20230828
faith to draw near
Hebrews 11:6 (JDV)
Hebrews 11:6 Now without faith, it is impossible to please God since the person who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
faith to draw near
It takes faith to draw near to God because he is invisible. In order to relate to him, we need to believe he exists and wants to relate to us.
20230827
grace to Enoch
Hebrews 11:5 (JDV)
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was transferred, and so he did not see death. He was not to be found because God transferred him. You see, before he was transferred, he was approved as one who pleased God.
grace to Enoch
By God’s grace, Enoch was spared from seeing the death of his descendants. He was allowed to die before the flood came. The myth that Enoch was taken to heaven is disproved in this same New Testament book, which tells us that all these heroes of faith died, without receiving the promised things that await all believers (11:13). All means all.
By God’s grace, we are also taken in death so that we do not see the consequences of our descendants’ failures.
20230826
He had one shot
Hebrews 11:4 (JDV)
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith, he was approved as a righteous man because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.
He had one shot
Abel had only one shot at being a faith hero. He did not throw away his shot. Many of us have had a lifetime to show our devotion to God. Whatever we have, may we use it for God’s glory.
20230825
inhabitant or hero?
Hebrews 11:1-3 (JDV)
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
Hebrews 11:2 You see, by it, our ancestors won God’s approval.
Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the ages were created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
inhabitant or hero?
Our world seems to have turned its back on the kind of faith that is mentioned here. It seems comfortable with an explanation of everything that is based on everything visible. But the kind of faith which is victorious through suffering is different. It sees everything that is, acknowledges it, but refuses to ignore the unseen. You can be an inhabitant of this world without exercising that kind of faith, but you will never be one of its heroes.
20230824
the fate of the footstool
Hebrews 10:19-39 (JDV)
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sacred place through the blood of Jesus–
Hebrews 10:20 he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)–
Hebrews 10:21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,
Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts purified from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering since he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:24 And let us watch out for one another to stimulate care and good works,
Hebrews 10:25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:26 You see, if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for failures,
Hebrews 10:27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.
Hebrews 10:28 Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Hebrews 10:29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as common the blood of the covenant by which he was made sacred, and who has insulted the Breath of favor?
Hebrews 10:30 You see, we know the one who has said, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:32 Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with suffering.
Hebrews 10:33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way.
Hebrews 10:34 You see, you sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions because you know that you yourselves have a better and staying possession.
Hebrews 10:35 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great payment.
Hebrews 10:36 You see, you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.
Hebrews 10:37 You see, yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.
Hebrews 10:38 But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, My throat has no pleasure in him.
Hebrews 10:39 But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and keep the throat.
the fate of the footstool
In yesterday’s text, we saw that there are two destinies for all human beings. The saved are made sacred forever by the death of Christ on their behalf. But the unsaved will be made a footstool of Christ the coming glorious king. But what does it mean to be made a footstool? This passage explains that those who are not saved will be destroyed (38) — consumed by the fire of judgment (27).
Be saved by Christ’s death or suffer permanent death for your own sins.
20230823
sacred or footstool?
Hebrews 10:1-18 (JDV)
Hebrews 10:1 You see, the law has only a shadow of the good things about to come and not the reality itself of those things. It can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.
Hebrews 10:2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of failures?
Hebrews 10:3 But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of failures year after year.
Hebrews 10:4 You see, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away failures.
Hebrews 10:5 That is why – as he was coming into the universe, he said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me.
Hebrews 10:6 You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and failure offerings.
Hebrews 10:7 Then I said, “See – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, O God.”
Hebrews 10:8 After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and failure offerings (which are offered according to the law),
Hebrews 10:9 he then says, See, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first to establish the second.
Hebrews 10:10 By this will, we have been made sacred through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
Hebrews 10:11 Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away failures.
Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for failures forever, sat down at the right hand of God.
Hebrews 10:13 He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.
Hebrews 10:14 You see, by one offering he has perfected forever those who are made sacred.
Hebrews 10:15 The Sacred Breath also testifies to us about this. You see after he says:
Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, the Lord says, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds,
Hebrews 10:17 and I will never again remember their failures and lawless acts.
Hebrews 10:18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for failure.
sacred or footstool?
This passage speaks of all humanity in two categories. There are those who have been made sacred by Christ’s death on the cross. His blood was the only sacrifice needed for that change. Those have been perfected forever.
The other category includes all those who refuse to accept the death of Christ as their atoning sacrifice. Those still await a change as well. They will have to suffer death for their own sins since they have no high priest to make atonement for them. These will be made a footstool for the victorious and glorious Savior when he comes.
What fate do you prefer?
20230822
high priest of the good things
Hebrews 9:11-28 (JDV)
Hebrews 9:11 But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation),
Hebrews 9:12 he entered the most sacred place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained permanent redemption.
Hebrews 9:13 You see, if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, purifying those who are defiled, make sacred for the purification of the flesh,
Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the permanent Breath offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?
Hebrews 9:15 That is why he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called might receive the promise of the permanent inheritance because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Hebrews 9:16 Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established.
Hebrews 9:17 You see, a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living.
Hebrews 9:18 That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.
Hebrews 9:19 You see, when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and purified the scroll itself and all the people,
Hebrews 9:20 saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded to you.
Hebrews 9:21 Similarly, he purified the tabernacle and all the articles of worship with blood.
Hebrews 9:22 According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
Hebrews 9:23 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the sky to be purified with these sacrifices, but the sky things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these.
Hebrews 9:24 You see, Christ did not enter a sacred place made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into the sky itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us.
Hebrews 9:25 He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sacred place yearly with the blood of another.
Hebrews 9:26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the universe. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of failure by the sacrifice of himself.
Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for humans to die once but judgment will come after this,
Hebrews 9:28 in the same way also Christ, having been offered once to bear the failures of many, will appear a second time, not to bear failure, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
high priest of the good things
Last year at Christmas I shared a post about the birth of Christ as the first act in a three-act play. The second act was the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, through which he bore our failures. The third act is yet to come — at the second coming of Christ. Verse 28 of today’s text describes these two final acts. The death of Christ and the second coming of Christ are both crucial for our destiny. What Jesus did on the cross ensures our resurrection and glorification to come.
Further, the resurrection of Christ was permanent, which means that the removal of failures for those who believe in him is also permanent. Our salvation and the life it will produce will be permanent — in contrast to the temporary lives, we are living today. That is only one of the good things that we will inherit — secured by our great high priest.
20230821
the time of the correction.
Hebrews 9:1-10 (JDV)
Hebrews 9:1 Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sacred place.
Hebrews 9:2 You see, a tabernacle was constructed, and in the first room, which is called the place for sacred things, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves.
Hebrews 9:3 After the second curtain was a tent called the most sacred place.
Hebrews 9:4 It had the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets outlining the covenant.
Hebrews 9:5 The glorious cherubs were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things point by point now.
Hebrews 9:6 With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry.
Hebrews 9:7 But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the failures the people had committed in ignorance.
Hebrews 9:8 The Sacred Breath was making it clear that the way into the most sacred place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.
Hebrews 9:9 This is a parable about the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.
Hebrews 9:10 They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings obligatory until the time of the correction.
the time of the correction.
In the past, the only worship and ministry people knew was that of the temple under the old covenant. It dealt in shadows and copies, and could not change the worshiper. With Christ’s appearance and atonement, a time of correction has occurred. Now it is possible to both worship and serve freed from guilt and shame. The correction has only begun. When Christ returns, we will know complete freedom, and the permanent rest promised by him.
Have you entered the time of correction, or are you still trying to serve among the shadows?
20230820
the real thing
Hebrews 8:1-13 (JDV)
Hebrews 8:1 But the main point of these sayings is: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the sky,
Hebrews 8:2 a minister of the sacred places and the true tabernacle that was pitched by the Lord and not a human.
Hebrews 8:3 You see, every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
Hebrews 8:4 So if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts as the law commands.
Hebrews 8:5 These serve as a copy and shadow of the sky things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. You see, God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the model that was shown to you on the mountain.
Hebrews 8:6 But Jesus has now obtained a more valuable ministry, and to that degree, he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has received legal status based on better promises.
Hebrews 8:7 You see, if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no place for a second one.
Hebrews 8:8 But finding fault with his people, he says: See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah –
Hebrews 8:9 not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. I showed no concern for them, says the Lord, because they did not stay with my covenant.
Hebrews 8:10 You see, this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Hebrews 8:11 And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them.
Hebrews 8:12 You see, I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their failures.
Hebrews 8:13 By the saying “a new covenant”, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.
the real thing
At this moment, I have in my possession a library of 5,009 books on the Bible, theology, ministry, history, biography, literature, and reference works. Yet I only possess less than five of the actual paper originals of these books. All 5009 books are digital copies in .pdf format. I can read the books, benefit from their content, and reflect their content in my writing, but I have never laid eyes on the real thing.
Such was the case for Jews living under the old covenant. The real thing is God’s permanent covenant, put into effect by Christ’s death on the cross. All of the aspects of the old covenant were shadows and copies.
In one of my digital resources, Govett writes, “Moses’ covenant has been shown to be a temporary one, and the blood with which it was inaugurated at Sinai was but that of bulls and goats; Christ’s, the blood of the Son of God; and the covenant and testament which it has introduced are eternal, founded on the eternal life of resurrection.” Thus, the sense in which the covenant is eternal is that it is not temporary. It is a permanent covenant.
Have you accepted the terms of God’s permanent covenant? It is the real thing.
Govett, Robert. Christ Superior to Angels, Moses, and Aaron: a Comment on the Epistle to the Hebrews. 1884. p. 494.
20230819
once for all time
Hebrews 7:15-28 (JDV)
Hebrews 7:15 And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears,
Hebrews 7:16 who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life.
Hebrews 7:17 You see, it has been testified: You are a priest permanently according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7:18 You see, the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable
Hebrews 7:19 (since the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
Hebrews 7:20 None of this happened without an oath. You see, others became priests without an oath,
Hebrews 7:21 but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him: The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest permanently.”
Hebrews 7:22 Because of this oath, Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.
Hebrews 7:23 Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office.
Hebrews 7:24 But because he stays permanently, he holds his priesthood without replacement.
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
Hebrews 7:26 You see, this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the sky.
Hebrews 7:27 He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do – first for their own failures, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself.
Hebrews 7:28 You see, the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected permanently.
once for all time
Unlike the sacrifices under the old covenant, Christ offered himself on the cross once for all time. His death is all that was required to put an end to your guilt and sin. Allow him to atone for your sins so that you can put on the righteousness of God.
Devotions 