HEBREWS 10
Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Hebrews 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated
for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Hebrews 10:21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water.
https://youtu.be/H5nS1bnUBw4 Heb. 10
ON VIDEO-
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NEW- [past links below]
Ok, I already taught
the chapter in context- here it is- https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/hebrews-updated-2015/ .
Context meaning- what does it say to the people the letter
was actually written to in the 1st century.
It says this-
The old law had priests and animal sacrifices that kept
being made every year.
If those sacrifices- and that earthly priesthood could
really take away sins- then they wouldn’t have kept doing it every year.
Hebrews
10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image
of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect.Hebrews 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Hebrews 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
That makes sense.
But the fact that in the Old Testament law- they were
continually making these offerings- that in itself was a sign of the insufficiency
of the whole thing.
Now- Jesus- the High priest of the true tabernacle- heaven itself-
He offered himself one time- and SAT DOWN- at the right hand
of God.
Hebrews
10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the
same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
The earthly priests ‘stood daily’ meaning it was never
finished under their office.
But Jesus SAT DOWN- signifying ‘it is finished’.
The writer also quotes the Psalm [41] and he sees the actual
order of the verses in this Psalm as having significance.
He says God said ‘in sacrifice and offering I have no pleasure’
THEN he said ‘ I come’ [speaking of the incarnation- Jesus took upon him a
Body]
Psalm
40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened:
burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.Psalm 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Hebrews 10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Hebrews 10:8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Hebrews 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Speaking of Jesus.
See?
He took away the first- to set up the 2nd [covenant].
Ok- that’s the context.
Now my application [which means making it practical to us].
Often times God permits us to function as pastors- preachers-
and yes- just ‘plain’ Christians- for many years in the ‘first office’
[standing all the time- a type of our own human efforts]
Sort of like the priests of the law.
Yet- God wants us to move on- and get to the better thing [church-
ministry- etc.] that he has for us.
But in order to get to the 'better thing’ he has to take
away the first thing.
That process is usually tough- but necessary.
In the example of Abraham [which I will get to in the next
chapter]
He had all his hopes and dreams in Isaac- he knew that was
the actual promise of God to him.
Yet- when God says ‘offer him up’ he was willing to do it.
God might be testing you- like he did Abraham- to see if
your willing to ‘offer it up’.
The actual ministry you are doing right now.
And when you get to the place where you are willing to let
the first go- for the 2nd.
God knows our hearts-
If you mean it- he might say ‘ok- this was a test- don’t
actually offer Isaac’.
Or- he might say 'yes- I’m asking you to lay down the
ministry you are in now because I have something better for you’.
God simply wants our heart- and when you make the
proposition ‘ok- I’ll lay it down if you want’.
It only works if your honest- and trust me- God knows if you
mean it or not.
And if he says ‘ok- lets go- I have something better for
you’.
Then hang on- because the journey is about to get interesting.
Note-
The contrast of the priests of the law STANDING- with Jesus who SAT DOWN- Is a
type of law versus grace.
In the law- they worked to please God- standing [though it
never accomplished true righteousness] But in grace- we rest [sitting].
The New testament actually teaches that we are seated with
Christ- now –
Which
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own
right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph. 1:20
4 But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye
are saved;)
6 And
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus:
Eph. 2-
Being seated denotes a position of victory-
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. Ps. 110
In the verses I pasted above- SAT DOWN- They are the
fulfillment of this Psalm.
Notice the expectation of victory-
Hebrews
10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat
down on the right hand of God;Hebrews 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
We are also told to have faith and patience- to be able to
‘wait’ for the victory from a position of rest.
Having the faith to know we followed God’s plan- and he will
do the rest.
For ye have need of patience,
that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Heb. 10:36
PAST POSTS-
. Now, this
would eventually lead up to the development of the strong nation states, an
independent identifying with your state/region as opposed to being under Rome and the papacy. This
type of independence would allow for the 16th century reformation to
happen under Luther. If it were not for Frederick
the Wise, the regional authority in Germany where Luther lived, he
would have never had the protection or freedom to launch his reformation.
Luther also had the influence of being a scholar at Wittenberg . Around the 12th-13th
centuries you had the first university pop up at the great cathedral of Notre
Dame in Paris .
The word university simply meant a co-operative effort from two or more people.
It applied to many things besides learning. It was also during this time that
the church began to develop a system of harmonizing Christian doctrine; she
began to do systematic theology. The writings of the Greek philosophers
[Aristotle] were rediscovered after centuries of them being hidden, and the
great intellectual Saint Thomas Aquinas would wed Aristotle’s ideas with
Christian truth. This became known as Scholasticism. Aquinas believed that men
could arrive at a true knowledge of God
from pure reason and logic. But man could not know all the truths about God and
his nature without ‘special revelation’ [the bible and church tradition]. All
Christians did not agree with Aquinas new approach to Christian truth, the very
influential bishop Bernard would initially condemn Aquinas over this. Bernard
said ‘the faith that believes unto righteousness, believes! It does not doubt’.
The Scholastic school taught that the way you arrive at knowledge was thru the
continuous questioning and doubting of things until you come to some basic
conclusions. These issues would be debated for centuries, and even in the
present hour many argue over the issue of Divine revelation versus natural
logical reasoning. Tertullian, an early North Afrcian church father, said ‘I
believe because it is preposterous, illogical’ he became famous for his saying
‘what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens ’ meaning he did not
believe that Greek philosophy should have any part with Christian truth.
Origen, his contemporary, believed the other way. So the debate rages on. Why
talk about this here? Some believers ‘believe’ in a type of knowledge called
‘revelation knowledge’ they mean something different than the historic use of
the term. Historically ‘revelation’ meant that which God revealed to us THRU
THE BIBLE, not something outside of the bible. For instance, the first canon of
scripture put together was by a man called Marcion. His ‘bible’ contained the
letters of Paul and parts of :Luke. He believed the revelation God gave Paul
was for us today, not the Old Testament or the historical gospels. He was
condemned by the church as a heretic. The point being some took Paul’s writings
about receiving knowledge from God as an indicator that what God showed Paul
was different than what the church got thru the other apostles. In point of fact
the things that God revealed to Paul, or to you or me; all truth is consistent,
it will not contradict any other part of Gods truth. Paul’s letters are
consistent with the gospels, not in contradiction. When believers cling to an
idea that their teachers are sharing ‘special revelation’ or a Rhema word that
is somehow above the scrutiny of scripture, then they are in dangerous
territory. Paul did appeal to his experience with God as a defense of his
gospel, but he backed up everything he said with Old Testament scripture. God
wasn’t ‘revealing’ things to Paul that were outside of the realm of true
knowable ‘truth’. You could examine and test the things Paul was saying, he
wasn’t saying ‘because God showed it to me, that’s why I’m correct’. So in
today’s church world, we want all the things we learn and believe to be
consistent with what the church has believed thru out the centuries. Sure there
are always things that are going to be questioned and true reform entails this,
but beware of teachers who come to you with ‘revelation knowledge’ or a ‘Rhema
word’ that goes against the already revealed word of truth.
[parts]
THE CAPSTONE
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace,
grace unto it. Zech 4:7
.you are the letter
.Apostles
.Flying the sign?
.Phone- off
.Walk alone too
.What if they teach the bible?
.is it all about a book?
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PAST POSTS
‘Wherefore we
receiving a Kingdom that can not be moved, let us HAVE GRACE, whereby we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming
fire’ Though Paul doesn’t say it [I think he should have!] but this alludes to
the ‘God’ of Moses day, who did not consume the burning bush, compared to the
‘God’ of today [new covenant] who will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire! This fits in with the theme of a harsher punishment for those who reject
the covenant of grace as opposed to those who rejected the covenant of law. I
know these themes are not popular, but this is clearly the way Paul is
presenting them. I also am not saying the ‘God’ of the Old Testament is
different from the ‘God’ of the new [this is the heresy of Marcion! I think
that was his name. He was an early Christian heretic who comprised the first
canon of scripture for a ‘new testament’ it included basically Paul’s letters,
and he taught that The God of the new testament was different from the God in
the old] but Paul is presenting the new covenant in a way that says ‘don’t
neglect this new way of salvation, those who do will receive a harsher judgment
than those who rejected the law’.
END NOTES-
A HEAVENLY CITY.
DON’T BE SAD,
HE’S TREATING YOU LIKE A SON.
NO REPENTANCE-
OUTSIDE OF CHRIST THAT IS.
CULTURE SHOCK IS
HARD ON US ALL.
Once again we see the contrast between ‘he that spoke from earth’ [Moses-
the law]- and he that ‘speaks from heaven’ [Jesus covenant is more strict- to
those outside of it and reject it- because he has heavenly authority- Moses had
earthly].
Hebrews 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not
who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn
away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth.
Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Remember this-
though the message of grace and Jesus as the Messiah is wonderful- especially
to us Gentile believers-
Yet- it was
indeed a cultural shock to the 1st century Jew-
Why?
Even though
Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophets- yet in order for the Jewish person
to accept this [Like the apostle Paul]
He had to accept
a real cultural change in the religion he practiced from his youth-
He was being
asked to stop the animal sacrifices- to ‘move on’ from the Law covenant- and to
embrace Christ.
Now- in reality-
it would be the fulfillment of all that was contained in the law- but it’s
often hard for anyone to ‘move on’ from former religious practices that are
embedded in his culture.
So- in context
‘Don’t be sad- God is disciplining you- showing you new stuff- and it’s tough
for sure- but he does this with all the sons he receives’.
We also see the promise of the heavenly city- As
opposed to the earthly one.
Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect,
The writer is speaking about the church- and how both Jew
and Gentile are part of this spiritual
[parts]
A few years back I did an on-line
teaching about the other books that never made it into the bible.
Many years ago I bought some of
these- and when you study church history and theology- well- these are an
aspect of that type of teaching.
So I commented on them- gave the
reasons why we don’t have them in our bibles.
But I also said that when I read
some of them- I have found some are actually quite good.
One of my favorites is called the
Epistle of Barnabus.
But there are others as well.
Some in the early church actually
had a couple of these that were included in some of the early bibles- others
were never given a 2nd thought.
By the way- in this field of
study- I come down of the conservative side.
That is I don’t hold to the ideas
of men like Bart Ehrman- the more liberal scholars.
They seem to give more credence
to the books that never made it into the canon- and cast too much doubt on the
bible we have today.
Anyway- the few that I do lile-
when I re-read them as the years go by- there have been times when God did
speak to me.
Here’s one.
As my prayer time developed into
this inclusion of dead folk [above].
I felt much more awareness of my
friends who have died- as being amongst us during prayer.
Now- I don’t ‘pray to them’ but I
have a greater sense of praying ‘with them’.
I mention their kids and all- because these guys- some- were actually
friends of mine- who came to my church meetings I started years ago.
So- I painted a spot on my wall-
it was dedicated to this group.
I simply wrote a few things-
stuff that reminded me that these were those who have gone on- and are yet
‘here’.
Sort of like my ‘friends in
prison’ type of thing.
Prison represents those who have
died- and we are not so sure where they are- to be honest.
I’ll explain it in a moment.
So- right after I painted this
little altar area- I read in one of the ‘lost books of the bible’ [I think it
was in the Revelation of St. Peter?].
It said ‘have you preached to the
spirits in prison yet’.
Meaning- have you included those
who have died yet- have you yet ‘learned this’ son?
That was the type of sense I got.
As I read the verse- I simply
said ‘yes’.
Now- I do know the source is from
one of the early books that is not in the bible.
But this reference- even if it is
a copy- or a fake- does come from our bibles as well.
It’s in the letter of Peter [I
think 1st Peter 3?]
And it’s one those texts that
scholars haggle over.
But Peter is speaking about some
who died before the days of the world wide flood [Genesis 6].
And he refers to these dead
people hearing the gospel- by Christ himself- after he died and rose again.
And they are called ‘the spirits
in prison’.
So- that’s the same thing I
felt/understood as I began seeing those who have gone on- well- they are still
with us in a way.
Yeah- in a few minutes I will
post little Niko’s picture up on my wall.
I’ll look at it as time goes by-
as I see all my friends- both living and dead- and I will read his words.
‘Today I have to go- don’t
worry’.
Yes- Jesus said out of the mouths
of babies thou hast perfected praise.
You think?
[parts]
END NOTES [I posted the video for
this portion a few days ago- it goes along with Hebrews 7-9 video/post] The
past few weeks I had a few friends ask me about the Dead Sea Scrolls- and a few
other questions about the ‘lost books of the bible’ and some other common- and
mistaken ideas [like the original sin being Eve had sex with the serpent].
So- I figured I would cover a
little Jewish history- which would help in this study of Hebrews-
And also hit on a few of these
subjects.
As we read Hebrews- it helps to
also understand some of the history that we don’t have in our bibles [though
the Catholic bibles do have some of it in the Apocrypha].
Ok- the ruling empire at the time
of Christ was Rome- just prior to the appearance of Jesus- the Roman Emperor-
Caesar Augustus- consolidated the Roman Empire under his rule-
Rome was ruled by a senate- some
famous names from history were in it- Cicero being one.
Caesar Augustus was the nephew of
Julius Caesar- his real name was Octavian [Octavius].
After the death of Julius Caesar-
there were some power struggles that took place- between some other famous
people.
Marc Antony being one of them
[Cleopatra too- he was in love with the girl for sure].
Now- we read about Augustus in
the New Testament- and we read in the book of Revelation about the Mark of the
Beast- and that those who don't worship- give homage to the Beast- they will be
killed.
So- Many Christians would be
killed because they would refuse to give homage to Caesar Augustus [meaning son
of the Divine].
‘Wow- how did he get a name like
that’ [there was more than one Caesar by the way- as well as more than one
Herod- who did play a part in these power struggles- it can get confusing- even
to me].
When Octavian defeated Marc
Antony at Actium [32 BC].
Herod [The Great] had a problem-
he had previously sided with Antony and found himself on the losing side.
Yet he was smart- did some ‘brown
nosing’ as we say-and patched things up.
Herod had 3 sons- who would
eventually take positions of authority in the Roman government at the time of
Christ.
Herod Antipas was over the region
that we read about in the New Testament where Jesus did most of his ministry-
Galilee.
Ok- Octavian claimed deity
because of a heavenly sign associated with his rise to power- and this is how
he became called ‘Caesar Augustus’.
He sort of saw himself as a ‘re-incarnate’- of his great uncle Julius
Caesar.
‘John- what in the heck does this
have to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls’.
Ok- good question.
The Jews had various responses to
the empires that ruled over them during various times.
Alexander the Great instituted
Hellenization- a sort of cultural compromise over the people he conquered.
They could keep their
religious/cultural roots- but would be subservient to Alexander and Greek rule.
Some Jewish people rejected any
compromise- we call them the Essenes- they moved out of town- so to speak, and
lived in what we refer to as the Qumran community.
This was a few centuries before
the time of Christ- and this was where the Dead Seas Scrolls were found in the
20th century.
A Bedouin boy was looking for his
goats- threw a rock in a cave right off the Dead Sea- and that’s how we found
the scrolls.
The scrolls might have been
hidden there by the Essenes-
Now- when my friends asked me
about them- I told them that it’s been a while since I read up on any of this-
but to the best of my memory the thing that made them significant was the fact
that they were very old manuscripts- from the bible- and they backed up what we
had had all along.
I did read up this week- and
basically had it right.
The earliest Hebrew manuscripts
of the Old Testament we had previously dated back to around 900- 1000 A.D.
These manuscripts went back about
1000 years earlier- and they contained portions from almost every book of the
Old testament- and some complete books.
The only book missing was Esther.
So- this was indeed a very
significant find for scholars.
But the Scrolls also contain some
of the writings from the Essenes themselves- things we never had before- so
this too was significant.
There were Jews at the time of
the first century who tried to ‘get along’ with Rome- and with the person in
charge of their region [one of the sons of Herod the Great at the time of
Christ].
These are referred to as
Herodian’s in the bible.
Some wanted a revolution to rid
Rome from Jerusalem- these were the Zealots [one of Jesus disciples was in this
group].
Some thought if they returned to
a legalistic obeisance of the law- that this would bring in a deliverer- like
the stories we read about in the Old testament- these were the Pharisees.
And some took more of a political
compromise- these were the Sadducees.
Eventually a war with Rome would
be fought [By the way- Josephus- the famous 1st century historian- fought on
the side of the Jews in the war- and after Jerusalem was sacked in A.D. 70- he
went to Rome and wrote his great works- thinking he would make a case for the
Jewish people with the Romans. This is why we have his works today- which are
very valuable to scholars].
NOTE- In time I’ll try and cover
how we ‘got our bibles’ [called the Canon- meaning Rule/ Measurement].
Frankly- there is a lot of confusion
in the general public about conspiracies [like the Catholic Church had some
type of plot to keep certain books out].
Or stories about how the Church
taught Mary Magdalene was a prostitute so they could discredit her.
Actually- we read in the gospels
that Jesus cast out ‘spirits’ from a woman who was probably living this type of
life-
And Jesus had a ministry to the
down and out- it is indeed possible that Mary was one of these women-
And if true- it would not demean
her in any way-
That’s how this tradition more
than likely developed- But- we don’t know for sure.
So a few years back the Church
officially said ‘we don’t know’.
Ok- Plot?
No- just being careful.
So there are other misguided
beliefs like this- that sincere people have- and over time I hope to get to
them.
I’ll do one more in keeping with
this post.
I mentioned above that Caesar
Augustus did indeed take the title of ‘son of God’.
And some critics of the Church
say ‘see- there were all types of religions that had Sons of God’.
I watched one show a few years
back- and it stated that these religions had ’12 disciples- a leader named Lord
and Savior- and he healed and claimed to be God’s Son- and rose from the dead’.
Ok- that show was ‘fibbing’ to
put it lightly- they went too far [historically speaking] in trying to diminish
the Christians claim of Christ by doing this.
Now- is there some truth to this
at all?
Yes- like I just mentioned above-
Octavian did indeed claim deity- a ‘son of god’.
So- how do we explain this?
In the book of Galatians the
bible says ‘in the FULLNESS of times God sent forth his Son’.
Jesus came at a set time in
history- in fulfilment of the Jewish Prophets- to be who he was- and to do what
he did.
Now- this is not special pleading
here- but I find it a masterpiece that God’s Son came at a time when the Roman
Empire had one sitting on the throne- who too claimed deity.
Yet Jesus was in a region of the
lower class- his men were not highly educated- and his followers were people
under oppression.
Augustus lived in the wealthy and
influential capital of ‘the world’- he had all you could ever ask for- he was
worshiped as a god.
Yet in 3 short centuries- one of
the heirs of the empire- Constantine- would have an experience – not with a
former Caesar- but with a vison of a Cross-
He would convert to Christianity-
and declare Christianity to be the religion of the realm.
[parts]
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Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts-
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