Our Salvation History

Our Salvation History 8-2-20 Beginning Scripture: Hebrews 9:9-10 This has an important lesson for us today. For under the old system, gifts and sacrifices were offered, but these failed to cleanse the hearts of the people who brought them. For the old system dealt only with certain rituals-what foods to eat and drink, rules for washing themselves, and rules about this and that. The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God's new and better way. Hebrews 9 is an interesting chapter. Its main points seem to be * There is a new tabernacle in heaven * There is continuity between the Old and New Testaments * There is a new agreement or contract, a fulfillment of God's promise and that Jesus the Christ died only once for an eternal forgiveness of humanity's sins, rather than the old practice of repeated animal sacrifices. Although there had been anointing of kings in the Old Testament, Jesus was THE last king of human history to be anointed Messiah. We Christians believe he is our one and only Messiah - the one who fulfills the Old Testament prophesies of a savior who ushered in a whole new order and way of thinking about God and what God wants. Jesus and his approach demonstrate a DIScontinuity between the old and new. As I mentioned last week, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ proclaimed a NEW contract or covenant between God and humanity that replaces the old contract. Now, before I move on to my next point I want to give an illustration. Please forgive me if I again use myself as an example: The person I am today and that you know here in this church is to some extent different than the person I was even ten years ago when I was still working and had a career. I have launched into a different phase of my life in my retirement and here in our church. To some extent what has happened to me in the past 6 years in particular is sort of the new testament of Glenn. But at the same time, obviously I have not forgotten all that I learned from my parents and friends and teachers for the first 60 years of my life. I can still play a tune on the piano which I learned when I was about 12 years old. I can still pray some of the prayers I learned in the church I was brought up in, and so forth. That is, there is a continuity and connection between who I was and who I am now. I am still to some extent anyway, the same person I was 50 or 60 years ago - and even (hopefully to a lesser degree) when I was a teenager or a little kid. In a similar way, this chapter 9 of Hebrews elucidates or explains the DIScontinuity of the Old Hebrew Testament and New Testament describing the life and death of Jesus. BUT chapter 9 also goes to great length to describe the continuity between the old and the new, that is, the uninterrupted connection and union between the Old and the New testaments. BOTH testaments comprise what has been called salvation history, that is, THE authentic and true story of God's intervention in human history, and not just in HUMAN history but in the story of the touch of God's hand upon all of creation, that is, his passing presence into the formation and life of the entire universe as Paul proclaimed in Second Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!" [And in Romans 8:19 and 21 19For the creation waits in eager expectation ...for God to be revealed. ...21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.] I am continually struck by the insistence of the New Testament and the Christian church upon the importance of continuity in the often repeated connection between the bloody animal sacrifices offered by Jewish high priests and Jesus' bloody sacrifice on the cross. It seems that God insists in his inspired Word that we not forget his presence throughout the history of the Levitical priesthood and the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Another way to look at this is that we Christians are inextricably and tightly bound to the history of the Jewish people. They were our forefathers and foremothers in Salvation History - the story of God's presence on Earth. I think this is one reason we should abhor antisemitism so much. We should cherish the connection and continuity between their history and ours. So if we have Jewish friends or acquaintances we should appreciate their Judaism and honor their practices and religion. It does NOT mean that we agree with everything that they say or do in the religious or political realms. BUT we should feel a kind of kinship to them. And as you know, we don't always agree with our kin, but we honor the ties that bind us. One small example of this is that I have Jewish friend, Ron, who every year on my birthday sends me a greeting. My relatives do, but no other friend does this. I have to be honest. These small greetings make me think Ron is more like Jesus than some of my Christian friends. However, I DID receive a birthday greeting last week from Sister Sheila on behalf of First Free Will Baptist church - which I appreciate. Questions and Challenges * Take a moment or moments this week to reflect on your spirituality five or ten years ago. * Are you stronger in your faith and in your relationship with the Father and with Jesus now? * What do you think the people who knew you before the changes you've gone through would say about you now? Prayer Father thank you for the Bible, for inspiring its writers throughout history. Thank you for the many lessons you teach us in the Old Testament and help me to value those lessons and be changed by them. Be with the Jewish people and raise them up as they deal with the long history of prejudice and discrimination they have suffered. Father, please help me to erase any trace of prejudice toward Jews that may still reside in me. We ask these things in the name of our precious Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 8-2-20