Archive for month: November, 2023

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Hebrews 10:1-10.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 10:1-4 (NIV)
1  The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming–not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
2  If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
3  But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,
4  because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
 
On verses 1-4:  Here we find the clearest explanation from the writer of Hebrews as to the reason why the old covenant (established by the law of Moses) needed to be replaced by a new covenant (established by the grace of Jesus):  the old covenant “can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship” (v1).  That’s because the law was just “a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves” (v1).  In other words, the law of Moses, which required the ongoing sacrifice of bulls and goats, was only foreshadowing (pointing forward to) the day that the real lamb of God – Jesus – would come and be sacrificed for our sins.  

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Hebrews 9:15-28.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 9:15-22 (NIV)
15  For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance–now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16  In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it,
17  because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.

On verses 15-22:  During my time practicing law, clients would often ask me to help them write their will.  A will is a legal document where a person spells out what they want to do with their assets and whom they want to gift those assets to as an inheritance when they die.   The person making the will signs it in the presence of witnesses.  All the gifts described in the will do not take effect until that person dies.  That’s why a will is often called a person’s “last will and testament”.  As verse 17 says, “a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.”

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Hebrews 9:1-14.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 9:1-14 (NIV)
1  Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
2  A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.
3  Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
4  which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

On verses 1-14: Verses 1-7 give us a good visual of what worshiping at the tabernacle in the Old Testament looked like. Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, an inner room representing God’s presence. There he would offer the blood of bulls and goats as a sacrifice for his sins and the people’s sins (v7).

As detailed, ornate, and organized as this Old Testament system was, the writer of Hebrews points out an important fact: there was a curtain that separated the people from the Most Holy Place (v3).

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Hebrews 8:1-13.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 8:1-5 (NIV)
1  The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
2  and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
3  Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.
4  If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
5  They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

On verses 1-5:  Here the writer of Hebrews notes that the location where Jesus now serves as our high priest is in heaven (v1-2), while priests who are appointed by the law of Moses serve on earth (v4).  The sanctuary and tabernacle where these earthly priests would serve are an imperfect “copy and shadow of what is in heaven”, while the heavenly sanctuary where Jesus serves is the real thing, “the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not man” (v2).  

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Hebrews 7:20-28.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 7:20-21 (NIV)
20  And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath,
21  but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.'”

On verses 20-21:  In a court of law, before a witness takes the stand, the witness makes a solemn promise, swearing to tell the truth.  This is called an oath.  The oath is meant to show that the person speaking is completely serious and sincere about the words he or she is about to speak and that those who hear can count on what he or she is saying. Likewise, when God spoke words to appoint Jesus as a priest, God swore an oath to show how serious and sincere He was about the pronouncement He was making.