Former commandments and impossible laws.

Hello again!

I know it isn’t really a long passage, but it has a lot in it:

For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

(Heb 7:18-19)

Lets pick up on a few key words here real quick “former, weakness, uselessness, better hope, draw near to God” Do you see a pattern?

Did you realize we can apply all of those words to us, “Formerly we were weak and useless, because we were under the law. But, we found a far better hope in Jesus, and his amazing love. And now we draw near to God. Do you see what I mean? The law, is now in essence, useless, don’t get me wrong here, I need to clarify something, just because the law is “useless” doesn’t mean that we should ignore, stay with me on this for a minute. When we obey Jesus, we don’t need to try and obey the law, we just do. Though, by no means perfectly (I know I’ve said this several times, but I wanted to make sure that wasn’t the message being conveyed)…

Anyway, now the law is broken (that makes three times now, if your interested) and the curtain torn in two. Now we can draw near to God, because Jesus died for us! Because of Jesus, we are now able do obey the law, now we are able to do what God requires of us. I’d say that http://www.thefreedictionary.com/able describes it well in their definition.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Unatainable perfection

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today:

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?Hey, hold on a minute! I thought Melchizedek didn’t have a genealogy? And that he “had no beginning or end of days”? So why would anyone else be required to fill his place? Because, that was pointing forward to Jesus, it wasn’t per say 100% describing him as it was his dependent, that being Jesus.

(Heb 7:11)

 Why was perfection unattainable? I thought they had the 10 commandments? Well, they did, however it was impossible for them (us) to obey the commandments, why? Because Jesus had not died and rose again for us! The reason another priest was required, the reason we are alive today, the reason that  perfection was unattainable for everyone, was because Jesus had not died yet, and the reason we are alive to-day (etc) is because he DID die and rise again for us.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

The king of everything

Hello again!

I would just like to apologize for not putting this in my last post, I can’t hardly believe I missed!

and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!

(Heb 7:2-4)

 

 So, lets review a few names and titles of Melchizedek (Jesus)         

 

1 king of righteousness 2 king of peace 3 king of Salem 4 high priest 5 fatherless 6 motherless 7 immortal 8 worthy of spoils and honor 9 like God.

Wow, that’s a lot to take in. Well, lets start simple and see how these reflect Jesus “king of righteousness” How is Jesus the king of righteousness? Sure he’s perfect but how does that make him king of righteousness?

Righteousness:

The Hebrew word for righteousness is tseh’-dek, tzedek, Gesenius‘s Strong’s Concordance:6664—righteous, integrity, equity, justice, straightness. The root of tseh’-dek is tsaw-dak’, Genius’ Strong:6663—upright, just, straight, innocent, true, sincere. It is best understood as the product of upright, moral action in accordance with some form of divine plan.

Look at some of the definitions of righteousness. upright, true, sincere, all things that describe Jesus so far  straight, innocent, justice. Is Jesus all of those things? Yes! if righteousness can be described as being truth, then not only is Jesus the king of righteousness but is the essence of it himself!

How is Jesus the king of peace? Well, let me answer that with another question. How are you alive today? Because Jesus made peace for us. Well, how did he do that? On the cross, when he died for you and me! He made peace between God the father and our sin.

How is Jesus king of Salem? That’s an easy question, the way he is king of Salem is because he is first, king of everything. Including Salem.

How is Jesus a high priest? He made atonement for us, by being the atonement offering.

How is Jesus fatherless? I thought that God the father was his father? Well, you have to remember that they are all three in one, Jesus is God the father, not only that, be he has no earthly father. So, to some degree Jesus is fatherless.

How is Jesus motherless? I thought Mary was his mother? Again, I can’t remember what passage in scripture [I found the passage by the way, it’s (Mathew 12:28)] but I think that it is in John somewhere, anyway, in there Jesus talks about how the people who follow him are his family. Jesus has a huge family, but he has no “family”.

How is Jesus immortal? I thought he died, and if you die, how can you be immortal? He rose again, simple as that. Jesus did die, but he didn’t stay dead (thankfully).

How is Jesus worthy of “spoils and honor”. Frankly, he died for you and he rose again, for you! so that he could intercede with the father… For you!!!!!! If that doesn’t make him worthy of everything we have to offer, and then some, nothing is!

How Jesus like God, I thought you said he was God? Remember, even though Jesus and the father are one, they are still three. An example of this is an egg, it has a yoke, a filmy covering, and a shell, it’s still an egg, but it has three individual parts to it.

 

I think this is a much more accurate definition of how Jesus is like Melchizedek. And again, if you know what the passage is where Jesus talks about his family being all believers, can you post it in the comments? Thanks, and Thanks to “Lin Pearson” for telling me what the passage was in Genesis, and by the way, that passage was Genesis 14. 

                                                               You are loved!

                                                             Joshua Cleveland

 

A priest, AND a king?

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in his word:

where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

(6:20 – 7:1)”or this Melchizedek, king of Sale, Priest of the Most High God” Wow! Hold the phone a minute, I thought it was impossible for someone to be both a priest and a king? What’s up here? This is a hard question, but it can be answered. Who is the only one who is a prophet, priest, and king? Jesus. This is pointing forward to Jesus. The reason it’s pointing forward to Jesus, is because this is the only other person aside from Jesus to be a priest and king. On a side note here, the way Jesus the latter, is because: 1 He’s king because he is, frankly, ruler of all. 2 He’s prophet because he told of what would happen in the future. 3 He’s priest because he made atonement for all of us on the cross, Hallilughia! I couldn’t find the passage in scripture where it talks about Abraham and Melchizedek, but if you can, can you post it in the comments? Thanks.

that’s an interesting observation I had, please feel free to post your thoughts on the subject to.

I love picturing Jesus as a prophet, priest and king. I think it shows the trinity again. Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the father. Prophet, Priest, and King…. I think you can make the connections from there.

I hope you understood what I was trying to say today, and I’m sorry for being so brief on the subject, you see, I remember reading this passage in scripture with my family, we got a lot more out of it then, I just wish I could remember what we were talking about… If I could do that, this would be a little more “full”.

 

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Do you want to be blessed… Or curesed? It’s your choice.

Hello again!

It took me awhile of searching, but finally, God did show me something:

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things–things that belong to salvation.Look at it this way. If we are poured on every day in church the living water, if we are poured on from reading God’s word, and if we receive living water by praying (and even more importantly, listening) and then, we go and do drugs, or we go and gossip, get angry (easily) or something of the sort. Then, how can you call yourself a real christian? That’s called a ‘luke warm’ christian  

“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3:16)

But, if we are “warm” then we are blessed by God… The question, however is, how do you be “warm” or how do you “produce a good crop”? Well, we already know how to get water, but we now need to know how to grow a good crop? Well, somewhat the same way you get the water, by praying for help with getting angry or gossiping, or taking drugs. And then, by taking it a step further, and getting an accountability partner (preferably someone who is not struggling with that area). And, by turning away from drugs, by going to your accountability partner, by going to the bible. And, if you do this, you are ‘blessed’.

I’m just gonna take a quick side note here, being ‘blessed’ is not necessarily what we might normally think of it. Like, we might think that being blessed ment Ferrari appearing in your drive way, with “I hope you feel blessed now, with love, God” in the driver’s seat, or suddenly inheriting a mansion, being blessed is being alive, being ‘really alive’. Now, however much that must sound like a hippie, hear me out. You can be alive, your body can be moving, but your spirit be dead. Why are there suicides? Well, why is there any meaning in life? If the theory of evolution is true, why doesn’t everyone just kill themselves? Well, the reason christians don’t just get up and commit suicide, is because they have meaning to their life, to serve Jesus to the best of their ability, and in the process, that ‘little voice inside your head’ is appeased, and you can finally look people in the eye again.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

(Heb 6:7-9)

 

There are the babies… And then there are the men

Hello again!

I find this to be one of those ‘man or mouse’ situations.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

(Heb 5:12-14

 

Lets review that first part “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.” interesting, isn’t? They ought to be teachers, but they need milk. Well, who would need milk? Babies. Why is the author calling them babies? Because, they need ‘milk’. Well, the obvious question would be ‘what is the milk already?!’ So, I’ll tell you. Milk, is knowing right from wrong, knowing not to break the window when your told to clean it, etc. Milk, is, the Gospel, it is that Jesus died on the cross for you! We need to learn that ‘while we are young’ weather we’re young spiritually or physically (the Gospel is also ‘solid food’).

So, what is ‘solid food’? Well, by this time, you know the difference between cleaning and braking the window. So, your no longer a baby, now you’re a… Well, just about anything aside from a baby. So, you know eat solid food. Well, again, what is solid food?  Well, it’s also knowing right from wrong, but in much ‘deeper’ matters. When you eat a steak, and it nourishes you, you have no part in it, at least, no voluntary part as far as digesting it. You eat the food, you don’t bother worrying if it ‘got stuck’ you just eat the thing. And it nourishes you. We eat the scriptures, we devour the Gospel, we devour Jesus. And it nourishes our inner body. When you eat solid food, you know it. If you eat a steak, do you taste it? Yes! Of course you do. As it is with the scriptures, when you eat of Jesus, you know it, it strengthens your inner man, and, your doubts begin to take flight.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Jesus really does sum it up better than me.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Where was Jesus made perfect?

Hello again!

Today is something of a short post, that would, rather be because the verses are rather small…

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

(Heb 5:9-10)

I thought Jesus was always perfect? But it says ‘after being made perfect’ how can this be?! This completely contradicts the rest of the bible, and there fore the bible must be false, right? Wrong! Jesus was perfect, but he took all our sins on himself, for us. Then, after killing sin on the cross, he was made perfect once more.

How can Jesus be the source of eternal salvation? Simple, look up one paragraph… He can be our salvation, because he became mortal, he came down to earth, became fully man and fully God, and then died on the cross for us, to save us from our sins!

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Our help in time of need

Hello again!

Today I almost skimmed right past these verses, thankfully God made it stand out to me:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

(Heb 4:16-17)

There are three main parts to this, that I can see.

First one is that, Jesus has gone through all the temptations we have! Remember when the Devil tried to make Jesus bow down to him? I don’t remember were those verses are exactly, but I think they’re somewhere in Mathew… Then again, I think there in all the gospels… Anyway, Jesus knows all of our sufferings and pains, he’s sympathetic with us, he interseeds for us before God, because he knows how we feel! He know’s more than that, he knows our sin, he should know, he took it all upon himself when he died on the cross!

The second thing I see here is that we have a command, we have to draw near to Jesus, we need to read the his word, we need to pray to him, we need to followship around other believers. Yesterday the pastor preached about “ripping our heart open, and, dispite our wants to sow it back up, Jesus keeps it up, and pours in the disinfectent of the Holy Spirit, and then he intertwines our heart with other believers.” Now, I can’t remember exactly what he said, so that probaly is a little inaccuret, but the concept isn’t. Our desire is to close up, and draw back from other believers, God’s desire is to open us up wider and pour in his Spirit. Can you gues who we have to obey, if we want to draw closer to Jesus?

And, finaly, the third point I see is this, that when we draw close to Jesus, when we draw near to the throne of grace, Jesus gives us help in our time of need, he gives us mercy to overcome the Devil, he pours his very spirit and being into you when we draw close to him. He tells you about how he died for you and rose again three day later, like with John, whom Jesus loved. Why did Jesus love John? John was almost always close to him, except for once, but he came right back after that one time. We see John recling against Jesus at the final supper, we John walking with Jesus, when Paul is drawing back and denying Jesus. Drawing near to Jesus is both a commandment and a blessing.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

How to enter into the rest Jesus provides

Hello again!

I missed a rather important part of Hebrews chapter 4, so I’m going to go back and post a little on that subject before moving on again:

For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,'” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

(Heb 4:2-3)

I think this passage is telling us how to enter into the rest Jesus provides us “For we who have believed enter that rest” we have to believe, but more than that, we have to have faith, “(Jas 2:19) You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the Demons believe –and shudder!” We must believe that God is one, but we must also have faith that God is mighty to save, and that he has saved us!

The reason the message the isrelites heard didn’t benifit them, was because they did not believe it to be true! The reason we are now all able to enter God’s rest is because he died for us, so that we can now all enter the amazing ‘rest’ that Jesus provides!

They were not “UNITED BY FAITH” so they were unable to believe so they were unable to enter the rest Jesus gives us! We have to have faith in Jesus, faith that he died for us and that he rose again for us! Faith that only Jesus could give, he has already given everyone some little part of faith, even if they are a atheist they know that God is real, or they have ‘a whole in them’, that they try and fill with drugs and acahol, and just about every other sin you care to mention. That is why Elevis died, drug over-dose. That’s how so many celebrites have died. Because they are not christains!!! They, we, have a whole in us, a whole that REQUIRES FILLING! We must fill it with Jesus, and nothing else, because nothing else can satisfy us permentaly!

Daily prayer section: Dear heavenly father thank you, thank you so much for filling that whole we have in us, thank you for sending your son to die for us, thank you, thank you for permantly healing us for permentaly giving us rest with you, Lord, please give us strength to overcome the world, and Satan, please help us to overcome all the world has to through at us, we can only do that in you Lord, so I pray that you would give us strength to do. In Jesus name, amen.

                                                                       You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Jesus is our rest

Hello again!

Here’s what God gave me today:

And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
(Heb 4:5-10)

Well, who is our rest? Can’t be Joshua, can’t be the Sabbath (The Israelites had the sabbath at that time, but it says “they failed to enter into it”) So what is our rest? I’m getting tired just writing this! ” again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward” hmm, through David? What does that mean. Well, this whole time, we’ve been asking the wrong question! Through David, Jesus was a descendent of David. Jesus is our ‘good news’!

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” that is right after “saying through David so long afterward” Do not harden your hearts if you hear his voice today aka, if you are reading this, and are still not a Christian, it’s time to make a change. And, through David, aka through David (Jesus came from David’s blood line) so, through Jesus dying on the cross and rising again three days later for us, we are able to NOT harden our hearts, coincidence? I don’t think so!

Daily prayer section: Dear heavenly father, thank you for allowing us this encouragement, Lord, sometimes we do have doubts, doubts that Jesus really did die for us, I pray that you would forgive us of our foolishness in thinking that, and for thinking that at all, I pray that you would help us not to think that any more, help us to “exhort one another every day, as long as we live, that none of you may be hardened by the sin.” Thank you Lord, in Jesus name, amen.         

 You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland