Tag: promise

A Better Word than Abel

Posted on by VoiceShepherd

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22–24)  

In case you didn’t know, Pentecost is fast approaching. It is held to be the actual formation of the church. The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples as they were praying and gave them utterance in other tongues, power to live a godly life, and courage to proclaim the gospel  Though many people understand the basic difference between the Old and New Testaments, there is often confusion about why a new covenant was needed. Wasn’t the old one good enough? In the next several blog posts we’re going to look closely at that question.

What is a Covenant?

Before we get started, it’s a good idea to get a basic grasp of what that word covenant means. Some people think it’s a simple contract, like one my sign a contract to do work or buy a car. A covenant, however, is more than that.

The word for covenant in the Old Testament is the Hebrew berît. When referring to a covenant between God and man, the word is always said to be God’s covenant (note the phrase “my covenant” in such verses as Gen. 6:18; 9:9-15; 17:2-21; Exod. 6:4-5). It is not a contract made by equal parties. In a contract, if one party refuses to honor the terms (breaks the contract), the other party is free from the obligations. Not so in a covenant. The covenant binds all parties, and one party’s failure to honor the terms of the covenant does not free the other. Not even deceit would cancel the covenant, as Joshua found out.

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.” But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?” They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?” They said to him, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.”’ Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.” So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.
At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them. And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.” And the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them. (Joshua 9:3-21)

Even though the Gibeonites lied to Joshua, the covenant still stood. In fact, in David’s years, Saul had tried to wipe out the Gibeonites, and thus God’s wrath was against Israel–there was a famine in the land for 3 years (see 2 Sam. 21:1-14). God takes covenant very seriously. This is also why God kept calling Israel back to Himself when they would seek after other gods. The covenant contained blessings and curses, and in judging the sin of the nation, He was honoring the terms of the covenant.

The New Testament word for covenant is the Greek diathekes, which often means “covenant, testament, or will [specifically a last will]. It’s most often used when talking about the New Covenant. This was prophesied in the Old Testament (see Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-29). As we know, Israel continually broke the covenant that God made with them, so He promised a new covenant, one that wiould enable His people to obey the covenant and love Him with all their hearts.

Jesus, on the night He was to be betrayed, said that His death would inaugurate the New Covenant.

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:20)

With that cup being poured out came a better covenant.

The Better Covenant

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is “the mediator of a new covenant [whose] sprinkled blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Abel, as you’ll remember, was the second son of Adam and Eve. He was killed in a jealous rage by his older brother Cain. Abel has always been declared righteous in Scripture and held up as an example of faith. Hebrews tell us that, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4). Yet, what Jesus speaks is a “better” word, and the New Covenant is a “better” covenant.

In this series, we’ll see why the New Covenant is a far better covenant than the Old Covenant. It’s not the Old Covenant was bad. Paul calls it holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12). What we’ll see, however is that the law was “weak.” Not because of God, mind you, but because of sinful humanity. In fact, Paul says that God, by sending Jesus, did what the law could not do. He writes,

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4).

What could the law not do? According to Paul, the law could not “condemn sin in the flesh.” The law could not do away with sin. It can only pass judgment on sin. As we’ll see, this is the reason that the OT sacrifices had to continue day after day, year after year. Sin was never put away, but “in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year” (Hebrews 10:3).

Not only is there a reminder of sin, the truth is that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). One might wonder, then, why the Old Covenant was given at all then, if that’s the case. This is an importnat question, and we’ll address it later.

In this series, we will learn what better word the blood of Christ speaks to us. It tells of:

A better high priest and mediator. Moses, though called by God as the mediator of the Old Covenant, was no less a fallen man than the Israelites he led out of Egypt. He had his own sins to reckon with, and in the end died before reaching the Promised Land because of disobedience. As we’ll see, Jesus is the fulfillment of everything that Moses and Aaron could not be.

A better sacrifice. As we mentioned, the Israelites continually offered the same sacrifices, day in and day out. They did so as an act of faith, and God was faithful to honor their faith, in that their sins were not counted against them. Yet, instead of doing away with sin, the sacrifices served only to remind people of their sin. As we’ll see, the New Covenant promises to forgive and cleanse those who trust in Christ.

A better promise. The promises of the Old Covenant were about earthly blessings. Further they were restricted to Israel and any who would enter the covenant through the prescribed way. There was, as Paul calls it, a wall of hostility between the covenant people of God and the rest of the world. The New Covenant breaks down that wall and invites the Gentiles into the blessings of God, which are far more eternal than the earthly blessings of this life (Ephesians 2:14).

The question still persists, though. Why did God do it this way? Why even establish an Old Covenant? If there had never been an Old Covenant, well, this blog would never have been written for one! Seriously, though, God established the Old Covenant to move the world toward His plan of showing all creation His attributes of wisdom, justice, holiness, love, grace, and mercy. Without the Old Covenant, man would have no sense of just how depraved he is apart from God. Man would have limited knowledge of God’s redeeming grace. Man would have no real understanding of just how holy God is.

In the end, all history is about God, not man. Though God is reconciling sinful man to Himself, He is doing it for Himself. For His glory. He alone is the one worthy of glory. Salvation is about God showing His greatness. Redemption is about God showing His love and power to redeem fallen and broken people to Himself. He invites all who will to come to Him and drink freely of the water of life.

Stay tuned….

Posts in This Series:

Jesus, the Highest Priest
Jesus, the Spotless Sacrifice
Better Promises, Better Covenant

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Last Words: Faithful Unto Death

Posted on by VoiceShepherd

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death” (Rev. 2:8-11).

Sometimes the Lord gives us a message to strengthen us when we are facing or about to face hard times. In this case, Jesus gave such a message to an entire church, the church of Smyrna. Smyrna was about 40 miles north of Ephesus, and by the time that John wrote Revelation it was known for emperor worship. Every Roman citizen had to burn a pinch of incense and say “Caesar is Lord.” The Christians of course refused to do so, citing their own confession, “Jesus is Lord” (Rom. 10:9). Thus, believers were constantly in danger there.

As with the letter to Ephesus (and all seven letters), Jesus identities Himself using elements from John’s vision. Here, He reminds the church of two things “the first and the last” and “who died and came to life.” In this way, Christ claims the titles of both Lord and Savior. Thus, He is the Sovereign One, able to save and protect those in His care.

Words of Commendation

Unlike the messages to other churches, this message contains only words of commendation. Jesus reminds them, “I know.” He knows the trials and tribulations that His saints are enduring. He also knows the the poverty of His saints—yet in Him and thru Him they are rich. He values faithfulness in His followers, and as He reminded the people during His earthly ministry, it’s far better to have treasure in heaven (Matt. 6:19-20).

Finally, Christ knows the false words that are being spoken about the saints by their enemies. They claim to be Jews yet are nothing more than a synagogue of Satan. He knows the truth. It is common for the world to slander believers. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren for a reason (Rev. 12:10).

The Warning of What’s to Come

Jesus plainly tells the church that they are bout to suffer–the implication is that they are about to suffer more than they have up to this point. Some will be put into prison and “tested.” The sense is of both a test (to determine where their true loyalties lay) and as a refining of silver or gold through fire.

Since, in the Roman world, prison was more a prelude to trial and execution, Jesus exhorts the church to be “faithful unto death.” Christ has said that “some” will be thrown into prison and tested, probably a large number of that community of faith. Thus, not only must the individuals remain faithful, but the church as a whole must not be overcome but a spirit of fear or unbelief.

The Promise

Jesus gives the church a promise–but it’s not one that we often like to hear today. He says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” He doesn’t promise that those who are thrown into prison will be physically delivered. He doesn’t promise to restore or increase the church’s economic status. He promises that the one who overcomes (by acknowledging Christ even unto death) will receive the crown of life. That is the ultimate prize that one can run for (1 Cor. 9:24-27; 2 Tim. 4:6-8). The one who receives this crown will thus have overcome the “second death,” meaning the ultimate death, separation from God eternally.

The good fight that we are to wage is not for a better life, more money, bigger ministry, or happy family. It is to remain faithful to Jesus no matter what. Only a life of self-denial will produce such faith.

Next: A Divided Church

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Lessons from Abraham (Pt 2)

Posted on by VoiceShepherd

This week, we continue looking at the life of Abraham, the man of faith, to see what we can learn for our own journey of faith.

God is able to redeem our past (Gen. 16:1-16; 21:8-21).

The Lord gave a promise to Abram, that he would have a son. The only problem? Abram and Sarai were childless—and Sarai was getting well past childbearing years. Abram decided to take Sarai’s counsel and try to conceive through Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid. It worked. Now, legally, Abram had a son. But that wasn’t the way God wanted it done.

After Hagar conceived, the Bible says she “looked with contempt” toward Sarai. She probably became prideful, not remembering her current station in life. The Hebrew reads that Sarai “was dishonorable [or despised] in her eyes.” She now looked down upon her mistress with haughtiness. Sarai, in turn, treated her harshly. We don’t know what happened or how “harsh” the treatment was, but it caused Hagar to flee. But then “the angel of the Lord” found her. Many believe that is a reference to the pre-incarnate Christ. He told her to return to Sarai and promised that her offspring would be multiplied and be great. So, she returned to Sarai and bore the son, Ishmael.

Finally, the time came for the son of Promise, Isaac, to be born. On a day of feasting, celebrating Isaac’s growth, Ishmael “was laughing” Sarah then commanded that they be “cast out.” Though this displeased Abraham, he did so, at God’s command, for the Lord had promised to bless Ishmael also, since he was indeed a son of Abraham.

When we feel chained and held back by our past, whether it include things we have done, or things done to us, we can take courage and strength that the Lord can redeem our past and even use it for His glory.

God is pleased when we stand in the gap for others (Gen. 18:22-33).

The Lord revealed to Abraham that He was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their great sin. Abraham interceded for the cities on behalf of the righteous. He appealed to God’s justice. “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” The Lord accepted Abraham’s words and said, “If I find 50 righteous people in Sodom I will spare the city.” For most people that would have been enough! But not Abraham. He said, “What about 45? What about 40? What about 30? 20? 10?” He did not badger the Lord but pled on behalf of others. And because of Abraham’s great faith, the Lord listened to him.

In the end, we know that the Lord did not find ten righteous people in Sodom, and it was indeed destroyed. There are many lessons that we can learn from this account, but on that stands out here is how the Lord is pleased to listen to the petitions of His people on behalf of others. He calls us to stand in the gap—I may be the only person praying for that one. He is pleased when we take that call seriously, even if it seems we are being a “pest” to Him. Notice that Abraham always appealed to the character of God, never his own righteousness or desires. As with Sodom, we are not guaranteed that the answer will be what we ask. But we are guaranteed that the Lord will stop and take notice of such great faith.

God keeps His promises, no matter how long it takes (Gen. 21:1-7).

The time had come. For many years, the Lord had promised a son to Abraham. They had maintained their faith, though they had stumbled once (and now the world beheld Ishmael). Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born. Thirteen more years passed. God promised to Abraham, “I will visit Sarah this time next year and she will have a son.” Abraham stumbled: “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child” (Gen. 17:17). Then it seemed he gave up: “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” I wonder if he was afraid to believe, to dream that it really could happen.

The Lord answered, “No [meaning that Ishmael was not to be the son of promise]. Sarah will have a son, and you shall call his name Isaac [‘he will laugh’]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.”  So, Abraham would be a father at 100 years of age, and Sarah a mother at 90. Impossible? Improbable? Not with God. There’s no better way to tell the story than Scripture itself:

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age” (Gen. 21:1-7).

The Lord did it. He kept His promise, even in the midst of Abraham’s wavering and unfaithfulness. The Lord was faithful to His promise. No matter how long it took. We see that again in the birth of Jesus, Abraham’s descendant and the true fulfillment of God’s promise. God’s promise to the world had been kept—despite disobedience, backsliding, and attempts to wipe out the Chosen People. Nothing has changed. He still speaks to us today. He still gives us promises. And the promise He gives, He keeps.

Often our promises and dreams have to die before they come to fruition (Gen. 22:1-19).

Abraham had his son, the Son of Promise. God’s covenant would continue, and Abraham’s line would be blessed and would inherit the Promised Land. All seemed to be right in Abraham’s world.  Then one day, the Lord spoke to Abraham again. I can almost imagine the conversation:

Abraham!

Yes, Lord, here I am.

Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

My son…my only son…whom I love…and …would You mind repeating that, Lord?

Despite whatever was going through his mind and heart, Abraham obeyed the Lord. We know the story. They went to the place. Abraham tied up Isaac and lifted the knife up to kill his son. How? How could he do that? Hebrews gives us the answer: “He considered that God was able even to raise [Isaac] from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Heb. 11:17). In his mind, Abraham had already given Isaac to God. He did not belong to Abraham. In a sense, Isaac was dead to him. Many times, the Lord brings us to a place where it seems the promises He made to us and the dreams from them die. They grow cold, and often we bury them. But then, like Isaac, they are raised up. They are raised up, however, not as our dreams, but as His. When they are His dreams and promises then, He gets the glory, and He provides the power. We don’t have to do it, we simply have to obey.

When the promises He made to you seem to be dead, go ahead and bury them, but remember Isaac, and the God who is faithful.

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Lessons from Abraham (Pt. 1)

Posted on by VoiceShepherd

The Bible is full of examples of faithful men and women who heeded God’s call on their lives. In today’s post (the first of a two-part series), we’ll look at what we  can learn from the life of Abraham, the father of faith.

Obedience brings us one step closer to His purpose (Gen. 12:1-9).
Abram and all his family were on the way to Canaan. Gen. 15:7 tells us that God led Haran to leave Ur and head for Canaan. For some reason, however, they stopped (Gen. 11:31-32). It was a journey interrupted. They settled in Haran. One day, the Lord spoke to Abram and told him: “Leave this place and go to a land I will show you.” The Lord then promised to produce a great nation from Abram, make Abram a blessing to all people. All Abram had to do was believe God. The journey could continue.

So, Abram believed God. He obeyed. Without knowing where he was headed, he set out with his family—and the Lord. Turns out they were headed to Canaan (12:5). When Abram got there, the Lord told Him something else: “To your offspring I will give this land” (v. 6). Now, if you know anything of Abram/Abraham’s life, you know of this promise to give what would be come the land of Israel to Abram’s descendants. But did you catch that? God didn’t promise the land to Abram until Abram took the first step of obedience. Each step of obedience on the journey of faith brings us one step closer to fulfilling His purpose in us.

When we try to help God, bad things happen (Gen. 12:10-20).
Because of a famine in the land of Canaan, Abram and his family traveled to Egypt. Abram was afraid. He had Sarai, woman very beautiful, and he was afraid that others would kill him to take her for their own. So, he decided to tell a lie. “Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me” (v. 13). The lie he told perhaps had an additional motive behind it. If he were killed, as he feared, what would happen to God’s promises to him? I have to do my part in this….right? That’s what his mind might have been saying.

We know what happened. He wasn’t killed, but Sarai was taken away from him—after all, according to both of their testimonies, she was his sister not his wife. And things went well for Abram—he gained wealth and possibly fame from that lie (v. 16). But that lie cost others. Pharaoh’s house suffered plagues because of Sarai. (The Egyptians just couldn’t get away from those plagues. Seems the Pharaoh of Moses’ time should have remembered those…. but I digress.)

The Bible doesn’t tell us how they knew, but the Egyptians knew that it was because of Sarai. And Pharaoh suspected correctly that Abram lied to him. You can hear the anger in his voice: “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go” (vv. 18-19). The text says they “sent him away,” meaning they kicked him out of the land. He was fortunate that his fear wasn’t confirmed then—he lived to tell the tale. Bad things often happen when we try to “help God out.” He knows what He is doing.

God is able to provide, no matter where we are (Gen. 13:1-18).
So, after being deported from Egypt, Abram and his folks returned to the land of Canaan. Abram was traveling with Lot  also. Both of them, the text tells us, had a lot of stuff, and a lot of people (13:2, 5-6). The land was crowded, and strife developed between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot. They realized that they would have to part ways.

Abram gave the choice to Lot. Lot decided on the Jordan Valley, a place that was “well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt” (v. 10). Lot chose the better place for himself. The texts hints that perhaps he compared it to Egypt, perhaps his missed the lifestyle there (the Israelites in the wilderness could have learned a lesson from this). Abram, however, did not worry. He was in the place God had called him. And the Lord assured him: “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you” (vv. 14-17). He knew that God was faithful, and would provide whatever he needed, wherever God called him.

God is big enough to handle honest questions (Gen. 15:1-21).
Now we have Abram and his family (minus Lot) dwelling the land of promise. Everything seemed to be going fine. Then the Lord appeared to Abram in a vision and said THOSE two words: “Fear not.” Usually when the Lord says those words, He’s getting ready to lay something on you that you’ll say, “Uh….what?” The Lord continued: “I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (15:1). So, Abram, thinking back to the earlier promises, decides to get real with God. A modern paraphrase in our culture might go something like this:

Look Lord, you brought me to the is land and said you’d give it to me and that I’d have more descendants than could be counted. There’s just one teeny problem with that. I DON’T HAVE A CHILD! So, um, Lord, I’m gonna have to leave all my stuff to some servant who’’s not even a relative and he will get all this land (v. 2, paraphrased).

The Lord, however, was not perturbed in the slightest. He assured Abram: “This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir” (v. 4). Abram’s wheels must have been turning big-time then. Wait. I’m gonna have a son? Me and Sarai, we’re getting along in years. God’s gonna have to work overtime on this one. So, old and childless, Abram would have a son. And that son would go on to have descendants more numerous than the stars in heaven and sand on the seashore. The Lord did lay something big on Abram.

But, even with the questioning, “Abram believed the Lord and He counted it to him as righteousness” (v. 6). His mind, however, still had trouble wrapping around the thoughts. So he had to ask the question, “Lord, how will I know for certain that I will possess it” (v. 8). At this point, we might have said, “How many times do I have to tell this guy?” Not the Lord, though. He is big enough for the honest and hard questions.

At the Lord’s command, Abram brought some animals, typically used in sacrifice. He cut them in half and laid the halves facing each other, creating a corridor of sorts. This was a common custom, called cutting covenant. Two parties making the covenant would walk between the pieces reciting the terms and the curses of the covenant. The idea was, “As has been done to these animals, may the same be done to me if I fail to keep covenant.”

But notice something here. We are told in verse 17 that God alone walked between the pieces. Abram was not part of the covenant. God alone made the covenant. It was not a covenant between God and Abram. He alone was responsible for keeping the covenant. The promise was established. Not only did God handle Abram’s doubts and questioning, but He went so far as to swear by Himself that what He said was true.

The next time we are tempted to doubt God’s promises, we should ask Him. He is big enough to handle our questions.

We’ll continue our look at Abram’s life in Part 2 –>

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