“Winds in the east, mist coming in. Like somethin’ is brewin’ and about to begin. Can’t put my finger on what lies in store, but I fear what’s to happen all happened before.”
If this tune sounds familiar, but you can’t quite place it, take a stroll down Cherry Tree Lane in London and stop at house number 17. There you’ll find the Banks family and one Mary Poppins. These lyrics continue to play in my head as I dive deeper in Hebrews. It’s mostly because of the line about something brewing. Something is most certainly brewing in me as I recently took stock of that dive into Hebrews and realized I needed to start over because 1) I wasn’t doing a thorough job and 2) was given new information about how to more appropriately approach it. Even a year ago, abruptly starting over would’ve looked a lot like tucking tail and quitting. It would’ve been a stumbling block for me, one I would’ve used as a good excuse to avoid the word altogether for a while, again.
That was the vicious cycle that played out for me all last year. I would be determined to get into the word and do so consistently and would even be successful at it for a while until I got tripped up. Or even worse, if I didn’t come away with mind blowing, divine revelation each time I sat at the feet of Jesus, I would allow myself to feel like I did something wrong or that God didn’t have anything to say to me. That also made it easy to give up time and time again. It’s almost laughable now to think about that time in my life, but it wasn’t very long ago and to think I won’t be tempted to fall back into it again is a great way to falsely live on Cherry Tree Lane, a place devoid hard truths simply because it’s not reality.
If you’re looking at the world through the eyes of Jesus, you’re sure to find the little Easter eggs of promises, truth and divine revelation that God leaves for you. If you’re not, you might still see the egg but you won’t get to open it and discover the treat inside. The word that was preached with all authority on Sunday is a great example of this. Michael Farris taught out of Mark 6 and hit on how important resting with the Lord is for bearing fruit but also for simply walking in obedience with the Father. I was instantly reminded of all the Lord had been teaching me in Hebrews and the pillars of faith He built in me last year that ultimately led me to that book. However, the next day I was in Hebrews 3 simply because it was where I last left off. For probably the first time in my life, I wasn’t shocked when it started diving into rest.
The first time I tried to dig through Hebrews 3, I simply concluded that the Israelites are a prime example of what not to do. It’s a fair assessment, but it misses a lot of other important, very pointed, and intentional directives from God. The Israelites were delivered from Egypt and given the Promised Land, but their unbelief lead to their downfall and that generation never entered the place God had given to them. Even more than that, Israel never got the chance to rest with God. He didn’t allow them to because of their rebellion. The Israelites never felt the freedom that comes from resting with the Lord. I would say that was almost a gift to them because if they knew that freedom, knew what they were missing out on because of their actions, they would’ve been in a lot more misery than they already were. This is a picture of why we have to pay close attention to the Lord, so we don’t drift away and make the same mistake as Israel. Everything rises and falls on abiding.
“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.” Hebrews 4:1-2 ESV
Failing to enter God’s rest is much more significant than we make it out to be. God prevented an entire nation, millions of His chosen people, from it because they rebelled against him. That warning alone should make resting with the Lord our top priority in life. And yet, we all still wander like Israel. We can’t help it; our sinful nature sets us up for failure over and over again. It’s this type of situation where it’s easy to feel helpless, but the promise from God is that you should never feel hopeless.
“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:20-21 ESV
As we begin Easter weekend, the blood of Jesus is heavy on my heart. More than it’s ever been before. You see, back in Leviticus, it would be impossible to number all the animals sacrificed for God’s people for peace, food and their transgressions. In one mature bull alone, six gallons of blood flows freely through its veins. When a mature bull, without blemish of course, was sacrificed, the high priest would splatter that blood on the alter. Can you imagine putting six gallons of thick, warm blood on an alter? I doubt they had those five-gallon Atwood’s buckets to help them out with that. It was difficult, it was downright gross, it was never ending, but at the time, it was all they had to atone for sin. The metaphorical weight of Jesus’ blood is that six gallons of bull’s blood raised to the nth degree. The numerical value on earth doesn’t exist.
When blood leaves a body, it’s a symbol that’s supposed to remind us of the fall of man in Adam and Eve. However, it’s also a symbol of life, it’s part of the purification process. In the Old Testament, God chose and called the Israelites. He made a royal priesthood among them so He could draw closer to them. The unsustainable structure for that closeness eventually broke down and God found another way to purify us so we would “deserve” to be close to Him. That is in the blood of Jesus.
“Resurrection demonstrates that Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins was accepted by God.” (Christians.com on Hebrews 4)
No ram or lamb ever came back to life after they were sacrificed for sins. How wild is that idea? My jury is still out about the Biblical truth on that one, but it’s something interesting to ponder as we all dive into the Easter story this weekend. If you’ve been around Christianity for any length of time, then you’ve probably heard the term washed by the blood. It always seemed like a ridiculous oxymoron to me but now it finally makes sense. I’ll leave you with this: Jesus being raised from the dead runs parallel with baptism: from death to life, washed clean by the blood.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3+4 ESV
“In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:11-14 ESV
Something is brewing indeed.
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