And For This Cause, He Is The Mediator Of the New Testament - Part 1032

Too often, the Christian community equates success in forwarding the good news gospel of Jesus the Christ with the size of a congregation and/or its respective church building. But the question should be -- "How many Christians are there yet, who after the profession of faith in Christ come to a standstill? "Taking more abundant heed to what they hear; giving diligence to enter into the rest of God; pressing on to perfection; running with patience the race?" (Murray, 1894)

Sadly, too often, "many rest contented with the thought that their sins are pardoned, and that they are in the path of life, but know nothing of a personal attachment to Christ as their leader, or of faith that lives in the invisible and walks with God. With many this is the consequence of the hopelessness that came from the failure of their utmost efforts to live as they desired. They struggled in their own strength; they knew not Christ as the secret of strength; they lost heart and went back. 

The profession of faith is not cast away; religious habits are kept up; but there is nothing to show that they have entered or are seeking to enter the Holiest to dwell there. The power of the world, the spirit of its literature, the temptations of business and pleasure, all unite to make up a religion in which it is sought to combine a comfortable hope for the future with the least possible amount of sacrifice in the present." (Murray, 1894)

The evangelist author then proceeds to say that the book of Hebrews "with its warnings is indeed a glass in which the Church of the present day may see itself. But it is a glass too, thank God, in which we can also see the glory of Jesus on the throne of heaven, in the power that can make our heart and life heavenly too. What the Hebrews needed is what we need. Not in ourselves or our efforts is salvation, but in Christ Jesus. To see Him, to consider Him, to look at Him that will bring the healing ... it is Jesus Christ we must know better." (Murray, 1894)

Jesus -- my Saviour God to me. "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [for you and I]." (Hebrews 9:11-12)

"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh -- how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 

And for this cause, He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions [that were] under the first testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament [is], there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 

For a testament [is] of force after men are dead; otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth, whereupon neither the first was dedicated without blood ... for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of calves and of goats with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, "This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover, He sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry and almost all things are by the Law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

[It was] therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these ... for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor yet that He should offer Himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others -- for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself ...

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:13-28)

Imagine the same God who created us in the beginning "suffering since the foundation of the world" knowing that He Himself would put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:28)

Jesus said, "For this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." (Matthew 26:28-29)

Draw closer to the author and finisher of your faith today. Get to know Jesus as both your Lord and Saviour so that you too can drink of the fruit of the vine with the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is He who willingly shed His holy blood on the cross so that you and I might have life -- and have life more abundantly.

And in seeking Jesus first, and His righteousness, don't forget to "examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (II Corinthians 13:5) Let him who hath ears, hear. Stand in the offering plate.