Hebrews 9:22-28

Hebrews 9:22-28 The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Jesus entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. We who trust in Jesus Christ are at this very moment vicariously present with God through Jesus' cleansing work on the cross. Because of Christ's sacrifice, our preordained privilege is our presence in the blood cleansed heavenly tabernacle. As the Bible clearly states, the redeemed body of Christ is part of this heavenly tabernacle, for we are one with him and therefore known by God because we are in Jesus Christ. Being in the presence of God through Jesus Christ, we can come boldly to the throne of grace. Neither Satan nor any other demonic force can prevent God from hearing our prayers as in the days of Daniel, for Jesus Christ has broken down the partition between us and God. Since we are in Christ, his voice is our voice. With Christ in control of our lives, we desire to do the will of the Father, to bring glory to him. When we do not know how to pray or even what we should pray, the Holy Spirit brings our petitions to God, expressing Christ's will for us to the Father. We might go wrong in our desires or petitions, but as we yield to the Spirit, He knows the eternal needs of our souls, helps our fleshly weaknesses, and gives us power to accept God's will and not our own. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. (Romans 8:26)

Truly, we will someday see the throne of God and understand the significance of our salvation. When we pass through the shadow of death, we will each experience the second coming of Christ, and we will behold the presence of God and worship him forever. Until then, the just will live completely by faith. Every step we take, every request we make of God is through faith in Christ, and by faith we know God hears us, loves us, and desires to do good to us. On this side of the veil that separates us from eternity, we Christians are as little children, trusting completely in their parents' loving plans for them. Christians must always come to God in this attitude of faith and trust, believing that the Holy Spirit brings our requests to God through Jesus Christ's cleansing blood. Our petitions do reach the Father's ears; however, as God's children we know He is in control, and we may not receive the answers we want. When He appears to be silent or says no to our prayers, we may falter or question whether He really heard us. But the believer with enduring faith and complete trust knows that God always hears, always knows what we need. Knowing this, we believe He has plans to strengthen us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us.

Christians sometimes think it is the answered prayers that strengthen our faith. Answered prayers do encourage us and reveal God to unbelievers, but if our faith is based on getting what we want, then like the children of Israel in the wilderness, we will only believe God and trust him as long as prayers are answered. If we run out of water or get tired of the daily bread supplied by God, we will probably grumble again and question the reality of God in our lives. Enduring faith, unswerving faith, stands with or without water, whether or not we know where God is leading. This "quit yourself like a man" faith in God steadfastly perseveres and continues through the vicissitudes of life, believing that the Spirit of God is working in us. As soldiers of the cross, armed with divine determination, we faithfully believe in God whether or not life is easy, whether or not God gives the answers we want. People who lack such unswerving faith will quickly build a golden calf when they face God's silence or feel He is not present with them anymore. Enduring faith is not based on some visceral sense that God is alive. With hope and trust in Jesus Christ based on the truth, we know He is right now in heaven presenting our lives and our requests to the Father. We know the Holy Spirit works through the good and the bad of life, developing a lasting faith, a faith that will allow us to declare with our final breaths: HE LIVES IN ME AND I IN HIM, AND BECAUSE OF CHRIST, I WILL LIVE FOREVER. Praise God, this is the faith that overcomes the world; this is the faith of the redeemed, the chosen, God's beloved!

Hebrews 9:16-22

Hebrews 9:16-22 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Without shed blood, without death, there is no forgiveness for sin, no new beginning. God brought both the old and new covenants into effect by death: the first by the blood of animal sacrifices and the second by Jesus' death. Both covenants conveyed God's blessing: I will bless you with my presence and my goodness if you will trust me and become obedient to my words, if you will allow my will to be done on Earth as it is in heaven. These covenants with man were unbreakable if both sides kept their parts. Since God's words are unchangeable, He kept his side of the agreement; however, as lawbreakers, believers could not keep their side of the covenant. The old covenant was never completely successful because people broke their words of allegiance and could not fulfill their side of the agreement. Jesus Christ always did the Father's will, and through his obedience, death, and resurrection, Christ fulfilled man's side of the covenant, sanctifying it with his blood. On the cross, when He said, "It is finished," the law was completely fulfilled: He secured the new covenant of faith and righteousness through his completed work. We who place our faith in him receive the blessings of God because through his sacrifice, Jesus Christ fulfilled both sides of the covenant.

It is interesting that blood denotes the seriousness of the agreement between man and God. The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Right relationship with God starts and ends with the covering of the blood. Right standing with God demands the death of the old vessel and the creation of a new one through the cleansing of the blood. The sacrifices illustrate the starting over, the ending of the old life. The shedding of blood brings forgiveness and righteousness to the new creature. We who have been cleansed with the blood of Christ have a new beginning in him. We are "born again" in Christ, cleansed by his innocent blood and forever adopted into God's family. The blood of bulls and goats could not bring continuous cleansing and the hope of new and eternal life; it could only momentarily cover sin as a temporary sacrifice. Jesus Christ brought us new life because his blood not only covered us, but as Jesus came back to life, God raised us with him into new life. Because of Jesus Christ's work, his death and resurrection, all believers live a new life in him.

With such a wonderful salvation, we should live our new lives by faith as God's children, mimicking our elder brother, Jesus Christ. Our old selves will never inherit eternal life, so let us not serve the flesh but live as new creatures with the resident Holy Spirit to guide and to teach us. And when the old spirit, the old man, raises its ugly head, let us reckon ourselves dead to sin by repenting of our old nature through faith in Christ Jesus. Otherwise, we choose to believe God's words, trusting in Christ's work on the cross rather than in our experiences. The just live by faith, not by works. As Paul said, we do not go on sinning to prove God's great grace. A faithless person continues sinning without repentance, but those who are saved through faith believe and trust in Christ's sufficiency in us. As children of God, we commit our lives to him and desire to do better, to follow Jesus. Jesus wanted God's will fulfilled on Earth as it is in heaven. Consequently, when we fall, as people will do, we get up, repent, and thank God for his cleansing power, for his life and not ours. By reckoning the flesh dead, we put a sword through its heart, for faith overcomes the sin and death of the world. As the Spirit makes the things of Earth strangely dim, eternal life in Christ becomes our abiding concern. IN CHRIST, through his strength and power, we will overcome and inherit life eternal, regardless of the antics of the flesh.

Hebrews 9:11-15

Hebrews 9:11-15 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance — now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

As Christians, we are not like those who have no hope, for IN CHRIST we have received our promised eternal inheritance. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Our hope does not rest in an earthly tabernacle or in pleasing God through the law and religious rituals. These are but shadows of the spiritual realities in heaven that can only deal with the outward man, not his heart, but through Jesus Christ, God transforms the heart. Jesus Christ substituted his life and his works for ours, purging us from sin and placing us in right standing before Father God. Now we no longer depend on our fleshly works to please God because we glory in Christ by depending entirely upon his sacrifice. We praise his work, not ours; we worship him, not us. We do not need a yearly Day of Atonement, for He is our continuous atonement, our righteousness, our rest. In Christ, we lie down in green pastures by cool waters, satisfied with who we are and who He is. We know we are God's eternal children, no longer resting in the kingdom one day and then the next day fighting the flesh to be in the kingdom and assessing our acceptability to God by our spiritual successes. Jesus Christ accomplished all we need when He made us children of the Most Holy God. In the veritable game of life, Jesus is God's last card on the table: He is the winning hand, the way. No other card, no other way, can present us righteous before God: only Christ and his works are acceptable to God. He who hath the son, hath life.

From the beginning, God's created beings failed to trust him with their lives, their existence. This failure to believe in God's plans brought sin into the world; man's will, his sinful nature, became the dominant force in life. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” was Satan's lynchpin to our waywardness. Questioning God contaminated man's heart to choose evil continually. After dealing with the first generation with the flood, God chose Abraham and his progeny to receive his special blessing, known as the first covenant. As the people before the flood, Abraham and his descendants had trouble serving God honestly and uprightly, even after the law was established during Moses' time. At the very start of the first covenant, Abraham and Sarah questioned God's plan by scheming to have a son through fleshly means, and along came Ishmael. Their grandson Israel, Jacob, earned the name schemer, deceiver. His own sons sold Joseph, his favorite, to Egypt, and they lied to their father about their actions. Much later, we see the Israelites in the wilderness, troubling Moses with constant grumbling and scheming to have their own way. They even balked at entering the Promised Land. When they finally entered the Promised Land, they eventually chose kings to lead them rather than God through his chosen priesthood. The first king of Israel, Saul, abandoned God by seeking a soothsayer to determine his future. We see the next king, David, committing adultery and his son, Solomon, failing as a father. The succeeding kings, good or evil, seemed unable to establish God's perfect kingdom on earth. The Israelites, his chosen, rebelled rather than let God or his laws lead them. They even persecuted and killed his messengers, the prophets. The first covenant was annulled because it could not change hearts: they needed a new and better way to God.

However, Jesus fulfilled the first covenant by doing God's will and establishing the new covenant on his righteousness and not ours. As He pleased God by living a perfect life, He became the ultimate ransom for our sins. By giving his life for ours, He freed our conscience from dead works that could not buy our freedom and released us from our rebellious nature. As He substituted his life and nature for ours, praise God, He became our substitute, the eternal sacrificial lamb. He paid the ultimate price so that we can have peace with God, and HIS BLOOD CONTINUALLY WASHES AWAY OUR SINS. Through Jesus, God's will is done on Earth as it is in heaven. We are his on our earthly journey, and we will be his forever in heaven. We praise CHRIST AS OUR MEDIATOR, THE PEACEMAKER BETWEEN GOD AND US, and sing songs of worship to God because we are alive in Jesus, now known as God's children because of Christ's works. Since we owe God everything, let us live our lives with that thought, and we will shine as stars in the universe, happy and contented in everything we do.

Hebrews 8:8-13

Hebrews 8:8-13 But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. 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. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Matthew 20:34-35 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

God's new covenant goes out to whosoever will: believers are his chosen people. In the Old Testament, the chosen were an ethnic people known as the children of Israel. Jewish men were circumcised as physical evidence that they were God's people led by the law of righteousness given to them through Moses. They tried to fulfill this law through their fleshly efforts, but they could not keep the law and fell from God's grace, for their hearts were not circumcised. Since they continually disobeyed God and went whoring after other gods, He judged them and dispersed them throughout all nations. Were they still God's people? Yes, but they too needed their hearts circumcised by accepting Christ. A man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God. (Romans 2:29) Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:27-31) Every jot and tittle of the law was fulfilled in us through Christ's death and resurrection. By faith in his finished work, we no longer live in our righteousness but in his.

Christians, whether Jew or Gentile are the house of Israel referred to in the above passage. We who allow God to circumcise our hearts have the privilege to be God's chosen, the ones who receive the promise: 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. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. This proclamation applies only to the people of God, those whose hearts have been circumcised by the Holy Spirit. We who place our faith and trust in Jesus are now his spiritual household, the house of Abraham, his chosen ones, blessed by Abraham's SEED, Jesus Christ. Now God's people must live by faith in Christ because the Bible says the just will live by faith and will inherit God's domain, HIS PRESENCE. Do we replace the ethnic Jew? No, God chose them for honor, and He will deal with them in his way.

The Holy Spirit writes God's law, his righteousness, on the hearts of believers. We no longer discover God through the priesthood or through another person. We do not go to the temple to offer sacrifices for sin and to find God, for we know him in our hearts, from the least to the greatest. The Spirit in us testifies of God and his Son: Christians know God because He is in us and we are in him. We know God's greatness and his mercy because He resides within our spirits. We hear his voice, yield to him, and we follow his dictates; this is God's promise of the Spirit to us. Jesus said He must go away so He could send the Holy Spirit who would reside in all believers. We who are alive IN CHRIST have the gift of the Holy Spirit, and He desires to reap a harvest in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) Today's scriptures have been fulfilled in us; therefore, we should walk in the Spirit, denying the flesh's preeminence in our wills. We should take up the cross and follow him. As our testimony embraces the cross, we no longer live but Christ lives in us. As we listen to and obey the Spirit, He directs our lives, communes with us, comforts us, and honors God in us. As those whose hearts have been circumcised through faith in Christ, let us be the children of God in every way by following the Lord and leading others to God's plan for salvation and eternal life.

Hebrews 8:1-7

Hebrews 8:1-7 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now. When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:33-34 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all.

Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

How righteous are you? Jesus settled this question long ago: not righteous at all. The Pharisees and Sadducees who followed Jesus around thought themselves very righteous. They thought they pleased God by their outward appearances and actions. But the Sermon on the Mount shows Jesus digging beneath the surface to the motivations of the heart. Since the Jewish people hated Romans, asking them to love their enemies asked the impossible. When Jesus told sexually-motivated creatures to be pure in heart at all times, did He not stretch his point beyond people's biological tendencies and capabilities? At the core of our biological centers are we not programed to resist an evil person? When someone pushes pointed sticks under our fingernails or inflicts some other pain or torture in an attempt to destroy us, will we not naturally resist? Why then did Jesus offer such strict demands? He was pointing out the difference between our sinful nature and God's holiness by revealing attitudes and behaviors we many times fail to recognize as sin. In our imperfection, we are not like God, and we usually do not say, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." As humans, we resist God's plan as we lust, hate, falsify, and commit unfaithfulness. We might even get angry with our mate, implying that he or she is a fool. Many of our thoughts and behaviors are not like God, yet He still loves us and has made a way for us through Christ's sacrifice for sin.

In the Old Testament, God commanded the high priest once a year, on the Day of Atonement, to enter the Holy of Holies to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. The Jews became acceptable to God on that day, for the blood of slain animals paid the price for their sins. On that Day of Atonement, God forgave the people of the sins they knew they had committed, and the sacrifice also covered their sins of omission, the behaviors they may not have recognized as sin. On that day, through the actions of the high priest in the Holy of Holies, the Jewish people became acceptable to God. The Day of Atonement was the day of righteousness; however, this day could never provide a complete or lasting absolution from sin. Every year the high priest had to enter into the Holy of Holies to once again offer up sacrifices for the people's sins. The Bible says people's hearts are continuously wicked: unholy, unacceptable to God, sinning overtly, covertly, and in ignorance. The Law and all it components revealed our sinful nature but could not change the hearts of men and women.

But Jesus came as the complete and totally efficacious sacrifice to deal with every kind of sin. He is our continuous Day of Atonement, THE DAY OF REST. By faith in his finished work at the cross, we enter into the kingdom of God, the Promised Land. Since Jesus has set us free from sin and death, we are no longer captives to sin, under the shame of God's constant judgment. Christ won the victory for us, making us acceptable to God because we are in him and He in us. Today, one of us might commit a sin, one we do not even recognize, but praise God, our high priest will present us holy before the Father because He paid the price for every sin we will ever commit. Our works or our good intentions cannot make peace with God. Christ alone makes us righteous: acceptable to God. We put our faith and trust in him, believing what John wrote: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7 KJV) That means He cleansed me yesterday, He is cleansing me today, and He will cleanse me tomorrow.

What a great salvation we have! Does this mean we should go on sinning? No! If you love Jesus, you will desire to please him with all your heart, soul, and might. If you fail to love him fervently, you will break your word to him and compromise your relationship with him with your fleshly and faithless attitudes and behavior. One of reasons the Holy Spirit is so important in our lives is that he reveals Jesus Christ and the love Jesus has for us. The Spirit teaches us all things concerning our elder brother, Jesus, and how He gave up everything for us. When we truly understand God's love, our hearts and mind will bow in contrition when we know the great price Christ paid for us: the bright and Morning Star of Heaven yielded himself as the perfect sacrifice for our redemption. We will realize that in our imperfection, we are very much dependent on God's goodness, mercy and grace. Praise God, little children, He does change us as He works in us, perfecting us and removing our weaknesses. As we walk in the Holy Spirit, He leads us into all truth and changes us from glory to glory. Rejoice in the Lord today! CHRIST won the victory over sin, assuring your salvation as sons and daughters of your Father in heaven.

Hebrews 8:7-13

Hebrews 8:7-13 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. 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. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

After making covenant with Abraham, God led his people through the patriarchs and leaders of the community. Through them, God took the Israelites by the hand and led them. He led them to Egypt and He led them out of Egypt, but the people remained dependent on their leaders' understanding of God's will for them. When Moses led them out of Egypt, they questioned Moses' leadership ability and his authority, but in spite of their doubts, they knew God performed miracles through Moses. They also saw the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, leading them in the wilderness. But God led them from the outside, instructing and guiding them through teachers, holy men, and miraculous events. Yet God promised a day would come when He would no longer lead them through others: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. When God's guidance comes only through the words of others or the teaching of spiritual doctrines, men soon go astray. People may have a strong will to obey and follow God, but the flesh is weak. They needed a new covenant.

Moses was distraught when he realized how quickly the children of Israel, even is own relatives, would turn away from following Jehovah. However, the Israelites, including his family, tried to follow God through him. They saw God perform great miracles through Moses' words and by his hands; therefore, they would cling to the God Moses followed. Nonetheless, when Moses removed himself for a short time to receive The Law from God, they quickly turned to other gods. Their God was with Moses: without him, they felt they had no God. Since Moses spoke for God and God honored his words, Moses was their the way to God. Without him, they were as sheep without a shepherd, and they did not remain faithful to God's covenant with Abraham. Forgetting they were chosen people, they turned to the gods of the heathens around them. This spiritual adultery became their modus operandi throughout their recorded history in the Old Testament. Stephen referenced this by saying, "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him--you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it." (Acts 7:51-53)

The old covenant instructed the Jews how to please God, but it could not change their basic nature as lawbreakers. Hebrews proclaims the "good news": Through Jesus Christ, God established a new and better covenant with men by circumcising their hearts and making a way for the Holy Spirit to abide within believers. When we accept Jesus Christ's death as our death and his resurrection as our resurrection, the Holy Spirit transforms us, bringing us from darkness to light. We no longer need men to explain God or to tell us how to please him because as part of the godhead, the HOLY SPIRIT PLEASES THE FATHER GOD ALL OF THE TIME. Jesus said, the kingdom of God is within you. Because Christ is in God and we are in him, we abide in his righteousness and live forever in his kingdom. We do not go to the temple where a priest offers sacrifices as a mediator between us and God; we do not need holy men and the teachers of the Law to find or to know God or to understand his will for us. God himself resides in our hearts, providing a better covenant for all who believe in him. Outside of Christ, people could not fulfill their side of the covenant because they were natural lawbreakers with sin endemic to their souls. In the new covenant, God fulfills both sides of the agreement. The Man, Jesus, fulfilled man's side by completing or fulfilling the law, and God's part of the covenant remains the same: I will bless Abraham and his Seed forever. Under this new covenant through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit empowers us to keep the law, for we are IN CHRIST, cleansed by his blood and acceptable to God. Christians now receive the promise of God--eternal blessing in his presence. Praise God forevermore for his unspeakable gift!

Hebrews 8:1-6

Hebrews 8:1-6 The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man. Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.

God is not a man that He should be mocked. Everyone will someday recognize all that we see in the temple as the truth. God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle exactly as he was told. Moses could not put his own ideas into the building of the tabernacle: he knew God wanted it built to his exact instructions. This is the truth of God's Word. We cannot put our own ideas into the scriptures; we must believe the Holy Spirit inspired men to record God's definitive words to us. God will judge any ideas, doctrines, and expressions of worship that do not conform to the written will of God. HE WILL NOT BE MOCKED. In the Bible, we see the Israelites serving in a sanctuary that was a copy or a shadow of HEAVEN. Worshipping God is serious business. We do not define our faith or decide how we worship; God decides that. We cannot take one part of the scriptures and expand it beyond the spiritual measurements God intended, and we cannot take verses and shrink them into less than God planned. In spirit and in truth, we must worship and serve the God revealed in the scriptures. God will reject all else as a false imitation of the truth.

In our fleshly spirits, we sometimes cavalierly approach God as if He doesn't care how we live or act. We bring him our worst, not our best. We are like the children of Israel. Rather than giving him their best sacrifice, they sometimes brought an injured or imperfect lamb, one that held little benefit for them and would not increase the value of their flocks. God wants our best, our first fruits. We do not offer God our gifts on special occasions or yearly as the Jews did. We abide in the very presence of God through and in Jesus Christ; therefore, we offer him our best, presenting ourselves as living sacrifices to him. The blood of bulls and goats does not stand between us and God, for we continually experience the precious cleansing blood of the perfect Lamb of God who gave himself for us. No longer experiencing the shadow and copy of God's eternal dwelling place, we now dwell with him and boldly come before God's throne of grace. Therefore, children, we should live with reverence toward God and the goodness He has showered on us, gladly serving him and loving others.

To live haphazardly, thinking God will bless us regardless of our attitudes or actions, tempts God's wrath. God is not mocked, and He disciplines his rebellious or wayward children. We cannot choose selfish and sinful living and then run to the Father when we need help. He will not accept our sacrifice of tears when we treat him in this way, ignoring him and giving him less than our best. We should respect the Holy Spirit who woos us to exemplify Christ as we walk this earth. When we disrespect God and rudely push the Holy Spirit out of our self-centered lives, we reveal our lack of love for God. We show disrespect when we do not love and follow God with all our strength and might. We disrespect him if we do not forgive others and love them as we love ourselves. If we walk around bitter and angry towards others, we show contempt for the Spirit and we mock God. We mock God when we build the tabernacle to our own dimensions, when we do not worship as his Word commands. In disobedience, we create our own god, our own religion. God will not tolerate willful disobedience or lukewarm living. If we fail to turn to him in repentance, He will discipline us or WE WILL FALL AWAY FROM THE TRUTH. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. (1 John 1:6 ) The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:4) John further beseeches us, Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18) As ambassadors of the true tabernacle in heaven, the holy and pure abode found in Jesus Christ OUR LORD, let us live lives that please God and lead others to him.