Tag Archives: better

Future Faith

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FUTURE FAITH

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Heb. 11:39-40).

How would you have liked to have been in the shoes of these who died trusting God but having no idea what their future held for them? They knew nothing of the finished work of their Messiah, which was effective for them as well as for us except that they did not know Him.

They had never seen the face of God in a human being who was God and who came to earth to reveal the Father. They had never seen the Father’s love in action, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and opening the ears of the deaf, casting our demons and raising the dead. They did not know that God Himself would pay the price He demanded for the debt of sin. They had no idea that He would conquer sin and death, defeat the devil and rise from the tomb, never to die again.

They had no indwelling Holy Spirit, a gift from the Father to be with them forever and to make Jesus real to them in their everyday lives. They had no written word to light their way, to nourish their spirits and to reassure them that God was with them when life was tough and when the enemy of their souls harassed them and tried to lure them back into sin. They had no past with Jesus to secure them to their unknown future.

Like their ancestor Abraham, they had the promises of God to guide them towards their future like a distant light in a very dark cave. To this they clung and faced their tormentors and certain death because, in the depth of their hearts they were sure that death was not the end. Like a shipwrecked man in a vast ocean, they had a single lifejacket that kept them afloat and they refused to let go.

Did they know that they were not alone, that there was an army of people who would join them in their search for the permanent dwelling God had promised to those who remained faithful to Him? What lay ahead for those who refused to trade the temporary pleasures of sin in a short and transient life for an uncertain future?

It was their confidence in the promises of God that secured for them their place in His hall of faith. That alone was enough to gain them a standing in righteousness which no amount of good works would secure. It is trust in God’s word alone that pleases God. Just imagine that! He values our trust in Him far more than anything we can do to try to gain His favour. When we take Him seriously, believe what He says and act in obedience to His instructions, we become fully accepted and reckoned as righteous.

It is on this basis that God releases us from the penalty of our past because Jesus paid our debt and secured the forgiveness of our sin and a place in His family. But, if we don’t believe Him, there is no way that we can ever enjoy the benefits of what He did for us. How tragic that there is a world of people for whom Jesus died but they either don’t know it or they refuse to believe and receive His forgiveness because they think they know better.

We must never be like the philosopher, Bertrand Russell who said, “Forgiveness is a beggar’s refuge. We must pay our debts.” How sad that his pride prevented him from enjoying a place in God’s family which is reserved only for those who believe what He says.

Is belief in God’s forgiveness a form of escapism? It might be if it is based on wishful thinking but it cannot be if it is based on the historical fact of the execution of a righteous man and the indisputable reality of His resurrection. All these who died in faith, choosing to remain loyal to God despite the treatment they received at the hands of people hostile to Him, await the resurrection promised through Jesus. They share in the hope that believers in Jesus carry in their hearts.

We are all in it together.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Better Ministry, Better Mediator

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BETTER MINISTRY, BETTER MEDIATOR

They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and a 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 in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is a mediator is superior to old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another (Heb. 8: 5-7).

“Better” is the watchword of Hebrews. Why is the new better than the old in every way? If we place them side by side, “better” is seen in two ways:

Firstly, the old system with its earthly tabernacle, human priesthood, animal sacrifices and inability to do away with sin was, in one word, incomplete. It was a never-ending cycle of rituals.  There was never an assurance that one day, one bull or one lamb would remove sin forever and that the cycle would come to an end.

Jesus put an end to this cycle of incompleteness. He is the perfect man, throughout His entire earthly life without sin. He is the deathless high priest. There is no need, ever, for a replacement. He is high priest in a new order, the order of a priesthood that has no beginning and no end. He is qualified by virtue of His divine nature, to represent God to man, and by virtue of His human nature, to represent man to God. He is the perfect and irreplaceable mediator between God and man.

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we were healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53: 5-6).

Secondly, the old system was incompetent. However many sacrifices were offered, the people of God were still stubborn, rebellious and disobedient. One look at the track record is enough to convince us that all the animal blood in creation could never change their hearts. Perhaps that was why they could so easily abandon their God for idols. All they had to do was to offer their sacrifices on a different altar and give their allegiance to another god without ever being any different.

Jesus’ sacrifice paved the way for the Holy Spirit to return to God’s people, forever to be both with them and in them. His blood not only forgave sin; it removed sin and allowed the Father to receive His children back into His family with no shadow between them. His promise was fulfilled:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, adieu will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezek. 36: 25-27).

Even the tabernacle in the wilderness was built on a better model, the perfect tabernacle in heaven. Moses was given the privilege of glimpses of that heavenly blueprint of which the earthly tabernacle was only a pale reflection, as beautiful as it was. Every detail of the tabernacle in the wilderness was to be a physical replica of the heavenly reality so that the people of God would at least have a shadow of the real thing.

As magnificent as the tabernacle was, with its interior of rich embroidery and gold, the people never saw it. Only the priests were allowed into the Holy Place. Only the high priest ever gained entrance into the Most Holy Place. Even then, he was not permitted to look upon the “Shekinah” – the visible radiance of God’s presence – which was obscured by the clouds of smoke from the censor of burning incense

As Jesus uttered His last words, “It is finished!” and drew His final breath, the curtain in the temple ripped from top to bottom, leaving the “Shekinah” exposed for anyone in the temple to see. No longer was God’s presence veiled in secrecy. His arms and His heart were open and His invitation extended to all, ‘Come!’ Never before could He do that because of sin . . . sin that polluted, separated, and stained the human race.

But now . . .? Finished! Complete! Better!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.