Preparing for the Temple!

Preparing For The Temple
1 Chronicles 22

Historical background:
David had just received a sound defeat spiritually from the hand of Satan and chose to number the children of Israel (which was strictly forbidden). The result of this was Israel experienced first hand the wrath of the Lord as David discovered his sin affected many more people than himself (the entire nation). The angel of death killed 70,000 people as a punishment for David’ sin.

David saw the angel of the Lord with his sword raised over Jerusalem, but then God caused the angel to stop the destruction. The location was Araunah’s Threshing Place. David buys the threshing floor from Araunah and worships the Lord there with a sacrifice.

Later David proposed to build the Temple there as a world renowned worship center. God told David that he was not to be the one to build it because he had blood on his hands. That my friends, is a lesson itself of why today’s Temple builders need to be non-resistant!

Here we are today, taking a look at the preparation David enacted to speed up the process of the Temple construction.

First of all, David had a vision.

On one hand, I hesitate to refer to David’s vision as a vision, lest it be understood as something it is not. This vision David had is more like a purpose. We could say, “David purposed in his heart to build a Temple for the Lord”, and then God said “Not so fast David, You have blood on your hands”.

God met David where he had surrendered and David wanted it built there as a memorial!

At the time of David’s reign, the land was still inhabited with wicked people. The comparison is that as David rooted them out or subjected them in labor, he was setting forth a physical example of our spiritual battles where we root out the carnal nature or subject it to a holy calling. Clarification - The Carnal Nature will never be completely eradicated, but our battles will continue to work to that end!

In our study today, vision and purpose mean the same thing!

Proverbs 29:18 says “Without a vision, the people perish”. The vision David had was not just some dream of building a Temple, but it affected his life. David put forth energy to turn this vision into reality.

David had been instructed by God not to build him the Temple but told him that he would have a son whose name would mean peaceful. God told David that Solomon his son would be the one to build Him the Temple.

As a Spiritual Application we take a look at this account from beyond the physical realm and try to discover how to apply it to our lives today.

There are two types of Spiritual Temples we are building today. First, as 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 say, “Your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost”; secondly, The Church, though commonly referred to as the body of Christ is also a Temple for the Holy Ghost. Wait a minute, isn’t the Church people? Then what we really have is each Christian as a temple and as they come together in a collective worship they should begin to merge together as a glorious temple as the one Lord comes with them. Matthew 18:20

We find David not just reaching out to the Israelites to help him gather material and process it for the Temple, but David as the king of Israel, sent to gather the strangers that were in the land of Israel at that point to cut stone for the Temple. In other words, “they were forcibly gathered and put to work at hard labor as slaves, no less. So why did David do that?

Who were the Gibeonites? In Joshua 9:1-27 the story of the Gibeonites begins. Though there is no direct reference to who the “strangers” were, we first of all can be pretty certain they were not Israelites. The distinction would not have been made. Based on what we do know about the Gibeonites and the Treaty of Gilgal we can rightfully assume they were at least part of this group of strangers. There was basically two ways that Israel took over the Land of Canaan. One was killing everyone off or enslaving them forever. Also, remember, when Israel took off from Egypt, they had a following on non Israelites. These were people hoping to have a better life. While we do not know assuredly who any of the strangers were, these groups of people would have been strangers (not brethren).

This could be applied to our lives in that as we build the Temple of God (our bodies), we need to subject our carnal man (the original inhabitant of our temple) to our Spiritual man as he builds the Temple with the blueprint that God has set forth as one that will bring Him the Glory He deserves. As we build the Spiritual Temple, the general populous should be setting up to take notice of the Glory of God, and come to worship God just as the Queen of Sheba did for Solomon’s Temple! Her decision to search out the God of Solomon enabled her to say the half had not yet been told!

The detail that David put into his preparations shows how serious he was about his vision. He did not just gather stuff that could be used, but manipulated it to make it more useful. He obviously had a plan that indicated how each stone was to be cut, how each piece of lumber was to be cut, how each nail was to be formed for their respective function.

David was preparing a heritage for his son, who would be able to stand on the shoulders of his father’s spiritual experience and go forward to build the Temple. How are we building the Spiritual Temple? Is it in disarray? Does it just have a bunch of useful stuff laying around that isn’t being form for it rightful purpose? How are we preparing to pass the heritage of our Spiritual Experience on to our children?

When your children are young and tender, as a parent, you should do everything to shore them up spiritually including patiently and tenderly guiding them. As a parent we have the advantage of being able to see what makes our children tick, and can then steer them toward some type of project, job, or ministry that would be able to use their strong points.

David was nearing the end of his life and now saw fit to pass the baton of faith on to his son Solomon. David gave his son a charge (or an appointment/command). David goes back over his vision with his son and the reason he could not build the Temple of God. He tells Solomon that God had ordained him as the builder of the Temple and that God would be a Father to him, and that he, Solomon would be a son to God. David repeats God’s promise to Solomon that his descendants would be on the throne forever.

David, then closes off with the blessing “The Lord be with thee and prosper thee”; and then to make the charge official said “Build thou the House of the Lord as He has said you would do”. David continues his charge by giving Solomon more blessings and instruction with “Follow God and you will be blessed”.

We must be found doing God’s will if we want to be blessed.

As David continued to instruct Solomon, he tells him that he, David, had went out of his way to prepare this for him. The word “trouble” means misery or affliction, so if we were to read that with its meaning in place then it would read like this, “Now, behold, in my affliction (or misery) have I prepared for the House of the Lord”.

Why did David make such a big deal about the misery he was in while gathering and preparing the material? First of all, Do we know what had been going on in David’s life up to this point? Ever since David’s sin with Bathsheba, his kingdom was becoming more and more divided, his family situation was falling apart, and spiritually he was having his ups and downs.

So, taking a look at all that, Does it make a difference knowing what was going on in his life? I think it does!

Christ is the Prince of Peace and Solomon’s name meant peaceful. Both Christ and Solomon initiated a New Spiritual Era! Solomon’s Spiritual era was physically glorious, but Jesus’ Spiritual era is Spiritually glorious.

The name Solomon means peaceful and because his domain had peace from its enemies, he was able to put forth his energy to building Temple. The blood that David had shed hindered him from building the Temple of God. So what about us? Maybe we aren’t shedding physical blood, but what about spiritual or emotional blood. Are we killing off our contemporaries through gossip and slander? What about sarcasm? Sometimes we give ourselves a pass saying that it was just in jest not giving any regard to how they perceived it.

The charge to Solomon consisted of more than just building the Temple. David charged Solomon with living holy before God. It was as though David was telling Solomon “Focus … Focus … Focus”. There is so much out there today to grab our attention from serving the Lord and fulfilling His purposes, but if our eyes are single, if our hearts are stayed on the Lord, if the Holy Spirit is being heeded; then we will be where God wants us and we will always be glorifying God.

Can you set your heart and soul on building God's House today by having a frolic? Is that going to do it? All that action! All that interaction! Colossians 3:2 Says “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Just as married people will lay down their will for the sake of their partner, if we are married to Christ, we will lay down our will for Him. See, if our affection is on something, all else will take second place. I don’t have a problem with people doing things extra spiritual, but if that extra spiritual thing is holding their affection, that is going to be their focus and has become their God. They will talk about a lot as their passion for it consumes them.

Solomon didn’t do so well at that. He made all sorts of agreements with heathen kings and through that gathered to himself many heathen wives who lead his heart astray.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

The Law for the king was given by Moses who foresaw that Israel would be asking for one. If the Law had been followed, Solomon would have had some guards in place to guard his heart, but no, he multiplied silver and gold, got wives in abundance, and tried the best that the carnal man could enjoy.

That took him on a spiritual ride from which he almost didn’t recover. Even as the wisest man who had ever lived he was blinded by prosperity and luxury. It does seem as though he did come through though and gave his heart back to God at the end of his life.

Let Us Run With Patience!

Let Us Run With Patience
Hebrews 12

It is without question that we are in a struggle, and whether you choose to call it a race like the writer of Hebrews did or by some other name, that is up to you. The writer of Hebrews did indeed call it a race, and there is a great analogy that can be used to help us to understand the urgency of getting it right.
It is so easy for us to lose focus, when there is so many things out there to grab our attention, but as the writer of Hebrews points out; “We are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses”.

The opening line for this passage uses the word “Wherefore”, so in order to find out the meaning of this passage we will need to see why it is there. The previous chapter is talking about the men and women of faith and discusses the how and when they were faithful.

Today, we are going to incorporate that discussion into this passage and discuss at least for a bit about their influence on us as Christians.

The idea that we are compassed with this great cloud of witnesses can go one of two ways. We can read from this that the patriarchs and matriarchs of faith are in Heaven witnessing our day to day struggle and cheering us on, or we can look at it from the perspective that they have already witnessed to the faith that we have through their own struggle of life. To today’s discussion the thought that they are watching over us and cheering us on is going to be left as we choose to talk about the pre-existing witness for the faith during their own life.

Lest one should think we are ignoring such an interesting topic, I make this statement: “I do not believe that Hebrews 12:1,2 is talking about such a witness.” This is not to say that they cannot see into this world and see what is going on, but even though that is doubtful, it isn’t what our discussion needs to be about.

Going back into Hebrews 11, we should ask this question in conjunction with today’s study. Who are the witnesses?

We discover that because of their testimony/witness we are encouraged to lay aside the weights, and not only the weights but also the sins that we get tripped up on so easily.

Supposing that you are running in a marathon (26 Mile race) and decide you want to carry some sort of weight with you, something simple like a hand weight. Now in training that is fine to tie weights of any sort to your hands, arms, and legs as a means of building muscle; but as the big day for the race arrives, you take off those weights because even though you have gotten used to running with them they will weigh you down.

The same applies to our spiritual race. We must lay aside the weights or anything that would be a hindrance to our race. This could be different for different people (see Romans 14). We need to pay attention as we run to see if there is something that is hindering us from using our full strength to gain ground.

The weights could be stumbling blocks to us which cause us to sin. If something knowingly is left in place, creating a stumbling block in your path your energy will consistently be used to stand back up to try again. We are created for so much more than just surviving spiritually.

Running with Patience is translated from the word which means running with endurance. Are your spiritual muscles straining as you go along? Are you putting everything you have into the race? Too many Christians are running their race in a halfhearted way, not willing to exert the energy they need to “run well”. These Christian’s will most likely become focused on themselves and their race rather than looking at it like it is God’s race and we are all part of it. In 1 Corinthians 9:26 Paul talks about running aimlessly or fighting as one that beats the air.

In reality our focus should not be on the race we are running, but on the one who created the race. The Marathon was brought about during a time of war when a battle was fought and then won. As was their custom, they would send a runner back to headquarters with a message which at that particular time was about 26 miles away. The messenger was sent with a message that the battle had been won and he ran, without stopping the entire distance and as he approached the commander in chief he shouted we won, and then collapsed and died. His focus was on getting the message of the victory back to their headquarters, thinking not at all for the discomfort it would cause him, rather he expended all of his energy to get that message delivered. How are you running your race?

Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith finished his race well and has gone on before us to sit down in his rightful place as both victor and King. Jesus despised the shame that was his to bear. Are you willing to bear the shame that may be set before you. The name of Christ has been associated with good things in the past, but today, with so many professing christians living in whatsoever many they may choose to fulfill their lusts; many people are looking on at the name christian with disdain. Since the Law of God has been written on the heart of man, the onlookers know that when a christian sins something isn’t right, especially if it appears to be intentional.

What does it mean to follow peace with all men? (see Romans 12:18) Does this mean that in our dealings with others that peace will always win out? If we follow the path of peace, it will be our goal to bring peace to all men. How did Jesus bring peace to the people of His day? Sometimes Jesus confronted their sin and their psuedo-spiritual traditions in order to bring peace to them. It stands to be said that not everyone Jesus was bringing His peace to was willing to lay down the very things that were causing them a lack of peace.

Follow peace and holiness. If we follow peace with all men and we follow holiness; though there could be a potential for the two ideals to be at war with each other; if we have and understanding of both of these two words peace and holiness they will compliment each other. John 14:27 We can look at this passage from a worldly perspective and read peace as the absence of conflict (peace, peace when there is no peace), or we can look at it from God’s Perspective and see peace a a re-instatement of fellowship with God and man. Enter into this equation holiness. How does holiness fit with the kind of peace that God gives? In reality you cannot separate this kind of peace from the holiness of God.

Let’s talk a little bit about the phrase “lest any man fail of the grace of God”. How can a man fail of the grace of God? (see Romans 6:1-8) If we propose to take advantage of the grace of God by choosing to sin, we then in fact have become a rebel against it and have fallen short of it. I will be quick to say that if a person does fall into sin, God’s grace is there; but remember, as we discussed in previous lessons, there comes a point in time when outright rebellion is viewed as past hope because of our having blasphemed the Holy Spirit.

The rest of this section talks about what happens after a person has fallen from grace and allows a root of bitterness to grow. They become defiled, and become a fornicator, or profane person who cares not for his birthright and chooses to walk away from it as well as his sonship. Hebrews 12:17 says that when Esau realized what he had done, he tearfully sought to have it restored, but to no avail.

What does it mean to “Come unto Mount Sion”? Mount Sion was a term used for the Holy Mountain where God tabernacled with His People. As Christians and not just Jews Mount Sion is a spiritual mountain. It is a place that Christians will go to worship God. There was a lot of symbolism under the Old Covenant as we discussed in previous lessons, and this is one of them. As Christians we have been brought to a place where we can sit in heavenly places even though we are still on this earth.

The sacrifice of Jesus is better than the sacrifice of Abel or any animal sacrifice, and Jesus as the mediator has a better message than what Abel carried. We don’t really have Abel’s message recorded, but can assume based on several verses that his message was one that matched the prophets of the Old Testament. The message that Jesus carried would then have been the fulfillment of the message the prophets carried which made His message more powerful and carried more authority.

The writer of Hebrews, yet again issues a warning not to ignore the voice of Jesus. He patiently explains why in various ways indicating that under the Old Covenant if someone ignored the message of Moses, or another of the prophets, they were punished. After showing the superiority of Christ, the writer of Hebrews shows his audience that the message of Jesus carries more authority than any of the previous prophets, thus making disobedience of Him more severe.

Today our culture, and I am not just talking about the worldly culture has come to the place that we do not respect God for who He is. Lest one should think that we are trying to portray God as some distant impersonal God, that is not my point. We believe that God is our Abba Father and cares deeply for us, but that we have lost sight of His Holiness and have created more of a buddy than recognizing Him as a Holy God. Hebrews points out various times that a lackadaisical attitude can cause someone to fall from grace, or straight out unbelief in God’s Promises, and by willful disobedience.

For some reason, today we as Christians look at all sin like an error or mistake; but I propose to you that we abhor all sin whether intentional or otherwise. If a guy has to exert some effort to sin, that is no mistake but intentional. If he has to schedule an appointment to sin, that is intentional. We have found ourselves excusing these types of behavior as mistakes but they aren’t and they as well as we will pay for this. Sin has lost its ugliness.

We need to remember that we have received a kingdom, the kingdom of Heaven, and that as residents, even ambassadors of that kingdom we should be exhibiting the fruits of it. I understand that sometimes our spirit is willing, and our flesh is weak; but that really is no excuse for falling into sin because the power of God is real and if we are walking in the Spirit we will show the Fruits of the Spirit. We again have an appeal to hold fast that we may serve our Lord with the reverence due Him and with Godly fear.

“God is a consuming Fire” and woe unto whom the fire should swallow. If our hearts are in the right place, then we have nothing to fear, but for the vast majority of people, they shall face the wrath of God. Knowing that God is a God of Love is comforting to us, but if we stop there and refuse to recognize the other attributes of God, like God is a God of Judgment, or God is a Holy God, or God is a Righteous God; we are missing a reality that would cause us to lose touch with reality and we would not recognize the severity of the situation.

We may give lip service to God recognizing in word who He is, but our hearts can be far from Him; just like the Pharisees were in Jesus day.

Let Us Hold Fast!

Let us Hold Fast!

Hebrews 10:19-38

The significance of addressing the readers as brethren should indicate the care the writer of Hebrews felt for the people he was writing to. Usually, even in a secular setting, to call someone a brother indicates a particular level of feeling for that individual. Often in secret societies, gangs, and other groups/organizations there is a form of brotherhood present that even though they may have a high regard for each other as “brothers” it is a pseudo-relationship that has recognized the deep necessity of filling a void that can only be filled through a true brotherhood. The constitution of true brotherhood is based on the familial relationship which comes through having the same parents. As sons and daughters of God, we can experience that true brotherhood.

As an example of this pseudo-brotherhood I give this story. During the Civil War (or was it the Uncivil War) The future President William McKinley was visiting the Army hospitals on the field and as a Free-Mason noticed a fellow Free-Mason lying there in the hospital bed. Now this young man had been injured in the battle and though he had been fighting for the south (the opposite side), William McKinley indicated to those in charge of the hospital that they should take extra good care of the young man due to the “brotherhood” they shared in the Masonic Lodge.

If the Free-Masons can understand the concept of brotherhood, then shouldn’t we also who are born of the Holy Spirit also understand what a true brotherhood really is?

The encouragement to enter into the Holiest with boldness through Jesus blood may seem like an obscure reality, and so it would have been for the Jews as they struggled with the thought of entering into the Holy of Holies which was prepared for the presence of the Holiness of God. They understood that even the high priest couldn’t just go in; but once a year having sprinkled blood of a perfect animal over everything and through ceremoniously washing himself, prepared himself for this grand entrance into the presence of the Holiness of God. Now that the veil has been rent, torn top to bottom; there is nothing that can stop the child of God from entering into the presence of God their Father. The thickness of the veil appears to have been at least 4” thick so that along with it being torn from top to bottom indicates no ordinary feat of tearing the veil. The rending most assuredly came from the hand of God as He had prepared the way back into His favor through the death of His perfect Son.

The veil was representative of the flesh through which we are separated from the presence of God. When the body or flesh of Jesus Christ was broken or rent the symbol also was torn giving us access into the Holy of Holies.

The boldness that we may experience as a child of God is not an arrogance (which is a sin) but a humble acceptance that God wants to be your Father.

The story of Ananias and Sapphira are an example of entering into the presence of God with arrogance. The name Ananias means “Whom Jehovah has graciously given”. It seems as though Ananias was living his Christian life in a state of hypocrisy. He appears to have been one who delved into and claimed the mercy and grace of the Lord, notwithstanding that he was missing the characteristic of God that is Holy and Righteous and hates a lying tongue. Proverbs 6:17

In order to understand what is meant by the new and living way we go back to look at the old way. Romans 7:1-25 The Old Testament Law was not meant to bring death, but to bring life. As we continue on in this passage and as we have looked at in past lessons the Old Testament Law had no power to bring life to those who adhered to its principles. Sure, if it was kept perfectly, there was a blessing that fell to those who kept it; but life itself was not issued by the Old Testament Law. As Romans 7 says “when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” The Old Testament Law gives us insight to the Holiness of God and our woefully inadequate righteousness which is as filthy rags before the Holiness of our Lord. The New and Living way is being delivered from the effects of the Old Testament Law which condemn us to death for our unholiness to a New Testament Law that is written on our heart so we may serve the law with our spirit and not just by our deeds. This New way has the power to make you alive in Christ, since His Spirit has quickened or made us alive just as the bones were resurrected in Ezekiel 37.

When an individual draws near, he gets closer to something or someone. This is part of a plea to live godly, and as we go down through the passage we will continue to see the with clarity the necessity of being an intentional Christian. When the verse says draw near with a true heart, we could first look at what a true heart is. A true heart is one without pretense. It is without hypocrisy. A true heart can be trusted for its honesty. A true heart lives in full assurance of faith.

There is no place for the Christian to begin doubting his Salvation. This is not to say that if you do, you are not a Christian. What is being said by this is that when Jesus reaches into your heart and cleanses it from your unrighteousness, “sprinkling his own blood” upon the mercy seat of your heart; He has begun the work of redemption in your soul and to doubt that is to doubt the power of the Lord at work in your life. That is sin, and since that is sin it needs nipped in the bud and doubts need given to Jesus to gain that victory and any future victory. There is a reason why the armor of God includes the Helmet of Salvation.

As the Old Testament priests did their work in the temple sanctuary, they would be sure their first stop would be the laver. They would always wash themselves with this Holy Water before proceeding with any other type of service in the tabernacle or temple. The symbolism of this is they were to purify their bodies physically before they proceeded to sprinkle the blood on their toes, on the walls, and on the mercy seat. As a spiritual type, we too must be cleansed; first of all being drawn by the Holy Spirit and then having our hearts sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Hold Fast! The message is getting more intense as the author here gives plea that invokes a lot of feeling. Hold fast to the profession of our faith. First of all, what is the profession of our faith? What have we professed to believe? The profession of our faith is that Jesus Christ, God incarnate, has come to pay the penalty for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Hold fast onto that belief, that truth without wavering. The word wavering has the meaning of bending or leaning back and forth similar to the setting of the sun. Hold a steady course with your belief! What does it profit if our belief wavers like a man on a tight-rope. He tries to balance himself, but the rope keeps moving around and his foot has to be placed very carefully. He may make it across the rope, but how about securing your belief in something more secure like complete trust in the sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ.

The word provoke has the meaning of stir up, to agitate. Is good works wrong. There is a push to say that heaven is a reward for those who have merely accepted Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for their sin, and that is indeed where it starts. These people believe that works good or bad have no bearing on whether you will actually receive the crown of life that has been promised. The reality is a Salvation experience that is not followed by Good works is dead. If we are to provoke each other to Good Works (stir up if you will) then how do we accomplish that without being impatient with the lack of growth in some of the babes in Christ? The good works we are to exhibit may include things like our kids club, going into prisons, going on the mission field, etc., but the main thing that should never be missed is the fruit of the godly which should then be what gives birth to the aforementioned works. The writer of Hebrews was concerned about the laziness in which the Hebrews were living their lives and was giving them instructions to stir each other up in Christ.

Encouragement is also a part of the Christian’s vocabulary and as we encourage each other in the Lord we will be stirred up to lived Godly.

Apostasy:

The Word of God says: “Buy the truth and sell it not”, and then in another place “You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free”.

What can be expected if we have knowledge of the truth, and have experience the truth in our hearts and then we choose to sin wilfully? It is clear that there is but one sacrifice that is accepted by God for the sins of mankind and if that sacrifice along with the blood of Jesus that was shed for the sin gets trampled underfoot in the process of their rebellion, there is nothing left for them but an end where the wrath of God is felt.

The Better Covenant

The Better Covenant
Hebrews 8

While the Old Covenant was a physical covenant which required physical observances, the New Covenant is spiritual and while the observances have changed somewhat; they are both spiritual and physical. The Old Covenant was a shadow of things to come, or we could say that it is a shadow of a New Covenantal reality. The High Priest that we’ve been studying about is Jesus and we have compared Him to the Old Covenant high priests who were sinners trying to do the work of God.

In today’s lesson we are going to look at our High Priest who has ushered in a New Covenant and then we will compare that with the Old Covenant. We will look at why the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant and discuss why the Old Covenant is obsolete.
First of all, I want to draw your attention to Hebrews 8:11. Listen to what it says. “And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.”

I am going to let that there and we will come back to that later to discuss that, but keep that in mind as we go along through the rest of the lesson.

Meanwhile, back in Hebrews 8:1 the author is asking us for a review. So back to chapter 1 of Hebrews and on.

Up to this point we talked about:
The various ways that God speaks to mankind
The Glory of the Son
We compared Jesus to the Angels and Jesus was better
The various warnings that were given up to this point
Jesus being perfect in suffering
We compared Jesus to Moses as an Apostle and Jesus was better
The various types of rest that God has given to Mankind
The Priesthood of Melchizedec
We compared the Priesthood of Melchizedec to the Aaronic Priesthood and the Priesthood of Melchizedec was better.
We talked about Who Melchizedec is and why Jesus can take on Melchizedec’s Priesthood
The Oath that God swore to Abraham
The swearing of oaths

All these things add up to one thing, we have a high priest setting on the right hand of Our Majestic Lord. Psalm 24

A Better High Priest

We go right from acknowledging the placement of our risen Christ to describing His ministry. The word minister in verse 2 of Chapter 8 is Leitourgos which means public servant. This word actually has deeper meaning than just a public servant though and we want to look at its deeper definition. It gets broken down to public servant in the Temple or Gospel and a worshipper of God and a benefactor of man. This is not necessarily the definition across the board wherever minister is used, but in this verse it is. This word Leitourgos is also where we get our word Liturgy.

Going on to the word sanctuary the Greek word is Hagion (Hag`-ee-on). The definition of Hagion is Holy Place, or Holiest of All or Sacred thing. Based on the definition of this word and by dissecting the word we understand that Sanctuary has been Sanctified by the presence of God.

The next word we want to look at is tabernacle. The word tabernacle in Hebrews 8:2 is Skene (Skeenee) and means tent or cloth hut. Literally it means habitation. With this in mind let’s read Hebrews 8:2 again and see how that sounds. “A minister of the Sanctuary, and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.” So breaking this verse apart using the Greek to give meaning to the words that have been used, we start to see something that would help us to understand this verse.

The context of this is: Our High Priest who is defined by His position at the throne of our Majestic God, is a Public Servant to the extent He draws man’s heart to God; through His serving in the place that has been Sanctified by Himself, making it a Holy Place in the living quarters that was set up by God. So the true Tabernacle is a place designed and pitched (or put into existence) by God. We can draw from this a conclusion that The True Tabernacle of God is not the Tabernacle that Moses and the Israelites built, but one that God built.

1 Corinthians 6:19, 20
Romans 12:1, 2
Jude 24, 25

The Tabernacle is the heart of man that God has bought with a price (His own Blood) and has Sanctified it by a continued renewing of our minds making our hearts holy and unblameable before Him, allowing Him to Dwell (Tabernacle) with us. Just as the Shekinah Glory came and rested on the physical tabernacle that Moses and the Israelites set up, God’s Shekinah Glory can rest on the Tabernacle that He so intricately has set up and purified.

The high priests under the Old Covenant were ordained by God to offer gifts and sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. This High Priest, who sits on the right hand of the throne of Majesty has offered His own sacrifices and gifts to God on behalf of mankind.

Ephesians 5:2

The High Priest here in Hebrews 8 is set at the right hand of Majesty. His work is complete. The high priests would not sit so long as they were in the tabernacle made under the Old Covenant because their work was never finished as long as they were in it. Jesus as our High Priest has finished His work of offerings and gifts to God, thus He is set down.

Exodus 25:40
Revelation 21:22

The Old Covenant was a shadow of heavenly things, and its key distinguishing feature was to bring men to Christ.

A Better Covenant

Jesus has a better ministry than the Levitical priests did due to the fact that He is a Better High Priest and has initiated a New Covenant which produces better promises.

The Old Covenant could deal with man’s faults by pointing them out, but did nothing to correct the faultiness of the heart. It was all about the physical relationship with God, keeping in touch with the sacrifices and methods of worship. They were promised under the Old Covenant that God would bless them physically with wealth, and health if they would keep His ways.

The New Covenant, not only was able to deal with the faults of mankind, but was able to correct the faultiness of the heart of man through a re-creation of the heart. God promises blessings which are not physical, but are spiritual. Consider the Peace, the Joy, the Hope, the Power to Live Above Sin, the Restored Relationship, and the Everlasting Life that God has promised to all who receive His gift of Salvation.

The Old Covenant was not without fault but served the purpose of helping people to understand their need of a Savior. When Jesus, our Savior came, He mediated a New Covenant which offered better promises.

Hebrews 8:8 Gives the promise that God would make a new covenant with Israel; offering them the Better Covenant. He goes on to clarify saying “Not according to the covenant that I had made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not”.

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Zechariah 8:7,8
Isaiah 54:13

This New Covenant is not like the Old Covenant for more than one reason, but I want to draw your minds to something that is noteworthy. The Old Covenant was written on tablets of stone while the New Covenant is written on the Fleshy tables of the heart. Instead of the Law of God being on some piece of stone hidden away in the Ark of the Covenant, the Law of God becomes incorporated into the heart of man, the Ark of the New Covenant and the New Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat is the Throne of God where He reigns over your life under the New Covenant.

Now as we move on to verse 11, What have we set the stage for?
Does this mean that Christian teachers have wasted their time in teaching in the church? Does this mean that the time of discipleship is over? This is not how the Early Church felt, and the Apostles as well as other leaders in the church took time out to teach. One of the gifts that is mentioned is the gift of being a teacher. So then, what does this mean?

First of all, lets look at the New Covenant. If the New Covenant allows for mankind to have the laws of that covenant written on their heart, and allows God to reside in their heart (the Ark of The New Covenant); then it is evident that those who have accepted the terms of this covenant know who God is even if it is a basic knowledge. God’s ways are past finding out so we will never on this side of death understand God completely.

A New Covenant

Psalm 103:1-22
The joys of knowing your sins have been forgiven is something that under the Old Covenant they never could truly experience. Sure, they made sacrifices for atonement for their sins; but it was just a temporary fix for them. Every year they had to make the trek as heads of households and all of Israel if they could to Jerusalem to make yet another atonement for their sins.

Now that the New Covenant has been issued, the Old Covenant is gone. This does not mean that it is of no value, but that it has no hold over us. Hebrew 8:13 describes it as decaying preparing to vanish away. What then is the point of including the Old Covenant in our Biblical Canon? As we strive to learn more about God and the plan that He has set up for mankind the text of the Old Covenantal agreement has value in helping us to understand some key points about God. It is of great value to see how God has worked with mankind in the past.

For what it is worth, I want to just give you something to think about. There is a group of professing Christians, who believe that God wants them to re-instate the Old Covenant ways of worship and living including returning to animal sacrifices. Every once in a while this doctrine pops up and I just wanted to make you aware of it. What then does it mean if you return to the Old Covenant ways of doing things? It means you have rejected Jesus Christ your Savior and the New Covenant.

Psalm 101:1-6

Did Jesus Have Wife?

An "archaeological" fragment suggests that Jesus had a wife.  If Jesus would have had a wife, I am sure there would be more documents saying so.  Jesus did not come to the earth to marry when He was here the first time, but He came to DIE to save men and women from their sins.  When he comes back to earth the second time, He will be coming for His bride.
    We know that He has a bride also known as the Church who will be a pure, unspotted virgin; unmarred by this sin cursed earth.  Since no one can attain to this level of purity of themselves we must rely completely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ to be implanted upon our hearts through accepting His sacrifice on our behalf.   Those who are too busy, even though they are religious will be cast out, kicked out, or unfriended as they considered themselves and their agenda self important.  Don't let this be you.