place made with hands, similar in pattern
to the true, but into heaven itself, now to
appear before the face of G-d for us;
25 nor yet that he should offer himself
often, as the high priest enters into the
holy place year by year with blood not his
own,
26 or else he must have suffered often
since the foundation of the world. But now
once at the end of the ages, he has been
revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself.
27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to
die once, and after this, judgment,
28 so Christ also, having been once offered
to bear the sins of many, will appear a
second time, without sin, to those who are
eagerly waiting for him for salvation.
Superbowl weekend is an American
institution. We watch all season to see
who will win the final match. Then, there
are some of us who don't really pay all
that much attention to football. Maybe, we
watch a game now and then. But since the
Superbowl is a big deal, we will go to one
of the various Superbowl parties and huddle
in front of the big screen to see who wins
this year. It's expected to be a good game
in any case. These are the two best teams
playing.
Part of the routine is that the best of the
advertising efforts are rolled out for the
Superbowl, because there are so many
viewers. It's prime commercial time. This
year was OK. Nothing sensational.
The commercial that stands out in my mind
from Superbowls past is the Schlitz
commercial with the line, Go for the gusto.
'You only go around once'. It reminds me
of this verse:
27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to
die once, and after this, judgment,
They're right about going around only once.
And going for the gusto is not such a bad
idea either. You ought to make the best of
the time that you have here. I'm not quite
convinced that beer, even the best beer,
is going to get you where you want to go.
Was it Ben Franklin who said that, Beer
is proof that G-d loves us and wants us to
live a happy life? That's before Prozac,
and Timothy Leary's even more exotic brand
of gusto. There's something about living
on the edge that has appeal.
There is a message in advertising that
leads viewers to believe that the only
moment that matters is NOW. The paradigm
shifts. We are led to believe that if we
want it all now, we can have it. But the
fact is that whether now or later, we
usually get what we pay for. Reality steps
in to interfere with the fantasy. We find
that what we want isn't always what we
thought it would be. Whether we fool
ourselves or are fooled by others, we end
up with something that we didn't expect. I
learned this first hand.
Verse 27 lays out a couple of the larger
facts of life. Death is reserved as the
end for all men. In the end, Justice.
It's a good thing that there will be a day
of justice, at the end. It's not a popular
theme these days, justice. It's pretty
much gone the way of truth, into the
dustbin of relativism. But as I've tried
to point out, time and eternity is held
firmly in in G-d's grip. He will see to it
that in the end, everything in His universe
is set straight. For some, that's good
news. For others, it's not such good news.
In either case, it's not our job to play
His part. Besides, you have to ask, What
do we really know about justice in the
first place?
In the book of Hebrews it explains that
Jesus entered into the Holy of Holies, and
offered Himself as the FINAL and only
sufficient blood sacrifice for sin.
Justice was served. Sin was punished and
atonement made. Can you see it? The
picture was begun at the first Passover.
The lamb's blood was applied to the door of
every dwelling where the ceremony was
observed.
Exodus 12
1 Yhwh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land
of Egypt, saying,
2 "This month shall be to you the beginning
of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you.
3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel,
saying, `On the tenth day of this month,
they shall take to them every man a lamb,
according to their fathers` houses, a lamb
for a household;
4 and if the household be too little for a
lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his
house shall take one according to the
number of the souls; according to everyone
can eat you shall make your count for the
lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
male a year old. You shall take it from the
sheep, or from the goats:
6 and you shall keep it until the
fourteenth day of the same month; and the
whole assembly of the congregation of
Israel shall kill it at evening.
7 They shall take same of the blood, and
put it on the two side-posts and on the
lintel, on the houses in which they shall
eat it.
8 They shall eat the flesh in that night,
roasted with fire, and unleavened bread.
They shall eat it with bitter herbs.
9 Don`t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with
water, but roasted with fire; with its
head, its legs and its inner parts.
10 You shall let nothing of it remain until
the morning; but that which remains of it
until the morning you shall burn with fire.
11 This is how you shall eat it: with your
loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and
your staff in your hand; and you shall eat
it in haste: it is Yhwh`s Passover.
12 For I will go through the land of Egypt
in that night, and will strike all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man
and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I
will execute judgments: I am Yhwh.
This is why Jesus was crucified during the
time of the Passover celebration. It was
so that people would not miss the fact that
the lamb represents Jesus. That's what
John the Baptist said.
John 1:29 On the next day, he saw Jesus
coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb
of G-d, who takes away the sin of the
world!
The word translated 'sin' can also be
translated 'offense'. The idea is that we
offend G-d by what we are. We are fallen
from the original state of perfection. We
didn't DO anything to get into this
predicament, and we can't DO anything to
get out of this predicament. It has all
been done for us.
Gen 1:31 G-d saw everything that he had
made, and, behold, it was very good. There
was evening and there was morning, the
sixth day.
This passage includes the creation of man.
But the fall of man changed everything. In
the beginning, it was all good. Adam's
disobedience changed all that, until Jesus
arrived on the scene to offer His own
obedience in place of Adam's sin.
I Thes 5:9 For G-d didn`t appoint us to
wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
There's that word 'appoint' again. We were
not reserved for punishment. G-d does not
want to punish anyone, but He wants to
graciously offer us salvation -- safety
and deliverance. It's all about Jesus.
Like the commercial says, we only go around
once. Forget about the gusto and get the
salvation found in Jesus. Get on the bus.
Don't do this -->
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