OK so you will see a lot of these types of pics during this time of year but that’s alright.  I don’t think we look at them quite enough to be honest with you.  During this Easter season I wanted to take a second and talk a little bit what this event means for all men.  Not just the gentiles but for Jews as well.

At Oak Leaf this past week we were discussing about he ugliness of the cross.  It was the marrying of God’s justice and grace.  In that, we talked a little about why this had to happen.  Michael talked about what Hebrews explains in that Jesus was acting as a priest for all people.

I had been actually reading through Hebrews this past week and took some notes about this priesthood and this is what I wanted to share with you.

Since the inception of Judaism when the Hebrews left Egypt there has been a tradition of priests.  Men, from the tribe of Levi, that spoke in behalf of the people to God.  There job was to offer the sacrifices that were brought to them in payment for the sins of the people.

With the coming of Jesus there was a new order put in place by God for the forgiveness of sins.  Here are the differences.

• The law required blood for the payment of sins.
• Priests would sprinkle this blood over different areas in the tabernacle to act as a covering.
• Every year on the Day of Atonement the same sacrifice had to be offered again.  (there were also many other sacrifices that had to be done throughout the year for other reasons)
• This sacrifice was offered for all the people of Israel.
• Only the high priest could come before God to ask for the forgiveness.

Bottom line is this was an imperfect offering and was acting as a representation for what was to come.

So, here is how it changed when Jesus shows up on the scene.

• Because He lives forever he is a permanent priest.  It is always the same mediator between you and God.
• There is no need for Him to offer daily sacrifices for His own sins.
• His payment was way more than enough therefore it only has to happen once.
• Our bodies are made right on the inside because the soul is made right.  It’s not just an external sprinkling like before.
• He is actually in the presence of God so he is able to speak to God on an ongoing basis.

We could go on and on about how it is better.  The thing is that God no longer recognizes the old way of doing things.  It is now a wasted effort to offer sacrifices for sins.  To try and live by the law and constantly fall short.

Both Jews and Gentiles are guilty of this.  We often think that by trying to live ‘good’ we can get closer to God.  Yet we are behaving then under the old order still.  We think that getting closer to God is based on our behavior.

The Good News about Easter is that there is a New Order.  Jesus is our new High Priest. If we, as the church, still choose to live by the old order we are lost as ever.

Try reading Hebrews and see what it says to you about living in this New Order..

Ok I know, "Live Long and Prosper", but it means the same thing.

• The following was the post I wrote for our Jesus website this week.  Check out the link on the side of the page for more info.

When looking this past week at the story from Luke 7: 50 Jesus looks at this woman that washed His feet, with a years worth of wages, and says, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”…

One of the unusual things here that we talked about was that in the previous verse he tells her, “Your sins are forgiven.”  Which blows everyone away.  Why? Because no one on earth has the ability to forgive sins.  Only God could forgive sins.  But, here is this Rabbi that is traveling through the country-side, doing miracles, forgiving people of sins.  This was the calling card of the one destined to come, the Messiah.  Kind of like the Jewish Superman.

But there is also this cool, underlying meaning, behind another phrase that only the Messiah could have gotten away with…”Go in Peace”.

You see, everyone in the world is at odds with God until they confess sins, repent (to turn away from there sins), and believe that Jesus died for them and accept that sacrifice.  Scripture states that we cannot serve two masters.  The world is in direct defiance of its creator.  Because of this we are against God and He cannot be for us, nor turn His wrath away, until we come to His terms.  By the way I do not think that God is out to get you until you become a Christian but we cannot live with God, neither now or in eternity, until we surrender to Him.

To, “Go in Peace.” Means that Jesus was stating to this woman that she was no longer at odds with God.  She was safe and now in His care.  She didn’t have to think about an eternity away from Him.  She could live the rest of her physical existence in peace.

As someone that has experienced this I would urge you to seek God and make this peace with Him.  At Oak Leaf we are here to talk about this with any one but we want you to know you can do this on your own.  But if you want to talk you can contact me and we will talk about how you too can have the peace that this lady had.