Friday: Further Thought ~ Jesus, the Faithful Priest
Further Thought:
“Christ is watching. He knows all about our burdens, our dangers, and our difficulties; and He fills His mouth with arguments in our behalf. He fits His intercessions to the needs of each soul, as He did in the case of Peter. … Our Advocate fills His mouth with arguments to teach His tried, tempted ones to brace against Satan’s temptations.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
He interprets every movement of the enemy. He orders events.” — Ellen G. White, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 931 (Letter 90, 1906).
“It was Satan’s purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. … This is the pledge that God will fulfill His word. ‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder.’ God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the ‘Son of man’ who shares the throne of the universe. It is the ‘Son of man’ whose name shall be called, ‘Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.’ Isaiah 9:6. The I AM is the Daysman between God and humanity, laying His hand upon both. He who is ‘holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,’ is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews 7:26; Hebrews 2:11. In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pages 25, 26.
Discussion Questions:
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One of the problems we have in understanding this week's lesson is that we do not really have a modern equivalent of the priesthood. I know that some Christian Churches call their ministers "priests" but in fact their role is more pastoral than priestly. The priests performed a lot of rituals - read the Torah for the detail - many of which involved killing or supervising the killing of animals, and cleaning up the mess afterwards. I have in the past drawn a parallel between the priesthood and abattoir workers because their work, in terms of physical conditions, was similar. But the priesthood also had to deal with the moral dimension of people confessing their sins.
We need to picture priests as workers on the killing room floor dealing with dying animals in order to understand more fully the work of Christ as our high priest. Dealing with dying animals is a messy bloody business, and likewise, dealing with sin and sinfulness is a messy and often thankless job. Significantly, Jesus is both the sacrifice and priest in salvation.
While I understand there is a forensic/legal aspect to the priesthood, the fact that God, through Jesus was willing to get his hands dirty, cleaning up the mess of sin, speaks to me of a selfless love that is more meaningful than any "fulfilment of the law". It is much more than paying the price for sin; it is the restoration of a loving relationship.
This is such encouragement for my work in Christ. A long time ago Jesus assigned me to a small group of women. He showed me how He was working through one of them, and I felt I should train her to use her gift with the group. I had her take over for a while one day.
The hostess of the group was an elderly woman with a bad leg. I had notice when I arrived her pantry needed attention, so I went in and started to clean up the pantry while I listened to the group. When I sensed the woman needed help, I'd pop my head out, gently instruct, and then went back to work.
The insight you bring today on how Jesus' work was to clean up our mess after us as our High Priest is so dear to my heart.
Jesus came to lead us back to God while He served our every need. I treasure the servitude in my heart that is so much like Him.
What does the Word of the LORD tell me is happening in the Council of the Triune God in Heaven when my name comes up? The Father says I love her, let us send a guardian angel to keep her safe. The Son says I understand her troubles let us inspire a friend to comfort her. The Spirit says I know she has doubts, I will guide her into all truth.
But the accuser of the brethren interrupts - she deserves the consequences of her actions - true says the Son but she confessed and repented so I have blotted out all the times she "missed the mark" from the record books in heaven with my blood and she is being transformed into our image and belongs to our family!
Amen
Praise God
Amen,
This is really inspiring, the way Jesus blocks Satan from us by saying "yes but they've confessed "
For we fight not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the rulers of darkness of this age, and against a host of wickedness in heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12. This is a battle we can not win. This is a battle we need to turn over completely to Christ to win for us, and He will without a doubt. So we stay close to the love of Christ who created all things, thus having the power to win for us. We can be confident, that He fills His mouth with arguments in our behalf. Let us believe that He is our intercessor who comes to us, not to condemn but to save. Let us not forget His love for us, ALL of us. Romans 8:32
...Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39 NKJV.
“Christ Jesus glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.” - E.G.White. I believe Mrs. White knew this to be a fact, so she stated it as a fact; no quibbling with 'maybe' or 'perhaps'. She knew because the Holy Spirit revealed it to her, and the Holy Spirit is the voice from Heaven speaking to the believing and loving heart of the children of God here on earth.
I am a bit disappointed about the result of this passed week’s study. Sometime I think the students of the Bible cannot see the ‘forest for all the trees their mind is focusing on’> I hope that we will always remember to keep the bigger picture in mind; there is a bigger picture!
Even though all of this week’s lesson highlighted/focused on the office of Christ Jesus as a 'priest', the few questions I had to help me better understand were not answered.
Based on Ellen White’s quote above used for ‘Further Thought’, I ask: "What can be deduced from the essence of Christ Jesus’ mission here on earth"? Did He endeavor for us to become astute students of the Bible furthering our worldly success, or did He want us to understand the fundamental Truth of the ‘Father’s Way of Light and Life’ so we can receive life lived forever?
Looking at myself clothed with a body of flesh and blood, a lowly creature made of the ‘dust of the earth’, having received the breath of life from my Creator(s) to be fitted for life on earth, I ask another questions: “why am I now the recipient of so much heavenly, loving care and consideration”? Is it not because Heaven offers mortals the 'Way' to transition from the earthly life provided to us at the beginning into Life everlasting? Can we still see the ‘forest for the trees’?
Our Creator came to earth to offer us the ‘Way of Life as it is in Heaven’; sharing with us its heavenly Light; placing us in His ‘cocoon of Mercy and Grace’ until the transformation is complete and we are translated to join the heavenly family.
We are eligible for inclusion in the life of the heavenly family of our Creator by Faith – this is what I believe our Ccreator and Savior wants to make sure that we know; everything else is adding more trees to the forest.
Here is something to consider Brigitte. Education is not really about providing answers, but about teaching how to work out answers. Maths textbooks typically have answers in the back of the book, but if all you did in maths class was look up the answers and write them down, you would have missed the point of maths. It is about the methodology of finding the answers.
I agree that we often confuse the trees and forest in our discussions but hopefully, our interaction will provide opportunities to clear up the confusion. Remember that the Holy Spirit often works through our interaction with others, both listening and talking.
Maurice – I very much appreciate you taking time to advise; yes “the Holy Spirit often works through our interaction with others, both listening and talking”; this is why I consider asking questions!
Over my lifetime I have learned that ‘teachers’ do not consider me an easy student because I probe and want to understand the ‘why and how’ of ‘aspects’ related to a given issue. A math teacher once told me that some aspects of math’s ‘why’ cannot be satisfactorily explained; I understand! 😊
In my humble opinion, part of the teacher's educational effort is to be able and willing to answer the ‘how and why’ questions; in our case – spiritual ‘how and why’ questions. I see all of us in some respect as teachers and do not look for ‘pat answers’. This blog is a large forum and as a student I look for explanations/answers to understand spiritual Truth in a way that I can wholeheartedly explain and stand behind when sharing it with someone else.
Spiritual Truth has to stand on its own; it has to have spiritual integrity!
Our learning relates to biblical truths. When a doctrine is put forth and I cannot find outright support for the doctrine, it is because I either do not understand the doctrine, or the doctrine is not supported by scripture, or the scripture’s interpretation is unique to the person(s) teaching the doctrine and they need to be able to explain it to me. If it is important enough, I will probe until I find satisfaction to my ‘how or why’ questions.
How solid can our 'learning-to-understand' single, individual trees be as long as we have not 'understood' the forest they comprise? If we cannot name or ‘see’/identify the forest, is it even possible to fully comprehend the individual tree, its place and purpose?
In the case of the Bible student learning spiritual Truth, I think the trees are only there because of/in support of/to make up the forest, not the other way around!
We need to know and identify why the forest is here in the first place, then we can ‘see’ the trees!
What a wonderful, in-depth lesson, this week, on our Creator's unfathomable, yet uniquely-imparted/uniquely-experienced, love for us!
Praise God that there remains available for all, eternal salvation, only through the sinless, spotless Redeemer of souls!
Romans 8:3; 2Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:13-16