Tuesday, January 4, 2022

I really like to teach the book of Hebrews.  It is a letter to Christian Jews explaining that their life of rules, sacrifices, holy days and methods of receiving information from God--has ended.  With their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah, their world has been turned upside down.

The Jews were elite.  The people of God.  His special group.  Now, salvation was open to everyone.  Open to people that the Jews didn’t like.  People that they had always considered inferior.  In addition, all of their rituals were no longer relevant.  Jesus changed everything.

God tore open the veil to the Holy of Holies, and now the whole world had access to God through the death and atonement of Jesus’s sacrifice.  This was almost an impossible thought for Jews who were used to one high priest going into the Holy of Holies once a year to offer sacrifice for their sins.  Now, anyone could personally ask forgiveness in Jesus name.

The writer explained that Jesus would forever more be the high-priest for the entire world.  The Levitical tribe was no longer necessary.  God was now open to every one.  Anyone could go straight to Him through Christ.

This was a big problem for Jews to wrap their mind around.  And the writer(s) of Hebrews does an excellent job of explaining it.



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