I was thinking of all of you again while I was at the Temple with my brother this afternoon. We were discussing one of the laws with a priest, and I was rebuked for misunderstanding one of the commandments in Leviticus. It reminds me of our situation that you will be facing before I return. I just had word that the persecution has been progressing closer to home. Would you believe me if I told you that God was sending us this persecution to mature us into His likeness? We often wonder why God allows evils… well, don’t think of these persecutions as evils, but as tests and situations to build our character and make us better.
Think of Job, who was tested by God Himself. Job was more righteous than any of us and had such a small picture of God’s salvation plan. We have seen this plan completed in Christ, so we need to continue on even stronger than Job with our eyes fixed on the truth. Even righteous Job was corrected by God as a futile human, but Job was grateful for the correction, even though it was painful. Would you not rather be perfect in God’s eyes and have a few scars than come to the end of your time here unscathed, sending a beautiful body to a flaming torture apart from God? Be careful you do not become unfaithful! We’ve been corrected by these imperfect teachers and are so thankful when they set us on the right path, so should we not be all the more thankful for God’s instruction and correction? Doesn’t it make this approaching trial look so much more appealing, so know that God is sending it for our good, and if we persevere, there will be fruits of righteousness produced in our lives?
Like Esau, you and I are among the firstborn (of God, the best Father) and bequeathed an inheritance. However, we have the right to give up that birthright, throw it away, just like Esau did for a hungry belly. Do you want to lose that invaluable blessing of communion and relationship with the Father through the Son by denying His sacrifice on the cross and returning to the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant? The Old Covenant has been nullified, made of no consequence, by the sacrifice of Christ. Being both the full covering for sin and the only sacrifice now accepted by the Father, I implore you not to turn away from truth because of the coming persecution.
I wish I could be with you to encourage you through this time, and I will return as quickly as God allows me. But remember, as I trust you will choose to be faithful to Christ, you can approach God face to face on the Mountain of Zion, rather than be separated through a curtain as on Mount Sinai. Imagine what it would be like if each of us glowed as much as Moses after having come from God’s presence; we would all have to wear veils around even each other, because the brightness of a brother’s face would merely magnify our own reflection. Take comfort in one another, that we all bask together in the glorious presence of our Savior whether near or far apart. I am constantly lifting you up in prayer, that this trial will only prove your faith and approve you in God’s favor.
Beware that you do not let go of that faith in this time of persecution. Think of us all as holding onto the railing of God in His faithfulness, while the persecution is merely a shake from God to see who is really holding onto the rail and who is merely pretending. We have been shaken once and were found faithful holding onto God. But are we ready to really cling to Christ? Prepare yourselves, because the shaking is beginning. Never relinquish the Gospel you first accepted, recognizing it as far superior the Mosaic sacrificial system. Beware, if you consider letting go when the shaking drives your pain to the point of blood and death: God’s consuming fire will devour any who let go. That is a place none of is able or desire to face, the wrath of God upon His own who has denied Him. Do you realize that returning the sacrificial system is denying God?
As you cling to Christ, be careful not to sin. Discipline yourselves to remain true to the lord’s commandments so you may be found blameless like Job. You have not always made mature decisions in terms of your marital fidelity, hospitality and love for one another. Please do not allow the immaturity of your past to disqualify you from making this mature decision to obey out of love for God. As long as you are faithful in clinging to Christ, He will develop in you those fruits of righteousness through your suffering. But if you let go, beware, because you are not falling to the destruction of man, but of God. So not only hold fast in order to be matured, but because God’s wounds cut deeper than man’s and His fire consumes all while man’s merely kills. Man may kill the body, but God holds in His hand our eternal souls.
I wish with all my heart that I could encourage you in person at the time to make the decision. But I fear I will not be with you when the day of persecution arrives. Therefore, be faithful and make the obedient decision. Pray for me too as I am facing my own struggles and desire the encouragement of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I look forward to persevering through this life with joy alongside you once I have returned to you. Be mindful that Our Lord sees all your deeds, so make sure they are pleasing to Him! I wish I could have written more to you, but time runs short! Timothy might come with if he is able to come to Italy on his way back to Paul, I know you all will be glad to see him. All our relatives here in Jerusalem say “HI!”
I love you all, now stay with God.
Yocheved
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Observing the Futility of Sacrifice (Argument 4)
I have been thinking a lot about the sacrifices I’ve watched while here at the Temple. I persuaded my older brother to linger with me at the Temple, watching all the people who come and go. He is a good Hebrew student, and quizzes me on the reasons why each person offers the sacrifice they do. We speculate on what it could be that compels them to seek repentance… do they truly desire favor in the eyes of Adonai or were they compelled to repent because of a disgruntled spouse. My brother is a firm believer in the unity of obedience to please God and compulsion. He is too idealistic a Jew to admit the tendency of man to disobey the Law out of selfish idolatry. My brother loves God, but denies the need for anything other than the Law to make him righteous before God. But you, my brothers and sisters, know how dead we are and how incapable under the Law, because by the Law we realized sins, and transgressed against the Law more because of it (as Paul pointed out).
Realizing how great our sacrifice was in Christ, that I may sit as an observer to all other sacrifices, never needing to atone for sins again, where as my brother must offer sacrifices, and all that effort and blood and death… and yet those sacrifices do not purify his sins as much as my sacrifice does. I had the perfect sacrifice, One who sacrificed Himself once in order to pay for all my sins. My brother must return again here every year to be covered under the sin offering on the Day of Atonement. And yet my brother will sin again, and the blood from his last sacrifice will not clean him until the end What freedom we who are in Christ have, no longer being bound to seek blood absolution for our sins! Look, you have this sacrifice absolving your sins, so don’t stand outside the Temple like an unclean woman, press into the very presence of God, the heart of the Father. Once close in His presence, remain there in purity, do not defile the sacrifice He has made for us, because the blood was already pain for the whole sacrifice, Christ has no more sacrificial blood to spill!
We are coming closer and closer to the time when we will want to deny His blood because it is going to hurt us to claim this perpetual absolution. Do you realize it will be willful sin, willful denial of Christ is you return to your Temple sacrifices? This would mean that Jesus was just another sacrifice, not the eternally absolving sacrifice. Let me compare for you the consequences of willful sin vs. unintentional sin between Old Covenant and New Covenant just to encourage you not to relinquish your claim on Christ’s blood. If you all hold together in the blood of Christ throughout this trial, the fellowship you share as fellow sufferers will strengthen your individual resolve, and you will not be as tempted to fall away from Christ as you would be if you approach this trial divided.
In Mosaic Law, willful sin brought death if convicted by two or three witnesses, so God would not tolerate it then. How do you think that you, under a greater sacrifice and your sins completely covered, will escape punishment for your willful sins? You are not less accountable because your sins have been completely covered, but because your sacrifice is worth far more and absolves you far better, you are expected to be holier than those under the “mere” Torah! You have a spiritized Torah, a means of following the rules, not just the rules themselves! Do not test God this way by sinning willfully, by denying the power of His Son’s blood. It is the most dreadful thing in the world to witness God’s judgment on His own. It is because He loves you and wants you to have the best, be holy and perfect, and so because you have been cleansed and are able to live holy, God will hold you to a higher standard of behavior than those under the Old Covenant!
And even those under the Old Covenant who did not see the fulfillment of their promise, actually see Christ remove their sins from God’s presence, remained faithful to God. This proves that you are far more able to live holy, obedient lives before God than they, since you have seen this fulfillment of the promise. Look at our fathers: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham (even Sarah!), Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses! They all faced great trials and persevered until the end, sticking to their decisions. Even you have already suffered persecution and endured in spite of it. So why would you give in to the temptation now, simply because it’s a greater persecution than you endured last time? All those who persevered and finished the race under the Old Covenant are standing on the sidelines as we run this persecution through until the end. But we do not just have the fathers cheering us on, we have Christ himself, who not only encourages us to keep running, but runs alongside us.
Therefore, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and remain together. You are temples of Christ, now, don’t be caught in the old sacrificial system, because if you turn back from the better sacrifice of Christ now, you are willfully sinning against God and He will judge you for it because He loves you. Look, Jesus Himself suffered like you are now, suffering even a worse persecution. And He finished… therefore think of Him and you will too. I love you all. I will keep watching the Temple and describe it to all of you when I return!
Realizing how great our sacrifice was in Christ, that I may sit as an observer to all other sacrifices, never needing to atone for sins again, where as my brother must offer sacrifices, and all that effort and blood and death… and yet those sacrifices do not purify his sins as much as my sacrifice does. I had the perfect sacrifice, One who sacrificed Himself once in order to pay for all my sins. My brother must return again here every year to be covered under the sin offering on the Day of Atonement. And yet my brother will sin again, and the blood from his last sacrifice will not clean him until the end What freedom we who are in Christ have, no longer being bound to seek blood absolution for our sins! Look, you have this sacrifice absolving your sins, so don’t stand outside the Temple like an unclean woman, press into the very presence of God, the heart of the Father. Once close in His presence, remain there in purity, do not defile the sacrifice He has made for us, because the blood was already pain for the whole sacrifice, Christ has no more sacrificial blood to spill!
We are coming closer and closer to the time when we will want to deny His blood because it is going to hurt us to claim this perpetual absolution. Do you realize it will be willful sin, willful denial of Christ is you return to your Temple sacrifices? This would mean that Jesus was just another sacrifice, not the eternally absolving sacrifice. Let me compare for you the consequences of willful sin vs. unintentional sin between Old Covenant and New Covenant just to encourage you not to relinquish your claim on Christ’s blood. If you all hold together in the blood of Christ throughout this trial, the fellowship you share as fellow sufferers will strengthen your individual resolve, and you will not be as tempted to fall away from Christ as you would be if you approach this trial divided.
In Mosaic Law, willful sin brought death if convicted by two or three witnesses, so God would not tolerate it then. How do you think that you, under a greater sacrifice and your sins completely covered, will escape punishment for your willful sins? You are not less accountable because your sins have been completely covered, but because your sacrifice is worth far more and absolves you far better, you are expected to be holier than those under the “mere” Torah! You have a spiritized Torah, a means of following the rules, not just the rules themselves! Do not test God this way by sinning willfully, by denying the power of His Son’s blood. It is the most dreadful thing in the world to witness God’s judgment on His own. It is because He loves you and wants you to have the best, be holy and perfect, and so because you have been cleansed and are able to live holy, God will hold you to a higher standard of behavior than those under the Old Covenant!
And even those under the Old Covenant who did not see the fulfillment of their promise, actually see Christ remove their sins from God’s presence, remained faithful to God. This proves that you are far more able to live holy, obedient lives before God than they, since you have seen this fulfillment of the promise. Look at our fathers: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham (even Sarah!), Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses! They all faced great trials and persevered until the end, sticking to their decisions. Even you have already suffered persecution and endured in spite of it. So why would you give in to the temptation now, simply because it’s a greater persecution than you endured last time? All those who persevered and finished the race under the Old Covenant are standing on the sidelines as we run this persecution through until the end. But we do not just have the fathers cheering us on, we have Christ himself, who not only encourages us to keep running, but runs alongside us.
Therefore, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and remain together. You are temples of Christ, now, don’t be caught in the old sacrificial system, because if you turn back from the better sacrifice of Christ now, you are willfully sinning against God and He will judge you for it because He loves you. Look, Jesus Himself suffered like you are now, suffering even a worse persecution. And He finished… therefore think of Him and you will too. I love you all. I will keep watching the Temple and describe it to all of you when I return!
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