God's Battle Plan for the Mind 7: Important Meditation Occasions

The Lord, Who gave His Word, works our lives according to the counsel of His will. We ought to meditate upon His Word in relation to the major events in our lives—especially spiritual events, such as the sermons we sit under, other parts of the public worship, and the administration of the sacraments.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Law Taught Righteousness by Faith [Family Worship lesson in Romans 10:5–9]

Had God offered His people to earn life by works? Romans 10:5–9 prepares us for the sermon in the midweek prayer meeting. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God has always presented Himself as His people’s salvation, not upon a principle of works, but always upon a principle of faith in Him. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.12.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ Romans 10:5–9

Read Romans 10:5–9

Questions from the Scripture text: In whom did those who sought righteousness by works of the law (cf. Romans 9:32a) think they were trusting (Romans 10:5)? What sort of righteousness were they hoping for? How did they think they could get it? But what righteousness had they missed out on (Romans 10:6, cf. Romans 9:32b)? How does it speak (cf. Deuteronomy 32:12)—what are they not to say? To what does the apostle liken attempting to ascend into heaven? What else are they not to say (Romans 10:7)? To what does the apostle liken descending into the abyss? What does the righteousness of faith say (Romans 10:8)? To what does the apostle liken the Word being near (verse 8)? What does the Word of faith, which the apostle preaches, look like in their mouth (Romans 10:9)? What does it look like in their heart? What will surely happen, if it is in both of these places?

Had God offered His people to earn life by works? Romans 10:5–9 prepares us for the sermon in the midweek prayer meeting. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God has always presented Himself as His people’s salvation, not upon a principle of works, but always upon a principle of faith in Him. 

In Romans 9:31, the apostle had mentioned those Israelites who pursued a law of righteousness, but did not attain to it. His answer for why their pursuit failed was that they did not seek it by faith but by works of the law (Romans 9:32). If by the Spirit’s grace they would have pursued the law by faith before Christ came, then when He came and presented Himself as the LORD our righteousness, they would then have acknowledged Him as the LORD and hoped in Him from righteousness (by the same Spirit!). 

However, they were accustomed to reading Moses as saying that doing this merits life. They would quote Leviticus 18:5 as if it supported their pursuit, by works, of the law of righteousness. In God’s good providence to us, we are still working through Leviticus in the Lord’s Day evening preaching, and chapter 18 is fresh in our minds. We remember how the chapter as a whole is about how YHWH is the One Who makes a difference in His people, how He prefaces it by His saving them and binding them to Himself, just as He had prefaced the Ten Commandments with the same announcement of grace (cf. Exodus 20:1–2, Deuteronomy 5:6). 

So, in God’s providence, we have been well-prepared to come to Romans 10:5 and not read the apostle as if he is asserting that Leviticus 18:5 presented some republication of the covenant of works or even some “works principle” for the relationship between God and Israel. No, if they were going to walk in the manner that enjoyed life and laid hold of life, it was going to be by the grace of the same Lord Who had come near them already in His Word.

The apostle answers the wrong way of reading “those who do them shall live by them” is to refer them to Deuteronomy 30, where the Lord had also said, “I have set before you today life […] keep His commandments […] that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:15, Deuteronomy 30:16). It is the same principle in both passages! Not a works principle in one passage and a faith principle in the other. We have already seen that the obedience and life in Leviticus 18 did not operate on a works principle but a faith principle. Now, the apostle chooses a parallel passage in which the faith principle is even clearer.

In Romans 10:6-8, he quotes and explains Deuteronomy 30:12–14, which immediately precede the offering of life that parallels the Israelites’ quote from Leviticus 18:5. And the apostle’s explanation clearly mirrors Deuteronomy 30:11, which presents the commandment as being something accessible and near: not something difficult that they are to produce for God, but something that God brings so near as to put in their hearts Himself and to put in their mouth Himself; this is the key to doing it (Romans 10:8, cf. Deuteronomy 14).

The logic of faith that was already there in the law in Deuteronomy 30 is even plainer in the Lord Jesus. In Deuteronomy 30:12, the Lord points out that He has brought His Word from heaven to earth; they did not have to go retrieve it. Now, the apostle makes the same point in an even greater way in Romans 10:6. You can’t contribute to your own righteousness any more than you could contribute to bringing Christ down from heaven in the incarnation!

In Deuteronomy 30:13, the Lord points out that His Word is not far away so that they would have to brave the depths of the sea to go retrieve it. Now, the apostle makes the same point in an even greater way in Romans 10:7. You can’t contribute to your own righteousness any more than you could contribute to bringing Christ up from the grave in the resurrection!

The logic of Deuteronomy 30 holds in Romans 10. If the Lord has gone to the lengths that He has already, to put His word in their mouths and in their hearts, then surely He will complete their salvation (Romans 10:9). This is not a works-principle for the confessing and believing of Christ in the gospel any more than Deuteronomy 30 was a works-principle for obedience to the law. Rather, it is a demonstration by Who saved us (Jesus!) and how (Incarnation! Resurrection!) that the only way of being made right with God is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It is not at all by works, but by Christ, as God graciously makes us to confess Him with our mouths that He is YHWH in the flesh, and to believe in Him with our heart that He is the resurrected Redeemer.

Now, this does not mean that the confessing and believing aren’t important. They are very important. Indeed, they are required. But “necessary” does not mean “meritorious.” The confessing is a gift of grace; the believing is a gift of grace; the Christ to Whom this believing unites us is a gift of grace. And we can be absolutely sure that to every single one to whom God gives all of this by His grace, He will surely give the whole of His blessed salvation by that grace, in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you don’t believe in the incarnation of the LORD, or if you don’t believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, you can be just as sure that you are lost as the Christian can be sure that he is saved. For, it is God Who saves, and He does so in this incarnate and resurrected Christ, Whom the saved confess as incarnate and believe in as resurrected. 

But if you do believe, then that believing is not a work that you have done, but a work that God has done. The same Savior God Who gave Jesus from heaven and brought Jesus from the grave is the Savior God Who has given you to confess Him and to believe in Him. Hallelujah!

In what ways are you tempted to treat your confessing as needing to be good enough to earn salvation? In what ways are you tempted to treat your believing as needing to be good enough to earn salvation? Where do confessing and believing come from in the first place? What (Who!) is good enough to earn your salvation? From where can you get more of confessing Him and believing in Him, as you find that your own confessing and believing are too small?

Sample prayer:  We thank You, our God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—that You have saved us entirely by Your grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Without our contribution at all, You gave Him from heaven to become a Man for us. Without our contribution at all, You brought Him up in the resurrection on account of our salvation. And without our help at all, it is You Who have given us the faith by which we confess Him as LORD and believe His bodily resurrection. So, keep helping us by Your Spirit, we pray, until You Who started the work have brought it unto completion. Give us to work out our own salvation by Your working in us both to will and to work according to Your own good pleasure, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH517 “I Know Whom I Have Believed” 

The God Who Binds Himself to Creatures [Westminster Shorter Catechism 12—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Westminster Shorter Catechism question 12—especially explaining how the Creator has stooped down, in infinite generosity, to covenant with creatures.

Q12. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created? When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.12.24 Lord's Day Live Streams (live at 10:10a, 11a, 3p)

Click below for the:

December 24 Lord's Day Worship Booklet

Midweek Sermon in Matthew 5:10–16

Midweek Sermon in Leviticus 21

Enjoying Our Union with Christ Together [2023.12.23 Pastoral Letter and Hopewell Herald]

Hopewell Herald – December 23, 2023

Dear Congregation,

I am ignorant. I am guilty. I am weak and helpless.

These have been the answers to the younger children’s catechism questions the last three weeks. But, praise God, they have only secondarily been questions about ourselves. Primarily, they have been questions about Christ.

Christ is our Great Prophet. By His Spirit, He given us His full and faithful teaching in the Scriptures, through His apostles, prophets, and evangelists (Eph 4:11). And by His same Spirit, He attends the reading and especially the preaching of His Word as pastor-teachers of His own calling and gifting stabilize all His flock in the same doctrine (Eph 4:11–14), so that we may minister well to one another (Eph 4:15–16).

Christ is our Great High Priest. He has offered Himself up, once for all, a propitiation [full atonement] by which our guilt is removed (Rom 3:24–26), and by which we are consecrated for His worship (Heb 10:10, 14, 19–25).

Christ is our Great King. It is He Who subdued us, and brought us to submit to His own righteousness (Rom 10:3–4). He has liberated us from slavery to our own sinfulness (Rom 6:6–13) and from the condemnation of the law (Rom 6:14, 7:1). He now rules us so that we receive the law from Him as the royal law (Jam 2:9) and the law of liberty (Jam 1:25), which we follow from the heart by His Spirit (Rom 7:6). And it is He Who defends us from all evil that is within (Phil 1:6, 2:12–13) and without (2Tim 4:16–18).

A right view of ourselves is necessary, but not primary. A right view of Christ is both necessary and primary. And this knowledge must not remain theoretical but, experimentally, be tested, practiced, experienced.

Blessed be God! In public worship, He gives us to come to Him through Christ, and know and experience Him as our Redeemer—our Prophet, Priest, and King. God became a Man that He might give Himself for us, once for all. But God the Son also became a Man that He might give Himself to us, continually, forever. It is in this union with Him, as those who receive all of our life from Him, that we enjoy the blessedness of having Him as our Prophet, Priest, and King.

So, let us come to worship not only to think right things about ourselves and about Christ, but to know Him experimentally as God and Savior.

Looking forward to our enjoying our union with Christ together,

Pastor

Exceedingly Glad to Be Persecuted [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 5:10–16]

How should we respond to persecution? Matthew 5:10–16 prepares us for the morning sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we should rejoice and keep shining, whenever we are persecuted for Christ.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.12.23 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 5:10–16

Read Matthew 5:10–16

Questions from the Scripture text: What is the condition of those described in Matthew 5:10a? What is done to them? Why? What do they already possess (verse 10b)? Who are the blessed in Matthew 5:11, the described in Matthew 5:13-15, and the commanded in Matthew 5:12, Matthew 5:16? What three things will be done to them (Matthew 5:11)? Why? What two things are they commanded to do in Matthew 5:12? For what two reasons? What is the size of this reward? Where is this reward? Whom else did they persecute like this? What does Matthew 5:13 call them? What might be the condition of the salt? What can’t be done with it? What is it good for? What two things does Matthew 5:14 call them? What can’t be done to this city? What isn’t done to the light (Matthew 5:15)? What is done to it? So that it does what? What are they commanded in Matthew 5:16? What should men see? Whom would they glorify for this? Where is this Father?

How should we respond to persecution? Matthew 5:10–16 prepares us for the morning sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we should rejoice and keep shining, whenever we are persecuted for Christ.

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10 is the final beatitude, third-person declaration about who the blessed are. In this case, they are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. We must be careful not to appropriate this to ourselves through self-righteousness. It is possible to read a verse like this as vindicating us for others’ distaste for that which actually proceeds from our remaining sinfulness. No, when the Lord Jesus says “righteousness’ sake” here, He can only mean real righteousness. That which God calls righteousness, not self-perceived righteousness. 

But the blessedness named here is the same as in Matthew 5:1. How can those who are “poor in spirit” be “persecuted for righteousness’ sake”? Because of the only way that someone becomes either righteous in their standing before God or righteous in their character and conduct: union with Christ. Union with Him through faith by which we are counted righteous with His own righteousness. Union with Him in the ongoing shared life that we have in Him. Union with Him from which His Spirit reproduces His character in our character. Union with Him that thus transforms our conduct. 

But it is just because it comes from union with Him that “righteousness’ sake” in Matthew 5:10 is “My sake” in Matthew 5:11. Those who reject the true and living Christ will more and more reject a believer, as that believer is more and more conformed to Christ. So, let the believer seek Christlikeness from Christ Himself by His Spirit. But there will be much that He produces in us that the world will despise—especially the worldly in the church. Confidence before God. Liberty, zeal, and freedom of life. Actual obedience to God being worked out in the life. Love of God that is in contradistinction to the superstition and sentimentalism of manmade religion. Love of neighbor that is not according to the neighbor’s definition of love but God’s. For such things, we can expect not to be commended but denounced (reviled, Matthew 5:11). Not to be treated kindly, or even to be left alone, but actively harassed, hindered, and attacked (persecuted). Not to be spoken of truthfully but slandered as evil with no regard to actual facts.

Your reward in heaven. Notice the switch from “those” and “theirs” in Matthew 5:10 to “you” and “your” in Matthew 5:11-12. This is very personal. Jesus now speaks directly to those in front of Him about themselves. And by His Spirit, He addresses all believers who receive and read and hear this Word. They have the kingdom already, because they have the king (note the present tense in Matthew 5:2, Matthew 5:10). But our Redeemer now turns to us and tells us what we should expect to experience now, as those who have Him. Persecution of genuine believers comes not because of what we will have, but because of what we already have. We already belong to His kingdom. And competing kingdoms are not pleased with this.

“You” in the immediate, original context meant those on the mountain with Him. Separated from the world. Receiving instruction. Literally set on a hill at the time that they receive this word. This changes the speech from instruction (blessed are those) to benediction (blessed are you). Our Lord, our King, our kingdom, smiles His own blessing upon us now.

At the same time, He gives us instruction. At first the instruction is implicit in the phrase “falsely for My sake.” Don’t give them a legitimate reason to speak evil against you; see to it that these “all kinds of evil” that they say against you will be (a) false, and (b) for Jesus’s sake. 

Strive to do everything you do according to God’s Word. God defines what is righteous (Matthew 5:10) and what are good works (Matthew 5:16). We aren’t blessed when we live according to our flesh, using Jesus’s Name, and then are spoken against. So let us do that which God says is right. Let us do works that God says are good.

And strive to do everything for Jesus’s sake. If we are doing what is right, and we are doing it for Him, and people say all kinds of evil things falsely against us, then we are those upon whom Matthew 5:11 is pronouncing this benediction. Of course, doing all things for Jesus’s sake means that we aren’t seeking some other blessing than Jesus Himself. 

Whereas Matthew 5:11 is a benediction, Matthew 5:12 is a commandment: rejoice and be exceedingly glad. What a merciful commandment! This isn’t a stoic, “chin up.” This is much more intense. Rejoice! Be exceedingly glad! 

But a joy so great must have a great cause, and this one does. “Great is your reward in heaven.” Not “great will be you reward,” but present tense: it is already great. If you have the Son, you have the Father. And if you have God Himself, what loss is it for men to attack you? The prophets of old (Matthew 5:12b) refused to appease men, because they had God. God spoke to them; God called them; God sustained them; God made their words to stand. Now, the one who has the Lord Jesus, and who is being made like the Lord Jesus, possesses God as his reward just as those prophets did. When the believer (who has God) experiences the same attacks that those prophets endured (for the sake of having God), this is cause indeed for rejoicing and exceeding gladness!

Your Father in heaven. Still, we might shrink from that persecution. Can’t I just enjoy having God as my great reward without having to be reviled and persecuted and slandered? No, you cannot. If you’re not salty, you’re not salt. “loses its flavor” in Matthew 5:13 is actually a word that sounds like (and means something like) “moronic.” It’s fool’s salt. And, the verse says that it is analogous to fool’s gold. It’s only useful for trampling. It’s not actually “Christ’s-kingdom-ly” salt but “Satan’s-kingdom-ly” earth/dirt. To be un-salty may be enticing because we would not be persecuted. But we would not be rewarded. We would not be blessed. And we would have neither the Father nor the Son as our reward, either now or in the future (cf. Matthew 7:12–27).

Finally, let believers not shrink from where their Lord brings them to shine. If they are in Christ, they already are light, just as they already are salt. For these to whom Jesus was speaking, He has brought them up the literal hill. Perhaps they could already catch glimpses of sneering looks from others below.  But He uses the analogy of the placement of a city or the placement of a lamp to remind them that it was He Who had positioned them. Cities don’t crawl down off of hills, nor do lamps off of stands. Let not believers, who find themselves sticking out as Christians where they are, shrink from either being Christians or being where they are.

Jesus arranges us where we are in His world so that just by being what we are and where we are, we will be seen by whom He wants us to be seen. As they persecute us for good works now, they bring glory to the Father Who has shown His heavenly character in us on earth. And there will come a day when they can no longer persecute, when their own knees bow and tongues confess, and when God’s justice and God’s people are vindicated (1 Peter 2:15, 1 Peter 2:19–20). When believers suffer for conformity to the Son and the family resemblance of their Father, let them not give in to shunning the circumstances but rather lean in to shining within those circumstances. (cf. Acts 4:29, Acts 4:31; Acts 5:40–42).

By whom are you reviled? By whom are you persecuted? By whom are you slandered? How have you been focusing upon the joy of your reward in the midst of it? Where has the Lord placed you to shine? What does shining look like there? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving Yourself to us in Your Son. And thank You for the honor of being counted worthy to suffer for the Name. Grant unto us to rejoice and to keep shining, as those who already have You as our reward, in Christ, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly, I Am with You” or TPH2B “Why Do Heathen Nations Rage”

Holy Priests, Prepared to Participate in Holy Worship [Family Worship lesson in Leviticus 21]

Why were there special rules for the consecrated lives of the priests? Leviticus 21 prepares us for the evening sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these twenty-four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that there were special rules for the consecrated lives of the priests in order to safeguard God’s holy worship.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.12.22 Hopewell @Home ▫ Leviticus 21

Read Leviticus 21

Questions from the Scripture text: To whom does YHWH speak in Leviticus 21:1 (cf. Leviticus 21:4, cf. Leviticus 10:4–6)? For whom is the message?  What mustn’t they do? For which relatives may they make an exception (Leviticus 21:2-3)? What else mustn’t they do (Leviticus 21:5, cf. Leviticus 19:27)? What must their mourning reflect instead (Leviticus 21:6)? Why, what special task do they have? What three types of women mustn’t they marry (Leviticus 21:7)? Why not (Leviticus 21:7-8)? What might a daughter of a priest do (Leviticus 21:9)? What does this do to her father? What must be done to her? Who has his own regulations (Leviticus 21:10)? What was done to his head and clothes? What mustn’t he do to them in mourning? For whom, even, may he not make an exception (Leviticus 21:11)? Where mustn’t he go (Leviticus 21:12, cf. Leviticus 10:7)? What type of woman, alone, may he marry, from what people alone (Leviticus 21:13-14)? What special consideration must the high priest have (Leviticus 21:15)? What new section introduction do we have in Leviticus 21:16? To what individual is this specifically addressed (Leviticus 21:17)? Who may not perform the holy-place ministry or altar ministry (cf. Leviticus 21:21)? What types of defects are excluded (Leviticus 21:18-20)? Yet, what may a man with a defect do (Leviticus 21:22)? From which types of bread? Why mustn’t he approach the veil or the altar (Leviticus 21:23)? How does Leviticus 21:24 conclude the two sections of the chapter?

Why were there special rules for the consecrated lives of the priests? Leviticus 21 prepares us for the evening sermon on the Lord’s Day. In these twenty-four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that there were special rules for the consecrated lives of the priests in order to safeguard God’s holy worship.

Increasing degrees of consecration. In “the holiness code,” the Lord has given His people instruction, so far, on the sanctity of blood (chapter 17), the sanctity of marriage (chapter 18), the sanctity of saints (chapter 19), and the sanctity of the church (chapter 20). There has been a subtle progression of increasing consecration, as the Scripture narrows nearer and nearer to the Lord. Now, in chapter 21, it narrows to the priesthood (Leviticus 21:1–9), the High Priest himself (Leviticus 21:10-15), and the holy place and the altar (Leviticus 21:16-23). 

The priesthood, Leviticus 21:1-9. We already saw in Leviticus 10:4–5 that with Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar already in the tabernacle court, they could not leave or defile themselves for the sake of Nadab and Abihu. Now, we see in Leviticus 21:1-4 that even when they are not “on duty,” they may only subject themselves to uncleanness in order to attend to the dead if the deceased is the nearest of relatives. They have a husband’s/master’s duty to the living (Leviticus 21:4), and the work of the tabernacle ministry is too important to interrupt to attend to the dead, unless someone else, related as nearly, isn’t available to do so.

There were other safeguards for the consecrated ministry of the tabernacle. Priests were to be especially careful to follow the rules concerning grieving that we saw in Leviticus 19:27 (Leviticus 21:5-6). They were not to grieve like unbelievers do (cf. Genesis 49:29–33; 1 Thessalonians 4:13); the marks of hopeless grief profane the Name of the Lord (Leviticus 21:6). The list in Leviticus 21:7 does not exclude widows (as Leviticus 21:14 does); for priests in general, the point here is that they were to marry women of good character (cf. 1 Timothy 3:4– 5, 1 Timothy 3:11). The priest who offers the bread of God (Leviticus 21:8) must be a man who presides over godly living in his own tent/home. By specifying the form of execution in Leviticus 21:9, the Lord ties this instance to chapter 20, where the Lord specified various methods of execution as an indication that it is He Who thus maintains the consecration of His church. In the case of Leviticus 21:9, the daughter of a priest must take into account how her behavior might defile God’s worship, for which God had set apart her father.

The High Priest himself, Leviticus 21:10-15. In the case of the High Priest, he must have regard for his office. His head had oil poured upon it (Leviticus 21:10), so he must not uncover his head in mourning. He has been dressed in the holy garments, so he must not tear his clothes in mourning. So, he mustn’t engage in even some appropriate expressions of grief, which do not include the disfiguring in Leviticus 21:5. Similarly, even for the death of one of his parents (Leviticus 21:11), he is not permitted to contract an uncleanness that would take him away from his high priestly labor (Leviticus 21:12). For him, even a widow will not do as a wife (Leviticus 21:13-14) not only on account of his current household, but because from him, the future high priests are to come (Leviticus 21:15).

The Holy Place and the altar, Leviticus 21:16-23. The prohibitions in Leviticus 21:16-20 are in no way an indication of the personal worth of the handicapped man. Not only does he continue to be fully in the image of God, but if he is a priest, he continues to have the right to eat not only of the grain offerings, but even of the showbread (Leviticus 21:22)! 

However, much of the tabernacle service itself required arduous labor that must be done in the proper manner. The defects described here either diminish the man’s ability to do so, endanger the ministry of direct defilement (in the case of scab or sore, Leviticus 21:20). The last condition in verse 20 disqualified anyone from the holy assembly (cf. Deuteronomy 23:1). But we must therefore conclude that it only applied to those who had ritually mutilated himself as was done in various ancient near-eastern pagan rituals; for, there are indeed eunuchs who keep God’s Sabbath’s within God’s house (cf. Isaiah 56:3–5). 

The main point can be discerned from “offer the bread of his God” (in Leviticus 21:16), “to offer the offerings made by fire” (in Leviticus 21:21), and “near the veil or approach altar” (Leviticus 21:23). The priests’ role, in how God has provided for His people to draw near to Him, is too vital to risk compromising in any avoidable way. 

The great High Priest and the priesthood of believers. The ongoing application of this is wondrous and widespread. It is wondrous because the Lord Jesus consecrated Himself as High Priest for our sakes (cf. John 17:9). He offered Himself (cf. Psalm 40:6–8; Hebrews 10:5–9), in perfect obedience and atoning death. And the application of this chapter is widespread because through Christ’s work as Great High Priest, He has consecrated all believers into their new priesthood (cf. Hebrews 10:10)—so much so that in the New Testament, every single believer enters the Holy of Holies through Him (cf. Hebrews 10:19–25)! So, let us put off all willful sin, and always live with a view toward being ready in mind, heart, and life to enter again beyond the veil, in His worship assembly, in less than six days from now.

Who is your Great High Priest? What did He have to be and do to be holy? What important offering did He make? Who leads the worship that was consecrated by His blood? How near do you come to God in that worship? When are you next scheduled to do so? How should you live between now and then? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You and praise You that You have given Your own Son to be our Great High Priest. We praise You for His perfect righteousness, purity, and ability to carry out the ministry that You assigned to Him. And we thank You that under His new and everlasting priesthood, You have made all Who are united to Him to be priests to You. Grant that we would always live in a way that is mindful of the fact that we must soon gather to You as a holy people, in Your holy Son, for Your holy worship. Help us, we pray, by Your Spirit, through Your Son, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH165 “To Your Temple, I Repair”