Tag Archives: encouraged

Anchored In Hope

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ANCHORED IN HOPE

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 6: 18-20).

When God makes a promise and seals it with an oath, we have the assurance that what He has promised is of great significance. His promises are all unbreakable, oath or no oath, because He is God and He cannot lie. However, the oath is for us, not for Him, to reassure us that He means every word He has spoken.

Our hope of receiving what He has promised is anchored to Jesus, who has taken His own sacrificial blood into the Most Holy Place in the heavenly realms as an atonement for our sin. His blood guarantees that God has forgiven and blotted out everything that was written against us. Our high priest is neither a weakling nor a sinner like the Levitical high priests and the blood He presents is not animal blood which cannot atone for sin.

To go back to the old religious system, which was only a picture of what Messiah had come to do, was as unthinkable and impossible as adults returning to infancy. Why would his readers want to throw away an unshakeable hope that their salvation was secure, to go back to rules and rituals that did not bring them the peace of sins forgiven – forever?

What does an anchor do? It secures a vessel to something immovable so that it will not drift off course and be dashed to pieces on the rocks during a storm. These Hebrew Christians were in the midst of a violent storm – such hatred from the authorities that their lives were in constant danger.

Their circumstances offered them no security. Where did their security lie? It lay in God’s promises – nothing that humans could do to them could separate them from God’s love. Whether they lived or died, their eternal destiny was sure because they had a high priest who spoke for them. This high priest did not enter an earthly sanctuary which was only a model of the heavenly sanctuary. He entered heaven itself to present His own blood to the Father.

Those of us who have believed and received this promise are anchored in hope to the mercy of God in the Holy of Holies in heaven. Jesus is not a Levitical high priest who will die and be replaced by another mortal man. He is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

The writer had tried several times to introduce his readers to Jesus’s high priesthood in the order of Melchizedek but he was aware of their immaturity and inability to understand the “meat” of the word. This time he plunged on because he wanted them to understand how Jesus fulfilled the entire system of Judaism, so that they were no longer bound by its rules and rituals. There was no more need for animal sacrifices and all the rigmarole that went with them. These were a reminder of the instructions and teachings – torah – of Yahweh which were intended to show them, in practical ways, how to fulfil the greatest commandment both to love God and to love their neighbour, and how to make atonement when they failed to love.

Unfortunately, what was intended to be a provision for sin had become an excuse to sin. Sacrifices and rituals became a way out for them so that they could go on sinning with impunity. Instead of teaching them the heinousness and infectiousness of sin, they became hardened to sin’s seriousness because their sacrifices were always a way out, so they thought.

When God laid all the judgment for sin on His own Son, and then raised His from the dead as proof that sin’s debt had finally been paid, He showed us just what sins does to human beings. He ordained Jesus to be the eternal and never-to-die-again high priest who is at the Father’s right hand making intercession for us, presenting His blood so that we might be forgiven and so that we might turn away from sin and live according to His word.

Can we have an anchor and a hope more secure than that? Absolutely not!

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.

 

Christ, The Mystery of God

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CHRIST, THE MYSTERY OF GOD

I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not known me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:1-3).

Paul was presenting deep truths to relatively young believers, using truths that many of us today do not understand. One wonders how much of what Paul wrote about made sense to them!

These were people who had not heard the message of the gospel from Paul. They had been taught by Epaphras who was probably Paul’s convert and possibly a Gentile who may have had no background in the Jewish Scriptures. Paul recognised that, although he was not a part of their conversion experience, nevertheless he had a responsibility to instruct them thoroughly in the faith. They had no New Testament to which to turn. They relied on what they had been taught and what they could remember.

What did Paul emphasise as the criteria for understanding the mystery of Christ? Not book knowledge, as we might think, but their being encouraged in heart and united in love. These are not qualities of the mind, but rather aspects of their experience as they learned to do life together. It was important for them to know the truth about Jesus and to be sure of what they believed. It was equally important that they live it out in their everyday lives.

It was in the experience of their daily lives ‘in Christ’ that they learned to know Him. They needed to be confident in Him and to draw their life from Him in a hostile environment where they could be betrayed, arrested and executed for their faith at any time. Head knowledge was not enough. They had to experience the sufficiency of Christ for everything they needed. Most of all, being believers in Jesus was about doing life together.

Those of us who are part of the culture of the western world need to learn from cultures that place emphasis on family groups above individuals. There are dangers in that, of course, especially when it comes to conversion from a traditional religion to faith in Christ. Since family takes precedence over the individual, to make a personal choice against the family is viewed in a serious light.

However, it is the family togetherness in Christ that helps believers to remain faithful and strong through the support they receive from one another. When one falls, the others are there to pick him up. When one strays, the others bring him back. Strife and conflict are handled within the family of believers to maintain harmony and promote love.

Imagine if our church groups functioned like that. It’s no wonder that the church in Paul’s day spread like wildfire in spite of persecution. Jesus said that it is by our love that people will know that we are His disciples and by our unity that the world will know that the Father sent Him.

It is this kind of life that will take us deeper into ‘the full riches of understanding’ of the mystery of Christ. The Israelites had a constitution which was intended to teach them how to live in harmony with one another. They lacked one thing – Jesus Christ. He is the full revelation of everything that the Mosaic Law was intended to teach them. They had the method, but not the means.

The Law of Moses was meant to teach them how impossible it was to live God’s way without Jesus. God wanted them to know how powerless they were to make it on their own. Even if they were able to obey God’s Law to the letter outwardly, they could do nothing to change their wayward hearts. Their sad history is proof that they did not understand the heart of God. Only a few of them got it, people like David who moved beyond keeping rules and offering sacrifices.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise (Psalm 51: 16-17).

Knowledge is important. Without it we have nothing upon which to base our faith. But knowledge that does not issue in obedience and a changed life has no value. We need to be encouraged in heart – urged on to become who we are – and united in love – taking care of one another and meeting one another’s needs at our own expense, in order to come to a true understanding of who Jesus really is. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the source of everything we are and everything we need.

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.