Our Great High Priest

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Heb 4:14-16 ESV

How often do we forget or ignore the reality that Jesus is our great high priest?

Do we know that he is our Savior? Check.

Redeemer? Got it.

Substitute? Yep.

Son of God? Amen!

Lord? Harder, but I think we usually get this too.

But High Priest? I'm not sure we know what to do with Jesus in this role. So instead of pressing in and allowing the Spirit to bring the Word to bear, we just move on. After all, it is easier, isn't it? What's the old saying? Ignorance is bliss...

And yet, as one reads through the book of Hebrews, one gets the sense that Jesus as High Priest was significant both to the author and to the people to whom he was passionately ministering. Here are just a few thoughts to whet your appetite and I pray pull you deeper in to both seeing and savoring more of who Jesus is.

First, Jesus, as our high priest, is not approaching the throne from the outside like every other high priest before him, but he is coming out from the altar. He is coming from heaven itself. He really is the Son of God, with all that reality implies. Later the author of Hebrews will clearly state that Jesus does not have to continually offer a sacrifice for himself as all prior high priests did. And, the sacrifice he did offer was not for his sins but for ours. Jesus is the one and only high priest sent from heaven for us.

Next, we hold on to our faith because Jesus is our high priest. Elsewhere the Bible is clear that Jesus preserves us. John 10 is a great example of this. And yet the author of Hebrews is exhorting his flock hold fast to their confession. The reason he gives is simply because Jesus, the Son of God, came from heaven to be our great high priest. Maybe it goes without saying, but I find it quite compelling that the Biblical writers don't often feel the need to coax or cajole us into obedience. For them it is a simple reality. If Jesus is who he says he is, obedience is not an option.

Beyond this is the truth that the role of high priest was to represent men and women before God. The high priest needed to identify with God and his holiness and yet also identify with mankind and our falleness. The priests in the Old Testament could not do this perfectly because they were just as sinful as the rest of us and thus couldn't really identify with God.  And, if Jesus had simply been God or even an angel, he couldn't identify with us. But in his incarnation Jesus, Son of God, sent from heaven for us can now sympathize with our temptation to sin. He now knows hunger and grief and humiliation and abandonment. Yet without sin. Because Jesus came here, not just as an observer, but as a participant, we can never claim that he doesn't get it or that my temptation or sin or circumstance is somehow greater than the Spirit can overcome. And because he is our sympathetic high priest, he is ready to forgive us and accept us when we confess, repent and believe.

And finally (at least for this post) Jesus, Son of God, sent from heaven to be our sympathetic high priest, has opened the door for us to the very throne of God. This is significant because it is a reversal of the at least part of the curse from Genesis 3. Man and woman were banished from God's presence due to their rebellion. But now, in Christ, we can return to the God who loves us. And we can return not as conquered foes nor as groveling servants, but as confident, beloved children. And as children our confidence is in our loving Father who will richly give us grace and mercy. It is amazing to think that God is always going to give us what is best in response to our prayers. Not always what we want, but always what is best.

So Jesus is our great high priest. He is certainly many other things, but let us remember that it is because he is interceding for us right now that our faith has not failed, we are able to have victory over sin and we are confident that there is an inheritance kept in heaven for us that is unfading, in unblemished and imperishable.

To God Alone be the Glory

Its Friday...

but Sunday's coming!

Thanks to Justin Taylor: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2014/04/18/its-fridaybut-sundays-comin

The audio is from Easter meditation S.M. Lockridge (1913-2000), pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego from 1953 to 1993.

http://vimeo.com/39886827

It’s Friday
Jesus is praying
Peter’s a sleeping
Judas is betraying
But Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
Pilate’s struggling
The council is conspiring
The crowd is vilifying
They don’t even know
That Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The disciples are running
Like sheep without a shepherd
Mary’s crying
Peter is denying
But they don’t know
That Sunday’s a comin’

It’s Friday
The Romans beat my Jesus
They robe him in scarlet
They crown him with thorns
But they don’t know
That Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
See Jesus walking to Calvary
His blood dripping
His body stumbling
And his spirit’s burdened
But you see, it’s only Friday
Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The world’s winning
People are sinning
And evil’s grinning

It’s Friday
The soldiers nail my Savior’s hands
To the cross
They nail my Savior’s feet
To the cross
And then they raise him up
Next to criminals

It’s Friday
But let me tell you something
Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The disciples are questioning
What has happened to their King
And the Pharisees are celebrating
That their scheming
Has been achieved
But they don’t know
It’s only Friday
Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
He’s hanging on the cross
Feeling forsaken by his Father
Left alone and dying
Can nobody save him?
Ooooh
It’s Friday
But Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The earth trembles
The sky grows dark
My King yields his spirit

It’s Friday
Hope is lost
Death has won
Sin has conquered
and Satan’s just a laughin’

It’s Friday
Jesus is buried
A soldier stands guard
And a rock is rolled into place

But it’s Friday
It is only Friday
Sunday is a comin’!

Take Heart. Get Up. He is calling you.

And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. - Mar 10:49-50

The more I reflect on this seemingly insignificant passage in Mark's narrative, the more implications I see and the more challenged I become. After you read the passage (Mk 10:46-52), I would ask you the prayerfully consider the following:

It is always Jesus who calls.  Sure, Bartimaeus was calling at the road side, but until Jesus said "call him" nothing changed in Bartimaeus' life.

It is right and good to call out to Jesus. Bartimaeus was calling out to Jesus to the point of annoying the disciples. In God's timing and providence, we may need to appear annoying to others as we seek out Jesus. We may need to be the persistent widow. But God does reward those who earnestly seek him.

There is an honor associated with Jesus calling us. I've lost sight of this. I'm too American, I guess, and think salvation and God's favor, grace and mercy are mine by right. They are not. So when Jesus calls us, it is an immense honor, privilege and it really, truly is a gift that is undeserved.

There is an unfettered joy (dare I say glee) in being called by Jesus. It is not just a religious transaction. It is not just a check box on a to do list. There is a joy in receiving something beyond expectation or imagination or deservedness. I've forgotten the immensity of my prior lostness. I've shrunk (in my mind) the gulf that had separated me and God. I've watered down the blackness of my sin. And yet Jesus' says of me: "call him"

I think one could find more here, but I need to stop and repent. Too often my approach to Jesus is much more like the the disciples (look back a few verses in Mk 10) than it is like Bartimaeus'. Perhaps today the Holy Spirit can open my eyes more fully to the powerful call of Jesus, to the need to be continually seeking after Christ, to the incredible honor of being called by Jesus all driving me to joyfully spring up and come to Jesus, my Lord and King.

To God Alone be the Glory

Do You Walk In White?

Today is an anniversary of sorts for me. In 1998, when I was first reading through My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, the devotional for Jan 15 hit me hard. (Honestly, many of devotional's entries hit me hard, but none quite like this one). On that morning 15 years ago, the Spirit helped me realize that I had not really died to myself. I was still trying to "do Christianity" instead of dying and letting what Jesus had already done be simply given to me. So, through Oswald Chambers, in the quiet of my kitchen, I had my "white funeral".

Below is a copy of my blog entry from Jan 15, 2011. In it there are a few references to the devotional itself, which I pray God may us to bring others to their last day.

To God Alone be the Glory

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Thirteen years ago when I read today's (Jan 15) My Utmost for His Highest entry by Oswald Chambers, I was cut to the heart. (full devotional here) I had been a Christian for 7 years, had served in various capacities and had even been to a few Promise Keeper events. Yet the challenge and conviction of what Chambers wrote haunted me.

You must agree with God and stop being the intensely striving kind of Christian you have been. We avoid the cemetery and continually refuse our own death.

Has there been a point in your life which you now mark as your last day? Is there a place in your life to which you go back in memory with humility and overwhelming gratitude, so that you can honestly proclaim, “Yes, it was then, at my ’white funeral,’ that I made an agreement with God.”

So, by God's grace on Jan 15, 1998, I had my "white funeral". That was not the day of my conversion, but it was the day that through the Spirit I came to the end of my self. Is there effort involved in living the Christian life? Absolutely. But any effort I expend that further's the kingdom of Christ and brings glory to God is borne not by me but by the Holy Spirit.

Paul puts it in the form of a rhetorical question in Gal 3:3 "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" The implied answer is No!

Let end with two more quotes from Chambers:

No one experiences complete sanctification without going through a “white funeral”-the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crucial moment of change through death, sanctification will never be more than an elusive dream.

Are you willing to experience that “white funeral” now? Will you agree with Him that this is your last day on earth? The moment of agreement depends on you. 

To God Alone be the Glory.

The Spirit of Life

In reading Acts 2 in combination with a Martyn Lloyd-Jones devotional, I was struck today by my overwhelming debt and need of the Holy Spirit. Without exaggeration, everything in my spiritual life and my walk with Christ is dependent upon and was given by God through the Spirit. Here is a short, non-exhaustive list:

- a recognition of my sin and need for a Savior
- the willingness and ability to turn from my sin and to Jesus
- a certainty that God hears and answers my prayers
- the confidence that all of God's promises are "Yes" in Jesus
- a complete assurance that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ
- a full realization that because of Jesus I am not condemned but loved, adopted and redeemed
- the knowledge that whatever I've been given by God, I've been given to share
- a growing sense that the same Spirit that walked with Jesus is walking with me
- the conviction that any use of the grace gifts without the Spirit is an empty exercise

I could go on, but the ache of my heart is first to say to God, and to the Spirit in particular, I am sorry for relegating you to second class status, for trying to do things on my own that were never meant to be done on my own and for slipping into a mind set that you are some kind of force. You are in fact the third person of the Trinity and deserve the respect, worship and glory of God.

My second ache is to ask myself, and any who may read this post, what am I doing in operating on my own strength? There is no point, no purpose and no lasting effect in anything I do on my own. It is botched from the start, since it has my glory as its goal, plus it is limited in its scope because it has my vision as its guide and once it is done it is incomplete since it has my power as its source.

So today and, I pray, every day, I'm seeking to think and speak, act and react, in the power of the Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity, for the glory of God.

To God Alone Be The Glory

The Josiah Effect

Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. - 2Ki 23:25

One neat thing about reading through the entire Bible is that you encounter people and situations that you might not encounter on a random chapter here and there.  And, one neat thing about repeating the process in successive years is that by God's grace some of his upside down nature can be seen in places you would least expect it.

Take Josiah for example. Many probably know that he was listed as one of the good kings of Judah. Some may even remember why (for restoring the Passover, refurbishing the temple, expelling and pagan worship, and the reading & following of the Law). But how many of us care to recall that most of Josiah's exemplary service to God occurred after God informed him that Judah had gone too far and that inevitable judgement was coming (even though Josiah was to be spared--by his death).

It struck me this year in reading 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles that Josiah was not daunted by God's upside down economy. He didn't question God's justice at sending judgement on the land. He didn't isolate himself or say "who cares?" in response to God not relenting even after a Josiah-led national renewal. He didn't plead 2 Chr 7:14 (more in context for him than us). He simply kept serving God by reading and obeying the Word of God.

As I look back over the events of 2013, I have to ask: have I responded like Josiah did? Clearly the circumstances and settings are different, but we live in a culture very much like his; one that remembered some of the basic forms of its religious heritage, but forgot the heart of the matter and lost connection to the true source of religion: a pure and absolution devotion to Yahweh.

So, here we are on the verge of 2014. Unless Jesus returns (come Lord Jesus!) 2014 will begin with a culture more removed from God than last year and more confident that what is being done is being done to honor him. And, even though I firmly believe that God can bring any type of revival at any time, I think the lesson from the life of Josiah is that we should fret less over the decay around us (although we shouldn't ignore it and do what we can to oppose it). Instead we should seek to live the gospel in such a way that we are known, really known, as the upside down community of God.

To God Alone Be The Glory

Consider Jesus

This advent and Christmas season, I've been struck again and again by the enormity of Jesus, the Son of Man. Christmas helps us think of his humble birth and the fact that he was born at all. After all God could just "show up" as a 30 year old, couldn't he? Easter helps us think of the physical suffering he endured to bear our sins, not to mention the even worse spiritual suffering his sacrifice required. However, in between the manger and the cross lived a person very much like us, except without sin. Yet, in his very humanity is the core of his role as our sympathetic high priest. Consider Heb 2:14-18

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

The basic conclusion is that Jesus had to be fully human in order to deliver us from our sins. Did we need his perfect, holy sacrifice? Absolutely. Did Jesus need to be fully God to bear the infinite offense of our sins? Without a doubt. And yet a Savior who was only God would have been insufficient, just like a Savior who was only man would also have been insufficient. We needed both. Fully God to satisfy the just wrath of God and fully man to intercede for us before the throne of grace.

So, as 2014 approaches, let's take serious again (or maybe for the first time) the call of Heb 3:1-6

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

To God Alone Be The Glory