Okay so I am not totally sure what to do in this blog thing but I found the link that said "New Post" so I am just going to run with it. SO...I was reading Hebrews 8 with my brothers and God was showing us how He is the high priest. Now to some, that may sound a little boring or ancient and old timey, but when you read about it, and realize the roles of a high priest, and consider the fact that we still have one, even though many of us do not practice the custom of having a "priest in a tabernacle" anymore, it makes you ask...Why? Why does the bible say that we still have a high priest? Why do we need Jesus to play that role? What is this telling us about heaven's order? So many questions, and I wanted some answers.
Well, thank God that our God loves to answer us when we call (Matt 7:7-8). So the first thing Hebrews says is that we still have a high priest in heaven. If you think about back in bible days, there were many priests, but only one high priest who could go in the Most Holy Place (Hebrews 9:7). The fact that Jesus is our high priest reiterates the fact that He is Lord all by himself! There is none greater than him, and none beside him! He truly is our one and only.
Next, the chapter talks about how the high priest had to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Okay, none of us are high priests, but the Word does say we are "kings and priests unto God" (Rev 1:6, 5:10) and since we are, it is also our job to offer "gifts and sacrifices" unto God because as Jesus is in heaven as our high priest, representing us to the Father, so are we his representatives here on earth (2 Corinthians 5:20). Your "gifts" are not just the things you are good at, but also your praises, worship, finances, thanksgiving, etc. Your sacrifices, well, what are the things that sometimes steal the time away that was always meant to be spent with the Lord? Your sacrifices can be anywhere from food to facebook, whatever sometimes seems hard to give up. Yeah, in some respects this may sound like fasting, but sacrifice doesn't always mean starve, though religion has used the two words interchangeably. Romans 12 tells us to "offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God..." Living sacrifices-you're daily life, your routine, the things you do during the day, offer them to God. Whatever you think you control would be a sacrifce giving up, but as priests, He wants to know if we'll give him our all, just like he did.
Okay, so then the chapter goes on to saying that Jesus could not have been a high priest on earth because there were already men appointed who offered gifts according to and out from the law. We took this a step further and asked the most amazing question ever...Why else? Hebrews 5 talks about the roles of the high priest, like how they had to deal gently with the people because of their ignorance and understand theur weaknesses because of their own. That, if nothing else, sums up the answer to that amazing question we had. Jesus could not be a high priest on earth because though he dealt gently with us in our ignorance and understood and even felt our weaknesses, he was not subject to them! Jesus had no sins to call his own! He felt our weaknesses and was "tempted in every way" that he might be able to understand us when we fall, yet "he sinned not" (Hebrews 4:15). He became one with our weakness that we may become one with his holiness! What an exchange! So, not only do we have a high priest, but we have a high priest who is loving, understanding, and best of all, perfect.
Lastly, our high priest out did any of the earthly high priests by giving the ultimate sacrifice to bring an end to all future, physical sacrifices serving as an atonement for our sin, himself. Jesus came as a man, and died as a criminal. Why? Because he couldn't stand the old covenant that separated us from him, from life, from love, from all that He has and is. So to do away with the old covenant that we could not uphold, He came and died, but rose again; died to declare the old covenant that called for someone to speak to God for you, said we could only be forgiven by the blood of animals, and stood in the way of relationship with God null and void, and rose to declare a new covenant, one that invites us into relationship with the Father through his Son, allows us to speak to God for ourselves, and grants forgiveness of sin and the forgetfulness of the act on God's part. He paid the ultimate price that we may inherit the ultimate reward...an everlasting communion, a marriage if you will, with Jesus, Love himself. Yes, we still have a high priest, just as in the old days, who represented the people. But our high priest represents us as we are in Christ, not in sin. Our high priest sees us new, whole, perfect, powerful! Just as he represents us, let us do our part in understanding who he is, that we may represent him as he is, as he was, and as he shall always be!
Well, thank God that our God loves to answer us when we call (Matt 7:7-8). So the first thing Hebrews says is that we still have a high priest in heaven. If you think about back in bible days, there were many priests, but only one high priest who could go in the Most Holy Place (Hebrews 9:7). The fact that Jesus is our high priest reiterates the fact that He is Lord all by himself! There is none greater than him, and none beside him! He truly is our one and only.
Next, the chapter talks about how the high priest had to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Okay, none of us are high priests, but the Word does say we are "kings and priests unto God" (Rev 1:6, 5:10) and since we are, it is also our job to offer "gifts and sacrifices" unto God because as Jesus is in heaven as our high priest, representing us to the Father, so are we his representatives here on earth (2 Corinthians 5:20). Your "gifts" are not just the things you are good at, but also your praises, worship, finances, thanksgiving, etc. Your sacrifices, well, what are the things that sometimes steal the time away that was always meant to be spent with the Lord? Your sacrifices can be anywhere from food to facebook, whatever sometimes seems hard to give up. Yeah, in some respects this may sound like fasting, but sacrifice doesn't always mean starve, though religion has used the two words interchangeably. Romans 12 tells us to "offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God..." Living sacrifices-you're daily life, your routine, the things you do during the day, offer them to God. Whatever you think you control would be a sacrifce giving up, but as priests, He wants to know if we'll give him our all, just like he did.
Okay, so then the chapter goes on to saying that Jesus could not have been a high priest on earth because there were already men appointed who offered gifts according to and out from the law. We took this a step further and asked the most amazing question ever...Why else? Hebrews 5 talks about the roles of the high priest, like how they had to deal gently with the people because of their ignorance and understand theur weaknesses because of their own. That, if nothing else, sums up the answer to that amazing question we had. Jesus could not be a high priest on earth because though he dealt gently with us in our ignorance and understood and even felt our weaknesses, he was not subject to them! Jesus had no sins to call his own! He felt our weaknesses and was "tempted in every way" that he might be able to understand us when we fall, yet "he sinned not" (Hebrews 4:15). He became one with our weakness that we may become one with his holiness! What an exchange! So, not only do we have a high priest, but we have a high priest who is loving, understanding, and best of all, perfect.
Lastly, our high priest out did any of the earthly high priests by giving the ultimate sacrifice to bring an end to all future, physical sacrifices serving as an atonement for our sin, himself. Jesus came as a man, and died as a criminal. Why? Because he couldn't stand the old covenant that separated us from him, from life, from love, from all that He has and is. So to do away with the old covenant that we could not uphold, He came and died, but rose again; died to declare the old covenant that called for someone to speak to God for you, said we could only be forgiven by the blood of animals, and stood in the way of relationship with God null and void, and rose to declare a new covenant, one that invites us into relationship with the Father through his Son, allows us to speak to God for ourselves, and grants forgiveness of sin and the forgetfulness of the act on God's part. He paid the ultimate price that we may inherit the ultimate reward...an everlasting communion, a marriage if you will, with Jesus, Love himself. Yes, we still have a high priest, just as in the old days, who represented the people. But our high priest represents us as we are in Christ, not in sin. Our high priest sees us new, whole, perfect, powerful! Just as he represents us, let us do our part in understanding who he is, that we may represent him as he is, as he was, and as he shall always be!
1 comments:
Great revelation there Gladys!!! Awesome post!
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