Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / May 22 - Hebrews 9

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May 22 - Hebrews 9 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here it's Thursday the 22nd of May
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  and I hope you're going well. Thanks for tapping on play.
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  We are continuing in this fascinating journey working our
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  way through the book of Hebrews, and this reading today really is
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  talking a lot about old rules of worship and sacrificial law and
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  the way that God's people in the Old Testament really had to
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  prepare themselves to come before God.
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  And there was lots of cleansing process to make themselves
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  presentable and clean in order to come to the priest who would
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  then facilitate them coming into God's presence.
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  It was this long, painful process to transform essentially
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  an unclean human into being fit to come before a clean God.
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  And that to them, that was just natural.
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  That was the thing they had to do.
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  And it was long, it was painful. And I never really appreciated
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  this until I went to my local synagogue a number of years ago
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  and participated in their Passover feast.
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  And all the way through, we would stop and we'd go through
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  the process of cleansing, of of cleaning, of washing, of making
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  ourselves acceptable. So built into their psyche was
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  this concept that we are not acceptable to come before God
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  unless we are cleansed. And while that might be a little
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  bit lost on us normally, let's put ourselves in that place to
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  fully appreciate what Jesus has indeed done for us.
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  So you ready? Let us read it together,
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  friends. Let's read Hebrews Chapter 9.
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  That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for
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  worship and a place of worship here on earth.
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  There were two rooms in that Tabernacle.
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  In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred
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  loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy
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  Place. Then there was a curtain, and
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  behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy
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  Place. In that room were a gold incense
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  altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which
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  was covered with gold on all sides.
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  Inside the ark were a gold jar containing Manner Aaron's staff
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  that sprouted leaves and the stone tablets of the covenant.
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  Above the ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings
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  stretched out over the ark's cover.
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  The place of atonement. But we cannot explain these
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  things in detail now. When these things were all in
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  place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they
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  performed their religious duties, but only the High Priest
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  ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year, and
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  he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the
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  people had committed in ignorance.
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  By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the
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  entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as a
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  Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
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  This is an illustration pointing to the present time, For the
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  gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to
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  cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them.
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  For that old system deals only with food and drink and various
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  cleansing ceremonies, physical regulations that were in effect
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  only until a better system could be established.
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  So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good
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  things that have come. He has entered that greater,
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  more perfect Tabernacle in heaven which was not made by
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  human hands and is not part of this created world.
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  With His own blood, not the blood of goats and calves, He
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  entered the Most Holy Place once and for all time and secured our
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  redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood
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  of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse
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  people's bodies from ceremonial impurity.
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  Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our
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  consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living
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  God. For by the power of the eternal
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  Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice
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  for our sins. That is why He is the one who
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  mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who
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  are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has
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  promised them. For Christ died to set them free
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  from the penalty of the sins they had committed under the
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  first covenant. Now, when someone leaves a will,
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  it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead.
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  The will goes into effect only after the person's death.
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  While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be
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  put into effect. That is why even the first
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  covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal.
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  For after Moses had read each of God's commandments to the
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  people, he took the blood of calves and goats along with
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  water, and sprinkled both the book of God's law and all the
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  people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool.
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  Then he said, this blood confirms the covenant God has
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  made with you. And in the same way he sprinkled
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  blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship.
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  In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was
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  purified with blood. For without the shedding of
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  blood there is no forgiveness. That is why the Tabernacle and
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  everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had
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  to be purified by the blood of animals.
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  But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far
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  better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
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  For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human
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  hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven.
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  He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our
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  behalf, and He did not enter heaven to offer Himself again
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  and again, like the High Priest here on earth who enters the
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  Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal.
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  If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die
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  again and again ever since the world began.
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  But now, once for all time, He has appeared at the end of the
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  age to remove sin by His own death as a sacrifice.
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  And just as each person is destined to die once, and after
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  that comes judgement, so also Christ was offered once for all
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  time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people.
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  He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring
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  salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him.
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  Jesus, it is quite incredible to hear these words spoken about
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  the fact that this whole process that was set up here to cleanse
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  God's people, that was just a shadow, just a copy of the real
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  way that you were going to cleanse all of us.
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  That it was your plan all along to save us through Jesus
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  sacrifice. So this system was entirely set
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  up to point toward you, Jesus, and to point toward what you
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  would ultimately do to bring us face to face to God without sin,
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  without shame, so that we can stand before you, our loving
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  Father, as your perfect children, transformed by your
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  perfect Son. Oh, we are so grateful for the
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  enormity of your plans and how you just carry them out with
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  absolute precision with the one goal, the one goal our Father,
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  that's to bring your children back to you.
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  So here we are, your children, and we receive that gift that
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  you've given us through Jesus, and we're so grateful to be part
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  of your family and to feel your love and your acceptance and our
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  firm identity as your child. So we just praise you and pray
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  all of these things in the name of that perfect sacrifice, the
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  name of Jesus, Amen.