For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Heb. 8
What is the author’s “main point”? How is the new covenant better than the old? God made a covenant with His people so that He could dwell among them. He desired to be their God, and have them as His people. But the people were not faithful to that covenant so He had to turn away. It was not God who could not keep it, it was the people. So what did God do? He made a new covenant that could not fail. The people could not break it because they had no part in upholding it. All that is required to take part in the new covenant, with all of its associated blessings, is to accept it.
God, of course, knew that the first covenant, based on the law, would fail. It, like everything else God established for and through the Jews, was merely a representation of the real thing. Just as a scale model of a building doesn’t serve the purpose and function of the actual building, though it is an exact representation, so it is with the covenant of the law and everything associated with it. Jesus, however, is the real thing. He is the permanent High Priest who serves in the true tabernacle – the very presence of God. He was the perfect sacrifice for the eternal atonement of sin. And it is He who puts God’s laws in our hearts and minds. Jesus is God’s unfailing covenant with us to dwell with us, His people, as our God.
SoS. 3-4
These poems don’t make me think of long lasting devotion. They make me think of being “in love”. It all sounds like that courtship/ honeymoon phase, when the one you love fills your eyes so you see nothing else. They likewise fill your heart and monopolize your desire. You can find no fault in them. The thing is, though, given enough time that phase ends without fail. Eventually, reality sets in and love goes from being easy to being hard.
All of this takes my mind to Revelation 2 and the Church in Ephesus. “You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” (Rev. 2:3-4). Was it the excitement and enthusiasm of being “in love” that the people of this Church had lost? Though they persevered for Christ, could it be that He no longer filled their desire? How do we keep our love, desire, and enthusiasm for Christ fresh? How does He consume our hearts and minds so that He influences every aspect of our every day? Perhaps these love poems serve to reminds us what being “in love” is like as we wait for that great wedding supper of the Lamb of God.
Ps. 102
This is a psalm of lament. When have you felt like this? What conclusion does the psalmist come to? When my present situation looks bleak, I can do as the Psalmist did and look to the future. “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD: The LORD looked down from His sanctuary on high, from heaven He viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.’” (Ps. 102:18-20).
The Bible continually reminds me how the reality of eternity blends past, present, and future together. This Psalmist, who lived many years before Christ, wrote about the salvation God brought us in Jesus. Now we, who live many years after Christ, can read this Psalm and look forward to God’s promise of ultimate salvation that is yet to come. The Jesus who brought God’s kingdom to us many years ago is the same Jesus who will bring us to God’s kingdom at some point in the future. And future generations will know what we know now and what the Psalmist knew long ago. God’s promise has been fulfilled since before time began.