Month: November 2009

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I thank you all for your continued prayers. It looks like things are going much better in my world than I would have expected. I am looking for some help to come in other areas that are unrelated but important and I’m trusting that God in his providence will bring such about somehow. For now, let’s go to our blog. We’re continuing our Trinitarian commentary in the book of Hebrews and we’re going to be in chapter 9 and verses 23-28. Let’s go to the text.

 ²³It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. ²⁵Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Our writer is continuing the theme of the superiority of Christ in the new covenant. He’s been talking about the sacrificial system of the old covenant in comparison with that of the new. The old covenant relied on bulls and goats and other such animals. The new one relies on a better sacrifice as well.

When Christ came, he did not go to the earthly tabernacle but to the heavenly one. He did not offer up an earthly sacrifice but a heavenly one, namely himself. His sacrifice is superior because of the nature of the person that he is. He is perfectly pure and holy, which would follow from him ontologically having the nature of God.

In the old covenant, the high priest entered the most holy place of the sanctuary year after year in order to offer up a sacrifice. Christ does not have to do that. He only had to enter the true most holy place just one time. For him, the most holy place was the very presence of God himself. Christ came to this place one time and that was all it took for him to offer up the salvation for the world.

Our writer gets us to the point of this. Because this is a one-time deal, judgment is also a one-time deal. Once you die, there can be no further sacrifice offered. You enter into judgment once and for all. Of course, this is the normative case. The exceptions like Lazarus and others are differences. However, when they died and they were not coming back, their judgment was sealed.

So we see the deity of Christ in that he is ontologically God and thus only he can be the pure and perfect sacrifice and he can thus enter the heavenly Most Holy Place. As has been said before, it is good to know the Trinity, but it is also important to know what difference the doctrine makes.

We shall continue tomorrow.

 

Hello everyone and welcome back. It seems like a lot of readers were busy over the weekend to my pleasure in visiting Deeper Waters. Welcome aboard if we have several new visitors. I’m delighted to have you along. I have had a great weekend and I ask for your continued prayers in what I’m working on and learning to be more of the person the situation requires I be. Tonight, we are going to continue our Trinitarian Commentary and we’re going to be in the book of Hebrews looking at chapter 9 and verses 11-14.

¹¹When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. ¹²He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

The overarching theme of Hebrews relies on the superiority of Christ. We are taught first of his superiority to angels, then to Moses, then to the high priest, and finally to Melchizedek. The author is not done however. The next point he wishes to bring to the forefront is the superiority of the Christian system over all other systems.

So the writer tells us that Christ came and entered a tabernacle that was not man-made. The normal high priest always did that, but Christ entered into the heavenly tabernacle rather than the earthly one. He went before God himself rather than a place that was designated where God would come to.

Having paid the price for our sins then, Jesus did not enter the new sanctuary by the blood of bulls and goats. These were finite beings who could never cover the price. Instead, he entered by his own blood and offered that up to God as payment for the debt of sin that we owe to him.

This makes his the most effective. Noteworthy is how he offers this sacrifice by the eternal Spirit. Now it could be that this refers to the spirit of Jesus, but it seems the eternal Spirit is something that is other than Jesus, to which it is likely the Holy Spirit is in mind. If this is the case, then we have a clear reference to the Spirit being eternal, which is something that must be for his deity.

It is because there is an eternal Spirit behind the offering that the Hebrews could be sure of their eternal redemption. If the topics of discussion are not eternal, then one cannot be sure that Christ is the great mediator. He becomes simply a mediator. The Hebrews writer wants his listeners to know the truth. Christ is superior and once again, it is not because of the actions so much as the nature of the actions. He offered himself eternally, which no other could do, as a perfect sacrifice. The price is paid. We are free.

And yes, The Trinity is essential for that.

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I again ask for your continued prayers in the areas I’ve mentioned as I work on overcoming fears and learning to be more loving and be the man that I ought to be. There’s a lot I don’t post about here, but God knows the needs. Anyway, we are now going to continue through our Trinitarian Commentary and tonight look at the eighth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. Tonight, we’ll be in chapter 8 and viewing verses 1-6:

¹The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,²and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.³Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. ⁴If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. ⁵They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” ⁶But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.

In our last blog, we spoke of the nature of the high priest that Jesus is as the true Melchizedek priest. While Melchizedek was a type of the Christ who was to come, in reality, we do have the real deal. To go with the idea of Melchizedek is to go with a type over the actuality.

Our writer reminds us of what Jesus did in the first chapter of his epistles. When Jesus was done, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of Majesty. Other high priests could do no such thing. They were always working. Jesus sat down because his work was done.

Jesus is not only a superior priest, but he serves in a superior sanctuary. Moses was told to make everything according to the model. The earthly sanctuary was to be a mirror of the heavenly one. While I am not saying I believe there is a literal sanctuary in Heaven, I believe there is a model of some sorts.

The writer wants us to know that the covenant is also superior. Now I haven’t quoted that passage, but it’s the longest quotation of the OT in the NT. In this passage, the writer points out that the old covenant was getting ready to disappear and Jesus is the bringer of the new covenant.  The writer wants the readers to know about the superiority of Christ in all areas. He is bringing a superior covenant into a superior sanctuary because he is superior to all other mediators. He is not just a priest, but he is the very holy one himself. The only one who could truly make intercession for us is YHWH himself, and this he did in Christ, who bears the nature of YHWH.

We shall continue our study of Hebrews tomorrow.

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I ask for your continued prayers for me. I’m still seeking truth on an important matter and it’s being a personal struggle for me as well. Still, truth is worth seeking in all cases and I appreciate your prayers as well as the prayer that God will work in me that I will be the man I need to be. Tonight, we’re continuing our Trinitarian Commentary in the book of Hebrews. We’ll be in chapter 7 and looking at verses 23-28.

²³Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

²⁶Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

A large difference between the priesthood of Jesus and that of the other high priests. The others all died, and so a new priest would have to come and make new offerings to keep interceding for the people. Jesus, however, will never die again and can always be making intercession for the people.

Notice the description given of Jesus however and compare this to the Mormon claim with their elders who say they have the Melchizedek priesthood. First, how many Mormons can make the claim of holiness, particularly with their soteriology?

Contrast this to Jesus who asked his opponents if they could convict him of sin. Keep in mind also the Levitical statements that show up numerous times of “Be holy because I am holy.” Remember the angels worshipping YHWH in Isaiah 6 and their constant cry is that YHWH is holy.

Blameless. Can this be said of them? Yet it is said of Christ. He is without fault in all that he does. An object could be holy, but Jesus is not just an object. He is a person who lived a perfect life. He went through the human experience and came out spotless.

Pure. He was not contaminated by the world around him. He lived that life without receiving stain from them. In fact, the way he lived, he made that which was unclean to be clean, such as the story of the lady with the bleeding condition who touched him.

Set apart from sinners. Jesus cannot be included in the category of the sinful. He never has been. He has lived that life and therefore now lives a life where he is no longer walking here on Earth in the very presence of sin.

And finally, exalted above the heavens. Which Mormon missionary will claim this for himself? Yet this is claimed for Jesus as our Melchizedek priest. What can this mean about him but anything less than his status as deity? He has gone beyond the Heavens. He is exalted above them, for he is greater than them. He has the nature of YHWH himself.

Because of this, Jesus is the high priest who is able to meet our needs and he has been made perfect forever. As we said earlier, this is about vindication. It is not about a time when Jesus was not perfect, but about his righteousness revealing his perfection.

We shall continue on through this book tomorrow.

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters as we continue our Trinitarian Commentary in the book of Hebrews. Before doing that however, I of course wish to thank everyone who is continuing to pray for me. It is an ongoing quest for truth and finding out, as I go along, that there’s more than just right arguments that really matter and I believe this experience is being used to help shape me into the man God desires me to be. Tonight, however, to get to the text, we will be looking at the first three verses of Hebrews 7:

¹This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ²and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” ³Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.

We’ve been bouncing around the idea of how Melchizedek is a type of Christ and tonight, we’re going to really look into that. In the historical narrative, Melchizedek is a strange figure who shows up in Genesis 14 after Abraham defeats some evil kings to free his nephew Lot. Melchizedek comes to Abraham as a priest of God Most High.

Abraham gives Melchizedek a tithe, indicating that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham was. Also, Melchizedek was the one who was bestowing the blessing on Abraham, once again indicating that Abraham was the lesser as the lesser is always blessed by the greater.

Melchizedek was also the king over Salem and Salem means peace. His name also means he is a king of righteousness. Thus, Melchizedek is both a king of peace (Or maybe we could say a Prince) and he is a king of righteousness. In both of these ways, he is like Christ.

Now it’s important to keep this in mind. Christ is not like Melchizedek. Melchizedek is like Christ. Christ is the prototype. Melchizedek is the one meant to point us to Christ. In what ways then is Melchizedek like Christ the savior?

First, he shows up in the narrative and there’s no record of his ancestry. Who are his parents? We do not know, something very rare in a culture where you were identified by your parents and whose family you were. However, we do not see this for Melchizedek.

In the same way, Jesus in his nature does not have mother and father in the biological sense. He has always been. He is begotten of the Father, yes, but again, it is not in a biological sense. In essence, his existence is not explained through natural means.

As for genealogy, Melchizedek has none. Jesus also doesn’t in his deity.He has always been meaning you cannot say that there was a line of deities through which Jesus came, as you could in say a system such as the Mormon system where God was once a man and became God.

Instead, Melchizedek is said to be without beginning of days or end of life. He is a priest forever. The same is said of Jesus. Jesus did not have beginning of days nor does he have end of life. Once again, keep in mind that Melchizedek is like the Son of God. The writer wants that to be shown for Jesus is greater than Melchizedek and is a greater mediator.

We shall continue our look in Hebrews tomorrow.

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. Again, I’d like to ask for your continued prayers in a certain area. There is a lot of work going on and it involves a search for truth on a controversial topic. I do long for your prayers and hope that the truth will be reached so all parties involved can be at peace and walking in the way of righteousness. For now, let’s return to our Trinitarian commentary where we’re in the book of Hebrews. We’ll be looking at verses 7-10 tonight.

⁷During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him ¹⁰and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

At this point, the writer moves to the earthly sojourn of Christ and the suffering that he had. Let this be a note to many in the Word of Faith camp. The perfect Son of God when he was here on Earth suffered. His faithfulness is never called into question either.

Note that he was heard because of his submission. Jesus willfully submitted himself to the Father. When Jesus came, he did live a life of obedience to the commands of God like everyone else. He lived that obedient life for us that we could not live so we could be made righteous before God. For his obedience, God did not allow him to stay captive to death but granted him the resurrection from the dead. He offered himself up to God the Father and the Father was pleased with the offering and raised him up again.

Jesus learned obedience however? This should not be a shock to us as Luke 2:52 tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom in knowledge as a human. He did progress in his knowledge and underwent as a human for the first time what it meant to live an obedient life to the Father.

However, we are also told that he was made perfect. What does that mean? It does not mean that he was not perfect before. However, what was said of him could not be said of any other high priest. No other high priest was said to have been made perfect. Only Jesus reached perfection to the point that his work was done, which is what happened in Hebrews 1 when he sat down at the right hand of God.

Rather, Jesus was vindicated as being perfect. His perfection was revealed in that he lived a sinless life and became the righteous sacrifice. It is the same as the idea in Acts 2:36 of Jesus being made Lord and Christ. The idea is of vindication and not of a perfection being reached that was not there before.

Because of this perfection, we can be sure of our salvation. Our salvation is not rooted in our work, but rather in the work of Christ. It is because he was righteous that he was designated to be a high priest beyond the Aaronic priesthood, but rather one in the priesthood of Melchizedek.

We shall continue tomorrow.

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I’d like to ask for your continued prayers, especially wisdom in a certain area that the right decisions will be made in the search for truth. I am looking at a controversial topic and I want to make sure I make the right decision. For now however, let’s continue our Trinitarian commentary. We’re going to be looking at Hebrews 5:1-6.

 ¹Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ²He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. ³This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.

 ⁴No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. ⁵So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
   “You are my Son;
      today I have become your Father.” ⁶And he says in another place,
   “You are a priest forever,
      in the order of Melchizedek.”

The writer is continuing the point about the high priest that he introduced in his last section. The high priest is appointed from among men and represents them in matters relating to God. The high priest is able to be gentle with them and help those who are going astray. He is not ignorant. He himself has the same struggles that they have. However, he must offer up a sacrifice for his own sins as well as the sins of the people.

Does this mean Jesus isn’t able to empathize with us however since he doesn’t have to offer sins? Not at all. Jesus knows the temptation even if he doesn’t have the experience of giving in to the temptation. There will be more on this point as we go through this chapter.

The main point that is brought about by the writer however is that no one takes this honor upon themselves. The high priest is rather called by God to that position. This was the way that it began back in the book of Exodus with the Aaronic priesthood through the tribe of Levi. (And in saying that, let me be clear I do not mean different kinds of priesthood in the way the Mormons do.)

Christ didn’t take that honor upon himself either. He was called by God. The Son submitted to the will of the Father to come to the people and live among them. In doing so, he was chosen by God to be the high priest and thus it follows that the time came when he was vindicated as the Son of God.

He was also given a greater priesthood in that he is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. We’ll be looking more at this figure in particular in chapter 7, but already, we have the last of the great mediators being brought up for the Hebrews writer to deal with.

Our point is that Jesus is chosen as the high priest. Now there’s nothing specifically involving him being deity in that, but we will see as we go through the book that this is a vital role for Jesus to play in relation to who he is. This is simply laying the groundwork.

We shall continue tomorrow.

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I’ve just had a great evening with an excellent Christian apologist who I shall leave unnamed, but a lot of what he said really resonated with my soul. I appreciate all that he’s done for apologetics and for myself. I do still ask for your continued prayers. Moving on, we are going to skip to the fourth chapter of Hebrews tonight and discuss what it means for Jesus to be our great high priest. We’ll be looking at Hebrew 4:14-16.

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

This is the first reference to the high priest, which happens to be the next mediator in the line of Alexandrian thought at the time. Jesus is said to be this high priest. The major functions of the priestly ministry of Jesus will be discussed as we go further through the epistle so we shall save them for when we get to them.

Jesus is the one who has gone through the Heavens. For those who are wondering if Jesus is still flying through the cosmos after his ascension, no. Yes, for any who are wondering, I have actually seen a number of skeptics use this line and ask if Jesus is traveling at supersonic speed or something. Jesus’s work is done.

This high priest is not just anyone. This high priest is the Son of God. He is also referred to by the name of Jesus, so that the writer wants us to be sure who we are talking about. As we will see later, he was not just chosen by random, but he was rather appointed by God. The new high priest that mediates for us before God is the very Son of God.

Interestingly, this high priest is not aloof from the people. He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. The writer tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way but was without sin. As we have said earlier, this does not mean that Jesus was tempted with every single sin known to man. It means Jesus was tempted in every kind of way one can be tempted to each kind of sin.

Yet Jesus was without sin. However, because he was tempted, he understands what it means to be tempted and he is able to give us grace. He knows what it means to resist temptation. If we fail, he knows what it means to forgive. If we are struggling, he is able to give us the grace we need so that we can go on and avoid the sin. He can do this because he is the perfect and righteous Son of God.

Or rather, he has the nature of God himself.