[Biblemat] A) JESUS, A BETTER WAY

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Wednesday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my files:

JESUS, A BETTER WAY

     We are always looking for better ways to accomplish day
to day tasks.  We have faster computers, more efficient cars,
MP3s and DVD players instead of cassettes and VHS.  There
have been lots of improvements over what used to be.

     God is the Originator of the better way.  The author of
Hebrews  said that the Old Law was only a "shadow of the
good things to come, and not the very image of the things"
(Heb. 10:1).  Jesus and His death on the cross are the reality.
He is the Mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better
promises (Heb. 8:6).

     "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good
things to come, He entered through the greater and more per-
fect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of
this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves,
but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once 
for all, having obtained eternal redemption.  For if the blood
of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those
who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eter-
nal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this reason He is the Mediator of a new covenant, in
order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the 
transgressions that were committed under the first cov-
enant, those who have been called may receive the promise
of the eternal inheritance" (Heb. 9:11-15).

     Before Jesus came, people waited for the annual Day of
Atonement, when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place
(Heb. 9:7).  The Jews call this day Yom Kippur.  In that magni-
ficent place where the Ark of the Covenant was located, the
High Priest offered the blood of animals on behalf of himself
and the Israelites (Lev. 16:11-34).

     When Jesus Christ came to earth, something better was
revealed.  He Himself became our High Priest by sacrificing
His life and shedding His blood for atonement of our sins (Heb. 9:28), "so 
Christ was offered once to bear the sins of
many."

     Now, when we take advantage of His gift of forgiveness, 
we can rejoice that the penalty of our sins has been paid and 
our guilt removed.

     "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if when we
were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death 
of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be
saved by His life." (Rom. 5:9,10).

     "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).

     Salvation through the Messiah is the only way we can be
forgiven and be reconciled to God.  Isn't this a much better
way?  Are you "in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26,27)?  ----- Shane
Williams in The Lilbourn Light, Vol. 8, No. 4, Aug. 2007.   </HTML>
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