Had we kept reading Hebrews 9 for just a bit longer, we would have been reminded that "the law requires

Hebrews 2:14–18 (ESV) 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same

Hebrews 11:1–3 (NIV) 11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not and all other creatures from nothing…” We find this theological truth expressed at the beginning of Hebrews

The author of Hebrews tells us who that person is: Jesus. Jesus is no mere creature.

Summary As we noticed yesterday, we've been turning to the book of Hebrews often the last few weeks, of grace Jesus made possible ought to shape our lives as we look forward to His return, the book of Hebrews

Summary We've often ended up here in the book of Hebrews this year as we've been reminding ourselves One of the key themes of this book, and the reason it has the name Hebrews, is that it shows how Jesus

But passages like Hebrews 9 help connect the dots and demonstrate that all of the bloody rituals and Dig Deeper Once a year, the Hebrew high priest would enter into God's presence and sprinkle the blood

Right now, at this very moment, Jesus is in heaven pleading your cause before God! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 49 Q. How does Christ’s ascension to heaven benefit us? A. First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven— a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven. Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit’s power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Summary We've looked at this important concept of covenant often this year. A covenant is a solemn agreement between two parties based on a contingency; in other words, a covenant is a promise from one person to do this if the other person will do that. This covenantal obligation formed the basis for God's relationship with Adam, as well as His relationship with the Israelites in which He promised to be their God if they obeyed Him and lived as His people. But neither Adam nor the Israelites held up their end of the deal. That's why the gospel of Jesus Christ is such good news. Through Christ, we are put back into a covenantal relationship with God, but this time it's no longer contingent. In v22 we read that "Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant." Those whose faith is rooted in Christ have fully met the righteous contingency required to live in peace with our God and Father! Because of Christ's finished work, He is able to save completely those who come to God. The key to not only gaining this salvation, but keeping this salvation is to come to God through Jesus by completely trusting not just in His righteousness on your behalf, but also trusting in Him as He "lives to intercede for" you. Dig Deeper Imagine if passages like this one were not in the Bible; if all you had was the initial gift of righteousness from Jesus, but then He said something to the effect of, "Ok, I've paid the debt of your sins and made you right with God. If you just keep this righteousness I've given to you, my Father will be obligated to accept you on my behalf." That wouldn't be good news at all, since we've all demonstrated over and over our inability to keep God's righteous requirements on our own! So what a tremendous promise it is that Jesus "lives to intercede" for you. This means that every moment of every day, your risen Savior is at the right hand of God asking Him to give you what you need. But it's more than just 'stuff' that Jesus is asking God to provide for you. Yes, you need stuff, and yes, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are advocating that the Father gives you the stuff you need. But the catechism puts it well in describing Jesus as pleading your cause in heaven in the presence of His Father. Jesus continually asks God to always look at you through the lens of the covenant that Jesus guaranteed! Since you through faith are included in Christ, Jesus continually reminds God the Father of His obligation to extend His covenant blessings to you! And that's an obligation our Father is more than happy to meet! AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God Almighty, who always remains faithful to those He's covenanted with; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank Jesus for always interceding for you, and ask for the peace and contentment that comes from Jesus guaranteeing covenant blessings on your behalf. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Matthew 21

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 103 Q.

God wields His double-edged sword with surgical precision. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 84 Q. How does preaching the gospel open and close the kingdom of heaven? A. According to the command of Christ: The kingdom of heaven is opened by proclaiming and publicly declaring to all believers, each and every one, that, as often as they accept the gospel promise in true faith, God, because of what Christ has done, truly forgives all their sins. The kingdom of heaven is closed, however, by proclaiming and publicly declaring to unbelievers and hypocrites that, as long as they do not repent, the anger of God and eternal condemnation rest on them. God’s judgment, both in this life and in the life to come, is based on this gospel testimony. Summary Words don't get the credit they deserve in our hyper-pragmatic society. Most people prefer hands on instruction rather than a long manual full of words or a movie or video rather than an expansive novel. But our ability to form and utilize words is one of the key features that set us as human beings apart from the rest of God's created order, and it's precisely because we're created in His image that we have this unique ability. God's first recorded action was Him speaking words of creation into the nothingness. The Israelites met God as they cowered under His words of commandment that boomed down from the mountain, and their descendents would go on to harass, persecute, and generally ignore the word God sent via His prophets calling His wayward children back. John introduces our Savior as the Logos, which is often translated as word, but which refers to much more than just basic vocabulary (Logos also forms the basis for logic, and serves as the foundation for knowledge - biology, geology, theology, etc.). God's Word is so much more than ancient stories, prophecies and testimonies printed on dusty old pages. His Word is alive and active, able to penetrate the heart of man like nothing else. Furthermore, Isaiah adds that God's Word never fails; it always achieves the purpose for which He sent it. Dig Deeper But it sorta seems like God's Word has failed. Churches - even (maybe even especially) churches that have faithfully proclaimed God's Word - are emptier now than they've been in decades. Has our society finally achieved Adam's goal of separating ourselves so far from God that we're out of reach of the powerful sword His Word represents? Absolutely not. God's Word always achieves God's purposes. Praise God that through the proclamation of His Word you have come to clearly understand His grace. But it also clearly communicates God's anger and eternal condemnation for those who do not repent of sin. Unbelievers have heard and understood this Word, but they have failed to respond to it. Praise God that His Word goes out from your church, and know that whether your pews are full of those who've gladly accepted the gospel message, or empty because so many heard it and rejected it, that God is achieving His purposes through the preached Word. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father faithfully sends us His Word, just as He sends us rain from heaven; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God, by means of His double edged sword, will continue to penetrate the sin that always seeks to envelope your heart; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 2