But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.
Hebrews 9:11
Everybody likes good. After all, good is better than something else. Why settle for average when something good is right around the corner. When it’s right there for the taking. We’re always ready to move up to good.
But there’s no official, government approved definition of good. There’s no measurement of good that everybody agrees to. There’s no website or app for your phone that can guide you to the land of good. If you take a picture of something, there’s no AI tool to measure how good it is.
Shopping with my mom and dad always, always, always involved looking for the lowest price because that was their measurement of good. If there were three cans of tuna, the cheapest one was the good one that they bought. My dad would drive 12 miles out of his way to buy gas that was one cent less per gallon because that was the good one.
When the writer of this letter describes Jesus to the Hebrews, he talks about good in a really unusual way. Their sacrifices were just OK. You see, all the other high priests could only look back with their sacrifices. Payment for sin in the old covenant always looked through the rear-view mirror of life. And once their sacrifice was done, the meter started running again.
But, when Jesus comes along as our great high priest, he blasts past all the other priests. He leaves them in the dust. While they could only sacrifice for what had already been done, Jesus covered past, present, and future.
This takes the OK of all the other priests and wipes it out with his good things. The other priests came and went, like their sacrifices, and goes by them like they’re standing still. Ordinary priests had to keep sacrificing and sacrificing just to keep up with sin. But the one-time sacrifice of Jesus took care of all sins; past, present, and future.
Jesus arrived on the scene, and everything changed. He wasn’t just another guy from the other side of town. Or even from the other side of the world. Jesus entered the world from heaven. Unlike anyone else in the history of the world, Jesus was alive before his birth in Bethlehem. He came from the outside and entered the world.
Think about going to Disney World for a moment. Even if you stay at one of the Disney hotels, you still have to come in from the outside. You move from the outside and come inside. There was a time you weren’t in Disney World, and then you were in.
Through his birth, life, death, and resurrection, Jesus brought good things with him. Things that weren’t here beforehand. Good things that weren’t just a promise or prophecy, but actually made real. Already made true. There were four things that Jesus made real.
Free approach to God. No more sacrifices were needed just to come into the presence of God. The death of Jesus gave opened the doors of heaven for us to run to God as our loving Heavenly Father.
The better covenant. The old covenant had all sorts of problems and limits. It depended on what people did. It couldn’t take care of a lot of our broken relationship with God. The new agreement is just so superior in so many ways.
Personal communion with God. We no longer need a priest to get into the presence of God. We can go anytime, taking all our problems, and lay them at the feet of the one who loves us. The one who died for us.
Clearing the conscience. Because all sins have been paid for, our forgiveness is guaranteed. It’s not based on what we do, but on what God has already done. This gives us the power and desire to wipe our conscience clean.
And one other thing that makes Jesus’ sacrifice so much better is that it’s not based on anyone or anything from this world. No longer looking for a perfect animal to be a perfect sacrifice, performed by a hopefully sinless priest.
God himself came down and lived a perfect life. Jesus never sinned in his words, thoughts, actions, or attitudes. And on the cross, he paid for all sins. Period. No more sacrifices are necessary. All our sins are covered once and for all.
This gives us full and free forgiveness. No more looking over our shoulders, hoping that our past and sins aren’t following us. Reminding us of all our failures. Never giving us a moments rest from sin and shame.
With all this and more, how can we not be so grateful to God for all he’s done. For how he became our once-and-for-all priest that offered the one sacrifice that took care of all our sin. This frees us from our past and gives us energy to become the people that God wants us to be. To love him and other people. To serve him and other people. No longer needing anyone to do anything for total forgiveness. This is the best good thing in all the world. It changes everything. He changes everything. He changes us and the way we want to help and serve others. This is the best good thing.
Noodling Questions
How do you figure out if something’s good or not?
Explain how Jesus is better than good when it comes to forgiveness.
Why is our grateful response to God so weak?
Comentários