SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 08-12-03
My
Worship Time Focus:
The Eternal Covenant
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Hebrews 13:20
Message
of the verse: “20 Now the God of
peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the
blood of the eternal
covenant, even Jesus our Lord,” (NASB) “20 Now may the God of peace (who
brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant)” (NKJV)
It is kind
of hard to do write on verse twenty and not include twenty-one, but that is the
way I will try and do it this morning.
This verse is near the end of this wonderful letter, and is part of the
salutation. The writer ties in some of
the things that he has been writing about with verses twenty, and
twenty-one. He starts out by calling God
the God of peace. He then goes into a
reason why we can have peace with God by speaking of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead who is our Great Shepherd through the blood of the
everlasting covenant. The writer has
talked about the old covenant and the new covenant, and the new covenant is the
everlasting covenant because there will be no need for another one. The writer has written on the blood of Jesus
Christ, which is the blood of the everlasting covenant in this letter on
different occasions. He said at one
point in the letter that there is no remission of sin without blood, and the
blood of Jesus Christ shed on our behalf is the only blood that has satisfied
the wrath of God. I think the word for
that is propitiation. “1 John 2:2 and He
Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for
those of the whole world. 1 John 4:10 In
this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins.” These
two verses give insight into this word.
The word in the OT is translated as the mercy seat, for it was on the
mercy seat that the blood of the sacrifice was placed on the Day of Atonement,
and God looked down and had mercy on Israel because of the blood.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: This
verse is a good reminder for me of the Lord’s Supper, and the meaning of the
blood of Jesus Christ which is represented their by the grape juice, and is a
reminder of the suffering that Jesus Christ went through for my sins. God has made the blood as what keeps us alive
and when we loose too much blood we will die, and so this is why the blood is
so important.
The Word of God was convicting to me, and it was also
refreshing to my heart as I pondered on it’s meaning this morning.
My
Steps of Faith Today: I
need the Lord’s help in overcoming some bad habits that have bothered me for a
while. I need His help to overcome them
for His glory, and for my good.
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