I Am The Lord

You really should mean it when you call him Lord.

Leviticus 19:1-4 The LORD also said to Moses, 2 "Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. 3 "Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the LORD your God. 4 "Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.

Exodus 20:2-3 "I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 "You must not have any other god but me.

Luke 6:46 "So why do you keep calling me 'Lord, Lord!' when you don't do what I say?

---

Communication is a problem for everyone and God's people are no exception, we have our own language that can easily confuse newcomers, our use of certain words and phrases can be foreign to people outside of Christianity. 

In any culture, language is so individualistic, so much so that people that claim to speak the same language really don't. Just look at America's version of English that obviously came from England yet we insist that Americans are the ones speaking English correctly.

The word "Lord" is seldom spoken outside of religious circles, in a respectful way, and the concept of having a Lord over us is so against our culture that we tend to shy away from the idea. Sure we use the word Lord plenty of times each Sunday but it's meaning and the consequences of having a Lord is lost in the overuse of the word. It's like the word awesome, most of the time we use that word when things are nowhere near causing us to be in awe.

A search in my Bible study software for the short phrase "the Lord" in the New Living Translation comes back with 6,836 matches, found in 60 of the 66 books of the Bible. Perhaps the most significant thing I saw in this search is that God is usually speaking about himself when this phrase is spoken. 

Top ten books to use "the Lord"

1. Jeremiah - 600
2. Psalms - 485
3. Deuteronomy - 447
4. Isaiah - 405
5. Numbers - 358
6. Exodus - 355
7. 2 Chronicles - 304
8. Leviticus - 300
9. 1 Samuel - 238
10. 2 Kings - 225

The story of "the Lord"

God's story begins with the beginning of the Lord's work, it was the Lord that created the perfect world for the first man and his wife to enjoy. (Genesis 2:4) It was the Lord that shared his authority to reign, he gave mankind the authority as lord over the rest of creation, and it was the Lord that walked with mankind in the garden each day until the day that they questioned God's authority as Lord. (Genesis 1:26, 3:8)

It was the Lord that graciously made the first sacrifice to forgive their sins, since the offense was against him he had the authority to decide how the sins would be forgiven. (Genesis 3:21) I find it interesting that Adam, Eve nor the serpent say "the Lord" as they discuss the idea of rebelling against God which is the basis for every sin. (Genesis 3:1-7)

It was the Lord that approached Cain and gave him a choice, he could embrace sin as his parents did or he could learn from their mistake and also from his own sin to embrace God's warning to worship him correctly. (Genesis 4:1-8)

It was the Lord that had the authority to wipeout mankind, the Lord chose Noah to preserve the seed of the coming redeemer while he eliminated the rest of the population because of their wickedness. (Genesis 6:5-8)

It was the Lord that scattered mankind when they rebelled so quickly after the flood. It is amazing how fast the descendants of the flood survivors started living without any thought about the Lord, it seems that they must have known about the recent worldwide flood but they still ignored God's authority as they decided to make a name for themselves. (Genesis 11:1-9)

It was the Lord that chose Abram and even chose which of Abram's (Abraham) many children would be the heir of the promise. It was the Lord that continued choosing a son from each new generation, father Abraham had many sons but the Lord chose Isaac and then he chose Jacob over Esau and then from the 12 sons of Jacob, God chose Judah and then he chose a son from Judah.

We could keep on going through all 66 books of the Bible but it is already obvious from this quick outline of the book of Genesis that someone is in charge and it isn't the humans.

I am the Lord and I will do...

Exodus 6:6-7  “Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the LORD. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment.  7  I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.

In the book of Exodus, the Lord is about to do something important so he goes to Moses with important information. God told Moses who he is and what he will do for his people, he will do things that only God can possibly do, and he will do it without asking for the approval of the thousands of people that it would affect.

When God was about to take his people out of Egypt, he just did it! This is a very strong argument in favor of God's sovereignty and the election of a chosen people. When our Lord decided that you are his chosen child he didn't extend an offer to you and ask for your consent, he just did it! Our Lord does not answer to anyone and he isn't depending on something that any of us might do.

In fact it is a very good thing that God didn't require a minimum amount of faith or goodness before he took them out of Egypt because they would have never been able to leave. You would probably expect the faith of God's people would have grown during each of the ten plagues that the Lord sent upon Egypt but somehow they didn't learn.

The Lord Gives Us The Perfect Example

John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will."

God didn't just command us to live a certain way he also gave us the perfect example of someone that did live under the authority and reign of our Lord. Jesus submitted to the Lordship of God and obeyed him despite the physical difficulties and the spiritual opposition.

Philippians 2:7-8  Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,  8  he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Whatever rights, control or privileges that we think we should have must be given up to please our Lord. If our Lord stooped down from his high position to submit to God's lordship then we must do the same. We need to state the same thing that Thomas declared "My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) and we also need to let it really be true in the way that we live. (Luke 6:46)

God help me to call you the Lord and grasp what it really means and allow you to truly be the Lord. Help me to live like it is really true so that your kingdom will come and your will, will be done in my life for your glory.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Attributes of God and the Power They Hold in Your Life (davidjeremiah.org)

Living Under Authority (ligonier.org)

Authority (redeemer.com)

The Rule Of God With Us

God's people are longing for an eternal kingdom with a righteous ruler.

Isaiah 9:6-7 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven's Armies will make this happen!

God with us should be a glorious thought that is too wonderful to describe, in the past couple of post we saw The Hope of God With Us and The Peace of God With Us, It is amazing that God would come to be with us and give us hope and peace. But God's story doesn't end there, he is going to bless his people even more when he returns to reign on earth.

We all long for a better country that is ruled by a better king, but for most of us that is just a crazy dream, it may be crazy for the rest of the world but it is reality for God's people. The day is coming when God will setup his kingdom and tear down the kingdoms of this world that stand in opposition to him.

God's people are always waiting for God's timing.

God's people have a long history of waiting, a lot of God's promises seem like they will never happen, don't forget that there are more prophecies of Jesus second coming than there were of the first so we can be sure that The King Is Coming (music video). 

When Jesus finally arrived to be God with us the first time, there was nothing to fear, as a baby he was defenseless, as an adult he was gentle and kind. Jesus had power over everyone he met but he only used his power to reveal his deity in a gracious and merciful way for our benefit so that we would believe. (Philippians 2:5-9) 

Jesus second advent will not be the same, anyone that wasn't prepared for the first advent could either carry on business as usual or they could have their life radically changed, either way there wasn't any devastating consequences. When he comes again it will be totally different.

The Eternal King And His Kingdom: 

 

The characteristics of the king:

• Wonderful Counselor - Every other counselor will be gone as the supernatural wisdom of this counselor will be far superior. We exaggerate and overuse "wonderful" so we need to pause and consider it's true meaning. Jesus is wonderful in a way that is truly boggling to the mind. (Jeremiah 23:5, Romans 11:33, Colossians 2:3)
• Mighty God - Powerful enough to return after 3 days in the grave and powerful enough to defeat every evil and restore his kingdom to the state it was in before it became marred by sin. (Deuteronomy 10:17, Nehemiah 9:32, Psalm 50:1-6)
• Everlasting Father - The only source of compassion and care that God's people will ever need. They have a peace treaty with the mighty God so they can enjoy being in his presence for eternity without fear. (Isaiah 63:16, John 10:28-30)
• Prince of Peace - God's people should strive to live at peace with each other but as Jesus told his disciples his first advent wasn't about bringing peace. The conflict that we see in the New Testament continues, Jesus is a polarizing figure, the spiritual battle is not over yet. (Matthew 10:24 and 2 Corinthians 6:14-16) Some day the peace that God's people have with him will finally be enjoyed with each other and with all of God's creation. (Romans 12:18, Ephesians 4:1-3, Philippians 4:6-7, Hebrews 12:14)

The characteristics of the kingdom:

Isaiah 11:3-5 He will delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. 4 He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. 5 He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.

Isaiah 11:10 In that day the heir to David's throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.

The kingdom of God will be the true creation of the "holy land" where love, justice, peace and joy are the norm. The prayer of Jesus for "thy kingdom come, thy will be done" is a summary of God's kingdom. When the kingdom comes it will be God's will done on Earth as perfectly as it is in Heaven.

The new Heaven and new Earth will not have the destructive influence of sin, man's rebellion will be overthrown and Satan will be bound. The whole story of the Bible is about our rebellion against the king and his work to bring us back under his reign.

When Jesus returns as king: 

• The new kingdom will be known for God, his presence will be all that we will ever need for eternity.
• The new king will obviously be the promised heir of King David's throne. Nobody will question who he is or why he is reigning.
• The old king of this world will be dethroned and the devastating consequences of his evil empire will be reversed and the earth will be restored.
• The promises made to Israel and all of God's people through the prophets will finally be realized and the people of every nation will be blessed. Every covenant God has made with man will be 100% fulfilled.
• The Promised Land will finally belong to Israel, all of it, the boundaries of the nation in Bible times and today do not include all of the land God promised.
• The scattered people will return to Jerusalem to live completely submitted to the rule of their amazing king. 
• The world peace that everyone says they long for, but does little to achieve, will finally be real and eternal. More than peace it will be shalom, Greater than just the absence of conflict, everything will work together in perfect harmony as creation is made whole.

Our king has gone on a long journey, before he left he gave us resources to be used to help others find their way in, when he returns we need to be prepared to give an account for how we used our blessings, our skills and our time for his pleasure. (Matthew 25:14-30)

God has made it clear that we must submit to his son, we must see our need for Jesus before we die or before his return, don't discount the opportunity to transfer your citizenship to the kingdom of God. 

Will you remain in the kingdom of darkness that leads to destruction or will you renounce your citizenship there and move to the kingdom of God that will last for eternity? (Luke 13:22-30, Colossians 1:13-14)

RELATED ARTICLES

What Is the Kingdom of God? (desiringgod.org)

What Is The Millennial Kingdom? (gotquestions.org)

The Millennial Reign of Christ (ligonier.org)

The Kingdom Of God (thegospelcoalition.org)

The Peace Of God With Us

God's people will have peace when sin is defeated.

Isaiah 9:1-5 Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.

2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. 3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel, and its people will rejoice. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder. 

4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor's rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian. 5 The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire.

God redeemed his people from Egypt and ended their slavery to that kingdom of darkness but it didn't last forever. Another dark kingdom would come along and oppress God's people again and again but most of the time it was their own fault. 

God was using the nations to reprimand his people, they are living in the same darkness as the rest of the world because they are living just like the rest of the world. Despite the warnings from God through Moses that they were given before they even got to the Promised Land they have failed to live by God's standards over and over again. (Deuteronomy 31:14-30, 32:1-47)

Since Israel refused to be a light to the nations God eventually chose to punish his people, the one nation became two and later they both were defeated. First the Northern Kingdom was taken away by the Assyrians 800 years before Jesus comes, and then the Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken into captivity by the Babylonians 200 years later.

The people of Isaiah's day needed the message of hope that peace was coming to their nation. The message of peace was received by King Ahaz that he would have victory over his enemy but there is more to the prophecy than that, there was a distant prophecy and also another application of the prophecy that we are still waiting for thousands of years later.

God's message through Isaiah told about a new ruler, that would be victorious over their enemies, a ruler that will bring true peace that will end all wars. It sounds like God must be sending a mighty warrior to save the day but suddenly we get a prediction that a baby boy is on the way.

Isaiah 9:6-7 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven's Armies will make this happen!

They wanted a great military victory that would get rid of their enemy forever but that's not the way God works. The people living in darkness that heard Isaiah speak these words probably didn't find much comfort in the announcement of a baby. They wanted to immediately see a great light of hope that would give them the peace that was promised in the previous verses.

One of the most difficult things to understand is why God loves to send a baby to do a man's job. Why can't a full grown man arrive on the scene and take care of things right away? We want someone with strength, know how and determination but God prefers to send a special baby to do the job.

Jesus first advent was prophesied for hundreds of years and then there was another 400 years of silence after Malachi. When baby Jesus finally arrives it is very similar to the situation when God's people were in bondage to Egypt. 

Back when they were in Egypt for 400 years without a word from God, there was a baby that would eventually be their savior, he would have to be protected from Pharaoh, and then the baby reached 80 years old before his ministry began. 

The light of the world came in peace to be with us.

Luke 1:78-79 Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace."

If you look at world history in Europe and the Middle East for hundreds of years before Jesus arrival you will begin to understand how miserable the conditions are when Jesus is born. The Promised Land has been invaded by many different countries, various world powers will rise and fall, many of them will invade Israel, including Jerusalem, and the temple.

Finally God is with us, up close and personal, but without the fear that was always present back in the Old Testament. When God came to us as a baby there wasn't any restrictions on who could see or touch him. But, as accessible as he was and as exciting as the news was, his arrival was unnoticed by almost everyone.

Eventually the baby grew up and although he did nothing wrong, he became a disappointment for his people, they were just like King Ahaz, they wanted a military victory. They wanted a savior from today's problems but Jesus came to solve their eternal problem.

The final war that will bring us permanent peace is on the way.

Daniel 7:13-14 As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal-it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.

There will be a final war to set-up the eternal kingdom of our savior, God's people will rejoice at his arrival and his final victory over evil. (Isaiah 9:3-5) The everlasting kingdom of the Messiah will give permanent rest for his people but the sad truth is this peace is not for everyone. 

God's peace will be rejected by the enemy and the children of the enemy, they will not survive the harvest that Jesus told us about at the end of the age. You must accept God's offer of peace before it is too late, those that are not a part of the kingdom now cannot become citizens of his kingdom later. (Matthew 13:36-43)

Peace in this world can only happen if you have peace with God. 

My ultimate enemy has been defeated and I have accepted God terms to make peace with him. Even in the worse chaos I know that I am secure for eternity in God's eternal kingdom of peace. 

When this world has no peace to offer I need to remember that: "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep, The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men."

RELATED ARTICLES

What Happened Between the Old and New Testament? (olivetree.com)

31 Reasons Why Christ Came (kevinhalloran.net)

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (credomag.com)

The Growing Sin Problem

We keep denying the source of and the solution to the sin problem.

Genesis 3:1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"

James 1:14-15 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

---

So far in my study of the book of Genesis I have learned that In the beginning God created us to rule over creation and to fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God. Since God created us and made us in his image he must be by far the most qualified expert on what is best for us but we are arrogant enough to think that we know a better way. (Isaiah 43:7)

In our arrogance we think we are allowed to decide absolutely everything, things that we once thought were obvious facts that could not be denied are now up for debate, we are foolish enough to believe that we get to ignore God without any side effects.

It wasn't too long ago that our gender was something that was an absolute fact but thanks to science and technology we can be something we were not designed to be. I have to wonder how much of this perversion is being fueled by the desire to make a lot of money without regard for the lives that are being devastated.

RELATED ARTICLE

10 Things You Should Know about the Bible’s Teaching on Men and Women (crossway.org)

Man has deceived himself and believed that the issues are very complicated but God has made it crystal clear that all of this confusion goes back to man's departure from God's design to seek our own way. Every breakdown, every unrighteousness and every injustice is a direct result of sin.

All breakdowns are because of sin: 

• The first effect of sin happened before God even confronted Adam and Eve, before they even knew that their relationship with God was broken, it became clear to them that their relationship with each other was very different.
• Sin made them ashamed to be fully known by God or by each other, they needed clothing to hide their most intimate parts from each other. Transparency is a rare trait in the best of relationships.
• Sin distorted God's created gender roles, it wouldn't take too long for man and woman to start mistreating each other. God predicted that man will tend to make an idol out of power. and that woman will tend to make an idol out of the relationship.
• Work is not a curse but thanks to sin it is cursed, thorns and weeds always get in the way of our ambitions.
• Nature works against us, instead of being in control and ruling over the earth, in many ways it is controlling us.

This list is compiled from a podcast by Tim Keller - "A Promise of Hope"

Our sin is the source of every breakdown, from our broken bodies to the difficulty in your relationships to catastrophic weather events.  It is easy to look horizontal at what is wrong in this world and point your finger at many different causes but the root cause of our problem is the fact that the vertical relationship with God is broken. Horizontal sins happen because of our vertical sins.

Our rebellious arrogance and pride got us into this situation and it is the reason we are still dealing with the problem. Everybody is looking for world peace but we cannot fix our deepest problems and make a better society on our own without returning to God and his design and his rules.  If we keep denying the source of our problems we will never be able to solve our problems.

Psalms 2:1-4 Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? 2 The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against His anointed one. 3 "Let us break their chains," they cry, "and free ourselves from slavery to God." 4 But the One who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.

We are all kings, ruling our little empires, we make our choices about our lives that prove who is in control. We all plot against God to do what we want to do, he is the source of our wisdom but we think that we are wiser than he is, it is no wonder that he laughs at our crazy notions.

It is a real breakthrough when we realize and submit to the reality that God's ways are the ultimate. We will begin to heal when we get to the point that we realize that our best is so corrupt and falls short of what God intended.

Psalms 51:7-8 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Oh, give me back my joy again; You have broken me--now let me rejoice. 

God is waiting for my will to break so that I will give up on my rebellion and give him control. When I get off of my throne and let the ruler of the universe be the ruler of my life then I will find my greatest satisfaction and joy.

When this happens the world around me will see that there is a better way, they will see a little bit of heaven on earth, my life will be a witness of the future when Jesus comes back to rule with justice.

RELATED ARTICLES

Created In God's Image (desiringgod.org)
Conflict And Confusion After The Fall (desiringgod.org)
Relationships Before Sin (desiringgod.org)

Heaven On Earth

Seek his kingdom first.

Video: Stars Go Dim - "Heaven On Earth"

Take my life and let it be

Set on fire for all to see

Break me down, build me up again

Don't leave me the way I've been

Take my heart into Your hands

Come and finish what You began

'Til I seek Your kingdom first

'Til I shine, shine

Like Heaven on earth

Like Heaven on earth

The Kingdom

Exodus 19:5-6 Now if you will obey Me and keep My covenant, you will be My own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to Me. And you will be My kingdom of priests, My holy nation.' This is the message you must give to the people of Israel."  Matthew 6:33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. Colossians 1:13 For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, Hebrews 12:28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe.  Revelation 1:6-7 He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God His Father. All glory and power to Him forever and ever! Amen. Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see Him--even those who pierced Him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for Him. Yes! Amen!

Did God Really Say

The conflict begins when we question God's love for us.

Genesis 3:1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"

Genesis 3:5-6 "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil." 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too."

---

When I think about how large the Garden of Eden must have been, I have to wonder about Adam and Eve's choice of location, it seems like they must have set up household in close proximity to the tree with the forbidden fruit.

Think about this, if you had the most awesome garden in the world to live in and if it was large enough for so many animals to live in then would you hang out next to the tree full of forbidden fruit? Yes you would!

We are always attracted to what we are told that we cannot have, none of us should think that we would have chose a different neighborhood or handled the talking snake any differently. Satan used the same tools on Adam and Eve that he has used on everybody else that has ever lived.

Satan's has a short list of tricks to appeal to us:

• The lust of the flesh - it tastes good
• The lust of the eyes - it’s nice to look at
• The pride of life - it’ll make you wise 

Satan even used these same things to try to get Jesus to rebel against God. He tries to appeal to our senses and gets us to doubt God's love for us and question the rules that were given to protect us. Any loving parent that is concerned for their child's safety does the same thing that God did.

God's love for us is already obvious in the first few chapters of Genesis. It can be seen in his willingness to meet our needs. God created a friendly atmosphere to live in, he met our need for relationships with God and with other humans, and he gave us boundaries that any good parent would give for their child's safety.

God's love continues to be seen as he meets another need, it's a new need that had never existed before, a need that man would try to fulfill on his own but it certainly didn't measure up to God's standards.

They knew they were naked and they sought to fix the problem with their own wisdom by making clothes out of fig leaves but how long is produce going to last after it has been picked?

God's response to man's sin reveals some more about the character of God and his love for the human race. God meets another need for us, one that we couldn't adequately meet on our own, God sets the standard and then he fulfilled the standard as an example to us.

Later on there would be men that were set aside for the job but for now the first high priest is God. He would offer the first blood sacrifice and teach us how to receive forgiveness long before the law was ever given. Sin brought death into the world, first the death of the first animal, then the way of Cain brought death to his brother.

Man becomes his own executioner, and takes part with Satan, the murderer from the beginning.

-Expositor's Bible Commentary

God wasn't inventing something new, the old system of animal sacrifices and imperfect priest was a picture of the heavenly system that was on the way, a perfect high priest would come that would also be the perfect sacrifice and he would minister in the perfect tabernacle. (Leviticus 4:31, Numbers 15:25–27, Hebrews 8:1-7)

Hebrews 9:10-12 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies— physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.

11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.

12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

The new covenant that God promised in Genesis was fulfilled in Jesus, the offspring of the woman became the bruised servant that has fatally wounded Satan and destroyed his plans, his sacrifice is perfect and final.

It is so easy to believe the lie that you are worthless to God and that he is holding back something good from you but in light of what Jesus did for you on the cross why do we listen to that snake?

Do you know what God said? The Bible is God's message to you that was preserved through the ages to show you how much you are loved and what you must do to restore your relationship.

RELATED ARTICLES

Faces Of Death (ligonier.org)
What was the Old Testament way of salvation? (gotquestions.org)
Why Did Jesus Delay So Long (desiringgod.org)