Readings for today: Hebrews 9-10, Psalms 29
Many years ago, I had LASIK surgery on my eyes. I have worn glasses since the fourth grade. My vision was terrible. I was as near-sighted as they come. Then I had the procedure. I remember walking out of the office and it was literally like scales had been lifted from my eyes. I could actually see things like the alarm clock in the morning or the individual leaves on the tree in my front yard. It was an incredible feeling. I imagine the author of Hebrews felt much the same way. He is intimately familiar with the Old Testament. He is obviously skilled at Jewish midrash which is an interpretive method that infuses fresh meaning into the biblical texts. He was most likely a Jew who had become a believer in Jesus Christ. As a result, his interpretive lens has shifted. Now Jesus is the hermeneutical key that unlocks all of Scripture. So he looks back on the ceremonial religious laws of the Torah and reinterprets them in light of Christ. The priesthood, sacrifices, and Temple are all reimagined. The high points of Israel’s history are revisited as are the great heroes and heroines of the faith. It’s like a fog has lifted for the author and they are seeing things clearly for the very first time.
This is life-changing as you can imagine and you can sense the author’s excitement and joy as he shares what he’s discovered. Now it all makes sense! Now it has all become clear. This is why God instituted the sacrificial system and this is how God brings that system to fulfillment. His own Son serves both as High Priest and Perfect Sacrifice. He bears His own Body into the Holy of Holies in the heavenly Temple and satisfies the just demands of God’s Law once and for all. This is the mystery of salvation all of our forefathers and mothers in the faith looked forward to and now it is ours to see and to touch and to taste. The promised new covenant has been given. The new age inaugurated. The gates of heavenly Jerusalem thrown open. The angels gathered, along with the saints who have gone before us, to join the party. A gift is being offered. An unshakable kingdom that will never fall for its foundation is Christ Himself!
Can you feel his passion? It comes to a crescendo in passages like the one we read today. “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus — he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh) — and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 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 10:19-25 CSB) A full assurance of faith. What a blessing! Our hearts cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Amazing grace! No wonder he is so quick to challenge and encourage his reads to spur one another on to love and good works. It’s truly incredible! Friends, the gift God offers us in Christ is nothing short of heaven itself. Through Him we receive eternal life in an eternal relationship with an eternal God who reserves a place for us in His eternal Kingdom.
Readings for tomorrow: Hebrews 11-13, Psalms 30