May the mumbling commence!
Jesus, all eyes are on you. Only in Christ is there hope for mercy and
salvation. May we grow weary of contempt
and arrogance and pride. May we purge
them from our own attitudes of the heart – not just see them in others. Read Psalm One-hundred Twenty-three.
I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven.
We look to the Lord
our God for his mercy,
just as servants keep their eyes on their
master,
as a slave girl watches her mistress for
the slightest signal.
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,
for we have had our fill of contempt.
We have had our fill of the scoffing of the proud
and the contempt of the arrogant.
Keep us on high alert, O Lord, for your slightest
signal. Purge us. Make us clean. Have mercy on us.
We give you thanks, O God, for the once in a lifetime
sacrifice of the greatest High Priest of all – Christ Jesus. Read from Hebrews chapter nine.
Now when someone dies and leaves a will, no one gets anything until it is proved that the person who
wrote the will is dead. The will
goes into effect only after the death of the person who wrote it. While the
person is still alive, no one can use the will to get any of the things
promised to them.
That is why blood was required under the first covenant as a proof of death. For after Moses
had given the people all of God's laws, he took the blood of calves and goats,
along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God's laws and all the people,
using branches of hyssop bushes and scarlet wool. Then he said, "This blood confirms the
covenant God has made with you." And
in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the sacred tent and on everything used
for worship. In fact, we can say that
according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified by sprinkling
with blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness
of sins.
That is why the earthly tent and everything in it – which
were copies of things in heaven – had to be purified by
the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far
better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
For Christ has entered into heaven itself
to appear now before God as our Advocate. He did not go into the earthly place
of worship, for that was merely a copy of the real Temple in heaven. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself
again and again, like the earthly high priest who enters the Most Holy Place
year after year to offer the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, he would have had
to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all time, at the
end of the age, to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial death for
us. (Verses 16-26)
After Christ’s sacrifice, there is no need to rinse with
blood and repeat. Christ’s sacrifice was
once for all time – including the previous time, the time of Christ on earth in
human form, and all time yet to come.
Wow!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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