I Have Come [Hebrews 10]

There is a lot going on in the world. There are distractions on every side. The world that God has created seems to grab us and drag us away from Him far too often! It is not God’s fault, nor the world’s, but it is where our own hearts lead us. Where is your focus on this third week of Advent? As we consider the fact that God the Son took on human flesh in order to become our High Priest and the Sacrificial Victim that was required to restore us to God, are we laboring to see the incarnation of Jesus Christ in all its fullness? Or will we just let it be another typical Christmas this year.?

Behold, I Have Come! – AUDIO

Yet again we say, “I am just so busy! There is so much to do; shopping, planning, cooking, wrapping…..” Yet what has God endured in order to bring His Son into the world? It was not a sudden decision on His part. It was not as though He had nothing else going on and just stopped by for a visit and to wish us well. On the contrary, He planned it from eternity past and He announced it throughout the history of the nation of Israel (See last weeks post (The Main Point). Having previously decided and declared it, having demonstrated it through the Old Testament Law, He DID IT.

Hebrews 10:1-7 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU DID NOT DESIRE, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME. 6 IN BURNT OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN YOU HAD NO PLEASURE. 7 THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME– IN THE VOLUME OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME– TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’ “

God foreshadowed the need we had for Christ as He established the economy of Israel 3,500 years ago. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that it was a picture or a “shadow” of the “good things to come,” i.e Christ! As we examine Galatians 3, we see what the purpose of the Law was;

1. It was given show us the curse of sin (Galatians 3:10-13).
2. It was given to keep Israel intact until the Messiah came (Galatians 3:19, 23).
3. It was given to confine all under sin (Galatians 3:22).
4. It was given to lead us to Christ. (Galatians 3:24).

Christ became that which was foreshadowed as our High Priest and the Offering for sin. David (Psalm 40), as quoted by the Apostle in Hebrews 10:5-8 says that “In the volume of the book” it was written of this one who would take away the OLD and establish the NEW. Hebrews 10:9 “then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.”

He did this as God, taking on the “body that [was] prepared for” Him (vs.5), and willingly coming, not just for a visit, but to be the offering for my sin. I can’t take this lightly. I can’t go about my business feeding the lust of my flesh and just give Him a nod. I can’t make a stink about “keeping the Christ in Christmas” and not make it all about HIM. He came to do the will of God, to become the Reality that the Old Covenant pointed to. Not just to hold out a promise, but to fulfill one.

Hebrews 10:10-14 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Don’t get lost in the madness.

Behold, I Have Come! – AUDIO

In Christ!

Kevin