Scripture Reading
Hebrews 2:14-18; Matthew 4:1-11
What a wonderful thought to know that God loved us so much that he did not leave us in our sin. He made it possible for us to enter into a relationship with him. How you ask? By Jesus taking on human flesh so that "He might destroy him who holds the power of death." What does it mean for Jesus to share in our humanity? This truth separates Christianity from every other religion because only in Christianity does one find the story of God becoming flesh and blood for the sake of his children. This is the extent of the Father's love that he would sacrifice his own son for you and for me.
The writer of Hebrews spends a lot of time emphasizing the Old Testament sacrificial system and how it has been fulfilled and reinterpreted by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Therefore in Hebrews 2:17 he points out the role of Jesus as the great high priest of our faith. The high priest is the one who made the sacrifice and entered the Holy of Holies once a year to sprinkle the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, and the mercy seat with blood as an atonement for the sins of the Hebrew people. The high priest would then exit the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the people with blood as a symbolic act of the cleansing of their sin through the blood of the spotless lamb that had been slain. The good news for us is that Jesus was the high priest and the sacrifice. He offered a sacrifice that did not have to be repeated every year but was done once and for all.
The word atonement was a word created by a translator of the Bible during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century to describe the process of making peace and restitution between us and God. If we take the word apart like this, it helps us to see how Jesus' death makes us one with God (at / one / ment). Because Jesus took away our sin and punishment we have become one with God because our sin no longer separates us from him.
Reflect on what it means to know that when we face temptation that we do not have to give in to that temptation because we gather strength from knowing that Jesus faced the same temptation but did not give in to sin. Just because we are tempted does not mean we have to submit to temptation. Allow the words of the song, "She Must and Shall Go Free" by Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken to serve as your prayer today.
Prayer: "Mercy speaks by Jesus' blood/Hear and sing, ye sons of God/ justice satisfied indeed/ Christ has full atonement made/ All her debts are cast on me, And she must and shall go free/ Peace of conscience, peace with God/ We obtain through Jesus' blood/ Jesus' blood speaks solid rest/ We believe and we are blessed." Amen.
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