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Tag: Psalms

Hebrews 12-Grow Not Weary and Lose Heart
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:3 NASB

Endurance for the race

Life wears me out – daily and year to year. My faith fades into a fog of uncertainty as I wonder if the Lord has any use for me at all. I am weary of sin and sinners, my heart broken and soul suffering. How will I endure this marathon of mortal life?

Can you relate to that? Do your days run endlessly with all around you asking you to sprint to their end rather than endure the race of hope to finish?

It was no different for a persecuted church, yet in Christ we have found our Hope and Light to victory over death and the joy of the prize.

The author of Hebrews has just connected a genealogy of Jewish faith where ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now he urges us to continue in Christ by faith.

Lay aside every burden

Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
Psalm 55:22 CSB

Many know well the comfort of our Lord’s invitation to give to Him the great weights of our lives which hold us down.

At that time Jesus said,
“All things have been entrusted to me by my Father.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
excerpt from Matthew 11:25-28

The author of Hebrews has just shown us many witnesses who have gone before us in this long journey of faith. He has provided the evidence.

Hebrews 12:

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.
Hebrews 12:1b-2a CSB

Clear imagery of our remaining days, as well as the persecuted lives of the early Christians to whom the author of Hebrews wrote his letter. We are not in the race alone, but have run it with Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, the many Prophets of God and all the others.

We have received a baton of hope from our forefathers, which we may place gently into the hand of our children by faith. Jesus, the Messiah is our hope of winning the prize joyfully awarded by our Heavenly Father.

Fix your eyes upon Jesus

It bears repeating: Jesus IS our pacesetter. He has run this same race of mortality before us.

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

ἀφοράω – aphoraō
- to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something
He exhorts us to turn away from things that are not part of the race of eternity and fix our eyes on the finisher of our faith.

The once-familiar hymn based on this passage expresses the authors same desire.
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O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.
 
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
  In the light of His glory and grace.
2
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conqu’rors we are!
3
His Word shall not fail you, He promised;
Believe Him and all will be well;
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell! 
```
Do not lose heart

These three verses appear as an introduction to Hebrews 12, but they comprise the heart of the author’s conclusion continuing in chapter 13.

3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.

Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Our race is not ended, but Christ our Redeemer assures our victory!

Striving against Sin

Have your forgotten the exhortation, the admonition and encouragement of scripture?

Proverbs 3:11 Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son,
and do not loathe his discipline;
12 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

Are you an obedient son or daughter of God our Father? The author of Hebrews continues with the example of earthly fathers. They discipline their child because the love them. It’s just for a few days, but God’s discipline to our holiness ‘yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.’

Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees…
Hebrews 12:12 CSB

Walk the straight and narrow so that your woundedness may be healed.

ἁγιασμός – Sanctification

We are all broken though perhaps we have not yet shed blood for the sake of God. Our lives, disjointed by the sin that surrounds, wander the paths of unrighteousness.

What is needed? How will a sinner like me ever get to the holiness required of heaven?

The writer of Hebrews will continue to chastise us as a loving father when we continue in chapter 12.

To be continued…
February 19, 2019
Hebrews 10- Sacrifice and Offering
Offering on the Altar

I waited patiently for the LORD;
40:6 זֶ֤בַח וּמִנְחָ֨ה לֹֽא־חָפַ֗צְתָּ אָ֭זְנַיִם כָּרִ֣יתָ לִּ֑י עֹולָ֥ה וַ֝חֲטָאָ֗ה לֹ֣א שָׁאָֽלְתָּ׃

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

Psalm 40:6 Masoretic Text; NKJV

The Perfect Sacrifice

The author of Hebrews states that in Christ we have a High Priest who does not need to repeatedly make offering and sacrifice. Therefore, the sacrificial blood of the Messiah on the Cross represents a new and better covenant.

Once again, he logically makes his case supported by the evidence of well-known scripture.

Hebrews 10:

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. ²Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

He refers to the many rules and regulations of sacrifice and offering prescribed in the Mosaic law. Moses gave us a law of better things to come, a mere shadow of true worship. When we finally make the perfect sacrifice, becoming completely purified before the Lord, wouldn’t we then stop making more sacrifices? Wouldn’t our guilt be left covered?

Sin remains in the shadow sacrifice of the Law, because the blood of bulls and goats cannot cleanse sin perfectly.

We have awaited a Messiah.. patiently.. a High Priest Perfect for all time. From
a thousand years before, the writer quotes David’s well known Psalm 40:

Patience

I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he turned to me and heard my cry for help.
2 He brought me up from a desolate pit,
out of the muddy clay,
and set my feet on a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.

Think of this hope in the hearts of faithful Jews when the writer reminds us:

6 You do not delight in sacrifice and offering;
you open my ears to listen.
You do not ask for a whole burnt offering or a sin offering.
7 Then I said, “See, I have come;
in the scroll it is written about me.
Psalm 40:6-7A CSB

‘The Lord is trying our patience,’ they must have thought as Rome dominated their land, their city and culture. We wonder why the Lord has not blotted out evil and accepted faithful worshipers only – faithful in these last days.

Those receiving this letter in the first century would have known the next verses of the Psalm as well. The writer of Hebrews continues:

Hebrews 10:9 [quote of Psalm 40] he then says, See, I have come to do your will.

He takes away the first to establish the second.

The author’s firm reason taken in the second half of verse 9 compare the old and new covenants. He then follows this statement of God’s will with:

By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
Hebrews 10:10 CSB

The priest of their shadow sacrifices stands imperfectly at the altar day after day.

¹²But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

Testimony of the Holy Spirit

Then the writer of Hebrews then adds even more support from Scripture.

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after he says:

16 This is the covenant I will make with them
after those days,

the Lord says,
I will put my laws on their hearts
and write them on their minds
Hebrews 10:16 quote from Jeremiah 31

Jeremiah by Michaelango

A new covenant – ” Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—

The writer of Hebrews appeals to scripture of the prophet Jeremiah, 600 years before Christ, for support of the New Covenant where sacrifice and offering will no longer be required.

He concludes:

18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

Enter the Sanctuary through the Blood of Jesus

Several editors of Hebrews take different directions for labeling the next section of chapter 10, which we will examine in my next post. Again the author quotes scripture known to faithful Jews as he pursues the argument for the Messiah Jesus.

Note just a few headings for the section to come:
- How We Should Live? – ISV
- Hold Fast Your Confession – NKJV
- Exhortations to Godliness – CSB
- The Full Assurance of Faith – ESV
- Let Us Come Near to God – GNT
All, thoughtful considerations of scriptural application to our lives. If you would like to take a preview, take it from the Greek in verse 19.

10:19 ἔχοντες οὖν ἀδελφοί παρρησίαν εἰς τὴν εἴσοδον τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ αἵματι Ἰησοῦ
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To be continued...
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February 11, 2019
Hebrews 5- Christ a High Priest
וְהַכֹּהֵן֩ הַגָּדֹ֨ול מֵאֶחָ֜יו אֲֽשֶׁר־יוּצַ֥ק עַל־רֹאשֹׁ֣ו שֶׁ֤מֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה֙ וּמִלֵּ֣א אֶת־יָדֹ֔ו לִלְבֹּ֖שׁ אֶת־הַבְּגָדִ֑ים אֶת־רֹאשֹׁו֙ לֹ֣א יִפְרָ֔ע וּבְגָדָ֖יו לֹ֥א יִפְרֹֽם׃
“‘The high priest – who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments – must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments.
Leviticus 21:10 WLC NET

The High Priest – a greater man

If you have been following this series on the book of Hebrews you may already be thinking, ‘he just talked about the high priest in Hebrews 3.’ It’s obviously an office of great importance, but what more can be said by the author of Hebrews?

High Priest in Holy of Holies

In fact, even though we don’t necessarily revere an anointed priest above priests (or a bishop above bishops) as any more relevant to religion than any man, the LORD established an authority to come closer to Him on behalf of the congregation.

Therefore the writer continues to make a connection between the high priest and Christ not only here, but also later in Hebrews 7 and 8. The priest and high priest are more than just anointed offices of the Temple and church.

Hebrews 5 :

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
Hebrews 5:1 CSB

We don’t really think of a priest in this way anymore, do we?

Yet if we are not able to stand before the Living God, who can?

And, in fact, if the Lord anoints a man to ‘offer both gifts and sacrifices’ for our sins, who should he be?

So why do we need a priest? The writer of Hebrews reminds us:

2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness.

Think of one of your many sins. Would you want someone who will deal with your punishment and correction gently? And do you hope this intercessor between you and Almighty God in his own weakness will have compassion for you?

Of course. And he continues:

3 Because of this, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people.

Therefore any intercessor for our sins must also offer a personal sacrifice for his own sins. We cannot hide our sins from God. Perhaps the priest and high priest will be even more fearful coming before the judgement seat than you or me.

4 No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.

Scripture points to Christ as our High Priest

5 In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him,

You are my Son;
today I have become your Father,
Hebrews 5:5, Psalm 2

The writer of Hebrews adds:

You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.

He speaks not only of the high priest anointed for an appointed time, but of an order of priests before Levi, referring to Melchizedek to whom Abraham gave sacrifices to present to the LORD. (He will elaborate in later chapters.) The priests descended from Israel’s son, Levi, are only human.

“Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them to the priest Aaron to assist him.

Numbers 3:6

The Son Intercessor

Scriptural reference to Biblical quotes from Genesis and Psalms point to the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, as a first born Priest, even Most High above every High Priest.

Who is this Son?

His praises are sung by King David in Psalm 110, where His heart is revealed to those who know scripture.

Psalm 110:

110 לְדָוִ֗ד מִ֫זְמ֥וֹר נְאֻ֤ם יְהוָ֨ה׀ לַֽאדֹנִ֗י שֵׁ֥ב לִֽימִינִ֑י עַד־אָשִׁ֥ית אֹ֝יְבֶ֗יךָ הֲדֹ֣ם לְרַגְלֶֽיךָ׃

This is the declaration of the Lord
to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Examine part of verse 3: רֶחֶם rechem מִשְׁחָר mishchar; from the womb of the dawn.

The root word of womb, רָחַם, means to love, to have compassion or be compassionate.

Can you find any better description of the Son of the Living God?

And to say from the womb of the dawn may be metaphorical for the dawn of time, the beginning of light, but also derives from another Hebrew root, שָׁחַר, ‘to seek, seek early or earnestly, look early or diligently for.’ Is this not what the Messiah has done for sinful, yet faithful followers?

He was with God in the beginning. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:2,4,11, 14 CSB

The writer refers to Jesus in Hebrews 5:7-10 speaking of His earthly life, yet comparing Him to Melchizedek.

Our immaturity in Scripture

Then a challenge. Do you know your Bible?

Essentially, this is our consideration of the remainder of Hebrews 5.

“…you have become too lazy to understand. 12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. “

Of course, this may not apply to all, yet he chastens most of the congregation. And doesn’t it sound so much like our 21st century ‘too long, but not too deep’ sermons?

Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.
But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.
Hebrews 5:13-14

Now which are you, beloved brother or sister in Christ, dear friend and heir of our Hebrew heritage?

Are you lazy for milk or hungry for the mature nourishment of Scripture and the holiness of the LORD?
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To be continued...
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January 27, 2019