Article for November 17, 2024
Daniel 12:2 2And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
The end times as many have called it; I call it the beginning of our eternity. The end times sound so gloomy and final, and for some it may well be. But to look at the promise of God through our Savior, Jesus Christ we have no reason to see this time as doom and gloom. Rather, we should look on the time as the best day of our lives. It will be the day and life that will last forever and ever.
Certainly, there will for some be an eternal time for wailing, crying, gnashing teeth, and grief. These are the un-repented sinners, those who do not believe or wantonly go against God. These are those who do not believe in forgiveness and in turn don’t forgive others. They, the unrepentant, will wake up from their sleep to the horror of their shame.
Fear not, for the repented and the forgiven will wake up to the glory of God. the light of the day will be Jesus Christ. And life will have a calm and joy, a worship of praise and thanks, and the Glory of God will shine forever and ever.
Hebrews 10:11 11Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Life started good as God intended it too. But after the fall of man life became hard and cruel. Through flood and captivity God’s people survived. And God led His people out of their captivity and into a freedom to follow and worship Him. But the people had been influenced by the world around them and God had to raise them up from the death of worldly ways.
It was not an easy task as God gave us the ability to make choices. Some would make the choice to rebel, some to try and force their own way. And all the people would show their sinful hearts daily. God had to make laws to rule their hearts and help them, for the most part, make good choices, godly choices. And God also gave His people a visual of the consequences of their sins, that is death.
The true consequence of sin is death, and therefore God had His priests sacrifice, that is put to death, animals who would take the place of the sinner. One could imagine how many perfectly good animals were sacrificed daily or each time they had to set up the Tabernacle. But these sacrifices did not take sin away, they just atoned for them.
Stop to think about the many sacrifices that were made. These sacrifices may have worked well as a deterrent to keeping most people in line. The more one sinned the more sacrifice one had to make for atonement, the less cattle one had. Not to mention the blood being sprinkled upon them and the stains their clothing endured.
Hebrews 10:15–17 15And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Be very thankful if you have a conscience, this is a gift from God as He has put His laws on our hearts and has written them on our minds. Though, sometimes I wish my conscience was stronger and more of a deterrent from sinning. I think, as I am writing this, our conscience can be made stronger.
We become stronger in our faith; we become stronger with our conscience. To be stronger in faith is to be stronger in God’s word and knowing God’s love for His people. We are God’s people! God loves us enough to want to save us. Why not build our conscience to help us obey His Commandments.
Yes, we are still sinners, yes, we will still sin, but our sins will be less intentional. God is very quick to forgive our unintentional sins, and through grace and mercy with repentance God will even forgive our intentional sins. We must know, believe, and have faith that God stands behind His word. When Jesus said all sins are forgiven except one, blaspheming the Holy Spirit, then we can believe and have sure faith we are indeed forgiven.
Hebrews 10:18–20 18Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. 19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
Believe through the faith gained from God’s word and Holy Spirit that Jesus made the one-time ultimate sacrifice. Jesus came to heal our wounds, our blindness, our deafness, our muteness, and our sinful diseased bodies. Jesus came to suffer humiliation though He could not be humiliated He suffered the anguish of those who tried to humiliate Him.
Jesus suffered pain for us as they whipped Him, leaving the scars of our sins upon Him. Jesus suffered agonizing pain for us as they nailed Him to a criminal’s cross. A criminal’s cross, a means to label the bad and humiliate in front of many onlookers those who hung there. Jesus suffered His body and blood and suffered a last breath as He died. Jesus died for our sin, sacrificing His life to give us eternal life.
Hebrews 10:21–23 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Jesus died for our sins, but He also was resurrected for our knowing that there is true forgiveness and life after death. Jesus could not be defeated by the evil one or the evil of our sins. Jesus is alive and sits at the right hand of God as He is God. We have much to praise and thank our Lord for, even if He does nothing else for us. Why? Because Jesus is our savior who brings us into eternal life of joy, contentment, and love. This we can believe and put our sure hope in, God loves us to life. Amen.
Hebrews 10:14 14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Written by Pastor Curtis A. May
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