Hebrews 10:14 Perfected Forever

Ever been in love?  The book of Song of Solomon tells of a man and woman in love.  Twice the man calls his loved one, “my dove, my perfect one.”  Song 5:2,6:9

That doesn’t mean that she indeed is perfect or even that he is blind to her faults.  But it does mean that he is not looking for them, doesn’t think about them, and doesn’t let them get in the way of their relationship.

And God created human beings such that this is an experience that almost all of us will come to know.  And why would He do that?  One reason is that God wants human beings to be happy, and that can surely do that.  But another reason is that this sense of falling in love should teach us of higher things.

Like what?

Like God.

In Hebrews 10, the writer is explaining the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection for us.

What stands out in this passage, among other things, is the writer’s use of the perfect tense.  [The perfect tense here has nothing to do with people in love calling their loved one perfect.  Merely coincidental.]  The perfect tense in the original language of this text speaks of something that happened in the past but focusses on the present result.  I can say, I painted the house.  But in the perfect tense I am saying that I finished the job, it’s done, the house is now fully painted as we speak.

In Hebrews 10:14, the writer says that by one offering, that was Jesus’ death on the cross for us, He, meaning Jesus, has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, which would be us.

Jesus has perfected us.

This expression ‘for all time’ is not just ‘forever’, but it emphasizes that this is a state that continues uninterruptedly.  This doesn’t change, will never change, and we can stop thinking about it that it might.   

So in some very real way that we won’t understand fully right now, God has perfected us.  But it does explain to us a little of what that means in Hebrews 10:16–18 (NASB95)

16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put my laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them,” He then says, 17 “and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.  Seriously?

Here’s a thought experiment for those of you in love or in a love relationship: e.g. husband-wife, parent-child.

What do you focus on in your relationship?  All the mistakes, the faults, the failings, the outbursts, the transgressions of your loved one?  Or do you rejoice and bask in the wonder of their being?  Do you savor the time spent with them? 

What do you think God is looking for in you?  Your sins, your idols, your failings, your anger, or is it your thankfulness, your heart’s longing and thirsting for God?

There are a few other perfect tense verbs in this chapter.

In Hebrews 10:10, we ARE sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all.  That means it’s done and won’t have to be done again.

In Hebrews 10:22, our hearts ARE cleansed from an evil conscience and our bodies ARE washed with pure water. 

So we can approach God with boldness.  The word ‘boldness’ means ‘freedom of speech.’  Like Romans 5:1,2 says: we have peace with God and have obtained access into this favor in which we now stand.  We have favor with God.  It’s like you work for a company, you have ideas, oh, and your father owns the company.  You can walk right into his office at any time, without knocking, without getting the okay from the secretary, and he gives you his undivided attention for as long as you want.  And if your ideas are good, he implements them.

One other verse: Hebrews 10:2 (NASB95)  2 Otherwise, would they [the Levitical sacrifices] not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?

The Levitical offerings were constantly repeated, because they could not take away our consciousness of sins.  Meaning, the sacrifice of Jesus can and is meant to take away the consciousness of our sins.  We can stop keeping track of them.

Does that mean that sin doesn’t matter anymore?  We can do what we want?  No, it means that your relationship with God should move to a higher level where you are not constantly seeing your life with God in terms of your failings but seeing God as Someone you can relax with and feel loved by.  When God wants to talk to you about something, He will.  And you may be surprised by His graciousness.

 

Ezra 4:4,5 Discouragement, Fear, and Frustration

If you have been a Christian long, or it really doesn’t have to be that long, you will have times and circumstances where you think God could and should have done a little more than He did at the time.

I had to laugh when I read this story again in the book of Ezra about all the problems they encountered while trying to rebuild the Temple.

The people had just returned to their homeland after having been exiled far away in another country.  The center of their religious life was the Temple.  It had been built centuries before by King Solomon but was destroyed by the Babylonians who then took the remaining people back to Babylon.

A later king gave them permission and his blessing to return to their land and rebuild their Temple.

The people who were living in the land weren’t too happy with thousands of people moving into the neighborhood, and they were suspicious of the people associated with the Temple.  They shared the same religion, sort of.  The people then living in the land had what we would call a more liberal view of God and religion.  They accepted more than one way to do things, to serve God, and even the idea that there were other gods who also should be recognized and served.

They offered to help them in their work, though some may suspect the offer wasn’t sincere.  The newcomers turned them down, and when they told them that they had nothing in common with them and that they would build the Temple on their own, any idea of friendship was gone.

So they started causing trouble.

It doesn’t go into details here, but it says they discouraged them, frightened them, frustrated them, and then they accused them.  To the king, nonetheless.  And the king made them stop their work.

I don’t know how long the work was stopped.  It’s not an easy number to find out.  At least two years.  It didn’t start until the second year of the next king.

Several prophets of God, Haggai and Zechariah, encouraged the people to get back to work, and they followed. 

Their neighbors complained again.  They want to send another letter to the king.  This time the king told them to leave them alone.  But not only that, he told them to help them.  He told them also to use money from the royal treasury, their tax dollars, to help them.  And if any of them were to give them a hard time, they would be committing a capital offense.  They would receive the death penalty.

So, yes, the building project was delayed for several years.  But now, not only were they protected from any future hostilities, they were receiving material and significant assistance from the royal government as well as from the previously hostile neighbors.  Government assistance today might not seem a good thing, but then having the favor of the king was a very highly desirable thing.  And the kings apparently honored the decisions of their predecessors. 

The Bible doesn’t come right out and attribute this to God’s intervention.  And that’s okay.  As you read the Bible more and more, you learn to see the hand of God all the time.  Difficult circumstances often come to even the best of God’s people, and they have learned not to panic, but to continue in thankful praise to God and to wait to see what God will do.

2 Chronicles 16:9 (NASB95) 9 “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.