Posts that reference the book of Hebrews

The Power of His Words

I’m a writer, so I appreciate the power of words to move us emotionally, to encourage and uplift us, to convict and admonish us. Words can paint a picture in our minds. They can make us empathize with a range of experiences. Words can move us to action or stop us in our tracks. That power is just a shadow of the power in the words of our Creator. Everything we see and know exists because God spoke. Our redemption was made possible through His word. That power, the power of His words, sets Him apart from everything and everyone else.

“For the word of God is living and powerful …” Hebrews 4:12

God’s words create
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. Psalm 33:6

God’s words guide
Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21

God’s word accomplish
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

God’s words revive
Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’” Ezekiel 37:4

God’s words cleanse
You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. John 15:3

God’s words sanctify
For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:5

That’s just a start. But as I consider the words of God, I can’t help but go back to the early ones, “Let us make man in our image.”
If I am made in His image, shouldn’t it follow that my words model His?
My words can’t create out of nothing, but shouldn’t they be used to for His glory?
My words can’t sanctify someone else exactly, but shouldn’t they set me apart as His?
Shouldn’t my words revive and encourage?
Shouldn’t my words be effective and not empty?

Ultimately, shouldn’t my words point others to the power in His words?

The Spirit Helps in Our Understanding

By Paula Wiseman

The Spirit Helps our understanding title graphic

The Holy Spirit plays an active role in the lives of believers from salvation to glorification. Sometimes, it’s not always evident or clear what that role is. Over the next few weeks we’ll take a closer look at what He does, how He helps us and why Jesus said it was to our advantage that He go away and the Holy Spirit comes (John 15:7). This week we’ll look at how the Holy Spirit helps in our understanding.

If you know anything at all about God and His word, it’s because the Spirit helped you understand it. It’s that simple. Paul explains:

Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. … But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:12, 14).

God wants us to know as much as we can about this great salvation Christ has made possible (and we learned last week that the Spirit helps accomplish). Paul’s words also help us see why things that are obvious to us just don’t click with unbelievers. They don’t have the Spirit.

How does the Spirit accomplish this? Let’s look at some specific ways mentioned in Scripture.

The Spirit teaches and reminds us.

In the Upper Room, Jesus explained to His disciples, But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you (John 14:26).

Jesus knew He was dropping a ton of new information of incredible theological significance on His guys, and He knew the trauma of His death would devastate them– and make it hard to remember any of the good stuff. His words in John 14:26 were intended to reassure them that they didn’t have to get it all that night. The Holy Spirit would help them recall not just the Upper Room revelations, but all of Jesus’s words. Not only that, He expands on what Jesus told them. You see this in the New Testament letters as Paul and Peter and John and others fill out and apply Jesus’s teachings.

The Spirit searches and reveals to us.

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).

God is infinite and cannot be known by finite beings such as ourselves unless He chooses to reveal Himself. The Spirit does that for us. He determines what we need to know, what we can handle, and then He makes that clear to us.

Now in our postmodern and post-postmodern thinking, meaning is assigned by the individual. In other words, I cannot know what a painter or an author meant in his work. Therefore, I ascribe whatever meaning I find which aligns with my experience and my truth. That’s not how God or His truth works. We need the Holy Spirit to help us understand, or else we’ll come up with some very wrong ideas about God.

The Spirit inspires and interprets Scripture for us.

Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).

God’s word is not like any other collected writings. The very words were superintended by the Holy Spirit, so God’s thoughts, His promises, His commands were properly communicated to us. Then God goes one step further and ensures the Holy Spirit interprets those words for us as well.

In fact, Hebrews 3:7-16 gives an example of how that works. The writer takes some Old Testament verses from Psalm 95, rightly attributes the authorship to the Holy Spirit and then interprets and applies them for the readers. The Holy Spirit repeats that process for us when we read Scripture. Sometimes that happens instantaneously. Sometimes it takes more prayer, study, and patience. But it’s always the Spirit’s work.

Now you know what you know is all because of the Holy Spirit helps our understanding!

Next week we’ll see how the Spirit helps our walk.

A Migraine Lesson

By Paula

One Saturday evening my son had a migraine. He was only fourteen, but this was not his first one, not by long shot. Genetics are against him because his dad and I both get them, and so does my mother. He’s a tough kid, though. He’d gone to band during a migraine. (Imagine sitting in the middle of the trumpet section with a blinding headache. No thanks.) He’d wrestled through one. Literally. So I had no doubts about his ability to endure. This migraine was different though. About a half hour in, his fingers began to tingle. Then his hand went numb. Then his arm and his face. He got concerned.

I’ve been there. I nodded and told him to go to bed. Then he started having trouble with words, with sentences, with forming coherent thoughts. He flipped out. His dad and I did our best to reassure him that this was all part of the migraine. We’d both been through those same symptoms. Trust us, just go lie down for a couple of hours. He did. For about ten minutes. Then he was up again. What if it’s something bad? What if it doesn’t get better? What if? What if? What if?

We did our best to reassure him. “Yes, it’s scary with these symptoms, but it’s a migraine. This is part of it. You just have to wait it out. Go to bed. It will all subside.” Two hours later, he woke up hungry.

Here’s what I learned.

I’ve been in the same situation he has, not just with migraines. I’ve been in pain. I’ve been numb. I’ve had things hit me out of the blue that left me confused and concerned. My sleep’s been stolen. I’ve cycled through countless what-ifs.

I suspect you have, too.

And in those times, every single time without fail, usually before I was ready to listen, Jesus has whispered, “I know. This is part of it. Trust Me. You just have to go through this. It will be okay.”

Jesus can give those reassurances not just because He’s God. He is the God-man. He knows what it is to hurt, to face difficult times. He endured the whispers and then the vicious slurs of being the son of an unwed mother. He experienced having His motives and His sanity questioned by those closest to Him. He poured His time and energy and love into His group of disciples only to have one of them betray Him and the rest abandon Him. He was misunderstood, frustrated, challenged, lied to, lied about. He felt the range of human emotions.

But I also believe He had His Father reassuring Him, “I know. This is part of it. Trust Me. You just have to go through this. It will be okay.”

Jesus is our perfect advocate and our perfect counselor. He knows. Trust Him. It will be okay.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

Jesus Is Our High Priest

By Paula Wiseman

We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man. Hebrews 8:1-2

What was the high priest’s job?
It boiled down to two things.
Intercession and atonement.
Acting as the mediator between sinful man and the holy God.
Ensuring that the sins of the people were covered.

Jesus took care of our sins once for all.
So He doesn’t have to handle sacrifices.
But He mediates, or ministers, everything else we bring to God.

Our thanksgiving.
Our repentance.
Our needs.
Our worship.
Our consecration.
Our praise.
Our requests.
Our dedication.

We cannot approach God except through Christ.
Christ our High Priest.

Intercession: When Trouble Comes

By Paula Wiseman

Intercession is going to God on someone’s behalf. It a holy privilege and duty, not to be taken lightly. It is strenuous and it can be messy. But it is one of the greatest ways we can minister and show love to others. We have learned from Nehemiah and his BURDEN for others, and from Daniel and his IDENTIFICATION with those for whom he was interceding. Most recently, we learned from Elijah how to pray for those who are sick. Today we’ll learn from King Hezekiah how to pray for ourselves and others when trouble comes.

Hezekiah was the king of Judah, the southern kingdom. In 701 BC, the mighty Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem ready to lay siege to the capital city and complete its conquest of the nation. Twenty years earlier, Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel so the threat was very real to everyone. Hezekiah had emptied the treasury and stripped the gold from the doors of the Temple to get a tribute of eleven tons of silver and a ton of gold. This did not satisfy the Assyrian king. His general delivered a letter to Hezekiah, threatening him and mocking the God he served.

In 2 Kings 19, Hezekiah took the letter to the Temple and laid to before the Lord and he prayed.

Hezekiah approached God on the basis of His covenant relationship with Israel, and His place above all as creator.

15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: Lord God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

How do we approach God? We have a unique position and relationship with Him because of the blood of Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 4:16). But coming boldly is not the same thing as coming with flippancy, demands or a sense of entitlement.

Hezekiah next draws attention to the Assyrians’ sacrilegious mocking of God.

16 Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

Notice this. God’s glory and God’s reputation are Hezekiah’s primary concerns. He does not mention the cities that have already been overrun by the Assyrians. He does not mention whether the city of Jerusalem has enough provisions for the coming siege. He does not mention the size of his army versus the size of the Assyrian army. Even when trouble came, Hezekiah understood that when God is revered as God the other things fall into place.

Finally, Hezekiah requests deliverance so that God gets the glory.

19 Now, Lord our God, please save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God — you alone.

Hezekiah could have prayed, Save us so that Your people whom You love don’t suffer. Or perhaps, Save us so the city You have chosen isn’t destroyed. But he didn’t. He prayed for God to be recognized as God alone.

None of this is to say that if you pray using these words, God will automatically answer like it is some incantation. That is NOT how God works. Rather it is an invitation to consider how our hard times can be situations where God gets glory. We, that is I, usually seek the restoration of my own equilibrium, I seek relief from hardship. I complain and launch into how God doesn’t love me because He fell asleep at the wheel and let these terrible things happen. It’s not fair. I have been a faithful servant. And on and on.

What Hezekiah models in his prayer is that we need to take a step back and see a bigger picture. He keeps God’s character and His greater purposes in focus. He knows what the Assyrians are capable of. He is afraid– any sane person would be, but because he knows God’s power and God’s character, when trouble comes Hezekiah prays that this trouble would be an opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed.

That is a prayer of great faith.

Intercession: Identification

By Paula Wiseman

Intercession is intervening. More specifically it is going to God on someone’s behalf. In the Old Testament, the priests did this. As New Testament believers, we are priests (1 Peter 2:9, Rev 5:10). We have access to God through Jesus Christ, but rather than enter the Holy Place in the tabernacle or Temple, we enter God’s presence through prayer. It a holy privilege and duty, not to be taken lightly. But it is no less strenuous and sometimes no less messy. Last week we looked at Nehemiah and his BURDEN for others. This week, let’s learn from Daniel and his IDENTIFICATION with those for whom he was interceding.

We know Daniel was a man of prayer. Habitual, heartfelt, prayer. Several are recorded in Scripture, but we are going to focus on his great prayer is in Daniel 9:4-19.

I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. Daniel 9:4-5 (ESV)

Look at what Daniel confessed. WE have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled and turned aside. Daniel had not done any of those things. I mean, he wasn’t perfect, but his life was exemplary. Was it false modesty? Was it delusion? Was it an overly active guilty conscience? No. None of those. He was identifying himself with his people who needed God’s forgiveness and help.

It takes humility and compassion to identify with those who have sinned and stand in need of prayer.

In the days of the Old Testament sacrifices, the one bringing the offering would first put his hands on the animal’s head in a symbolic gesture. It was a way of proclaiming, “The death of the animal is the death I should have received because of my sin.” That’s the humility part.

But it also takes a deep sense of compassion for those in sin, and sense of responsibility for their well-being. Daniel had just finished reading Jeremiah and he understood that the exile was the outworking of God’s judgment. Now the people would continue to suffer unless God showed them mercy. Because Daniel loved his people and identified with them, he interceded for God to act quickly to forgive them and restore them (vv. 16-19)

Identifying with sinners is Christlike.

Jesus Christ identified with us. Philippians 2:8 explains how He humbled Himself and became a man. Hebrews 2:9-10 shows us that His being made a little lower than the angels allowed Him to go through the death sentence for every person.

Identifying with sinners is not sinning with them.

It is intervening on their behalf before the Father. Again, Jesus did not sin. Ever. Daniel did not commit the sins that caused the captivity of Judah. But their love for others, their heartbreak at the suffering caused them to act. In an oversimplified analogy, think of it like a prince who has access to his father the king. The prince knows a group of people in his kingdom who are suffering because they rebelled against the king. But the prince goes and asks for the king to be merciful. While the king might not hear the rebels, he might be moved by the pleas of his son.

The people may never know you are interceding for them.

It is unlikely the people in Judah knew how Daniel prayed for them. We don’t know all the ways Jesus intercedes for us even today. That shouldn’t stop us. In humility, we don’t pray to win points with God or with those we pray for. We do it because we love people, we want God to bless them and we know that God cannot bless them in their rebellion against Him?

So, what situations cause your heart to break because you know God is not pleased? What injustices need to be made right for us to live as God’s people? These things, the things that move you are invitations to intercession. Take those opportunities, identify with those people, and meet God in humility and with compassion just like Daniel.