Category Archives: Hebrews

Exodus [The Road Out] – Three Curtains

Posted on March 27, 2022 | Leave a comment

Exodus 40 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Set up the Tabernacle on the first day of the new year.  3 Place the Ark of the Covenant inside, and install the inner curtain to enclose the Ark within the Most Holy Place. 4 Then bring in the table, and arrange the utensils on it. And bring in the lampstand, and set up the lamps. 5 “Place the gold incense altar in front of the Ark of the Covenant. Then hang the curtain at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 6 Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the Tabernacle entrance. 7 Set the washbasin between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water. 8 Then set up the courtyard around the outside of the tent, and hang the curtain for the courtyard entrance.  NLT

Each of those three curtains: the entrance to the courtyard, the entrance to the Tabernacle within, and finally the entrance into the Holy of Holies – were designed to reveal God’s identity to people caught in the wilderness.  The purpose of each curtain was to make them physically aware of the separation between the wilderness of man and the Holiness of God.  The people’s words often proclaimed their desire to worship God and do all that He asked, but in reality they needed physical reminders it wasn’t their words that separated them from the presence of God but their actions, and so he gave them three curtains. The first curtain was at the entrance gate to the courtyard.
#1 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:16

They had to physically pass through that first curtain, with their offering, into a courtyard filled with visceral reminders of sin.  Sin that required a substitute of blood for God’s forgiveness. In that first-step place they would “see” the second barrier; the curtain before the Holy Place that only priests could enter.
#2 for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. 1 Peter 2:9

An finally, beyond their sight, but not their imagination was the last curtain. The curtain that hid the presence of God from them.  A presence so fearful that even the high priest entered with a rope tied about him so he could be pulled out in case he would be struck down because the blood of their sacrifices did not please God; the last barrier to forgiveness.
#3 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Mark 15:37-38
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.  Hebrews 10:19-20

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Exodus [The Road Out] – Answered Prayer

Posted on February 13, 2022 | Leave a comment

Exodus 4
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either heretofore or since thou hast spoken to thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” 13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, send, I pray, some other person.” RSV

Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later.  But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.[faithful to the end]
Hebrews 3:5 & 6 NLT

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In-The-Flesh

Posted on May 16, 2021 | Leave a comment

John 2:23 Now when he [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. 

When Jesus was a man, “many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.  But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people.” It’s so easy to assume Jesus’s perfect response to His in-the-flesh life was a foregone conclusion.  He was fully God and still retained His shared knowledge with God but make no mistake about it, Jesus’s life in-the-flesh wasn’t a pretend life, set up to create a pretend identity with man.  It had real risk and a real purpose.  The reality of Jesus in-the-flesh life was risking the suspension of all His Sovereign rights to complete His identity with all people.  “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation [to ease the anger or disturbance of a superior being] for our sins.”a

God felt the painful reality of what Jesus would endure in-the-flesh as if it were His very own…because it was.  He was watching a part of Himself struggle to cope with living in a broken world trying to overcome the very flesh that had given Him life without those Sovereign rights.  God did not miss the effect of fear, hunger, fatigue and temptation on His Son.  The real purpose to Jesus’s life in-the-flesh that bears witness to His complete identity with all people is “Although he [Jesus] was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”b

Obedience to God in the circumstances of life completes our identity with Jesus and still has the power to move God’s heart from Law to Grace on our behalf.

a 1 John 4:10
b Hebrews 5:8 

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By Faith

Posted on April 21, 2021 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for…13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. NIV

Hebrews 11 is called the “By Faith” chapter.   Twenty one times it uses that phrase to show the human side of the real life of notable “ancients” elsewhere in the Bible.  The intersection of living by faith and the evidence of real life circumstance was just as mysterious for them as it is for me today as a new widow but they were commended for living “by faith.”  Oswald Chambers said “Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him” so…

I will live by faith believing life is different, but still good
I will live by faith that what I can’t control does not mean I am helpless
I will live by faith that redeems without me knowing all the details
I will live by faith in yet undiscovered reserves of strength
I will “live” by faith that Jesus is nearest to me right now

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The Third Chapter – Hebrews

Posted on October 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

Hebrews 3:12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.a” [NIV]

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“That day, next day, one day and someday” is a tongue-in-cheek description I recently read to describe the confusion of keeping track of time and days when the routines of life are altered during long-lasting life circumstances like this pandemic.  I’ve experienced that confusion about time and days myself.  It’s a real thing that caused me read this Scripture as if it was speaking about the confusion of time and days, then, as a danger in the spiritual life of believers in Jesus Christ now…and the much needed protection offered for “today.”

We have been so blessed for so long as a nation, as a democracy and as individuals that we’ve become confused about how real, and subtle, the danger of a “sinful, unbelieving heart” is.  “Today” is the one word in this Scripture that made me realize “that day, next day, one day and someday” is really about missing the warning and protection available “now.”  “Now” is our God-given opportunity to to “share in Christ” and “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of [us] may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness…Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…a”

a Psalm 95

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Hebrews – Grand Finale

Posted on October 20, 2019 | Leave a comment

I’ve finally reached Chapter 1 of the book of Hebrews.  Honestly this grand finale feels like one of the biggest accomplishments of my years of study.  I began at the end of Hebrews and have ended at the beginning of the book to discover this simple proof for myself; there is no “the end” anywhere in it.  It’s all about beginning.

God’s provision of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are still at work in every chapter even with my own limitations of what I could comprehend from this theologically challenging book.  The weeks of reading with the expectation I would personally discover an ultimate conclusion taught my heart something more than I expected.  That  is surely the gift of the Word of God.

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Chapter 13. ”Outside” is where Christ receives your brokenness and disgrace and makes them his own.  It’s the plan of God that we who are outsiders can go to where “new” begins, the Cross.  

Chapter 1. I’m in God’s Kingdom because of the provision of that righteous scepter, His Son, “the exact imprint of God’s very being,” being the “crutch” that held me up so I could limp into it.

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The ultimate conclusion of the Word of God always leads you to the cross and Christ and the reality there is no “the end” to your beginning.

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Crutch

Posted on October 16, 2019 | Leave a comment

NRSV 1:1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word…8 But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.

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Scepter’s not a common word today so that caught my attention.  A scepter is an ornamented staff often used by kings as visual evidence of power but the word also has a practical meaning as something one can lean on for support.

You may have heard a negative description of faith as being a “crutch” as I have.  Your reaction may have been as defensive as mine was so it was back to the dictionary for another definition – crutch: a long stick with a crosspiece at the top, used as a support under the armpit by a lame person.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard your faith referred to as a crutch.  Raise your hand if you’ve ever been confronted by your own need for support.  My heart still has a negative reaction to identifying my faith as a crutch but the reality is my hand is in the air.

My heart and my hand respond today to God’s own words identifying his Scepter: “But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.”  My heart and my hand have responded to His Son.  Jesus is the righteous scepter God provided for the support of His own Kingdom and for each of us to personally lean on.   All you have to do is admit to being lame.  I’m in God’s Kingdom because of the provision of that righteous scepter, His Son, “the exact imprint of God’s very being,” being the “crutch” that held me up so I could limp into it.

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Firm Grip

Posted on October 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

MSG 2:1-4 It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.

MSG 13 Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says, Even I live by placing my trust in God.

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I’m thankful this morning for the wisdom and work of the Holy Spirit in those who dedicate their lives to either translating the Word directly from original texts or taking the risk to trust in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who’s the real author in both cases anyway.  I trust that. The Word reveals it’s own accuracy to the heart.  The power of that accuracy began here for me today…

The “firm grip” we need to hang on to “so that we don’t drift off” is Jesus. The perfecter of our salvation has recreated His life within us so His experience can become our own.  “Even I live by placing my trust in God.”

NRSV Galatians 2:20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God [Or by the faith of the Son of God], who loved me and gave himself for me.

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Think, Hear, Remember

Posted on October 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

NIV Hebrews 3
• 1…think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest…
• 7 That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness…
• 15 Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”

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There’s a mystery involved in hearing the unspoken Word of this book we call our Bible.  We know the mystery involves our training to recognize guidance and respond to Word that can speak truth into the human heart.  “There is a beautiful story in the Old Testament where the prophet stands at the mouth of a cave and the Lord is passing. There is thunder, and the Lord is not in the thunder. There is an earthquake, and the Lord is not in the earthquake. There is fire, and the Lord is not in the fire. Then there is a still, small voice, and the Lord is in that voice. (See 1 Kings 19: 11–13.)” Intro to Following Jesus [Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety] by Henri Nouwen 

OK, it’s the Holy Spirit…√.  Do you imagine the writer of Hebrews was just casually writing “think carefully about this Jesus” or “today when you hear his voice” or “remember?”  The answer of course is no!  The Holy Spirit is the vital voice that teaches us to consciously respond to that mystery.  The “gentle whisper” that happens “today” when you allow Jesus to teach you is the Holy Spirit speaking the reality of the Word within you despite the noise of the world around you.  

The passage from 1 Kings ends with the question of the day.  “And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.  Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here Elijah [insert your name here]?”  I hope your answer is thinking, hearing and remembering.

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Backwards Cliff Notes on Layers 8 – 4 of Hebrews

Posted on October 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

The idea of each Chapter being another layer peeled back has become an intriguing journey for me.  My anticipation is building that when I get to chapter 1 of Hebrews I will discover my “final” thought has led me to the “core” of meaning for this experiment of reading the book backwards.  Anticipation is the interaction I believe God desires between His Word and the followers of Jesus.

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8 Just as faithfully as we practice those other disciplines of experience we need to learn to practice this simple truth…“I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

7 The word sacrifice is familiar when thinking about Jesus but it was a new and meaningful thing for me to consider Abraham’s tithe as the prepaid debt that gave all of us descendants the option of Jesus, God’s promised “perfect” and final “tithe.”

6 A very important concept of faith every believer has to learn is renewal is not repetition.  Surely that’s the beginning of a whole new direction that leads us to “become mature in our understanding.”  Maturity and understanding have their ups and downs but God has a plan for that.  

5 None of the diligent and and rigid rules of sacrifice had the power to deal with the full capacity of a broken human being to choose to sin on purpose.  Jesus was “appointed by God to represent the people in matters related to God” in place of those sacrifices. 

4 God swears on an oath He will jealously guard the heart, soul, mind and strength of “we who have believed” and entered the rest He’s completed for them.  

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