Category: Devotionals

Jesus’ blood

Reflections based on Hebrews 9:11–28.

It is in Hebrews that we are given the details of how Jesus superseded the Old Testament laws and rituals. When we looked at Leviticus we saw how the sacrifices were a foretaste of what Jesus would do. His sacrifice did far more than they could; while they made people clean or ceremonially acceptable on the outside, Jesus’ shedding of blood went far deeper, transforming our hearts to make us clean on the inside. It freed us from sin’s power – of course we still have to walk in that for ourselves, but it did something that we could never do; put us in right standing before God.

Throughout today’s chapter, the old is set against the new, revealing the imperfections of the old system. For example, the involuntary sacrifice of animals is set against the voluntary sacrifice of Jesus (see vv13–14).

Verse 12 is one that can be a source of great comfort to us: ‘he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, so obtaining eternal redemption’. For under the law, people could never be sure of total forgiveness, but Jesus has secured ‘eternal redemption’ for us. The term redemption is imagery borrowed from slavery. The Greek word, lystrosin, talks about the paying of a price in order to release a slave, which Jesus willing did for each of us. 

Verses 15–17 talk about the legality of Jesus’ actions. Using the term ‘will’ they reveal what Jesus gave us. His love is shown in how He came as a mediator between God and His people – but the benefits could not be experienced until His death. We are unable to meet the demands of our pure and holy God through our own efforts – but Jesus did it for us through His blood.

Prayer: Jesus, it is fascinating to see how Your sacrifice both reflected and superseded those of the Old Testament. Thank You that You willingly died for me. Amen. 

Jesus’ teaching

Reflections based on Matthew 5:17–30 and Mark 9:33–41.

As I mentioned last week, Jesus’ teaching often went further than Old Testament laws. At the start of our Matthew reading, He tells His listeners He’s not there to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it. He goes on to use the following phrases a number of times: ‘You have heard it said … But I tell you’ (vv21, 22, 27, 28). His standards here seem so unreachable, but He was calling out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law – and also affirming that He is totally holy and without sin. He was providing a fuller understanding of why God had made the Law in the first place; that it was all about the heart. Indeed, He reveals that God already knows what is going on in our hearts when He tells the listeners in our Mark reading that the one who wants to be first should be last. He knew what His disciples were arguing about so went straight for the heart issue.

What He talks to His disciples about reveals the characteristics of a life of holiness. Not only are we called to be humble and unified, but we should love everyone – even those who cannot do anything for themselves, such as little children. In verses 38–41 the disciples are grumbling, jealous of someone who has healed in Jesus’ name, more concerned with their group’s position than whether any good had been done.

The verses in the rest of Mark 9 reflect what we read in Matthew 5:20–30. Jesus uses incredibly violent language, not to call us to literal maiming of ourselves but to help us realise how seriously God takes sin – and so must we. Jesus teaches His disciples – and us – how ruthless He wants us to be about living a life of holiness. 

Reflection: Is there anything within Jesus’ teaching that you find jarring? If so, explore why you think that is.

 

Jesus the holy one

Reflections based on Luke 1:35; 4:31–37.

We have spent some time, over the last few weeks, looking at the elaborate rituals and sacrifices within the Old Testament. We are now going to turn our focus towards Jesus, to spend a little time considering how He reflected the holiness of God while He walked this earth. We will be looking at what His sacrifice meant for us in terms of our standing before our holy God later on in this series too. 

We know that Jesus was born as a human and yet the verse in Luke 1 reveals that He was also divine: ‘the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God’. This was necessary for our salvation. Just as the animals sacrificed in the Old Testament needed to be without blemish, the One who provided the ultimate sacrifice had to be found to be without sin — to be holy. That is why God had to send His own Son in order to save us. 

Jesus showed us how to live, as humans, by the power of the Holy Spirit and yet through His words and actions, He also revealed who He is. Indeed, the miracles He performed were signs that pointed to His divine nature — and even the demons had to acknowledge who He was, as we can see in the Luke 4 passage. Before it is ordered out of the man, the demon calls Jesus ‘the Holy One of God’.

While the crowd was amazed at Jesus’ power and authority how sad it was that so few of them recognised who He was. I think that’s partly why Jesus asked His own disciples, in Luke 9:20, who they thought He was. They needed to be clear that He was sent from God in order for them to begin to understand why it was that He was there. Not to be the all-conquering, defiant Messiah that would lead them to rise up against their oppressors, but the pure, holy, blameless Lamb that would be slaughtered for their – and our – sin. 

Prayer: Jesus it is humbling to think about how You willingly obeyed Your Father and came to earth as a human, knowing the horrific suffering that awaited You. Your sacrifice gave us direct access to the Father. Thank You holy Lord. Amen.

The Day of Atonement

Reflections based on Leviticus 16:1–34.

For 364 days of the year, the priests were not allowed in the Most Holy Place within the Tabernacle – and last week we saw how God’s holy fire could simply consume people. During the Day of Atonement, however, the priests were instructed to go in to make atonement for the sins of the nation as a whole. As we can see at the start of this passage, Moses had been warned after the death of Aaron’s sons that the priests were not allowed to enter the Most Holy Place whenever they wanted. This means that on the Day of Atonement the priest (here Aaron) had to go through elaborate preparations before he could enter past the final curtain placed in front of the atonement cover on the Ark. The Hebrew word kaphar means ‘to cover over’ and was used to describe the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. The word can also be translated as ‘atonement’. This Day of Atonement was a day of great celebration, and yet it only covered over Israel’s sins. Only Jesus’ sacrifice would allow for the removal of sins so, until that day, the people needed the priests to cover their sins in this way. 

It is interesting to note that there are two goats here – one sacrificed and another sent out into the desert as a scapegoat. This is really significant, as it shows God was not only forgiving their sins through the sacrifice, but was removing them from sight thereby taking away both their guilt and shame. What a great picture of what Jesus does for us! It seems only fitting that God instructed the people to celebrate the Day of Atonement as a day of rest, in order to mark it as special.

Prayer: God, You not only made a way to cover over Your chosen nation’s sins until Your Son’s appointed time on earth, but You also dealt with our guilt and shame. Thank You Lord. Amen.

Do not treat holiness lightly

Reflections based on Leviticus 9:1–10:3.

Leviticus 9 sees the priests begin their duties as those who will enter the Tabernacle and sacrifice on the altar on behalf of the people. Moses’ brother Aaron and his sons are chosen as priests and the start of our passage details how Aaron follows God’s instructions to the letter. We are told that Moses and Aaron then enter the Tent of Meeting and when they came back out God’s glory appeared. A fire from His presence burned up the offering and the people responded to His presence in joy but also by humbling themselves, recognising they had just witnessed an incredible display of His holiness.

Unfortunately, there were two among them who didn’t take God’s holiness as seriously. Underestimating God, they offered up unauthorised fire to Him – and were consumed as a result. It seems harsh to our modern eyes but these men had been warned. They had followed God’s commands on how to be ordained as priests, which involved a long and complicated process (see chapter 8). They had seen God at Mount Sinai, had heard how God told them not to allow His fire on the altar to go out (in chapter 6) and seen Moses and Aaron go inside the Tabernacle and emerge unscathed. And yet, at this critical moment, they choose to offer ‘unauthorised fire’. It is as if they had grown cocky somehow, or, at the very least, indifferent. Whatever was going on in their minds, they chose to ignore God’s command at their peril. The details were there to protect them from God’s holy fire; their disobedience cost them their lives. This is a sobering reminder that God is holy; we are not. 

Prayer: Father I can see that You gave strict instructions in order to shield Your people from Your holy fire. I humbly acknowledge You are still a holy God today. Amen.

Instructions on offerings

Reflections based on Leviticus 1:1–17.

In the latter part of Exodus, God continues to give instructions to the Israelites on what is necessary for Him to dwell with them. In an amazing act of humility, He tells them that He will come and dwell with them in the Tabernacle that He instructs them to erect in the campsite. One of the Hebrew words used in Exodus to describe the Tabernacle tent is miqdash, which means holy place. God also instructs them to set apart priests to work in the Tabernacle. Leviticus starts with God speaking to Moses from the Tabernacle about the types of offerings the people should give. The whole of Leviticus is centred around God’s holiness – the very word holiness is mentioned more times than anywhere else in the Bible (152 times)! 

To our modern eyes, Leviticus seems like a blood-filled, strange book. But just think – God had taken up permanent residency with the Israelites so they needed to continue to consecrate themselves. If they wanted to continue to enjoy His favour and presence then, as we see in this first chapter, blood had to be shed. As God said to them in Leviticus 11:44, ‘consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.’ In order to approach their holy God, the people’s sin had to be atoned for. This first chapter of Leviticus talks about the burnt offering, while the subsequent few chapters cover the other four types of offerings. In each one it is the perfection of the sacrifice that was so important – and by laying hands on the sacrifice the priest was transferring peoples’ guilt to it. This all points towards the final sacrifice that was to come: Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Prayer: Loving God, just as blood sacrifice was a way of atoning for the Israelites’ sins thank You that Your Son provided a way for us to be saved. Help me never to take that for granted. Amen. 

Commandments to live by

Reflections based on Exodus 20:1–20.

In amongst the cloud and fire, God spoke directly to Moses, giving him the Ten Commandments to take back down to the people. So often these are viewed as a list of rules to live by — if we manage to keep them all in our own strength then somehow we will be holy enough to be allowed to call ourselves Christians. However, as Phil Moore points out in his book Straight to the heart of Moses, the timing of when God gave the commandments is critical. He didn’t give them to Moses when he met him at the burning bush and sent him as His messenger to the Israelites in Egypt. They were given after God had saved them. They were given to show them how they should respond to the salvation God had provided for them. 

Far from a standard that we need to live up to, the Ten Commandments, and indeed the whole Jewish Law, can be seen as a measuring stick of holiness. God uses them to convince Israel – and us – that there is nothing we can do in our own strength to make ourselves spiritually holy. 

Interestingly, when Jesus walked the earth He referred back to the Ten Commandments, sometimes even going further than they do (for example, v14 talks about not committing adultery; in Matt 5:28 Jesus says if a man even looks at a woman lustfully he has committed adultery). No, these commandments are not things for the Israelites – and us – to strive to do. They are to convince us all of the need to accept God’s salvation — and holiness. Indeed each commandment says ‘You shall’. We can read this phrase as a barked order – or a loving promise. Which do you think God meant? 

Prayer: Father, while You lovingly revealed to the Israelites ways in which they could commune with You, I cannot be holy without accepting Your gift of salvation. I do so again today. Amen. 

A holy nation

Mount Sinai

Reflections based on Exodus 19:1–25.

We looked previously at Moses’ song of praise to God for delivering the Israelites. After crossing the Red Sea, they travelled for weeks until they camped at the foot of Mount Sinai. It was on this mountain that God would speak to Moses about why He had rescued them. He had chosen Israel to become ‘a holy nation’, not because of anything they had done but because He had made a covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15). God wanted a nation that would represent Him on earth, which He could teach His ways to and, ultimately, be the nation that our Saviour would be born out of. 

In later blogs we will be looking at the various laws, commandments and sacrifices, which God instructed Moses that the people needed to adhere to. To us it can seem incredibly confusing and yet we need to understand the reason they were necessary.

In Exodus 29:46, God says, ‘They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.’ Just ponder that phrase for a moment: ‘So that I might dwell among them.’ Isn’t it incredible, that the holy God of heaven and earth longed for relationship with His people?

We will look at the elaborate lengths that God went to in order to bring Israel close to Himself until the appointed time when His Son would be sent. As a perfect, holy being, God cannot entertain sin of any kind: laws and sacrifices were the way in which Israel was able to enjoy God’s presence. We can see in Exodus 19 that God instructed Moses to consecrate (make holy/dedicate) the people so that He could appear to them in cloud and fire.

Reflection and prayer: Reflect on the amazing lengths God went to in order to dwell with His people, then spend some time thanking Him that, through Jesus, He has made His home in you.

Our response

Do we have clean hands and a pure heart?

Reflections based on Psalm 24:1–10.

Technically I am still on leave as my kids aren’t back to school until Monday, but I wanted to sneak in another devotional so here it is 🙂 Spending time considering God’s holiness – and how we are called to be holy too – is a great way to start the New Year. This psalm affirms that God is totally sovereign, but when we consider David’s comments about who is allowed into God’s holy place, we can be stopped in our tracks, much as Isaiah was. If we are honest, who in this world has clean hands and a pure heart? Who has never lied or allowed a false idol to be a part of their lives? 

These verses can be extremely sobering, which is only right, as we need to assess ourselves honestly. This psalm was probably used in corporate worship – I have read that verses 7–10 were used as a re-enactment. The people would call for the temple gates to be opened up, and the priests inside would ask ‘Who is this King of glory’. The group outside would answer ‘The Lord strong and mighty’ etc. Verses 9–10 repeated the process before the temple gates were swung open. All of this symbolised the people’s desire to be in God’s presence. Do we have this desire, and are we willing to humble ourselves before our holy God?

Meditation: Why not meditate on this psalm and consider your heart response this weekend?

Full of praise


Reflections based on 1 Samuel 2:1–11.

Hannah’s prayer is like a song of praise. She talks about how holy God is, but also how He has been her Rock. She celebrates the fact that it is God who is sovereignly in control of what happens, and how He has been in charge since the time He set the world in motion. But just think about the context of this prayer for a moment. Hannah had endured many years of being barren, and being taunted by her husband’s other wife who had children. In the temple, as she poured out her sorrow to God, the priest thought she was drunk! But she had continued to be faithful — and so was God. 

When she had her son Samuel, she remembered the promise she had made to God to dedicate him to His service (see 1 Samuel 1:11). She set him apart by dedicating him at the temple and leaving him there with the priest. Imagine that — giving up the one thing you had been desperate for for years. But her prayer, from today’s reading, is uttered as she leaves her son there. I find that both incredible and very challenging. Somehow, Hannah understood God’s holiness and sovereignty, understood that He orchestrated events throughout history. She had humbled herself before Him and rested in the knowledge that she could trust Him. While she had undergone considerable personal pain over the years, she had seen events with a wider perspective — and God honoured that. Hannah would go on to have more children, and was also able to watch her son grow up ‘set apart’ to be a prophet in Israel, in the service of kings. Is there something you need to trust God for today?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, how humbling to be reminded how Hannah, even when she had given up someone so precious, focused on Your holiness and faithfulness. Help me to learn from her example. Amen. 

I know this post hasn’t happened on the usual Wednesday of the week – my apologies. I will also be taking a break from posting over the Christmas break. So I just wanted to say have a wonderful Christmas, and Happy New Year!