The Old Way of Sacrificing
As we progress in Hebrews, we must be careful to read the actual
words rather than putting our own spin on the words. It is easy to read to this point and to
actually become fairly anti-Semitic. Or
if not anti-Semitic, it is easy to find ourselves in a place that looks down
our nose upon the Hebrew people. After
all, the sacrifices of the old covenant are inferior to Christ. The priests of the old covenant are inferior
to Christ. The tabernacle of the old
covenant is inferior to God’s heavenly domain.
It’s real easy for Christians to get to this point and feel rather
superior to the Hebrew people.
Therefore, we must be careful.
For you see, all of those things that I just listed off as inferior were
instituted by God. They were God’s
will. They were given to Moses atop Mt.
Sinai by the very hand of God. They
aren’t inferior because they are any less godly. They are inferior because they were
temporary. We must remember that they
were given by God and think of them as such.
This is the point of the author of Hebrews. The reason that the animal sacrifices had to
be offered year after year is because the animal sacrifices were only a
temporary solution. They were simply to
prepare the people for Christ’s superior sacrifice. They were designed to train people to
recognize sin, to see the danger of sin in our life, and to desire a way to
restore our relationship with God. They
were instituted to point us to Christ!
From this perspective, we should feel rather grateful for the old
covenant even if it was a temporary representation of God’s ultimate reality.
Because the old covenant was temporary, it can be honestly said
that God desired we “rend our hearts and not our garments.” {See
Joel 2:13} It can be said that God
desires steadfast love and not sacrifice.
{See Hosea 6:6.} It can be said that the “sacrifice of God is
a broken spirit and a contrite heart. {See Psalm 51:17} It isn’t that the old covenant was bad at
all. It was temporary to prepare us for
Christ. It pointed us to the permanent
values that God desires – things that Christ taught us and displayed to us
while He was here. It pointed us to the
things that the Holy Spirit continues to draw us towards as He dwells within us.
More Discussion of Judgment
The author of Hebrews once more lapses into talk about judgment in
the midst of speaking about hope. As in
the past, the author of Hebrews doesn’t pull out any punches. We are reminded that if people were condemned
by not following the Law, how much more condemnation will people receive who
turn their back upon the very Son of God who came to permanently fulfill the
Law? It was scary enough to fall into
the hands of the everlasting God when all that there was to know was the
Law. But can you imagine falling into
the hands of the living God having come to a point of rejecting His very own
Son?
I don’t know about you, but this passage alone is enough to cause
me to want to make sure I am right with God right now. Yes, we all have sin in our life. None of us are perfect. There is no need for being terrified. But there are some worthwhile aspects to
evaluating myself and making sure I am in as good of a relationship as possible
through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Assurance
This is why I love the other parts of this chapter that surround
these words of judgment and warning. We
who are in Christ can be in full assurance.
Those of us who have submitted to God and who are covered by the blood
of Jesus Christ can claim Him as our high priest who will carry us before
God. We can grasp onto our confession of
faith with confidence. We can look
forward with incredible hope.
We can also go forth into God’s calling and be confident in what
God has asked us to do. We can witness to
the poor and in prison. We can go to the
sick and the lame. We can encourage and
exhort one another. We can let go of our
worldly attachments knowing that our heavenly treasures are far more
sustaining. We can be the confident
people of God not because we are great but because we are brought into the
presence of God by our great high priest.
We are confident because of what Christ has done for us and because He
has placed His Holy Spirit within us.
Perseverance
The last words of this chapter are an encouragement to not shrink
back. We should not go backwards. Now we return to an earlier theme about which
the author of Hebrews had spoken. We
must not regress. We who are ready for
spiritual meat must continue to desire spiritual meat. We cannot return to spiritual milk and
spiritual infancy.
God did not call us to be His disciples only to have us continue
to be a drain on the system. God has
empowered us to learn and to grow so that we can contribute to the church! We are called to be leaders and teachers in
the faith, not just consumers. We are
called to be walking billboards of faith – people whose souls are preserved and
who are in the business of helping God preserve others.
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