Friday, December 15, 2006

Come Up Here

I have been pondering through a somewhat ponderous book lately and loving what I am finding. The book of Hebrews used to be my least favourite book of the bible due to some of the harsh things I thought it was saying. These days it is a book of splendour. It is one of my favourites now. The reason being that I finally got over what I used to think the author was saying and got to the heart of what he was getting at. The whole thing is about Christ. Front to back it is some of the clearest revelation of who He is than is found anywhere else. This with apologies to those who love Isaiah and Revelations, but here in Hebrews it is a sustained view, a long wondorous look.
What has been piqueing my interest most is the portions regarding the priesthood of Christ. This is absolutely thrilling stuff. There is one part in particular where the prophecy regarding the work of Christ is reiterated. It is the one in 8:12 where He says He will remember their sins no more. Wow...no more... that is cool. The thing is that I always tend look at this as being from the time I first believed and everything previous to that, but afterwards it is back to the blackboard with all the current stuff. Not really what He said though, is it??? I have found in my biblical travels a wonderful truth. The only sin left, the BIG ONE, is to not believe what Christ has done for us. Check out what Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict people on in regards to sin in John 16:9. It is about believing in Christ. All the other stuff we do that is contrary to God's will comes from this. The temptations Christ faced all had to do with questioning God's love for Him, which He had just declared at His baptism. All the temptations we face are contained within the question of whether or not God loves us as completely as He says He does.
This has left me with the picture of Christ as the door to heaven (or gate as He put it). In Ezekiel the prophet saw a vision from the perspective of earth looking up to God's eternal throne. In it you will see that there is a sea of crystal above him. In the book of John's Revelation of Christ there is a door open in heaven and He is beckoned through it. From the perspective of the throne room he looks down and sees the same crystal sea, only FROM ABOVE!!! We have been invited through Christ to "come up here".
DO YOU BELIEVE IT???

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