Do you see it?
Picture the ascension. Do you understand where Jesus is and what He is doing on
your behalf? He is passed through the heavens and sits at the right hand of the
Father. When the accuser tries to lay condemnation on you, Jesus holds up His
nail pierced hand so the Father sees you washed and clean. Your sin was nailed
to the cross. Therefore, this verse ends with the admonition to, “hold fast our
confession.” In other words, live what you say you believe. He is functioning
in the capacity that these next verses describe.
Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet
without sin.
Verses 14 & 15 bridge to the next chapter and the awesome things Jesus, our great high priest, has accomplished for us. We can overcome every sin thanks to Him. Verse 16 is such a beautiful crescendo, because of all this; we are admonished to boldly come before God’s throne. Here God’s throne is not a judgment seat, you’re not “called on the carpet”, but to the throne of grace, the place to get what you need when you need it. If you ever think you are not in need of God’s mercy then you better get to this throne. If the circumstances of life and your spiritual situation are so rosy that you don’t think you are in need of more grace, WATCH OUT!
Hebrews 5:1 Every
high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with
God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins.
2 And he is able to deal gently with ignorant
and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses.
This says allot about the responsibilities and qualifications of
priests. We are called to be a
kingdom of priests so let’s glean
what we can, that we may walk worthy of the
calling.
Exodus 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests,
and an holy nation…KJV
Priests are taken from people and appointed for people. The
appointment is from God; this is not a man made position or responsibility. Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites,
neither chose nor earned their calling, the
Lord ordained them. Self appointed leaders have done considerable damage to
the cause of Christ; pride comes
before a fall. But now, in Christ, priesthood is not a leadership position; it is a responsibility of every believer with
Jesus being our Great High Priest.
Jesus took care of the offerings for sins, now He has left us with the
obligation to forgive and to exercise
the compassion specified in verse 2 below.
2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the
law of Christ.
3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something,
when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
If we are, “appointed for men in
things pertaining to God,” every believer has intercessory responsibility. Pray for people, hold them before the Lord.
We are accountable to each other, and we need to have relationships with
Godly people we trust to be accountable to. Sometimes we need to talk to
somebody about things we struggle with. If we see someone stumbling or fallen;
love dictates that we help them get back up. This verse is primarily concerning
our conversation with Jesus but sometimes we need people too.
The 3rd verse from Galatians 6
parallels Heb. 5:2, we are “beset by weakness.” We are not, therefore, left
alone to stumble, but placed in the Body of Christ. It has often been said that
there are no “lone rangers” in the Body and this is why. Is there enough love
in our relationships for us to be at this level of help and accountability to
one another?
The old covenant priesthood had this
responsibility of performing sacrifices for their own sins and the sins of the
people until Jesus came and finished the work. Their specific responsibilities pointed
to the Cross. These guys had to slaughter and butcher, boil and burn many
animals every day. Thank God our priestly responsibilities do not involve such
exposure to blood and guts, but realize the intensity of dealing with sin.
Intercessors sometimes get a taste of praying for others with such intensity
that the physical body sometimes feels some pain and their spirit groans,
aching for the deliverance from sin, sickness, brokenness of people. Priestly
intercession often includes identification with the sins of others. Oh how much
we need the prayers of the intercessors and to be willing to be in that role
ourselves. Jesus exemplified intercession at this level, especially in the
garden just before they came to take Him.
Heb 5:7 “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had
offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who
was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,”
This may sound negative but look at
the last phrase. The scriptures say allot concerning the fear of the Lord. When
we understand that we find so much hope, realizing God hears and answers
prayer.
James 5:16
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may
be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Heb 5:8 though
He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
Take a quick
look at Job.
Job 5:7 “Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks
fly upward.”
Going through the troubles of life
should cause us to develop compassion for others and enable us to pray for them
more effectively. We tend to dismiss the lessons in Job by saying he was the
exception, not the rule. Doing this carelessly throws the baby out with the
bath water. Even Jesus, God’s only Son, the Word of God incarnate, the only man
to live a life without sin, the Eternal Lamb of God, had to experience this
life lesson. Recognize adversity as the instructional tool of a loving Father
who wants us to experience His love in greater dimensions. Here in the USA, in
the early years of this new millennium, the economy was in horrible condition.
Ask any of the hundreds of thousands of people who couldn’t find a good,
long-term job. I was in that situation from 2002 until 2012. Companies
downsizing and reorganizing, or just going out of business left us suffering
the feelings of failure and rejection. Ask the believers suffering atrocities
for their faith in many countries throughout the world about loving Jesus. Oh
the wonder of His grace, the beauty of His face. We look at His face instead
of the face of adversity and find that grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our
gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help
us when we need it most.
Heb 5:9 And having been perfected, He became the
author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
Jesus’ whole earthly existence was so
focused, so directed to this purpose. Everything He did, everything He said,
everything He experienced was for our salvation and set the example of how we
ought to live.
Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Again we see
the admonition to focus on Him. The process of working, “out your own salvation
with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12) starts and ends with Jesus. In between the
start and end is a life of loving obedience. We look at Jesus as the example
and realize that there are sacrifices to be made, but what have we to
sacrifice? ”You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3);
there is no sacrifice, only loving obedience to our loving savior. All we are,
all we have, we have on loan from Him. Jesus looked past the Cross and saw you
saved and experiencing a right relationship with the Father (the joy set before
Him). Wow, this realization always overwhelms me, what did Jesus see when He
looked past the Cross? Was it the grandeur of Heaven? Was it the great tribulation
and His glorious 2nd coming? Was it the enemy of our souls cast into the
bottomless pit? These things are real but were not what He went to Calvary for.
I believe He was looking at you, looking at me, and seeing us born again,
filled with His Spirit and in right relationship with the Father, walking in
the Spirit and experiencing the Joy of the Lord. He saw you tapping into His
grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16). He saw you as His beautiful
bride in that pure white robe, cleansed from all sin and sin’s consequence. Now,
when you get off your face, and realize we are not there yet, look at the rest of
Hebrews 4. It will give your prayer life a new dimension.
Isa 6:10 "Make the heart of this people dull, and
their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be
healed."
Matt 13:15 For
the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and
their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with
their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should
heal them.'
In all these, we see God’s heart is
that the broken people would hear and be healed, be made whole. Every believer
not in this category can probably think of some broken, “dull of hearing”
people. Perhaps the Lord will lay the intercessory burden for some of them on
you. Don’t try to manufacture intercessory burdens, just make yourself
available.
The understanding that all believers
are priests should eliminate any division between clergy and laity, it takes
those in “The Ministry” off the pedestal. Jesus sees us all in the same plane
and that’s how we should see each other. The playing field is level, there’s no
hierarchy, just varying roles and responsibilities in the Body of Christ. As a
body we all need each other and grow together in Christ, we all are responsible
to bare each other’s burdens and to reach the world for Christ.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between
God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
John 13:35 By this all will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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| U used cheap interior paint under windows of my apartment on Main St. Cortland, NY. Circa 1973. MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS FOREVER |
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