Ezekiel 16:42-17:24, Hebrews 8:1-13, Psalm 106:13-31, Proverbs 27:7-9
Today is the seventh day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is great to be here with you around the Global Campfire, as we gather and release all of the stresses of life and come into this little oasis for a few minutes. This little safe space, a little place where, yup, we’re just taking a break from the stresses of life. We’re opening ourselves to allow God’s word to speak to us and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. We can go back out into the chaos; it’ll be there waiting for us. But this, is our safe space, a clean, safe place to hear from God, together in community, but then go back out into the world and face whatever we’re facing, maybe with a completely changed perspective. So, great to be here with you around the Global Campfire today. We are reading from the New English Translation this week and picking up where we left off yesterday, leads us back out into the book of Ezekiel. Today, Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 42 through 17 verse 24.
Commentary:
Okay so, let’s dive into what we read in the letter to the Hebrews today, and there is a touch of irony here because while we were reading from the book of Hebrews today, we spent most of our time reading from the book of Jeremiah. So, like the longest Old Testament quote that is found in the New Testament, is found in the book of Hebrews chapter 8, which is what we read today and the longest quote from the Old Testament is Jeremiah chapter 31. So, that’s cool stuff to know. But how does that affect my day, like what I do with that today. It’s a little perspective that we need. Why would Jeremiah 31 be the longest quoted section of the Old Testament that’s found in the New Testament? It’s largely because of what we said we began the book of Hebrews; Hebrews is written to Hebrews, Hebrews is an entirely Jewish context, written to encourage Hebrew believers in Jesus, to not depart from the faith. So, we can read Hebrews from 2000 years in the future and see it is a highly theological treatise and it is highly theological. But when we understand like, it’s in a Hebrew context, it’s told to people who know what’s being said here and are be encouraged, being encouraged not to abandon their faith in Jesus, this starts to make sense. And one of the things that we begin to see is were reading the letter to the Hebrews is, if you have no Jewish or Hebrew context at all, none of this makes any sense at all, into a completely Gentile mindset and a Gentile worldview, all of these things that seem so important in the book of Hebrews, you never even heard of them before, they don’t, they don’t make any sense. The Hebrew context is so important to understanding the book of Hebrews, but it’s so important in understanding the Bible itself. So, we have been talking for the last couple of days in the book of Hebrews, about covenants and new high priests and new covenants. And Hebrews quotes at length from the book of Jeremiah today, because of the prophecy foretold that a new covenant would be inaugurated. At the time the letter to the Hebrews was written, Jeremiah’s prophecy was 700 years old, but they knew about this prophecy, and we have recently read the book of Jeremiah. So, we saw Jeremiah prophesying from Jerusalem that Babylon is coming, and Babylon is going to win. And we saw Jeremiah write letters to the exiles that had been carried away into Babylon, settle in, this is gonna take a generation, but I have plans for you, you’re coming back. Jeremiah talked about this; a new covenant being established. So, the writer of Hebrews is simply saying, all that’s happening right now, is what we expected would happen. We’re not inventing a brand-new religion, we’re not naming a brand-new God that we worship; what is happening was foretold, a new covenant has been inaugurated with the people of God. And so, I quote from Hebrews “If that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one.” So, that’s a statement by the writer of Hebrews but then they go to Jeremiah for support and then quoting from Jeremiah, “Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds, and I will inscribe them on their hearts, and I will be their God and they will be my people, and there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countrymen or each one to teach his brother, saying no the Lord. Since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds and their sins I will remember no longer.” Right, so, this new covenant is foretold, and the writer of Hebrews is telling the Hebrews, it’s here; we find it in Jesus. And so, the logic here is, if it’s a new covenant it needs to be presided over by a new high priest, and we have such a new high priest. The letter to the Hebrews is telling us; a high priest named Jesus who will never die. He’s not a high priest that needs to sacrifice on his own behalf, to atone for his own sins. He has fulfilled it all and He presides over this new covenant, not in a place that can be destroyed or tarnished but in heaven. Most of us are Gentiles. So, even if we can get our minds around the concept by saying okay, this is a Hebrew context and the more I understand the Hebrew context, the more I understand how revolutionary this is. From a Gentile perspective, it seems intricate right, it seems tedious but for a devout, first century Jewish person who understood the Scriptures, this is so revolutionary that many can’t get on board, and it causes a great division. Because without diving into it deeply and considering it deeply, it just sounds like heresy. But the point of the letter to the Hebrews wasn’t to talk them out of being Jewish and to convert over to this other faith, it was to reveal to them that Jesus is fulfilling what was promised to the Hebrew people. This is something new that God is doing, something that they’d been waiting for, the old covenant that had been broken was being replaced by a new, an unbroken covenant, that is presided over by a new and sinless high priest, Jesus. On the one hand, getting that concept into their minds would’ve seemed, well, it would’ve, it would’ve been very difficult. It would’ve been awesome, almost too good to be true because sin isn’t an issue anymore. The law is fulfilled so they would have had to start thinking what comes, like if that’s done now, what do we do? And for so many, that was a bridge too far, even if it had been foretold. So, Hebrews being written to Hebrews and not just Hebrew people but Hebrew believers in Jesus, some people are thinking this through, they’re facing marginalization, they’re facing opposition and they’re just shrinking back into the culture that they know, into the worship that they understand, and the writer of Hebrews is essentially saying, but you’re on the ground floor of something brand-new. We don’t have to live under the bondage we used to have to live under, there is a new covenant promised and it has been inaugurated and we have a new high priest, a perfect one, a sinless one. We are being invited to move dramatically forward in the story because God is doing a new thing. Typically, we rejoice about stuff like this when we begin understand it, especially 2000 years in the future from a Gentile mindset, usually from a Western culture mindset. So, we look at this and go, okay this is really, really good news. For us to kind of understand the predicament, we have to consider can God do a new thing now and if God decided to do anything now, first, would we be able to see it, second would we be on board with it or would we fight for the old traditions. That begins to help us, at least, understand what’s going on here as these things are being said, what people are grappling with and how much they actually have to leap into faith and into the arms of Jesus because of what following Jesus may cost them. Most of us, it doesn’t really cost us any, like we’re not worried about whether or not we get to wake up tomorrow, if we believe in Jesus. But at this point, it’s getting more and more difficult to embrace this message because it is being opposed the more that it is known, the more that it is being opposed. And so, this gives us a little bit of the lay of the land. We have a lot to do, a lot left in the letter to the Hebrews, to move through, but this kind of gives us perspective about the environment in which this letter is being written and how it’s being received and how some people are having a difficult time processing it all, while being marginalized and sidelined in their culture.
Prayer:
So, thank You, Father for the letter to the Hebrews. Thank You for this perspective and thank You for what You have done among the Hebrew people, throughout history and what we are reading in the Scripture. And thank You for grafting us into the story and making us, we Gentiles, a part of Your family. And help us, Holy Spirit, as we read through things like the letter to the Hebrews, to not just gonna wax over, let our eyes glaze over and go, this doesn’t really apply to me, like I don’t really understand what’s going on. Help us to understand that You did something new, and it changed everything, and You have invited us to participate in it. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s all for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family, this is John from Texas. I’m calling for my amazing wife. She has tinnitus and struggles with just an irritating, aggravating noise playing in her head, 24/7, 365. And there can be nothing worse than just an irritating sound no matter where you are but to have it inside your head and not be able to get rid of it has just been an incredible challenge for her these past months. And I know this is a praying community and I know prayer changes things. And I know prayer tares down walls, heals the sick and even raises the dead. And so, I’m asking for you and for your prayers that I covet, to lean into the throne of God and ask for an outpouring of His Spirit to bring healing to her, deliverance to her and restore the peace and hope that she has by illuminating tinnitus, once and for all. Thank you.
Hello, I’m sorry my sister Luke 1:45, that called in on November 3rd, or I’m not sure when you called in but your prayer request was on November 3rd. And I couldn’t help but respond because your story is kind of my story. I had endometriosis my whole life. And but I did give birth on October 26th and my birthday is November 11th as well. So, to me that was a sign from God, a nudge from the Holy Spirit to call in and give you encouragement. Whether you’re able to continue with IVF or not, whether you get pregnant or not, God is with you, God loves you and He wants you to be encouraged and He wants you to be at peace. And just, just know that there’s a bigger plan for you, there is a plan for you. And because we have all these things in common, I just know that I was meant to call in to give you this message. There’s no, as soon as I heard endometriosis, as soon as I heard October 26th, as soon as I heard November 11th, I was like, okay, three similar days, that’s enough to call in for Luke 1:45.
DAB family, this is Echo Hope. I’m just so delighted to tell you, whoo weee, I got out of prison on October 26th. So, it’s just like last month, I’ve got two jobs and now I get to volunteer at the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Store on my time off. And they got a vehicle for me, a Honda Pilot, for $2000. And they’re gonna help me get my own place and they are just really delighted to help me there at the Disable American Vets, here in Prescit. And I’m just so enthrilled and I just love to pray for my beautiful brother because when I was in prison, aw, I loved to hear his poems; Blind Tony, I love you sooooo much, brother. You’re just on my heart, maaaan. Jackson, I love you buddy. You’re on my heart, yes. Joyfully Jo, you gotta be like my mother. I was going through some of the similar things, exactly, the same things that you and your, that you were going through with your sons. And I want you to know that I’ve been delivered from it. I want you to know, three different times, Joyfully Jo, God used your prayers in prison to confirm things and align things and help me understand things. I thank you for that Psalm that you spoke, it was like a Psalm, and it said new song, and that’s exactly the recover home that I ended up choosing and going to and I’m now staying at. And I get to be a part of your anointing in my life, over me, all of you. I swam deep into the depth of your prayers as they just engulfed me and surrounded me. I was in the atmosphere family.
Hey guys, this is Joyful James in Olympia, Washington. And I just want to let you guys know that I love you. Just wanted to give a shout out to a couple of people, remind everyone here of your impact having such a rippling affect. His Little Sharie and His Yellow Flower, I wanted to thank you so much, and many more, to giving a letter to my friend Chris. I put a request to you guys, anyone who was able to write letters to my friend, he’s a very, very dear and close friend of mine. It was a couple years ago that I put this request out and you should be receiving a letter here, soon, for those letters changed his life so dramatically that he’s beginning a ministry to help other people get the same kind of love and encounters. Where, if they’re in prison, they don’t really have anyone and you can go out and write letters to them, and you can receive letters from them, and they just get completely loved on. I mean, Chris was getting so many letters that everyone was wondering what was going on and how come he’s getting so many letters. And the Daily Audio Bible shined with brilliant light, and I just speak this testimony of every single one of your prayers having such a ripple effect, such a God, move of God on them, that the smallest word in the Spirit, just breaks down walls and strongholds. And I’m glad to say, Chris is saved now, and he is running passionately after the Lord and I’m so grateful. So, praise the Lord and thank you guys for all that you do. Talk to you again soon.
Morning this is Early Riser. I’ve been listening to the prayers. I’m on my way to work right now and so many of the prayers were for people struggling with depression and anxiety, grief and medical issues, lost relationships. And I know that we serve a God who intervenes miraculously. And I also know that we serve a God who sometimes takes a slower path and uses one another, uses the body to minister and move towards change. So, my prayers for all of the heavy burdens that people carry. My prayer is that you also find encouragement from a doctor, or a counseling, pastor or a good friend, a pet, neighbor, Sunday School Teacher, coach. And that you’d give someone here in this life an opportunity to walk along side to help carry the burden. Trusting that our Heavenly Father will sometimes work miraculously and sometimes sends a neighbor to carry that burden. To continue to pray and fast. Maybe go for a walk, drink some water, take a nap, do some stretching, read a good book, remember that you’re a body here on this planet and sometimes the Lord uses another body to help heal the body.