Thoughts From Hebrews 8

" ... the new covenant is established on better promises.7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:

'The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.'

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:6-13

           This passage from Jeremiah and the following one from Ezekiel always confuse me;

24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness" Ezek.36:24-29

           Are these prophets prophesying about the Holy Spirit coming on all believers, or are they giving an end time prophecy about the mass conversion of Jews during the end times? I've come to the conclusion of yes. I think these are dual prophecies that pertain and are fulfilled by both. First of all, if you interpret the end times in a premillennial fashion, Romans 11 says that we are living in a temporary hardening of hearts stage of Israel. they have a "heart of stone" and no matter how many prophecies were fulfilled that Jesus was the Messiah, they can't see it. God, therefore, is opening the hearts of gentiles, not replacing the Jews, but adding them to the vineyard. When this time is completed, God will take away their heart of stone and give them a soft heart and they will understand the truth.

          The other fulfillment is in regard to when our uncleanness is washed away (we are saved), we get a heart transplant. Our old, hardened heart becomes replaced by a born-again heart with the Holy Spirit living inside. No longer is our conscience hardened but we have an indwelling compass. We no longer have to fear God abandoning us for our evil behavior because He will never leave us. We no longer have to offer sacrifices at the temple because Jesus has offered His blood once and for all and we live in freedom not to sin but to obey without fear. We live in a time of grace not judgement. 

            It's sort of like this; when my 4 kids lived in my household, I feel like I was pretty stern and maybe a little hard on them. Why? Because I had 18 years to teach them how to be good adults but more than anything, to form a faith that stands on its own once they flew the coop. Then they left for college, none lived at home which I highly recommend for their independence and formation, and now they are married and on their own raising their own kids, and I can just enjoy "the Heck" out of them. I don't even give them advice unless they ask. I don't have to be mean, those days are over. Do you get it? In the Old Covenant, God was fiercely loving them by training them because they had to internal compass. They were his children. Though they were the "apple of His eye", they needed many harsh lessons. Once the time was right, the internalization of the truth and the Father's (and mother's) heart came inside and there was no longer judgement but freedom. Not free to be bad but free to live the truth they had been taught. 

          Aren't you glad you live now rather than then? Aren't you glad God allowed us to join His family? Live the abundant life in light of those two facts!

Thoughts From Hebrews 7

 23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  Hebrews 7:23-25

             Have you ever said or heard it said, "I live for this." My wife would probably say that phrase when the grandkids spend the night and when they wake up at 7 (they have a clock in their room and aren't allowed to come down the stairs until it hits 7), they come on the back porch where she has her quiet time, and she does a morning Bible study or Q&A with them. Or maybe she would say it when our 2nd son who is in the ministry baptizes a grandchild in the ocean at our family vacation in Hilton Head. When might I say it? Maybe in the midst of a medical mission trip where scores of people are praying to receive Christ and I get to lead some of them in prayer after sharing the gospel. Or maybe it's as mundane as going fishing with my 3rd son at the crack of dawn and catching a 4 lb. large mouth bass.

          What do you think Jesus lives for? In chapter 7 which ties Genesis (2000BC) to Psalms (1000BC) to Hebrews (60AD) showing the continuity and harmony of the Bible, the author says Jesus lives to make intercession for us. What does that mean? We are at odds with God due to our sin or rebellion against Him. Jesus took that sin on Himself on the cross if we by faith believe this and then God's righteous anger against sin is appeased and He sees us as clean. Jesus' blood in effect, like the atonement cover on the Ark of the Covenant, covers over the broken commandments inside and God doesn't see the sins. We are then allowed into the Holy presence of God. Nothing makes Jesus happier. He lives to restore our relationship with God and usher us into His presence.

         This is taken to a whole "nother" level when we realize that Jesus' life had no beginning. He IS life. That means, before the beginning of time His mind and heart was for us and longing for us. Why? It's hard to fathom! My 2nd son's wife just had a baby. He loves to facetime with us and it's fun to see his love for the baby in his voice and eyes and laughter. This was evident long before the baby smiled or knew him. In fact, all it does is sleep, eat, spit up, pass gas, poop, and wake him up in the middle of the night crying. Where does all that love come from? Yet this baby could now be said to be "His life". He lives for this baby. This is how Jesus' love for us is. Do you believe that, or do you mock and curse and hate the name of Jesus? All He has ever done is reach out both hands in love for you and have them nailed to a tree.

          Stop rebelling or running away from Jesus and fall into His arms of love today.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 23

  Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:15,16

         Paul's letters receive a lot of criticism from unbelievers or false teachers because they deal with multiple hot button topics like women's role in the church and home, the rapture, homosexuality, church polity, church discipline, spiritual gifts and more. If you can just say, "Well, that's just Paul's opinion" or "He changes his mind from book to book", then you can read the epistles with a "grain of salt" and not treat them as authoritative. The problem with that is Peter calls them "scriptures" and puts them in the same category as the other scriptures that the early church was using which would eventually become todays Bible - God's inerrant inspired authoritative word given to us by which we get to know Him, hear from Him, and discern His will for our lives.

       Peter, himself, admits that some of Paul's writings can be difficult to understand. Note the word "some". That means that most aren't. I once heard a famous Christian quoted as saying, "I'm more concerned with what I do understand about the Bible than what I don't". In other words, there is enough clearly convicting stuff in the Bible to deal with so first get in line with that. Also Peter says "difficult" not "impossible". How deep do you want to dig to understand it? My favorite YouTuber/ Bible Scholar, Mike Winger devoted himself to discovering what Paul's teaching on Women's role in the Church was and once made a 13 hour video on one aspect of this. He desired to understand the difficult and not just say it's impossible.

      Lastly, Peter says that if you distort the scriptures you are ignorant and/or unstable and headed for destruction. I see that as two categories - ignorant; untaught, don't know any better and probably don't desire to know. -unstable; like the house built on sand. Choose the easy way to follow the ways of the world. Either way, you will stand before God someday and have to give an account for your disobedience and He will say, "You have no excuse". God has spelled out His will in the Bible and as we have previously mentioned, it butts heads with our wanting to do what we want to do so quite often we look for ways to distort what God is saying so we can fulfill our lusts.

        Are you reading the Bible in a submissive way and saying, "God, whatever you say, I will obey"? This is the way.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 22

 ... what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives... So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him... But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.  2 Peter 3:11,14,18

         When I read these verses I'm reminded of a parable that Jesus told of a wedding feast in Matthew 22. In this story, a wedding banquet was going on and everyone was clothed in splendid garments, possibly supplied by the host or maybe just wearing their "Sunday best", in honor of the occasion. However, there was one person that stood out because they came in wearing casual attire. Maybe they were still in their PJ's like they just rolled out of bed. Maybe they were wearing their workout clothes having just come from the gym. Or maybe they were wearing overalls coming from working in the field. Whatever the case, they didn't think the occasion was worth taking time to get dressed up. The host sees the man and promptly kicks him out either because he crashed the party and wasn't wearing the members only garb supplied by the host, or he had disdain for the host as hinted at in context from the prior parable.

        Although I'm not afraid of getting kicked out of the wedding feast of the Lamb because He has clothed me with His robe of righteousness and received His invitation, I do want to be found wearing it when He makes His surprise return. This is hinted at in the parable of oil in the lamps where the groom came in the middle of the night to surprise the bride and she was prepared unlike the bridesmaids. Peter says, since Jesus could come back at any moment, make sure you are dressed for the occasion. What's that look like? Living Holy, Godly lives, being found spotless and blameless, at peace with Him, understanding Him better and getting to know Him better.

        During a time of revival in my life, I was extremely convicted about wasting my time doing things that didn't have eternal consequence. I went to a movie and while taking a bathroom break, I noticed that the toilets were made by a company called American Standard. Have you ever been convicted by a toilet before? Why was I at the movie instead of reading my New American Standard Bible? While that may be dividing the Sacred and Secular too much, or so I was told that I was suffering from dualism, the point is "Are You Dressed For Success"?

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 21

" Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming" 2 Peter 3:12

           How do you speed the day of the Lord's coming when God already knows when it is? Here is the only logical answer. Have you ever had a day at work that seemed to last forever? Chances are it was a boring day where nothing was happening. I recently went to an NCAA football game and got there 75 minutes early - at least that's what the clock ticking down to game-time said. It seemed to last forever. My wife was ready to leave by the time the game started. Once the game started, the clock seemed to speed up. What happened? Busyness and activity seem to make time go faster. How can we speed the day of the Lord's return - by being about His business. Don't be a lazy Christian but go out and labor in His strength for the kingdom. It will make the time go quicker.

         That's the logical answer. Here's the illogical answer which could be right because our finite minds can't comprehend much. For example, Q. why pray when God already knows what He's going to do? A. Because prayer changes things. Huh? I thought God doesn't change his mind? Q. Why witness when God already knows who is going to be saved? A. Because God uses evangelism to save people. But if I didn't witness they'd still get saved? So here is the illogical answer. Matthew 24 says Christ will return when all the world has heard therefore let's reach all the unreached people groups and bring Jesus back. Similarly, Romans 11 talks about the fullness of the Gentiles being reached before God brings about revival of the Jews. Therefore, let's go get that last Gentile saved.

         The illogical part of this is that a finite date set by the Lord could be expedited. Yet, David, when being judged for a census, chose 3 days of being judged by the Lord because the Lord is merciful and sure enough, those 3 days were shortened because He relented at Aruanah's threshing floor. Dates and times are fixed, God doesn't change His mind, yet we see examples of both. Paul told the men on the ship that no one would be lost yet as men tried to escape in a lifeboat, he told them if they left, they would die. How could both be true?

          Truly, God's ways are higher than ours. Let's first of all get excited about the Lord coming back and secondly, let's get busy and hurry Him up. After all, it has been 2000 years already!

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 20

 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

         I was recently in a discussion with a guy who rejects Christianity because of the problem of suffering in the world and God can't be a good God and all powerful God at the same time to allow this to happen. I've dealt with this in a blog in detail previously, ( https://thoughtsfromtherightbrain.blogspot.com/2016/06/apologetics-week-2-i-cant-worship-god.html)

but I was thinking of it again as I looked at this verse. If God wants all people to be saved and He's all powerful, why doesn't He make it happen? The reason has to be that He doesn't want to violate people's free will. He doesn't want to make people choose Him because they have to. God, though all-powerful allows people to go to Hell even though He could stop it, in order to let them have free will. I was recently watching a show called Foundation where Brother Day, the leader of the Empire, falls in love and leaves everything, even fakes his death, to be with a woman who he has been spending time with. When he finally finds her, she doesn't want him, in fact she is with another woman and states that she was only with him because she was forced to be and was scared of him. Brother Day is devastated at this news and crushed. Like art imitating reality, God wants our chosen love, not forced love.

 Relating this to the previously mentioned problem of suffering, God could stop all suffering and get rid of all evil in the world, but then He'd have to get rid of you (and me). He would have to step in and violate the free will of people to make choices and He has decided not to do this.

         My other thought on this verse is what led me to leave the Presbyterian church. The Westminster Confession states,  God's sovereign decree actively predestines some individuals to eternal life and others to everlasting death. This is explicitly stated in Chapter III, Section 3, which declares that for the manifestation of His glory, God predestined some men and angels to eternal life and others to everlasting death. How can this be possible if He desires everyone to be saved and not perish, in fact He is delaying His return because of it. If He has chosen certain people to spend eternity in hell and has created them for that reason, how could He desire everyone to be saved and why would He delay His coming knowing that they can't even choose to be saved. It makes no sense.

        God is so "into" free will that He put a tree in the garden, knowing that giving mankind a choice would cost His only Son's life on a cross. He values free will that much that He allows all the suffering we see today. He wants you to choose to love Him and follow Him and find everything you've been looking for - even Heaven. The choice is yours.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 19

 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 

          As we think about global warming, ozone layer disappearing, carbon emissions, meteoric collisions, etc. it can lead to a panic thinking what is going to happen to our home? Well, first of all, believers need to rephrase that question because Earth isn't our home. We are citizens of Heaven and just visiting this planet as ambassadors for the King. But secondly, we don't need to wonder what's the future of Earth because Peter spells it out - it's going to be burnt up.

       Being premillennial, I understand the future this way. Jesus will come in the clouds, sound the trumpet, the dead believers will rise and those believers that are alive will be caught up in the air and "raptured". We will be in Heaven at the great banquet/wedding feast of the lamb as the bride of Christ. Just like Jewish wedding feasts lasted a week, the feast will last 7 Earthly years and at the end of it, we will return with Christ to an Earth that has been ravaged by the Antichrist and the bowls of wrath of God's judgement on the Earth, and defeat Satan as he has rallied worldwide forces to fight Christ at His return. (Armageddon)

      During those 7 years a number of people will choose to follow Christ, and those who weren't killed will be judged at the "Sheep and Goats" judgement along with unbelievers who remain and be joined with us who have been raptured and given Heavenly bodies on a recreated Earth that is more like the garden of Eden. Those people with earthly bodies who were saved during the tribulation will procreate and after a thousand years, even though Satan has been bound, Christ is on Earth ruling, will choose to follow Satan when he is released and rebel against Jesus. 

      I believe at that time we will all leave Earth and be taken to the gates of Heaven where Satan will be sent to the Lake of Fire along with all those whose names weren't in the Lamb's book of Life at the Great White Throne Judgement. While we are in Heaven, my understanding is that the Earth will be destroyed and a new one created. Matter, as we know it consists of atoms held together by an invisible force. Colossians says that Christ holds all things together. What if He decided to just let go? Would the Earth explode like a nuclear bomb or a ball of fire? And what if then He decided to create a new Earth with a whole different structure than atoms and molecules? Some kind of structure that our Heavenly bodies will be made of with whole different properties. We already know that we won't sleep, die, have pain, and Jesus passed through closed doors, so we get hints of different matter make up.

      Anyway, that's my understanding and even though it's hard to fathom because we are in a period of time where everything goes on as it always has, there will come a time where it doesn't and God steps in and ends the status quo. Have you ever heard the statement "It's all going to burn"? This is where that comes from. Every time you buy something remember it's temporary. Don't make it your treasure. Don't stockpile a bunch of kindling. Store up treasures in Heaven that won't burn up.