Once Means Done

ALL – Psalm 108:1-13
ALL – Proverbs 27:12
OT – Ezekiel 21:1-22:31
NT – Hebrews 10:1-17

Interesting passage for the day: But just the opposite happened: those yearly sacrifices reminded them of their disobedience and guilt instead of relieving their minds. – Hebrews 10:3, The Living Bible

Thought: Christians sometimes use Jesus’ death as a reason to beat themselves up. “It’s my fault. He died in my place. What a jerk I am.”… which may be true, but still. That’s not really the point. Jesus didn’t need to die on the cross to prove what jerks we are. Yes, His death was the only way to take care of the massive debt our sins had piled up. But the Law was enough to prove that we’re sinful. Jesus didn’t need to die on the cross to prove that, or even to get us to mourn our sinfulness. People had already been doing that. Hating and mourning our sin is part of what the sacrificial system was all about.

And the problem was that the mourning under the sacrificial system was perpetual. It wouldn’t stop. It was day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out. The mourning wouldn’t stop because the sin was never fully dealt with. The sacrifices were always necessary. The job was never done. The people could never stop worrying about their sinful condition before God. They were never free of their guilt.

Until Jesus came. And died. Once. Just once. That was all it took. The job was done. The sins were atoned for. The debt was paid. We would never be able to out-sin the atonement that Jesus’ death supplied (not that we’re encouraged to make a run at it).

When we look at Jesus’ death, we’re not supposed to beat ourselves up anymore. Because Jesus only died once. And ever since the third day after His death, there’s been no reason to worry that sin might ultimately win the day in our lives. Jesus lives, and by His life we have life. Our sins can’t undo His work. “It is finished.” He has won. And because He has won, we have won. The end.

That’s why it’s important to realize that Jesus only died once. And that’s why Jesus’ death isn’t a reason for us to mourn. It’s a reason for us to celebrate the victory He gained and never to waste time wallowing in our sinfulness again. Jesus didn’t have to die for you or me. He could have let us die for ourselves, and we would have mourned our sin while we paid its penalty. Jesus went to the cross because He and His Father loved us and chose the cross—not to make us feel more guilty, but so that our guilt would finally be taken completely away.

Question: What keeps you from enjoying and living in the freedom that Jesus bought for you at the cross?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Enough Death

ALL – Psalm 107:1-43
ALL – Proverbs 27:11
OT – Ezekiel 20:1-49
NT – Hebrews 9:11-28

Interesting passage for the day: Nor has he offered himself again and again, as the high priest down here on earth offers animal blood in the Holy of Holies each year. If that had been necessary, then he would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all, at the end of the age, to put away the power of sin forever by dying for us. – Hebrews 9:25-26, The Living Bible

Thought: We still sin, but we no longer need new sacrifices. Have you ever thought about that? It feels like there’s something wrong with this picture. Shouldn’t we need to bring fresh sacrifices to God every time we sin?

Under the Old Testament, they had to bring fresh sacrifices. Regularly. So what’s the difference now?

There are three differences: 1) our high priest, 2) our sacrifice, and 3) our temple. The Old Testament high priests were themselves sinners, so they kept having to seek forgiveness for their own sins, let alone the people’s. And the Old Testament sacrifices were bulls and sheep—nothing nearly good enough to truly cover the weight of a guilty human conscience. Also, the Old Testament temple/tabernacle was just a copy of the heavenly tabernacle, and was not truly the holiest place to come to for forgiveness. But under the New Testament/Covenant, our high priest is sinless and has no need to offer a sacrifice to cover his own guilt. And under the New Testament, the sacrifice that has been offered is the perfect, sin-free blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man. And this sacrifice has been accepted in the heavenly tabernacle, where nothing impure can ever enter and defile it.

And so when we sin now, no new sacrifices are needed. The high priest is still sinless. The sacrifice is still enough to cover every sin. The tabernacle is still holy and untouched by defilements. We’re covered. Jesus’ death was enough for us, and still is.

Question: When we know that we have been forgiven so completely, what keeps us away from living the righteous lives we’ve been given the freedom to live? “He who has been forgiven much loves much.” What greater forgiveness could there be?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Perfect Relationship with God

ALL – Psalm 105:37-45
ALL – Proverbs 27:3
OT – Ezekiel 12:1-14:11
NT – Hebrews 7:1-17

Interesting passage for the day: And the Psalmist points this out when he says of Christ, “You are a priest forever with the rank of Melchizedek.” – Hebrews 7:17, The Living Bible

Thought: For most of us, our first thought when we think about Jesus isn’t, “Priest.” We might think Son of God. We might think King. We might think teacher. We might even think prophet. But priest?

What’s so important about priests, anyways?

Kings are important because they make sure that everyone follows God’s laws. Prophets are important because they speak for God and show people how to follow God’s laws (or sometimes/often warn people that they’re not following God and need to repent). Priests, though, stand between men and God as mediators who work to keep our relationship intact. Priests proclaim God’s blessings on His people, and priests offer sacrifices on behalf of the people to atone for sins. Priesthood is all about a wholehearted relationship with God.

Jesus could never have become a priest under the OT law. The priesthood was only for the descendants of Jacob’s son Levi. But it was vitally important that Jesus be a priest, right? After all, none of Levi’s descendants was able to bring humanity back into a good relationship with God. So we needed Jesus to be a priest so that we could finally reconcile with God after all our rebellion and sin.

And that’s why Hebrews takes the time to tell us that Jesus was a priest. Not a Levitical priest, but a priest in the order of Melchizedek. You’ll have to read Hebrews 7 to see what that’s all about, but essentially there was one priest in the book of Genesis who was a priest of God, and Abraham expressed his relationship to God partially through this priest. Abraham offered a tithe of his recent victory spoils to this priest, and Melchizedek proclaimed God’s blessings for Abraham. So there was an order of priests in the Old Testament that was not made up of Levi’s descendants, and Jesus was declared to be a priest—not in the typical group of priests, but a priest all the same.

And because Jesus is our great High Priest, we have a perfect relationship with God. We have a relationship with God where our sins are perfectly forgiven and cleansed. That had never happened before. Also, other priests could sin, and by their sin they could become a hindrance to God’s blessings for His people. But we have a relationship with God through our High Priest Jesus that guarantees every blessing God wants to bestow on us to come our way, because our perfect and sinless priest is never himself a hindrance to our relationship with God.

Jesus is our priest. And because He is, we need no other priests at all. Our relationship with God made perfect through Him.

Question: Where do you turn when you’re trying to straighten out your relationship with God? How can we do a better job of reminding one another that the full benefits of a perfect relationship with God are available to us through Jesus Christ alone?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Re-Friending

ALL – Psalm 5:1-12
ALL – Proverbs 1:24-28
OT – Genesis 11:1-13:4
NT – Matthew 5:1-26

You used to get along. But then something happened. You know your friend was offended, but you were offended, too. Neither one wanted to be the first one to apologize; both of you felt that the other had sinned more. The relationship has never been the same.

Jesus has something to say about that:

So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and suddenly remember that a friend has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar and go and apologize and be reconciled to him, and then come and offer your sacrifice to God. – Matthew 5:23-24, The Living Bible

Your relationships with others are more important than completing “official” acts of worship! Wow! I mean, it’s not as though sacrifice is unimportant. So that must mean that reconciling with a friend is so important to God that we can’t worship without at least making the attempt. In fact, re-friending people matters so much to Jesus that it might even be considered a part of our worship.

Consider these verses:

“When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. . . . Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” – 1 Cor. 11:20-21, NIV

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” – 1 John 4:20-21, NIV

These verses both talk about people claiming to love God, seeming to worship God. Yet as they go about their version of loving God, their version of eating the Lord’s Supper, they show a complete lack of concern for others.

As Saul learned the hard way so long ago,
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” – 1 Sam. 15:22, NIV

Are you obeying God by re-friending people you don’t get along with? If not, you might not be as close to God as you think you are. So, what’s the next step for you?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.