City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

²³ Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 

Hebrews 9:23-26 (ESV)

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

I Corinthians 13:8-12 (ESV)

⁵ When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Genesis 2:5-7 (ESV)

Reflection

I think the first phrase in this passage is the hardest.  I have struggled with the phrase “copies of the heavenly things” and the idea that they needed to be purified.  As a sinner caught in his sin, it has been easy for me to understand that I needed to be purified, but I never thought that the things that represented heavenly things needed to be cleansed.  Thinking about it now, perhaps that makes sense.

In the Old Testament, animal sacrifices and human intermediaries were used to represent Man’s reconciliation with God, but they were insufficient to complete the task.  Also, temples made by human hands were built to represent places in heaven.  They were only stand-ins.  With the coming of Christ, the wound between God and man is finally being healed and new representations of heaven are needed.  As Dr. Albert Mohler explained, “They require a better sacrifice because they represent greater realities.”  That is to say, now that the root problem of Man’s sin is being dealt with, a more accurate representation of Heaven and our relationship with God is needed.  We are being moved into a greater reality, and with a more perfect model, the things of heaven can be more clearly seen.  When the perfect comes, we will see perfectly.

I often remind my kids that when God made man, he used two ingredients: the dust of Earth and His own breath.  The importance of that is to remind them that they are not only flesh and blood, but there is something elevated about them in their nature.  This is why the sacrifices of goats and bulls would never be enough.  They are only like paying rent.  To fully pay off the debt, the sacrifice of an elevated being would be needed.  This is why Jesus was able to die once for all.  He died to redeem man.

When I refer to man, I am referring to the creature that could be contained in the list: giraffe, bull, goat, ox, squirrel, man.  While man can be included in this list of creatures, man is also an elevated being.  So, there is another list to which Man can be included, however these ark companions could not, for they have not been given the elevated role of bearing God’s image, and thus they could only be used to pay the rent.

Application

With such an elevated portion of scripture filled with such elevated ideas, it is hard to think of a practical set of steps to apply to one’s life.  But it is not impossible.  While it might be easy enough to say, “don’t look to the things in the Old Testament for your salvation” it is a bigger challenge to say, rest in the love of Jesus.  After spending so much time trying to justify one’s self, it is difficult to accept that your justification is already accomplished and that all you have to do is to receive it, put away the temporary, and live as the elevated being God intended you to be.

Prayer

Psalm 22

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
² My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
⁴ In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
⁸ “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
¹⁵ My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

¹⁹ But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver me from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dogs.
²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
    save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²² I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
    Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him—
    may your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!