DAILY DEVOTIONALS:11.19.16

A Righteous Judge - Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org

 

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. -Psalm 19:9

 

When it comes to God's judgment, sometimes people will say they believe in a God who is not judgmental. That sounds good, but here is what they are really saying: "I believe in a God who doesn't care about right and wrong." To put it more bluntly, they are saying they believe in a God they just made up in their heads.

 

If God really is loving, then God also will be just. That is what the Bible tells us. The love of God makes Him a righteous judge. Know this: No one will be in heaven who deserves to be there. Nor will there be anyone in hell who does not deserve to be there. No one will be in heaven who went there unwillingly. And no one will be in hell who didn't go there willingly.

 

God won't force anyone to go to heaven. He won't say, "Get up to heaven right now!" You don't have to go if you don't want to. On the other hand, no one will be in hell who did not go there willingly.

 

I like the way J. I. Packer summed it up: "Scripture sees hell as self-chosen. . . . Hell appears as God's gesture of respect for human choice. All receive what they actually chose. Either to be with God forever, worshipping Him, or without God forever, worshipping themselves."

 

How could a God of love send people to hell? He doesn't. He won't. If you end up in hell, then you went there willingly because you rejected His offer of forgiveness. You rejected Jesus Christ and all that He did for you. But if you ask God to forgive you of your sin, He will remove it from you and give you a change, a transformation in your life. You will be born again.

 

 

The Ultimate Father-Son Relationship

John 5:19-20
God is called by a variety of names in the Bible, and each one sheds light on an aspect of His nature. Jesus' favorite title for Him was Father. Surprisingly, this name for God is used only 15 times in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, it's recorded 245 times!
Many of God's names speak of His majestic and lofty attributes that separate Him from mankind, but Father conveys intimacy. Jesus used this name not only because He was God's Son, but also to help people realize that Jehovah isn't some unapproachable Deity gazing down on them from a distance. Rather, He is their loving heavenly Father, who cares about them and wants to be involved in their everyday lives.
Throughout His time on earth, Christ revealed by example what this kind of love relationship was like. He depended completely on His Father for daily direction, power, and provision and obediently carried out every instruction. He often left the demands of ministry just to find a secluded place to be alone with Jehovah. We know Jesus successfully conveyed the riches of this relationship to His disciples, because in John 14:8, Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father"--he wanted to know Him the way Christ did.
Do you long for that kind of intimacy with God?  He wants to relate to you as a Father to His child, and He's given you the privilege of drawing near to Him. In fact, He chose you before the foundation of the world and waits with open arms for you to enter His loving embrace.
The Captain of Our Salvation
�But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.� (Hebrews 2:9-10)

 

Christ is referred to in this passage as the captain of our salvation. The word translated captain implies one who is first in line, the beginning, or the originator. So Christ is discovered to be the first in line of an endless procession of the saints of all ages resurrected from the grave and marching to the ultimate realization of their salvation. He is truly �the first born among many brethren� (Romans 8:29). �But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept� (1 Corinthians 15:20).

 

The word finds usage only three other times in the New Testament, each within a resurrection and glorification context. Peter, addressing the people of Israel, said that they had �killed the Prince [originator] of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses� (Acts 3:15). And later, �the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince [leader] and a Saviour� (Acts 5:30-31). As a result of what our �Captain� has done, we should be �looking unto Jesus the author [same word] and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God� (Hebrews 12:2).

 

The only way we could ever share in His glory is for Him to suffer and die. �Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren� (Hebrews 2:11). JDM
Sufficient Grace
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
I thought the Christian life was going to be easier than this. Have these words ever entered your mind? Sometimes we come into the family of God thinking that our heavenly Father will fix all our problems and devote Himself to our happiness and comfort. However, that is not the reality portrayed in Scripture. Paul was a man whom the Lord used greatly, and yet his life was anything but easy.
In fact, at one point, the apostle thought his pain was too much to bear, and he begged God to remove it. There�s nothing wrong with asking the Lord to relieve our suffering, but what should our response be if He doesn�t? Paul probably had no idea that His experience would find its way into the Bible, to comfort and guide believers throughout the ages. The promise God gave him applies to us as well: �My grace is sufficient for you� (v. 9).
God�s grace could be defined as His provision for us at the point of our need. The problem is that sometimes it doesn�t seem as if the Lord truly is meeting our need. But He frequently sees deficiencies, outcomes, and complications that we don�t. His goals for us involve spiritual growth, the development of Christlike character, and strong faith. And trials play a vital role in achieving these.

The important issue is how we respond. If all you want is relief, you could descend into anger and doubt. But if your desire is to become the person God wants you to be, you�ll see each trial as an opportunity for Christ to display His character and strength in you.
Evil Hearts Produce Evil Deeds
�And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.� (John 3:19)

 

Make no mistake�those who love evil hate righteousness. Petty selfishness is often invoked to justify a host of social evils, and the sin burden constantly overlays human behavior. But an evil heart produces evil deeds and drives an evil person to commit atrocities. �For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved� (John 3:20).

 

Both the apostles James and Paul made the same observation. James noted that �wars and fightings� come from the �lusts that war in your members� (James 4:1). Paul bemoaned the conflict of �laws� that he sensed in his own body and called himself a �wretched man� because he couldn�t seem to shake the �law of sin� (Romans 7:18-24).

 

The beloved apostle John insisted that the twice-born should never love the world or �the things that are in the world� because �all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world� (1 John 2:15-16).

 

Once a decision is made to reject the overwhelming evidence of the �eternal power and Godhead� that the Creator has displayed for all to see (Romans 1:20), and once the personal conviction of the Holy Spirit has been spurned (John 16:7-11), nothing remains but social pressure to do good. And when that wanes (as it surely will), the individual cycles every more rapidly into a godless lifestyle, falling away �from the faith . . . having their conscience seared with a hot iron� (1 Timothy 4:1-2). HMM III
 The Power of a Discerning Spirit
Hebrews 5:11-14
In a world filled with endless sources of information and opinions, believers need to develop a discerning spirit. Otherwise, how will we know what is true? Much of what we see and hear is based on a worldly perspective that is influenced by Satan, the Father of Lies. Deception is found even in the religious realm: cults mix lies with enough truth to make some people consider them legitimate Christian institutions.
The only way believers can guard against deception is to ground themselves in God's Word. The more time you spend filling your mind with the Lord's thoughts, the more discerning you will be. However, just knowing biblical truth isn't enough. You must put what you learn into practice so that it becomes more than head knowledge.
The goal is to let God's Word become such an integral part of your thinking that it guides all your decisions. Even if the situation you're facing isn't specifically addressed in the Bible, scriptural principles provide the needed wisdom for every choice. In addition, the Holy Spirit was given to each believer as a Helper, whose job is to guide you into all the truth (>John 14:26; 16:13). However, your responsibility is to put God's Word into your mind so that He can bring it to your remembrance. If you neglect the Word, you'll lack discernment.

What are you allowing into your mind? Is Scripture high in your priorities? Unless you're careful, worldly thinking will overpower spiritual discernment. It's difficult to keep God's perspective in the forefront if you spend two or three hours in front of the television and only ten minutes in the Bible.
Evil People Hate God's People
�Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.� (Psalm 139:21-22)

 

Once a conscious choice has been made to reject God�s truth and love, an individual begins to hate God and the people of God. The Scriptures are replete with these insights, but two references should suffice to establish the teaching��they that hate the righteous shall be desolate� (Psalm 34:21) and �the bloodthirsty hate the upright� (Proverbs 29:10).

 

Don�t be surprised at the hatred of godly issues and people. �If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you� (John 15:18-19).

 

Perhaps more alarming than the widespread evidence that many are running full-tilt into the �broad way� leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13) are the few who have found the �strait gait� leading to eternal life and yet continue to remain indifferent to the crisis of evil surrounding our country, our churches, and our families.

 

Would God that our leaders would have the same passion the psalmist felt when he wrote, �Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law� (Psalm 119:53). Perhaps it is time that we each feel something of the godly sorrow that caused �rivers of waters [to] run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law� (Psalm 119:136) or sense an ache when we �beheld the transgressors, and [were] grieved; because they kept not thy word� (Psalm 119:158).

 

As our text notes, �I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.� �Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me� (Psalm 101:6). HMM III
 Victory Over Guilt
John 3:16-17
At times, people are bound by guilt long after the feeling should have been resolved. Some rightly live with it because they refuse to give up the sin that brought it on. Meanwhile, others suffer the weight of false guilt because they harbor shame that doesn't belong to them. Whatever the root cause of your condemnation, the battle plan remains the same.
Victory over guilt begins with understanding that Jesus took our shame to the cross and paid our penalty. There is no way that we can pay for our own sin. But we do need to honestly identify the source of our guilt and confess before God. That means we agree with His perspective on what we've done. In other words, we admit when we're wrong. Repentance goes a step further: we turn away from the wrong and choose to do right.
Confronting guilt in this way replaces the weight of shame in our heart with peace and joy, which are far lighter and more freeing. And an amazing side effect is that we have wisdom to share. Openness about our past mistakes, resulting consequences, guilt burdens, and forgiveness can reveal the Lord to those in our sphere of influence. Through our witness, God may reach others who need their guilt chains broken.

The battle to overcome guilt is one that should not be delayed. The feeling won't just go away. Whether your condemnation is true or false, it needs to be dealt with quickly. Stop running, and face the source of your guilt. It's time to end your captivity and start walking in the joy of God's blessing.
Our Umpire in Heaven
�For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.� (Job 9:32-33)

 

Job, in his sufferings, was mystified by the complete silence of God, whom he had loved and tried to serve faithfully all his life. He longed somehow to be able to come before the great Judge to plead his case, but this was not possible, for God was not a man like himself. He did not even have a �daysman� to mediate between himself and God.

 

Oh, yes, he did! And so do we. A �daysman� is an arbitrator or umpire, or mediator (as this word is usually rendered in modern versions). But how could there be an umpire to mediate disputes between God and man, unless such an umpire could somehow be both God and man, able to �lay his hand upon us both�?

 

There is one perfect umpire, of course. �For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time� (1 Timothy 2:5-6). The ransom He paid was His own blood, with which �he entered in once [for all] into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us� (Hebrews 9:12).

 

Thus, the God/man Christ Jesus is perfectly able to bridge the chasm between God and man. Perhaps an even better connotation of �daysman� is that of �advocate.� Now, when Satan, �the accuser of our brethren� (Revelation 12:10), accuses us of sin before God, as he did against Job, our great Intercessor defends us. �If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous� (1 John 2:1), and �he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them� (Hebrews 7:25). HMM
 Understanding Guilt
John 8:1-11
Guilt over doing something that violates the conscience is a normal emotion. However, living under a cloud of remorse for no discernible reason is not. The Lord designed feelings of culpability and regret to serve as a reminder that a person has done wrong and needs to repent. But Satan twists those emotions to imprison men and women: those living in shame are uncertain of God's love and often lack self-confidence.
Good guilt--the Lord's effective tool for prompting repentance--is a gift that helps us find the right path. However, the Devil encourages false guilt, which involves taking responsibility for things outside our control and then suffering self-condemnation for not changing the outcome. This unhealthy type of guilt is also a widespread problem for those in legalistic churches or lifestyles--certain behaviors or thoughts are labeled as wrong, and then people feel ashamed for doing or thinking those things.
Self-condemnation stunts a relationship with Jesus. Instead of enjoying the peace of God, people who are trapped by shame fear His rejection and feel driven to prove their worth. Trust is nearly impossible because they are waiting for God's judgment to rain down. Their guilt even colors how they see themselves: rather than saying, "My action is wrong," they say, "I am bad."

Jesus did not come to accuse or condemn us. Christ restored our souls and made us righteous before God so that our guilt is removed. If our Savior forgave the woman caught in an adulterous relationship, just imagine how ready He is to take your shame away too (John 8:11).
Evil Choices Produce Evil People
�And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.� (Romans 1:28)

 

The apostle Paul provides a chilling analysis of the process by which the human mind progresses through rejection of the evidence of God�s existence to ultimately worshiping the creature more than the Creator and finding pleasure only among those of like mind.

 

God has displayed His �eternal power and Godhead� since the creation of the world (Romans 1:20). Those who reject that clear physical evidence are �without excuse� since they do know God but will not recognize His existence and engage in such destructive thinking that �their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things� (Romans 1:21-23).

 

That foolish behavior so shifts their intellect that they serve �the creature more than the Creator� and wind up so distorting their lifestyle that they become unable to tell what gender God made them (Romans 1:24-28). Once that kind of behavior is sanctioned, their emotions become consumed with hatred of God and all things good, winding up inventing �evil things� and living within a godless world (Romans 1:29-31).

 

Having rejected the truth that God has openly displayed for everyone to see and having plunged into a foolish and damaging lifestyle that warps their intellect and emotions beyond repair, they can find pleasure only in those who live, think, and love as they do. All the while heaping a �treasure� of wrath that will be poured out upon them when the Creator returns (Romans 2:1-6). HMM III
 When Is it Dangerous to Look at Jesus?
John Piper

On vacation, I kept a copy of Jonathan Edwards' sermons on my bedside table as a way of going to sleep with a God-centered mind. One of those sermons was called, "Keeping the Presence of God." It was preached at a Colony-wide fast day in April, 1742.

The second wave of the First Great Awakening had crested in the vicinity, and Edwards was seeing both the good and bad fallout of revival. He saw spiritual dangers lurking everywhere. In the next year, as he preached his famous series on The Religious Affections, he would become the most careful analyst and student of human hearts that had been wakened in the revival. What he saw in those hearts was mixed.
So in this sermon, "Keeping the Presence of God," his aim was to stir up awakened Christians to be vigilant that their exuberance not become pride. He exhorted them to give themselves to watchfulness and prayer so as to remain broken and humble and happy in the good work of God in their lives.
Oh, how different is the path of Christian maturity pointed out by Edwards and the path most Christians walk today. There is a kind of cavalier attitude toward our security today. There is little trembling. Little vigilance and earnestness and caution and watchfulness over our souls. There is a kind of casual, slack, careless attitude toward the possibility that we might make shipwreck of our faith and fail to lay hold on eternal life. We have the notion that security is a kind of mechanical, automatic thing. We prayed once to receive Jesus. We are safe and there is not place for "working out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). That is not what Edwards sees in the Bible.
Therefore he pleads with his people, and I plead with you, to "keep the presence of God." It is not automatic. Edwards' text is 2 Chronicles 15:1-2 which contains the words, "The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you." Since we do not want God to forsake us, we must be watchful over our souls lest we forsake him. It is true that God will never forsake his own children. But the proof that we are his children is that he works in us the vigilance not to forsake him. God's not forsaking us is the work he does in us to keep us from forsaking him (Philippians 2:12-13).
The striking thing in this sermon that was new for me was the warning that even beholding Christ can be a pitfall. This seems unlikely because in2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul says, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." In other words, seeing the glory of Christ in the gospel is a great means of becoming like Jesus. This is how we are sanctified -- seeing Christ.
So why would Edwards warn us that seeing Christ can be a pitfall? He did so because of what he read nine chapters later in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10  Paul said there that he had "been caught up into paradise" (12:3) and that he had been given "visions and revelations of the Lord" (12:1). Then he said that because of these visions and revelations of the Lord he had been given a "thorn in the flesh" (12:7) to keep him from being puffed up. Paul pleaded with the Lord to take it away (12:8). But the Lord said that his own grace would shine the more brightly in Paul's thorn-caused weakness than if he were whole.
This means that Paul's visions of the Lord were dangerous for his soul. He had to be lamed by a thorn to keep these visions from hurting him. Here is the way Edwards says it:
There is great danger. I know great degrees of the spiritual presence of God tend greatly to restrain and keep down pride. But yet 'tis not all grace. And though in such cases there be much to restrain one way, so there is much to tempt and provoke it another. Temptations in such cases are often exceeding great. To be highly loved and exalted of God tends to feed pride exceedingly, if there be any left. The apostle Paul himself was not out of danger (2 Cor. 12:7). (Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 22 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), p. 531)
In other words, the danger of spiritual pride is so subtle that we must even watch for it at the place of greatest sanctification--seeing the glory of the Lord. If there is any remnant of pride in us, even pure glory can be twisted to feed it.
So I exhort you, along with myself, in the words of Jonathan Edwards: "You had need to have the greatest watch imaginable with respect to this matter, and to cry most earnestly to the great searcher of hearts: for he that trusts his own heart is a fool" (Works, vol. 22, p. 531).
Watching and crying out for help to Christ,
Pastor John
Victory Over Unforgiveness
Daniel 6
Immediately after teaching His followers to pray, Jesus gave a warning about allowing unforgiveness to reside in the heart. He said that those who refuse to forgive others won't be forgiven by the Father.
Do not misunderstand Jesus' meaning here. Believers don't lose their salvation when they refuse to forgive. Rather, they break fellowship with God because their unrepentant attitude gets in the way of regular confession and repentance. The Lord cannot ignore sin, and His Spirit will bring wrong behavior to the believer's attention until he or she deals with it.
Forgiveness is an act of the will more than an act of the heart. Often people don't feel like being merciful to someone who has wronged them. But a resentful spirit grows into a terrible burden. The Lord knows that forgiveness is best, even when it is difficult.
You won't deal with a sin until you see it as God does. So assume full responsibility for your unforgiving attitude, and acknowledge that it is a violation of His Word. Claim the divine mercy He offers, and ask Him to enable you to lay aside anger and resentment against the other person(s). As part of the decision to move forward in grace, make a habit of praying for those who hurt you. And if God so leads, seek their forgiveness for your wrong attitude.
A bitter and resentful spirit doesn't fit who we are in Christ. Nor is it healthy to carry an angry attitude through life. That's why Scripture emphasizes the need to forgive. Choose to be liberated from your burden--Jesus promised to make us free when we release our sins to Him (John 8:36).
The Marvel of Design
�And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another.� (Genesis 43:33)

 

When creationists calculate the extremely low probability of the chance origin of life, many evolutionists scoff at the calculation, alleging that any one arrangement of the components of a simple, living molecule is just as likely as any other arrangement, so it is no great marvel that the components fell into this particular arrangement.

 

This is a puerile argument, of course, quite unworthy of the intelligent scientists who use it. There are at best only a few arrangements that will contain the organized information necessary for reproduction, compared to �zillions� of arrangements with no information at all.

 

This fact is beautifully illustrated in our text. Why should Joseph�s brothers �marvel� when they were seated in chronological order of birth by a host who (presumably) was entirely unaware of that order?

 

The reason why they marveled was because there are almost 40 million different ways (calculated by multiplying all the numbers, one through 11, together) in which the 11 brothers could have been seated! It seemingly couldn�t happen by chance.

 

Maybe an evolutionist would not �marvel� that this unique seating arrangement happened by chance, since he somehow believes that far more intricately organized arrangements than this happened by chance to produce our universe and its array of complex systems. Anyone else, however, would immediately have realized this, and so the brothers of Joseph �marvelled one at another.� So also, when we behold the wonders of design in the creation, we should �lift up [our] eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things� (Isaiah 40:26). HMM
Keeping the Law
�For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.� (James 2:10)

 

The law of God, centered in the Ten Commandments, is �holy, and just, and good� (Romans 7:12) and expresses perfectly the will of God for holy living. �The man that doeth them shall live in them� (Galatians 3:12).

 

The problem is that no man can possibly do them all. He may keep most of the commandments most of the time, but he will inevitably fail in some of them some of the time. Since the law is a divine unit, breaking any commandment�as our text reminds us�breaks the whole law, bringing the guilty one under God�s curse of death. �Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them� (Galatians 3:10). �Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight� (Romans 3:20).

 

All men, having sinned against God�s law, are therefore lost and in urgent need of salvation. This is where God�s wonderful grace comes in. �But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, . . . Even the righteousness . . . which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe� (Romans 3:21-22), �Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us� (Galatians 3:13). He kept the law for us, and bore its curse for us: Thus we are saved through trusting Him.

 

�What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid� (Romans 6:1-2). We now desire to keep His commandments, because we love Him. �For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous� (1 John 5:3). We are now able to keep them, because His Spirit now lives in us, and we are �strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man� (Ephesians 3:16). HMM

Enduring Satanic Attacks
Ephesians 6:10-14
Every believer faces temptation. Take a moment to recall a particularly enticing situation involving something that would displease God. Did you realize you were involved in a satanic battle?
The Devil is real. Scripture reveals that he leads an army of fallen angels and is prideful enough to think he can gain victory over God. By definition, a satanic attack is a deliberate assault upon an individual, which is designed to cause spiritual, physical, material, or emotional harm. Satan desires to thwart the Lord's purpose in believers' lives, to rob them of joy and peace, and ultimately to deny God the worship He receives through yielded followers.

As in any war, knowing the enemy's plan helps us prepare for the attack. First, be aware that the battlefield takes place in our minds. To walk in a godly manner with Christ, we must first be sure that our thoughts are in submission to His Spirit. This takes daily surrender and time in God's Word. Second, Satan tempts us during vulnerable moments. Be cautious when you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired (This is often known as the H.A.L.T.  warning). Third, he is deceptive; we won't recognize the trap as an evil scheme. Instead, it will seem good, and we'll likely wrestle with some sort of doubt.
As Christians, we should walk closely with Jesus. Satan desires to lure us into destructive actions that rob us of God's plan for a good, full life. Stay connected to the Savior: read the Word, pray, and fellowship with other believers. These are weapons we use against the Devil in spiritual war.

The New Covenant
�Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.� (Luke 22:20)

 

The Greek word diatheke, translated as both �testament� and �covenant,� occurs 33 times in the New Testament, 17 of which are in the book of Hebrews. The Hebrew word for �covenant� (berith) comes from a word meaning to �cut, or divide,� referring to the fact that blood had to be shed to bind the parties involved to the covenant. (See Genesis 15:10; Jeremiah 34:18-19.) God had made covenants with Abraham and Moses on the part of the people of Israel. He had kept His part of the agreement; but in each case the others involved �continued not in my covenant� (Hebrews 8:9). But God, in His grace, has issued a new covenant.

 

This covenant or testament is not unlike a human �last will and testament,� but there are some differences. He did not merely die, thereby enabling His children to inherit His fortune, but He is now �the mediator of a better covenant� (Hebrews 8:6). He is the sacrifice whose death was necessary to make the covenant binding, and yet He is the �surety of a better testament� (Hebrews 7:22).

 

He cannot fail, and hence the new covenant cannot be done away with. Through His death, He not only has removed the penalty for our previous failures, but qualified us to receive the inheritance. �For this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator� (Hebrews 9:15-16). �Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them� (Hebrews 7:25). JDM