Remember This

Hebrews 10:1 - For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

The animal sacrifices that were done continually in the Old Testament could do no more than keep reminding Israel of their sins and could never release them of their bondage. In Hebrews 10:11 we are told and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifice, which can never take away sins.

Two things stood out in our study of Hebrews by the Life Change Series. The phrase make perfect is defined like this: not sinless perfection, but "that definitive removal of guilt which makes free access to God possible." Hallelujah! And in Hebrews 10:11 the word stands means the priests never sat because their work was never done.

Oh, here's the answer to an underlying question. I knew this but this definition added to my understanding! I questioned the work being done in me...and in all who have received Christ.  We don't always see in us what God sees. We're at a bit of a disadvantage, if you want to call it that. I think we don't see all our goodness for a reason...to keep us closer to the Lord, to keep us seeking and searching...perhaps even to keep our pride in check. However, and this is a big however, we have been made perfect at the defining moment when we received Christ as our Savior, when we became in Christ. But that perfection, as noted above, is not sinless perfection.

What good news. At the moment we receive, our cracked pots are forever being perfected! Sometimes reading this in a different context is sometimes necessary...and this definition could have just been waiting for me...or had I done my Hebrews lesson sooner, might I have not gone through a few days of discouragement...or did I go through the discouragement to learn another valuable lesson or confidence? Food for thought...bread of life!

Back to Hebrews 10:1...it is talking about Jesus. Nothing new. So many things in the Old Testament speak of Jesus. Jesus is the shadow of good things to come throughout the Old Testament. All the dreaded, but at the time necessary sacrifices, which did nothing to alleviate the sin of the people, only remind them of how sinful they were. And, oh, those poor priests. In a study Bible I have, the futility of their work was pointed out in these words which nail the feeling they must have felt: utter helplessness. They could never finish the work set before them. They knew their work would never be complete. 

That's why Jesus came, to mend cracked pots and forever perfect us who are forever in need of perfection. His single, perfect, human sacrifice did what the animal sacrifices could not. He did it all and only one time for anyone who wishes to receive Him. He even said: It is finished. What a glorious ending of a magnificent life for us. 

In the same vein, none of the good works we attempt do before knowing Him will get us to that place of true salvation. They, too, are all futile. Those who try will only be like the priests...utterly helpless in achieving that goal of salvation, working, working, working and getting nowhere until, hopefully, acknowledgement of Jesus as the only true Savior and the simple act of receiving Him is finished. 

Quit trying to work at it. Easter is upon us. Rejoice that Jesus has He died for all our sins and raised up from the dead. Just as we die to ourselves and give our lives to Him, we are raised up. No repetitious prayers, no great works. Just a contrite heart willing to fully accept what Jesus has done for us. No one can do what He has done. If there's anything He will accept as payment, it's our lives poured out for Him like a drink offering. Our hands must be open to receive. If your fists are clenched, loosen them up!

Hebrews 9:9 - It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—