Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Hebrews 10:26-31.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 10:26-31 (NIV)
26  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
27  but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
28  Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

On verses 26-31:  There are two schools of interpretation that are worth considering when trying to understand this short passage.  The first and perhaps more mainstream way to interpret this passage is that it is basically repeating what Hebrews 6:4-6 has already said: that if we receive Jesus as Saviour (“receive the knowledge of the truth” (v26)) but later commit apostasy by rejecting Jesus as our Saviour (“deliberately keep on sinning” (v26)), we will not be saved and will end up in a Christ-less hell for eternity.  That’s because we have ultimately rejected the only provision God has made for our sin: Jesus Christ.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Hebrews 10:19-25.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 10:19-25 (NIV)
19  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
20  by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
21  and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22  let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

On verses 19-25:  Here the author of Hebrews reminds us of how Jesus is our great high priest (v21) and how through Jesus’ shed blood and sacrificed body we are able to freely enter God’s holy presence (v19-20).  Starting in verse 22, the writer of Hebrews shows how our relationships both vertically with God and horizontally with others can change when Jesus is in the mix.  In particular, the writer of Hebrews tells us 5 things that we ought to do in response to who Jesus is and what He has done.  Two of those five things are vertically-oriented.  They have to do with our relationship with God: drawing near to God with full assurance of faith even when we sin (v22) and holding on to the hope we have in Jesus even in our toughest times (v23).  

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.”