Day 315

Ezekiel 23:1-49; Hebrews 10:18-39; Psalm 109:1-31; Proverbs 27:13

AS WE’VE JOURNEYED through Hebrews, we’ve attempted to keep a few key things in focus: the Hebrew context, the revelation of Jesus in the center of that context, and the fact that God’s work through Jesus had been prophetically foretold. Today, we saw the grand implications:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.

As we’ve observed previously, we can easily take declarations like these for granted because they are fundamental to the Christian faith. The fact that we can have continual fellowship with the almighty God is a pretty monumental thing to take for granted, however.

In the Hebrew context, this was revolutionary, because the high priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year to enter God’s presence on behalf of the people. They weren’t able to go directly into God’s presence because they were not righteous. According to the new covenant, believers were made righteous before God and could go directly into God’s presence as beloved sons and daughters through Jesus, who is now High Priest in the heavenly Holy of Holies.

This enormous paradigm shift forced Hebrew believers in Jesus —to whom this letter was written —to be at odds with their culture almost by default. It flew in the face of their religious traditions, as we’ve previously noted. Because of this, the faithful were under significant pressure from within the culture and faced continual marginalization and persecution. However, the awareness that one could find intimacy with and righteousness before God on a personal level was remarkably compelling.

The book of Hebrews is indeed highly theological, but it wasn’t written only as a work of doctrine. It was written to remind Hebrew believers of the good news of the new covenant and to encourage them to stay true, rather than hiding or abandoning their faith as they faced trying times.

The words of encouragement and endurance at the end of Hebrews matter greatly when we understand what these early brothers and sisters were facing, but they become profoundly relevant to our own lives when we consider our own struggles. As with the early Hebrew believers, we, too, must grow in faith and endurance so that we can complete our earthly mission with honor and profound gratitude for our great High Priest, who has given us access to the very presence of our heavenly Father.

MEDITATION:

Let them see that this is your doing, that you yourself have done it, LORD. Then let them curse me if they like, but you will bless me! When they attack me, they will be disgraced! But I, your servant, will go right on rejoicing!