Old ideas with new power for us
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:
What did I like about today’s passage?
People sometimes say that God in the Old Testament seems completely different from God in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it's easy to focus on the laws and God disciplining his people when they would not follow them. But Jesus in the New Testament speaks of love and forgiveness - what's changed?
This letter makes the connection between the Old and New - it's Jesus, fulfilling an old promise by bringing in a new covenant relationship between us and God. He is able to do this in a role the Hebrews recognise - a priest. Uniquely Jesus didn't have to offer sacrifices for himself, but was able to make a sacrifice of himself. So if God knew this was the plan all along, why have the Old system? It was "a copy and a shadow" (chapter 8 verse 5) of greater things.
The greatest revelation of all is that sacrifices to God were never demanded as a one sided thing from God. Just as God originally called people to take part in his work with him, his grand plan to save us involved him making a perfect sacrifice himself.
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
God isn't a frustrated taskmaster or spoilsport. He worked through the centuries to bring a nation to the point where they could recognise the significance of Jesus and share this with the world. Then, "from the least of them to the greatest" they will know God and be in a good relationship with him.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
The call is to stop sinning and taking God's sacrifice for granted. I want to sin less and enjoy relationship with God more.
Who am I going to share this with?
One of my clients is Jewish and knows much more than me about what God’s people have expected for centuries from priests and sacrifices. I don’t know when they will be ready to recognise Jesus as someone they are looking for, but I would love to find out what makes a great priest to them, and happy to share what I have found about Jesus.