March 29, 2009
Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
Three words from this verse came before me. “Perfected for ever”. Of course, this verse is speaking of what Jesus did. Whatever man touches, he seems to defile. We find that, whatever the Lord touches, He not only perfects but he also makes eternal. What are the results of this fact? Chapter 9:12. He obtained ”eternal redemption” for us. The work that He did in v13. — “through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” — lets us receive, in v15., the “promise of eternal inheritance”. How suiting it is that we should be here in the spirit of worship and adoration for the One Who came to establish this perfection for ever. He has made us as eternal as God Himself. We must remember what our Saviour did for us; well has God exalted Him and put Him at His right hand. Soon Christ will come to take His throne, and we, as believers, will be co-heirs together with Him: so is our blessed portion. May we ever give Him glory and praise.
Hymn 363 – Long ago a flood was coming
Prayer
Last time, we talked about the door of the ark; we saw how it has two sides: an inside and outside. It was obviously safer to be on the inside.
Today, we’ll start in at ch. 7: 1. God invited Noah to come into the ark; that means that God was already there. This is similar to the Lord’s invitation to “Come unto me.”
Read vv. 2 – 4. We know that 40 is a complete time of testing; it would rain for 40 days and 40 nights. But God said He would wait 7 days after Noah, his family, and the animals got in before beginning the rain; why? It probably took Noah around 100 years to build the ark; the Bible doesn’t tell us, but he was probably preaching to his neighbours all that time. We know that no one joined him and his family in the ark; many probably ridiculed him for his project. But anyone who wanted to could have come in. God gave them 7 days of grace before he finally brought judgement.
Read vv. 5 – 9. Noah obeyed the Lord and boarded the ark with his family. The animals followed on. After the seven days, v. 16, God shut the door of the ark. Read vv. 11 & 12. The water was coming at the ark from both directions: It was bubbling up from the ground and coming down as rain … and all for 40 days. This can remind us of when the Lord was on the cross. From below, man mocked Him, scourged Him, and nailed Him on a tree. But that was hardly comparable to the judgement He took from God for our sins. Surely we can thank Him for bearing that for us.
Notice in v. 18, we have a list of the priests’ sons; then in v. 23, we read about the sons of the Levites, and in v. 24, the singers. These were all people who were responsible for the service of the temple: they should have known better. Between Zerubbabel’s return and Ezra’s return, there are about 50 – 60 years. In just a few generations, they had fallen into this sin. But realise that the people Ezra’s group joined were not just Jews; they were the ones who had the heart to take advantage of the king’s offer to return to Israel. They were the ones who had wanted to get right. They had come, set up the altar and begun the temple. They stopped for a while because of opposition, but then they finished the temple under the encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zachariah. And now this is what Ezra finds when he returns. They should have known better; the truths should have been passed on.
Because of their sin, the Jews had to do a hard thing: put away their heathen wives and children. This would have had severe emotional implications for both the Jews and their Gentile families; of course, this was under the law. In the day of grace, when one member of a couple is a Christian, the Lord sanctifies the spouse and the children. However, there is a a spiritual aspect to this as well: we must purge our lives of that which would not honour the Lord.
These Jews that are now getting right with God are a remnant of a remnant. This is similar to our situation: in the dark ages, there was very little spiritual light; then the Reformation brought a re-discovery of the truths of salvation, bringing out a remnant. From that remnant there came another remnant in the 1800s, with the uncovering of the truths of gathering to the Lord’s name.
The book of Nehemiah continues this story; Ezra and Nehemiah are 2 of the 5 post-captivity Old Testament books. Nehemiah tells us about the building of the walls of Jerusalem. It was good to have a temple, but they needed a wall of separation to keep them pure.
We saw in ch. 9 how Ezra took part in the responsibiliy for the sin of the people. It is interesting to see in ch. 10:10 how he confronts them about their sin when it is time to make it right. It is obvious that they must keep separate; often—for both Israel and ourselves—mixing with “the people of the land” causes spiritual declension.
Hymn 31 — Precious, precious blood of Jesus
Prayer