Ezekiel 20:1-49, Hebrews 9:11-28, Psalm 107:1-43, Proverbs 27:11
Today is the ninth day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is fantastic to be here with you today, as we gather again around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward together. The next step always begins, right where the last one left off, which will lead us back into the book of Ezekiel and today we will read Ezekiel chapter 20.
Commentary:
Okay so yesterday, we kind of dove into the book of Ezekiel and actually just talked about prophecy and God’s heart as He revealed in Ezekiel. And just talked about how our hearts can find a vengeful God in these profits when things didn’t have to happen that way, prophets came and offered choices. And often the people ignored their own peril. We talked about covenants. Today, let’s dive into the…the Hebrew context of Hebrews by first of all, remembering Hebrews is written to Jewish people. Hebrews was written to Hebrews. So, it’s within that context, and if we don’t really understand the Hebrew context, then we can read lots of things in letters like the letter to the Hebrews, and it seem incredibly tedious, highly theological and that we don’t get what the big deal is. If we understand the context, we understand a lot of why this is revolutionary. And so, let’s just put this to the test. Pretend for a second, no matter how much of a Hebrew context or how much first century Roman Empire, province of Syria, Jewish history you’ve study like, pretend you don’t know anything about the Hebrew customs, rituals or religion. And now I’m saying, I’m quoting out of the letter to the Hebrews. I’m quoting this from Hebrews, but let’s pretend we don’t know anything about the Hebrew context. So, I read “He entered once for all into the most Holy Place, not by the blood of goats and cows, but by His own blood. And so, He Himself secured eternal redemption.” Like if you have no context at all, what does that even mean? If someone just walked up to you and they were trying to tell you some really, really good news and they’re like, yeah, He entered once for all into the Most Holy place. Isn’t that amazing? And it wasn’t by the blood of the sacrifice of a goat or a calf, it was His own blood, and He secured eternal redemption through His own blood. Right, like are we taken a couple of steps backward away from this person, like what are you saying, what is going on here? So, without a little bit of context, the first being, Hebrews is written to Hebrews in a Hebrew context, it’s super easy to get lost. Since we have a bit of context from the Scriptures we understand, there was a sacrificial system in place. This had been in the Hebrew culture for centuries. This covenantal worship had a temple, it was in Jerusalem, inside that temple was a Most Holy place. Priests served at this temple, the chief of them being the High Priest and sacrifices happened there. Sacrifices were ongoing and were a part of the ritualistic worship of the God of Israel. What the writer of Hebrews is saying is, the final sacrifice in a system that has lasted for centuries has been made, the covenant that governed this sacrificial system, has come to an end and a new covenant has been inaugurated, presided over by God himself, in the form of Jesus, who is a permanent eternal High Priest and a permanent eternal Holy of Holies. The previous system was a copy and now this is the real thing. So, if you were a Hebrew or are a Hebrew in a Hebrew context, the…the terminology all makes sense. And what everything is connected to, all makes sense, and this news would have been good news if it were true, right. Like, if the final sacrifice has been made, there is a new covenant with God and all can enter into eternal life, fulfilling the obligations of the old covenant by believing in Jesus. That’s really, really good news, but it’s also really, really hard to believe, which is why the writer of Hebrews is going to great lengths to say the thing is friends, this was expected. We’ve been expecting this to happen. We’ve been looking for this to happen, let’s not miss that it’s happening. But it still would’ve been a reach because there’s a whole system in place for how to remove sin and how to become righteous before God and the announcement is, that system has come to a close, you are righteous before God through Jesus and the rituals of the culture will not draw you closer in intimate relationship with God but through Jesus, you can come into the Holy of Holies yourself, and crawl up on the lap of the Father and call Him, Abba. Really, really good news, but also really difficult for devout Hebrew people to accept. At the same time, this is what the Hebrew people were hoping for. They were looking for a Redeemer, they desired righteousness before God and the writer of Hebrews is saying yeah, that’s possible. It can happen. Or I quote from Hebrews, “After Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await Him, He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation.” This is the good news. There aren’t any hoops to jump through. We can go directly into the presence of God and have an intimate relationship, forever. We can know God personally and although we can do supremely unrighteous things, we are not supremely unrighteous, through our faith in Jesus we are made righteous. In other words, through Jesus, everything that we would have been trying to achieve in this Hebrew context was achieved. This is the good news of the gospel, from a Hebrew perspective and it was indeed revolutionary. And it indeed brought all kinds of persecution along with it because many people were against it. As good of news as it might’ve been, they considered it to be some sort of fabrication. So, those early believers, the ones who this letter is written to, were facing some of the hardships. So, they were experiencing the joy of their salvation and intimacy with God, but they were also getting hammered by their culture and marginalized and persecuted and so some people were just kinda disappearing. And the writer of Hebrews is saying don’t shrink back, don’t disappear. This is the good news the world has been waiting to hear. And we have been given this message, as we always have been, to be a light to the nations, to tell everybody don’t disappear. So, this gives us some context for what we’re moving through in the letter to the Hebrews.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You, thank You for all that Your word unpacks for us and reveals to us, all that we get to learn of and understand, the story that stretches back thousands and thousands and thousands of years. We get to find that we are a part of that story too. So, come Holy Spirit, lead us into all truth, this is a constant prayer. That’s what we seek. We don’t come here to the Scriptures, every day around the Global Campfire to see how much deception we can find ourselves in. We come here to seek what is right, what is true and how we should live. And so, we thank You for all of the different perspectives, that touch all of the different parts of who we are. Lead us into all truth, lead us deeper into Jesus. We pray in His name we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
This is Concerned Daddy from Florida. My oldest son and his wife got married 5 years ago. And they both professed Christ, at the time. Then over the years, the world has slipped in, they’ve made decisions and fallen away, stopped going to church. Now, it appears, the Lord is definitely working on my son, he may be truly born again out of this experience. But our daughter-in-law has been unfaithful. And it’s been really difficult on him. They’re going through counseling now. But she’s just not acting properly, not thinking clearly. Is really under bondage, is what it comes down to. And so, I just ask the community if you could pray for her. I’ll leave their names out of it, the Lord knows who they are. But she’s just really under spiritual bondage. And has a upbringing in legalism and just lot of baggage there. Just pray that she would truly come to know our risen Savior and what He did on the cross for us. And that even this could be forgiven. And my son is willing to forgive and move on with counseling. So, pray for them, please.
Hey DABers, this is Slave of Jesus in North Carolina. Alright, Holy Spirit, let’s roll. Let’s armor up. Ready, we’re gonna armor, as Doctor John, I think said, let’s get ready to tell Satan to shut up. So, realize, if you say Satan, get behind me. You are speaking Scripture. And it’s not the way you know, want to walk around all day long, mumbling to ourselves, like the guy on Law. But there’s some key times where God, through Jesus, taught us how to fight the enemy. How to fight this spiritual war. And I know you guys are warriors, I know you guys are warriors. So, we’re gonna teach you, we’re gonna look at how Jesus fought temptation, lust, greed, fear, all that stuff. These are all sins that can be fought in the spiritual world. So, you gotta go get yourself a scripture. Cause we know that that’s how Jesus fought the enemies. He would say, it is written, in Matthew 4. And then He would say a Scripture, out loud. And how did He do that? Well, we know He would pray in the morning and in the night, Matthew 14. I love Mark 1:35, He goes out early in the morning before anyone wakes up. And that actually works for me. But you know, we got lives, we got all this stuff. But we got to understand, we’re in a battle. So, you gotta go to Bible Gateway or go whatever and type in whatever that thing is that you think is between you and God: lust, money, fear, anxiety. Find a Scripture weapon, say it the morning, say it at night. You know, when I first started fighting lust, I used 2 Timothy 2:23, I would say it a hundred times a day. You know mumbling under myself, but every single time you’re tempted, just like when Jesus did, you say that Scripture out loud, and that’s how you become, you’re like a sniper, you’re a warrior. It’s like fingernails to the demons that are around you. It lets them know, I am the child of God, you are the child of God. And so, you say the Scripture out loud, memorize it, memorize it, memorize it. And tomorrow, we’ll talk about how you meditate on it and really take it to the next level. Love ya’ll, have a great day.
Hello Daily Audio Bible prayer warriors. This is Elizabeth from Delaware calling in. I wanted to ask you if you keep Samson Alice in your prayers. He’s gonna get his second treatment with this new three-part combination of medication. They’re gonna do it in two different days, instead of three, so that’s an improvement. His side effects are minimum, and we praise You God, that You are comforting him and filling him with joy and that he is not sick. And we pray Lord, that You would make this medication totally remove all forms of lymphoma in his body and that he could return to his studies back at the __ unit. We thank You Jesus, for what You’re doing in Samson’s life and the peace You’re filling with him. Also, prayer warriors, if you could pray for my sister. She was sexually attacked at a Halloween party, as they were all leaving, it happened. It happened so suddenly but people couldn’t believe it happened. But the evidence in her body and what she experienced is very there and the police are involved, they’ve got the evidence, they’ve got. So, please pray for her healing and that you would, that God Lord, that You would touch her and have her reconnect with You Lord, and You would heal all that has been broken in her spirit. And these people who were supposed to be friends and they’re not friends. And they, and when she told them by text mail what had happened, only one person responded to her. So, these people do not care about her Lord. So, give her new friends, Lord Jesus. And fill her with peace. And Lord, we pray that the DNA that they police and the hospital took, will be detected in her body. Because it took her a couple days to realize, she really should report this. So, Lord, we also pray for her relationship with her husband because he too doubted this could have happened. But it did happen and there’s pictures and DNA all over. So, Lord, we just pray Lord, that you would heal her and bring this man to justice. In Jesus name we pray. Thank you, prayer warriors, for your prayers. God bless you. Bye Bye.
Hello, my DAB family, this is Jamie in New Jersey, Standing on the Word of God. I humbly ask you please pray with me. Dear Father in Heaven, there seems to be a feeling of discouragement in so many of my brothers and sisters. Today, we pray for encouragement and strength. Thank You for being with us in the good times and the bad. Thank You for never giving up on us, even when we feel like giving up on ourselves. Please speak louder than the doubts. Read us the Scriptures that speak into our circumstances and remind us of Your presence and promises. Your word is active, it’s sharper than any sword, pierce the lies that the world tries to inflict on us. Silence the enemy. Please preserve our testimony and keep our faith firmly and deeply rooted in You and Your promises. You are our sure defense. The only one who can keep us safe and secure. We know that You are always with us and that You will never leave us. Help us to remember that as we are feeling down and discouraged. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for praying along with me, my brothers and sisters. I love you all dearly. Have a good night.