Tag: Lord

  • Hebrews 10- Come in, Fear not

    Holy of Holies – The Inner Sanctuary

    Dominus autem in templo sancto suo sileat a facie eius omnis terra!

    וַֽיהוָ֖ה בְּהֵיכַ֣ל קָדְשֹׁ֑ו הַ֥ס מִפָּנָ֖יו כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ פ

    The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

    Habakkuk 2:20 VUL, WlC, NIV

    Draw near to meet the LORD

    Hebrews 10:

    8 First he said, “You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings or with animals burned on the altar…

    11 Day after day every priest stands and repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.

    The author of Hebrews brings the Law and well-known ritual of sacrifices of blood on the altar to compare the old and new covenants. He now asks us to approach the LORD in the sanctuary, the Holy Place.

    It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

    Hebrews 10:31 KJV

    He invites us into the Holy of Holies, a place of the presence of the LORD, a place where the priest offers blood sacrifices to cover our sin, a place so holy that only one high priest will enter humbly just once a year.

    Boldness in the Blood of Jesus

    Therefore, be bold, have confidence – fear not.

    Come into the sanctuary, the Holy Place of the Lord. For before you, Christ Jesus has entered with the Perfect Sacrifice as our High Priest – He IS our Perfect Sacrifice by His own Blood.

    We have climbed the holy mountain, entered the courts of the Temple with thanksgiving and sacrifice. And as the Lord’s chosen we have come to this place to worship the Lord. Our High Priest is no longer a sinful man, but Christ; and He invites us to enter the Temple.

    Walk toward the altar of sacrifice, that holiest of places just past the curtain. (For in fact, by the crucifixion of Christ on the Cross the curtain is torn.)

    Hebrews 10:19-39

    So let us come near to God


    22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…

    With sincere hearts sprinkled clean, our evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  By the Blood of Christ, hold firmly to our confession of faith.

    Hold firmly, hold fast without wavering, since He who promised it is faithful.

    To do a good deed

    Here is our action and not our obligation or prescribed work for heaven.

    Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good.

    Hebrews 10:24 GNT

    [CSB] 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other…

    Others in the flock of faith, the congregation of believers, are important. Yet how can the saints encourage each other in Christ if they neglect time together?

    A teacher of the Law asked the Messiah, Christ Jesus, “What is the greatest Commandment?” He responded, ‘love the LORD and love one another.’ Of course the faithful want to love the Lord God, yet the second (a golden rule) often challenges us.

    The writer of Hebrews challenges Christians to incite each other to agape love AND good deeds. It is a personal love of others to do God’s good will. And he cautions of the Day when all will be judged.

    Jesus had warned: “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.” – Matthew 24:12 NLT

    Justified or Judged?

    Even in the first century followers of The Way often detoured in their own way. The love of some in the beginning of these last days had already grown cold.

    Sinners in Zion are terrified;
    Trembling has seized the godless.
    “Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
    Who among us can live with continual burning?”

    33:14 פָּחֲדוּ בְצִיֹּון חַטָּאִים אָחֲזָה רְעָדָה חֲנֵפִים מִי יָגוּר לָנוּ אֵשׁ אֹוכֵלָה מִי־יָגוּר לָנוּ מֹוקְדֵי עֹולָֽם׃

    Isaiah 33:14


    Warning against Deliberate Sin

    Heb. 10:26 [NKJV] For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

    HELL! even for one who has accepted Christ, but turns away.

    [CSB] 28 Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy…29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

    Scriptural support

    Once again the writer of Hebrews quotes familiar Old Testament scripture to support his teaching of a new and better covenant he introduced in chapter 8.

    30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

    Deuteronomy

    32:35  לִ֤י נָקָם֙ וְשִׁלֵּ֔ם לְעֵ֖ת תָּמ֣וּט רַגְלָ֑ם כִּ֤י קָרֹוב֙ יֹ֣ום אֵידָ֔ם וְחָ֖שׁ עֲתִדֹ֥ת לָֽמֹו׃

    Habakkuk

    2:4 הִנֵּה עֻפְּלָה לֹא־יָשְׁרָה נַפְשֹׁו בֹּו וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתֹו יִחְיֶֽה׃

    Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. – KJV

    Remember the early days

    32 … you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.

    35 So don’t lose your confidence, since it holds a great reward for you. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will you can receive what he has promised.

    37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.. 38 My righteous people, however, will believe and live..

    We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved.

    Hebrews 10:39 GNT
    To be continued...
  • Give Thanks to the Lord – Psalm 136 & Psalm 95

    Give Thanks to the Lord – Psalm 136 & Psalm 95


    His faithful love endures forever.

    Psalm 136

    I don’t know about you, but once again Thanksgiving seems to be upon us as a prerequisite observance preceding the rush of the Christmas holidays. Some would observe in political correctness, ‘the holiday season,’ which promoted for lights in darkness and gifts seemingly endures forever.

    menorah Knesset

    I have previously mentioned this hustle and bustle of black Friday having overtaken the archaic imagery of worshiping pilgrims. Yet each year’s commercial focus on a relatively minor Jewish holiday and formerly insignificant Christian observance grows more and more into a worship of our prosperity (for which we give thanks).


    Puritans forbade Christmas, considering it too pagan. Governor Bradford actually threatened New Englanders with work, jail or fines if they were caught observing Christmas.

    Christianity.com

    Perhaps our 17th century Puritan forefathers, who celebrated on this uniquely American Thanksgiving holiday, weren’t so far from the truth of this holiday season. For these brief days provide little rest and even less thanks.

    Thanks giving in two Psalms

    Set aside your devices and distractions for a moment as you gather together with family and you will see much bounty, a recurring theme for America and also Israel of the Psalms and Scripture.

    Who will you thank?

    Your host and hostess? Sure. Or maybe family who have made this gathering possible? Perhaps. Yet the thanks giving of those faithful to the Lord is always to God.

    No book better expresses our worship, our praises, and singing with joy to the LORD than Psalms, which is the hymnal of Jewish and Christian worship.

    One simple form of praising God for the worshipers is to simply repeat a single phrase, when the worship leader praises the LORD. One example of several with thanksgiving of the worshipers for God is Psalm 136.

    You could give thanksgiving to God right now simply by repeating your response out loud after reading every praise of the Psalm [linked below].

    Psalm 136

    Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. [136:1 הֹודוּ לַיהוָה כִּי־טֹוב כִּי לְעֹולָם חַסְדֹּֽו׃]

    His faithful love endures forever. OR 

    For His mercy endures forever. OR

    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

    Different translations all reinforce God’s love in our response of worship to the LORD. The Psalmist praises God in many ways:

    v.4 He alone does great wonders.

    v.7 He made the great lights

    v.23 He remembered us in our humiliation

    25 Who giveth food to all flesh:

    for his mercy endureth for ever.

    26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven:

    for his mercy endureth for ever.


    King James Version (KJV)

    This is giving thanks as the Pilgrims of America’s founding would have given to God – not only on this holiday, but also in other worship.

    Thanks is often a theme of worship, therefore thanking God is the first fruits of harvest for believers of all faiths who landed in this new world.

    Yet we have forgotten the lessons of the Lord — He who has preserved us for bounty and blessings of a new land.

    Are we so unlike those who worshiped the Lord before, yet then neglected to thank their Provider?

    Psalm 95

    Worship 

    Come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord,
    shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation!

    Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us shout triumphantly to him in song.

    Psalm 95 CSB

    For the Lord is a great God,
    a great King above all gods.

    If the LORD is God, then as worshipers giving God thanks, what must we do?

    Hear this caution from the Psalm, that we might not give our thanks lightly, forgetting the worship of Almighty God our Creator.

    6 Come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
    7 For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the sheep under his care.

    The Psalmist then reminds worshipers of those who had previously turned from the Lord.

    Warning

    Today, if you hear his voice:
    8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
    as on that day at Massah in the wilderness
    9 where your fathers tested me;
    they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

    Psalm 95, referring to exodus 17:17

    Wilderness of the Negev 

    Meribah מְרִיבָה means testing and is the place where the Hebrews escaping Egypt tested the Lord, rather than giving thanks to the Lord. And Massah מַסָּה means quarreling, the politics of an ungrateful saved people in the wilderness.

    The Lord saved many who had fled to the New World from persecution and death in the seventeenth century. The Pilgrims and others gave God thanks for this. Yet the Psalmist reminds worshipers to not harden our hearts.

    Those escaping to a new land had far to go and much to learn of community, about authority and of thankfulness. Because of their testing and quarreling, the promise of the Lord would not be fulfilled in their generation.

    Therefore let us heed these cautions of the Psalmist in our attitude of thanks to the Lord. Even today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

    10 For forty years I was disgusted with that generation;
    I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray;
    they do not know my ways.”
    11 So I swore in my anger,
    “They will not enter my rest.”

     Would you enter the eternal rest of the Lord? Do you thank the Lord this day?

    We will have more to say of this rest in our Lord after this holiday of Thanks giving.

  • A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Commandments and more

    Moses Descends With Commandments of the Lord

    Moses has before saved Israel from destruction, but this time  an angry Lord God could have justly killed these covenant-breaking Hebrews, who heard the Commandments of the LORD God! 

    Do you recall how when Israel had first heard the voice of the Lord speaking the Commandments to them how they feared the Lord?

    Previously, in Exodus 19:

    9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.”

    14 Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them… 

    16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

    18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

    Just imagine what it must have been like for those consecrated and gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai before the LORD. 

    Exodus 20:

    Then God spoke all these words:

    This is superscript preceding the Ten Commandments. THE LORD SPEAKS!

    Yet It ought to be enough that the Commands, whatever they may be, come directly from the Voice of the Lord, Who begins:

    2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

    The Ten Commands are specific, spoken directly to this Hebrew audience with the LORD GOD. And these Commandments of which many of us know only a few also become foundation for Law.

    Would you claim any law as inviolable? And does a foundational principle given by our Creator not perfectly define justice for all mankind, even to this day?

    Consider the Commandments here as translated from their Hebrew root words (linked to Strong’s Concordance in the Blue Letter Bible).

    TEN WORDS עִבְרִית

    20:3 לֹֽא יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל־פָּנָֽיַ

    20:4 לֹֽא תַֽעֲשֶׂה־לְךָ פֶסֶל וְכָל־תְּמוּנָה אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וַֽאֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ מִתַָּחַת וַאֲשֶׁר בַּמַּיִם מִתַּחַת לָאָֽרֶץ

    20:5 לֹֽא־תִשְׁתַּחְוֶה לָהֶם וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם כִּי אָֽנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֵל קַנָּא פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבֹת עַל־בָּנִים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִים לְשֹׂנְאָֽי׃

    20:6 וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לַאֲלָפִים לְאֹהֲבַי וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מִצְוֹתָֽי׃ ס

    20:7 לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת־שֵֽׁם־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לַשָּׁוְא כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה יְהוָה אֵת אֲשֶׁר־יִשָּׂא אֶת־שְׁמֹו לַשָּֽׁוְא׃ פ

    20:8  זָכֹור אֶת־יֹום הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשֹֽׁו

    20:9 שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּֽעֲבֹד וְעָשִׂיתָ כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ

    20:10 וְיֹום הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבָּת לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹֽא־תַעֲשֶׂה כָל־מְלָאכָה אַתָּה וּבִנְךָֽ־וּבִתֶּךָ עַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָֽתְךָ וּבְהֶמְתֶּךָ וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ

    20:11 כִּי שֵֽׁשֶׁת־יָמִים עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּם וַיָּנַח בַּיֹּום הַשְּׁבִיעִי עַל־כֵּן בֵּרַךְ יְהוָה אֶת־יֹום הַשַּׁבָּת וַֽיְקַדְּשֵֽׁהוּ׃ ס

    20:12 כַּבֵּד אֶת־אָבִיךָ וְאֶת־אִמֶּךָ לְמַעַן יַאֲרִכוּן יָמֶיךָ עַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָֽךְ׃ ס

    20:13 לֹא תִּרְצָֽח׃ ס

    20:14 לֹא תִּנְאָֽף׃ ס

    20:15 לֹא תִּגְנֹֽב׃ ס

    20:16 לֹֽא־תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָֽׁקֶר׃ ס

    20:17 לֹא תַחְמֹד בֵּית רֵעֶךָ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ וְעַבְדֹּו וַאֲמָתֹו וְשֹׁורֹו וַחֲמֹרֹו וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃ פ

    I invite you to study the translation below and where you question a 21st c. English wording of the Commandments to study the linked Hebrew.

    TEN WORDS – ENGLISH EQUIVALENT 

    1. You shall have no other gods before GOD
    2. You shall not create man-made dead art (idols) of the LIVING GOD. Do not bow in worship to idols, and do not serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ guilt of immorality, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate the LORD GOD, and showing mercy to thousands of them who love me and who keep my Commandments.
    3. Do not say, ‘Lord God,’ lightly without meaning or with deceptive intention; for THE EXISTING ONE will not hold guiltless any who take his name in vain.
    4. Recall the sabbath to keep it holy. Labor and do all your work in six days, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work; you, your family, servants, working animals or guests within your gates.
    5. Give weight to consideration of the significance of your father and your mother, that your days may grow long on the earth your Lord God gives you.
    6. Do not murder.
    7. Do not be unfaithful to your husband, your wife or the Lord God.
    8. Do not steal.
    9. You shall not answer testifying with lies, deception or inaccuracy against friend, companion, fellow citizen or other.
    10. Do not desire the house, wife, servant, work animals or anything belonging to your friend, companion, fellow-citizen or another.

    Reaction and Response to Receiving God’s Commandments

    Israel, therefore, responded differently to the LORD each time the Commandments were given.

    First, the Lord spoke the Commandments within hearing of all the Hebrew people. And what was their response?

    Exodus 20:

    18 All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses,

    “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

    20 Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not[c] sin.”

    21 And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was.


    What next?

    Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”

    And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. – Exodus 24:3-4

    12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

    16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud. 17 The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop.

    18 Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

    After the Stone Tablets

    We now return to where we left off previously in The Ten Commandments to Moses’ second return in Exodus 34.

    Moses’s Radiant Face

    29 As Moses descended from Mount Sinai—with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain—he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord

    30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone! 

    They were afraid to come near him. 

    31 But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. 

    33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out.

    After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 and the Israelites see Moses’s face, that the skin of his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.

    Response to Moses’ giving of the Law

    Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the Lord… Exodus 35:21a

    After their earlier rebellion by worship of the golden calf, Israel finally yields to the Lord. (Yet their obedience will remain situationally spurious.) Their exodus continues from Sinai to the Jordan. Yet first the Lord commands the making of a traveling place of worship, a Tabernacle and place of meeting.

    Leviticus further outlines worship and duties of priests exclusively assigned to the descendants of Levi. Moses’ five books move on to Numbers, the Hebrew title is Bemidbar or “In the Wilderness” (rbdmb) (of Sinai?). Because we cannot dwell on additional important moral direction given by the Lord in these books, I only mention them here. However any look at the Commandments would be incomplete without consideration of Moses’ final book of Deuteronomy.

    Deuteronomy

    We would do well to remember that Moses’ life may be simply summarized in three parts of dual generations. Moses was born as a Hebrew slave, but raised in the palace of Pharaoh with great favor until age forty.

    He then was forced to flee to Midian, where he raised a family until age eighty. Finally, and most amazingly, most everything we read in the Books of Moses takes place between the ages of eighty and one hundred and twenty.

    Some of the record of Deuteronomy was no doubt recorded in writing by Moses’ assistant and successor, Joshua.

    Deuteronomy also reconfirms the Commandments and makes reference to them more than forty times.

    Call to Obedience

    “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 

    We will defer a look at statutes and ordinances to a later post in this series. Before we once again point to the Ten Commandments, just one brief glance:

    8 And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

    The Lord chose Israel as example of His righteous leading to the nations whose redemption will come later in Christ Jesus.

    Deuteronomy 5:

    Moses summoned all Israel and said to them… 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb…

    6 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery…

    7 Do not have other gods besides me…

    (and nine more)

    Have you considered God’s Commandments and how you must apply them to your life and relationships? For the Lord our God is a personal and loving Creator of all things and Judge of all men.

    32 “Be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.


    To be continued…