Category Archives: Devotion

Bible Studies, Devotion, Hebrews

Hebrews Chapters 8 & 9

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Bible Study Made  Simple
Title – A Better Ministry A Better Covenant
Teaching – God’s Revelation to Man Shows His great Mercy Towards Us in the High Priesthood of His Son
Simply Broken Out  Summary / Thoughts

Heb 7:26-28 A reminder from Ch 7 that our High Priest is superior by His nature, not just office. How is it that Jesus is perfected? Isn’t He already perfect, as the 2nd person of the Trinity? Hint: Heb 2:10
Heb 8:1-6 The idea presented here is that what we see is only a crude physical manifestation of a reality beyond sin-degraded physical/mental/spiritual capacity. The progression begins in the Old Covenant (Old Testament), manifest in the New Testament through the revelation of Christ, and perfected when we enter into glory, where we can then fully appreciate the reality.This does not just apply to the Temple, although it is an excellent example to illustrate this revealing process,  but our spiritual growth (sanctification) works the same way. Another  example is the revelation of God’s character. Jer 31:34 quoted later in this chapter.
Heb 8:7-12 This revelation about His character includes His foreknowledge that the first covenant would fail because it was made with people who fail (sin) and needed rescue. It was never the intention to be able to “earn a ticket to Heaven” based on keeping the Law.Note that this is a covenant given plainly to the Jews. It is a clear OT/NT reference to a promise my by God in the OT and re-iterated here in the NT, also in Romans chapter 9, and by Paul in Romans 11:1-5, 25.At this point, in verse 11, Bible teachers will be out of a job. Your servant will go fishing.
8:13 This may well be an allusion, a hint of things to come, in the destruction of the Bible shortly after the writing of the book. 2 Cor 5:17

 

Heb 9:1-5 Again foreshadowings of the reality which is ChristHeb 8:7, but the substance is Christ Col 2:17Let’s take a stab at meaning and symbolism: Can it be that the Tabernacle now in Heaven, once on earth, is a type of Christ? Consider its elements:
It was on earth with the Jews, it is now in Heaven as is our Lord.
The golden altar of incense signifying how Christ ever lives to make intercession for us
It is covered around gold over wood, the living Christ in the flesh, wrapped in the majesty of gold.
The golden jar of manna is Jesus, the Bread of Life
The budding rod of Aaron is the symbol of Godly authority
The tables of the covenant are the perfection of the Law solely observed by Christ.
Heb 9:6-7 Once again, the writer drives home the point that the covering sacrifices and rituals are no longer necessary; the work was finished on the cross. “Te telesti” John 19:30. The human condition is such that we tend to fall away from relationship to ritual, in our personal relationships (can anyone say Facebook?), and in our worship, (do you sometimes go through the motions during worship or reading the Bible?). God understands this, and calls us out of ritual back to relationship through pursuing and heeding what He has to tell us through His written document.
Heb 9:8-10   This speaks as the Tabernacle was still standing, and previously that the Old Covenant was about to be done away with, signifying perhaps the imminent destruction of the Temple.People try to tear down the goodness of the Law and the Bible mockingly by pointing out obscure parts of it like two different kinds of cloth were not to be interwoven.The Law had three parts, the moral law (for instance, the 10 Commandments  eco 20:1-ft, Lev 19:18), civil law (for instance Lev 25:8-55 ), and ceremonial law (for instance Exo 25:10). This passage testifies that the ceremonial part of that law is about (and now is) done away with.
Heb 9:11-14 So, what ARE the “good things to come?Jesus entered, He offered, He obtained. What are the differences between He and the OT high priest?The annual sacrifices were a reminder to the people that they were sinners, who needed continual sacrifices to cover their sins. When Jesus comes, not only is the sin taken away, but our consciences are cleansed.
Heb 9:15-22 Titles of the Holy Spirit (see below)Testaments is best understood as a will. A will doesn’t take effect until somebody dies.
Heb 9:23-28 The shadows, the copies are the inferior representation of the actual, which is Jesus in Heaven, not high priest in tabernacle.

 

The Tabernacle of Moses

Memory Verse – One verse you have set to memory.“It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” – Heb 9:27

Application – How will you live out what you have learned?
I will look to see where my life has become ritual and turn back to relationship.

Conversation, Devotion

What Are You About?

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It is a conundrum; you may say it’s a tempest in a teapot, but it produces quite a lot of angst, for this reporter. You see, ultimately, it is our goal, yours and mine, to set our beloved country to rights. And how best to do that. We believe the promise and belief in the person promising is the only true solution, the tenets of sacred Scripture, specifically, the promise made to Solomon made 3,000 years ago. We happen to think that God Almighty is good for His promises, and His great Communication, the Bible, is true and sure.

If you disagree, then there isn’t really any point in your staying on the site, perhaps for a good laugh and a pathetic joke; so be it. Really, this place isn’t for you. Enjoy the day.

OK, the rest of us need to make a decision: is America worth returning to her Judeo-Christian roots? Yes, no, maybe so. All right, that’s a starting point. If you count yourself a Christian, may I ask another uncomfortable question? Ready? Do you take the Bible seriously?

“Of course I do, what kind of idiot question is that!?”

An honest one. Really, it isn’t meant to get your hackles up. Let me rephrase the question. Do you think God is good on His promises to YOU? Really. There’s some pretty big ones in there.

Can God give you unreasonable peace? Philippians says so.

Can God free you from want? David says so.

Can God give you rest from your burdens? Jesus says so.

Can God provide for and fulfill way beyond your wildest dreams? Paul says so.

John Morris of ICR once quipped, “If you can believe the first sentence of the Bible, the rest is pretty easy to believe.” If then believe that the Bible is true, and God is able to make and keep great promises, do we then labor to restore America to her great spiritual  heritage (more on that later) by activism, political process and persuasion, or do we abandon the political zealotry and turn solely to God by the promises He made to Solomon and others (more on that too later).

When Jesus came, He presented Himself not as the triumphant Messiah of first century Jewish thinking. We can more clearly see His role as the Lamb of God; and on His return, as righting all wrongs, wiping away every tear, and bringing in the glorious millenial rule on the throne of David. At His first advent, there was no conquering, no admonition to overthrow injustice and ungodliness, save the power of the Gospel to do these noble things as a by-product of the transformed sinner.

So how does the Gospel reconcile itself with the affairs of humanity? How does this “transformation by the renewing of the mind” meet citizen Sam? In his landmark book, The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization, author xyz quotes Speaker of the House (1847-1849) Robert C. Winthrop:

All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.

– Mangalwadi, Vishal (2011-05-10). The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization (p. 353). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Winthrop answers our question, albeit indirectly. It is then, the transformed mind by the renewing power of the Gospel engaged in the practice of godly self-government that renews and revitalizes society. It is neither monastic retreat to the “holy huddle” of self-absorbed ecclesiology, nor the moral conquer of an unwilling society of religious zealotry.

Therefore, we pray, we seek Him, we confess to God our sins, to others our witness, make disciples, and participate as citizens, die to self, and fully rely on His promise.