel was ever purchased by the blood of God’s Son either, but we were!”[2]

[1] David Guzik, Hebrews, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Heb 9:16–22.

[2] R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 238.

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Hebrews 9:19-20, Exodus 24:8

Jesus’ Promise is Unbreakable!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 27, 2020

Every will or testament is inaugurated with blood according to the biblical economy. When God inaugurated the Old Covenant with Moses, it was signed with the blood of the sacrificial animals. Hebrews 9:19-20 says, “For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.’” God promised to “Passover” everyone in Egypt who had applied the blood of the lamb to their doorposts. When the tenth plague came, the first born of every family under the blood signed promise of God were safe. According to the Bible, lambs were the chief sacrificial animal for sins. That began when God offered a lamb and took its skin to make a “covering” (atonement) for Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. When Jesus came into the scene of Hebrew history, John the Baptist declared on several occasions that he was, “The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus blood, however, did more than just take away our sin. According to Hebrews 9:15, Jesus sealed the guarantee of a “promised eternal inheritance.” Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant, or signed it, with his blood at his death as the sacrificial offering for sin. All of the Old Testament covenants were inaugurated, signed or sealed with blood. Being “Hebrews” the readers of this epistle were very familiar with the promises of God and the sealing of covenants with blood. Lenski observes, “Since there was so much use of blood in connection with the Mosaic testament and all that pertained to that testament, how can any of the readers find fault with Christ’s death and blood in connection with the New Testament? They should do the very opposite: appreciate the fact that Christ’s death and blood are infinitely more precious than all the Mosaic sacrifices.”[1]

In Exodus 24:8, when Moses sprinkled the blood on the people he accompanied that act with the words, “Behold, the blood of the covenant.” When Jesus took the cup of wine at the last supper he said, “This is the blood of the New Covenant.”  Kent observed, “These words were strikingly similar to those of Jesus, ‘For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins’ (Matt. 26:28), a similarity of which our author was doubtless well aware.” [2] And Kistemaker says, “Christ shed his blood and thus sealed this new covenant with his blood. His death made the new covenant valid and effective.”[3] Yes, the New Covenant is unbreakable! That’s what Paul told the Galatians as well. One writer put it this way, “Paul was writing to the Galatians who were attempting to improve their standing before God by their own performance.  Somehow they had been deceived into thinking they needed to perform certain religious deeds in order to maintain the covenant, or to receive more value from the covenant.  Paul’s emphatic response to this thinking is, ‘No, No, No!!!’” (See: https://beingunderthenewcovenant.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/the-unbreakable-covenant/)

[1] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the Epistle of James (Columbus, OH: Lutheran Book Concern, 1938), 307–308.

[2] Homer A. Kent Jr., The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1983), 176.

[3] Simon J. Kistemaker and William Hendriksen, Exposition of Hebrews, vol. 15, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 257–258.

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Hebrews 9:16-18, Genesis 15, 22, Jude 24

Secure in Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 27, 2020

Before I could take possession of the house my mother left me in her will, she had to pass away. While she lived, it was hers and remained hers. It was not mine. This truth is introduced as evidence in the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 9:16-18, the author says, “For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.” Hughes observes, “This is true in every culture. A will is activated by the death of the one who made the will, the testator. You may be the stated recipient of a fabulous will that includes millions of dollars, a luxurious apartment, season tickets to the hottest team in town and the Lyric Opera, a villa in Majorca, and a quiver full of Orvis fly rods, but it will do you no good unless the testator dies! Such a fact has provided endless grist for writers from William Shakespeare to Neil Simon.”[1]

Referring to a will, Tanner says, “A death is necessary to activate it. If a biblical covenant is in view, the death would be that of an animal as a substitute for the one ratifying the covenant.”[2] Once that sacrifice was offered, and the blood was sprinkled around and on the participants. This was the guarantee that it would be fulfilled; it was ratified. The Greek word for “covenant” is the same word used for “testament” and “contract.” God ratified his promises to Abraham in Genesis 15 with blood sacrifices as was the custom in the Old Testament economy. He reaffirmed that covenant with Abraham by providing the sacrificial lamb as a substitute for the sacrifice of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. Blood sealed the promises. They were once and for all unbreakable. This is true of a last will and testament for us as well. Girdwood notices, “A person might prepare and sign a legally binding will which names benefactors and assigns an inheritance. Unless changed, it is a promise which will be enforced by law.”[3]

I’m sure there are many instances in the drama of human history where humans have changed their wills at the last minute. But once the blood was shed and the testator died, the will is locked in stone and cannot be changed. Girdwood continues, “Until the testator dies, however, it remains no more than a promise for the future. Only the death of the testator changes the promised inheritance into a legal possession. Until then the will is only a piece of paper.”[4] Jesus’ death is the ratification of the New Covenant. His death, his blood, guarantees that it cannot be changed. This means believers are eternally secure. One website says, “When people come to know Christ as their Savior, they are brought into a relationship with God that guarantees their eternal security. Jude 24 declares, ‘To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy.’ God’s power is able to keep the believer from falling. It is up to Him, not us, to present us before His glorious presence. Our eternal security is a result of God keeping us, not us maintaining our own salvation.” (See https://www.gotquestions.org/eternal-security.html)

 

[1] R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 235.

[2] J. Paul Tanner, “The Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Grace New Testament Commentary, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010), 1068.

[3] James Girdwood and Peter Verkruyse, Hebrews, The College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1997), Heb 9:17.

[4] James Girdwood and Peter Verkruyse, Hebrews, The College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1997), Heb 9:17.

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