Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to
enter the Most Holy Place by the blood Jesus, y a new and living
way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and
since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us
draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith
brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and
having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And
let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ot
giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging
one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:19-25)
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it
clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact,
though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the
elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone
who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching
about righteousness (Hebrews 5:11-13)
Today, we need to begin with a side note. A few days ago, I shared my belief that the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place represented sin. The author of Hebrews holds that it represents Christ. I like my imagery as well, but the author knows better what he intended. So, the curtain represents Christ’s body. Because it was torn, we have access to the Most Holy Place. So be it.
The preceding nine and a half chapters addressed the foundations of our faith, and the reasons why the Jewish Christians who were beginning to face persecution should not walk away from their new faith. I believe they also constituted the milk he mentioned in chapter five. But instead of leading us on to meat and potatoes, and heroic deeds, he leads us to quotidian (daily) walks and the salad bar.
“Let us….” He says this three-times in four verses, and he implies it six more
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart”
[Let us draw near to God] “with the full assurance that faith brings”
[Let us draw near to God] “having our hearts sprinkled to cleans us from guilty conscience….”
[Let us draw near to God] “having our bodies washed with pure water.”
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we professed, for He who promised is faithful.”
“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds”
[Let us] “not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing….”
[Let us] “encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
I wonder what life would be like if we ate (or fed others) nine services of Let Us every day.
Today, we need to begin with a side note. A few days ago, I shared my belief that the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place represented sin. The author of Hebrews holds that it represents Christ. I like my imagery as well, but the author knows better what he intended. So, the curtain represents Christ’s body. Because it was torn, we have access to the Most Holy Place. So be it.
The preceding nine and a half chapters addressed the foundations of our faith, and the reasons why the Jewish Christians who were beginning to face persecution should not walk away from their new faith. I believe they also constituted the milk he mentioned in chapter five. But instead of leading us on to meat and potatoes, and heroic deeds, he leads us to quotidian (daily) walks and the salad bar.
“Let us….” He says this three-times in four verses, and he implies it six more
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart”
[Let us draw near to God] “with the full assurance that faith brings”
[Let us draw near to God] “having our hearts sprinkled to cleans us from guilty conscience….”
[Let us draw near to God] “having our bodies washed with pure water.”
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we professed, for He who promised is faithful.”
“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds”
[Let us] “not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing….”
[Let us] “encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
I wonder what life would be like if we ate (or fed others) nine services of Let Us every day.
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