Tag: new covenant

Something NEW

Hebrews 8-10

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Monday, July 10

Throughout the Bible, there have been many examples of priests and chief priests. However, out of all the priests that have lived, there is only one that is the most important: Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike the other priests and chief priests, Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice by dying for everyone’s sins and shedding his own blood rather than using goat or bull’s blood as an offering. Jesus died so that a new covenant could come into play. According to Hebrews 8:10-12, the Lord declared: “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 know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” This new covenant gives us the opportunity to know God through Jesus Christ if we believe that Jesus died for the payment of our sins and that he will come again to bring salvation to those waiting for him.

God wants us to be wholeheartedly obedient and devoted to him. He doesn’t want us to just be “half-time” Christians. “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). This is done when Jesus takes away our sins, enters our lives, and redirects us toward God through baptism. He wants us to encourage each other by showing love and doing good deeds. God is pleased with us when we continue to gather together with other believers because we belong with those who have faith and are saved. Some of you are serving on the UP Project in Minnesota this week, others are working or going to school, and still others may be so excited for FUEL that they are packing a week early. Whatever you may be doing, do it for the glory of God. Hebrews 10:36 states: “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” That sounds like some pretty good advice to follow.

Today, I pray that you find the time to open your Bible and really study God’s Word. He is waiting to have a relationship with you and truly wants your undivided attention. Come to Jesus and God with a sincere heart and a strong faith and ask Him what He wants you to learn or do for Him. Make sure you assemble with other brothers and sisters in Christ and be an encouragement to them. I pray that you will be strong in your faith and share what you have learned with others. God bless you. Amen.

-Cynthia Fyfe

(Photo Credit: http://www.alittleperspective.com/is-the-old-covenant-obsolete-2-2/)

 

Why So Many Rules? (Exodus 21-23)

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In these three chapters we get a long list of dos and don’ts. There are so many specific situations mentioned in these chapters about how to pay back someone for a stolen ox or what to do if you beat a slave etc. What surprised me most about this section is the intense punishment for a lot of these rules! Did you know that if you strike one of your parents you should be put to death according to the Exodus law?!? That is crazy to me, thankfully though I can’t remember ever hitting my parents so I’m all clear on this rule.

Another topic mentioned a lot in these chapters is the, ‘no other gods’ theme. It is twice mentioned that there is only one God; I love how the entire Old Testament reinforces this idea of one God. This makes me think of Exodus 34:14 which says that God is a “jealous God”. Most people think that God being jealous is a bad thing but it is actually beautiful. This means that God values us and our praise so much that He only wants it for Himself. YHWH created us to worship Him and no one else but Him. In case you’re new to the whole Bible thing YHWH is the name of God. It brings me such joy to know that there is an all powerful God out that there that cares about me enough to be jealous for me and my praise. He could literally have anything He wanted but God gave us the choice and He fights for our praise.

This section reminds me of my appreciation for the new covenant, the one that we are all under as Christians. Reading all of these rules made me exhausted and I could hardly bear the idea of having to follow them all of the time. I was thinking of how glad I am that Jesus came to fulfill the law so that we are no longer made to keep any of these specific rules. However this doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want now; if anything Jesus raised the bar for Christians. Instead of the whole eye for an eye concept, we are to turn the other cheek. Instead of repaying an enemy for what we stole, we must love and pray for our enemies. Jesus on one hand has set us free from exact law keeping, but he has put on us a greater burden of true love. I encourage you to thank God for the sacrifice of giving His son for us and to thank Jesus for being willing to die for you and move you under the new covenant.

If I had to summarize these three chapters into one sentence it would be this. Long story short God had a lot of rules to follow and back then breaking one of them meant serious business. Until tomorrow and thank you for taking the time to read this!

 

— Josiah Cain