Daily Meditations

Hebrews 10:11 Standing to perform This verse goes on to expand on what we have already been told. Notice that our attention is deliberately drawn to the fact that the ancient Jewish priests always stood as they performed their duties. The act of sitting down symbolised the fact that a task had been completed, the job had been done, it need not be repeated. As we shall see, this is the case with Yeshua! However, for the priesthood, the same old routines had to be performed day after day, there was never an end to it, it was generally understood that these relentless religious duties could not be terminated until Messiah came. And come He did and the Temple was destroyed and the pointless sacrificial system was ended.  How tragic that some Jews today still long and plan for the revival of the sacrifices, the priesthood and the Temple, for those who think this way show that they still do not accept the status and purpose of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice! Even though He is one of them...

Hebrews 10:10 Made Holy - once for all! There are two phrases in this verse that have mind-blowing consequences for all who believe.    Firstly, “ we have been made holy.”   Secondly, Jesus was sacrificed,   “Once for all.”     Both of these outcomes were impossible under the old sacrificial rituals of the Law but now, through the body of Christ and His willing submission to the Father’s will, our salvation has been made possible. Let’s just think about the implications for a minute. We all know, that when we take a good, hard look at ourselves we are anything but holy because we define it as being pure and righteous and God-like. However, the word correctly means that we are set apart, we now belong to God. God Himself is holy, He is separate from Creation, His holiness does, of course, mean that He is absolutely pure, and is not stained by any evil whatsoever. What Christ has done for us, through His sacrifice, is to fully wash away our sins, to carry the...

Hebrews 10:9 "Here I am, I have come to do Your will." As the heavenly review of mankind’s miserable, fallen state became clear so the ineffectiveness of the animal sacrifices was put into perspective. They could never solve the problem of sin; they could offer temporary absolution but only for unintentional sins. They could not save men from death or offer eternal salvation and hope. The entire system was riddled with inadequacies but put in place by God to show the world that we can do nothing to save ourselves. Therefore, Jesus Christ steps up to the plate and says to His Father, “This arrangement is not working, as we know, it is time to set aside the sacrificial system once and for all.  “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.”  In other words, “Let’s put a stop to this endless procession of pointless rituals, it has served its purpose. Now is the time, the time for me to fulfil the task that we always knew must come to pass. It will cause us both incredible pain and an...

Hebrews 10:8 Animal sacrifices were never enough. Psalm 40 is still being quoted at us, before Yeshua offered Himself to God as was written in the scroll, He announced that He was fully aware that  “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.” Jesus knew the heart and mind of God His Father, He had observed the endless rituals that took place daily in the Tabernacle / Temple and He knew that this was not the Father’s greatest desire. It may be that the growing frustration in His Father’s heart was the catalyst for Jesus to offer Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for men. God had anguished over the state of His world, the increasing attempts by His enemy to destroy and manipulate mankind. God saw the centuries of arrogance and blatant sin and that even His chosen people, Israel, had failed to carry out His will. The Law was good; the offerings were often well-meant and given in good faith, but they could never fully breach the chasm between God and men. Maybe the long years of pointl...

Hebrews 10:7 "Here I am!" Notice that these verses are a direct quote from Psalm 40 and are attributed to Jesus Christ Himself, as if it were He who wrote the Psalm! It was in fact, King David who wrote Psalm 40 but the beauty of God’s Word is that it is timeless, David could never have understood the full implications of his writings, but as the Holy Spirit guided His pen, so a detailed and unbreakable link was being made with Yeshua and events that would take place 1,000 years later!  One of the inarguable facts of history is that Jesus was born a Jew. His family tree was Jewish, on both parents’ sides. His coming was promised in the Torah, prophesied by the seers, anticipated by the priesthood and lauded in the Psalms. All the history of ancient Israel was a preparation for His coming. The Scriptures, given to men, set the scene and described the events, the entire nation of Israel was on tenterhooks for centuries as the people awaited their Messiah. Jesus had to be born a...

Hebrews 10:6 "Here I am, I have come to do Your will, my God." It is painful to be made aware that all those centuries of burnt offerings and sin offerings that were resolutely presented to the Lord had little effect. They did not completely cleanse those who made the offerings and neither did they bring pleasure to the God who reigns over His people in heaven. This must have been devastating news for young Jewish believers who were effectively being told that the religious devotion of their ancestors had been completely meaningless! All those animals, all the effort and time, the decorative trappings of the Tabernacle and Temple, the fastidious attempts by the priesthood to honour the Law’s demands, it all had little value or purpose. So why did they do it? Was it not the Lord God who initiated all of this and chose the nation who would be responsible for these endeavours? What was the point? The point was to show the world the weaknesses and sinfulness of the human race, th...