epistle to the hebrews – Mum's devotional

Meeting together

November 15th

…and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NASB)

David, when he was was living in a state of exile, what most of all grieved him was that he was deprived of the opportunity of access to the sanctuary; for he preferred the service of God to every earthly advantage.

David, then, considering that the way of access was shut against him, cried to God, because he was excluded from the outward service of the sanctuary. I do not mean to say that the observance of external ceremonies can of itself bring us into favor with God, but they are religious exercises which we cannot bear to lack by reason of our infirmity. David, therefore, being excluded from the sanctuary, is no less grieved than if he had been separated from God himself. He did not, it is true, cease in the meantime to direct his prayers towards heaven, and even to the sanctuary itself; but conscious of his own infirmity, he was specially grieved that the way by which the faithful obtained access to God was shut against him. This is an example which may well suffice to put to shame the arrogance of those who without concern can bear to be deprived of those means, or rather, who proudly despise them, as if it were in their power to ascend to heaven in a moment’s flight; nay, as if they surpassed David in zeal and alacrity of mind. We must not, however, imagine that the prophet allowed himself to rest in earthly elements, but only that he made use of them as a ladder, by which he might ascend to God, finding that he had not wings with which to fly thither.

David does not simply speak of the presence of God, but of the presence of God in connection with certain symbols; for he sets before himself the tabernacle, the altar, the sacrifices, and other ceremonies by which God had testified that he would be near his people; and that it behoved the faithful, in seeking to approach God, to begin by those things. Not that they should continue attached to them, but that they should, by the help of these signs and outward means, seek to behold the glory of God, which of itself is hidden from the sight. Accordingly, when we see the marks of the divine presence engraven on the word, or on external symbols, we can say with David that there is the face of God, provided we come with pure hearts to seek him in a spiritual manner. But when we imagine God to be present otherwise than he has revealed himself in his word, and the sacred institutions of his worship, or when we form any gross or earthly conception of his heavenly majesty, we are only inventing for ourselves visionary representations, which disfigure the glory of God, and turn his truth into a lie.

from Calvin’s Commentary on the Psalms (Psalm 42, v. 1-3)

I’m going to admit that my sole qualifications on the zoological front come from a childhood spent watching Animal Planet, so I have zero clue what Calvin is talking about when he mentions that deer have some extra additional (possibly seasonal?) desire for water in addition to plain old, fatigued thirst. Unless it’s just ungulates gather around watering holes? I don’t know, biology and zoology were super-weird before Linnaeus. (They’re still weird, I guess, but more in a ‘Wow, the universe is so strange and awesome‘ sort of way instead of a ‘Oh, look at the dumb things human think about all kinds of things’ sort of way. Seriously. See: Vegetable lambs and photoshopped rhinoceroses. )

…and here’s Nystrom’s Why So Downcast? on Youtube and Spotify, because the purpose of this blog is not actually to provide edification or encouragement, but to torture you with random, bouncy 90s worship songs.

Almond boughs

September 10th

For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

Hebrews 13:14 (NKJV)

Nerve us with patience, Lord, to toil or rest,
Toiling at rest on our allotted level;
Unsnared, unscared by world or flesh or devil,
Fulfilling the good will of Thy behest.
Not careful here to hoard, not here to revel;
But waiting for our treasure and our zest
Beyond the fading splendour of the west,
Beyond this deathstruck life and deadlier evil.
Not with the sparrow building here a house,
But with the swallow tabernacling, so
As still to poise alert, to rise and go
On eager wings, with wing-outspeeding wills,
Beyond earth’s gourds and past her almond boughs,
Past utmost bound of the everlasting hills.

‘Where neither moth nor rust corrupt’ by Christina Rossetti

…and here’s iPoem by George Bilgere, because I just really hate Rossetti’s work, and feel like anyone who’s struggled through it deserves some sort of reward. Also, I didn’t intend to contrast the author of Hebrews’ work with hers, but it… just… kind of… happened anyway?

…and here’s a picture, because I felt like it.

Yesterday, today and forever

August 12th

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.

Hebrews 13:8 (NASB)

An imbecile habit has arisen in modern controversy of saying that such and such a creed can be held in one age but cannot be held in another. Some dogma, we are told, was credible in the twelfth century, but is not credible in the twentieth. You might as well say that a certain philosophy can be believed on Mondays, but cannot be believed on Tuesdays. You might as well say of a view of the cosmos that it was suitable to half-past three, but not suitable to half-past four. What a man can believe depends upon his philosophy, not upon the clock or the century. If a man believes in unalterable natural law, he cannot believe in any miracle in any age. If a man believes in a will behind law, he can believe in any miracle in any age. Therefore in dealing with any historical answer, the point is not whether it was given in our time, but whether it was given in answer to our question.

It is commonly the loose and latitudinarian Christians who pay quite indefensible compliments to Christianity. They talk as if there had never been any piety or pity until Christianity came, a point on which any mediaeval would have been eager to correct them. They represent that the remarkable thing about Christianity was that it was the first to preach simplicity or self-restraint, or inwardness and sincerity. They will think me very narrow (whatever that means) if I say that the remarkable thing about Christianity was that it was the first to preach Christianity. Its peculiarity was that it was peculiar, and simplicity and sincerity are not peculiar, but obvious ideals for all mankind. Christianity was the answer to a riddle, not the last truism uttered after a long talk.

from G. K. Chesteron’s Orthodoxy (Ch. 5)

Desiring holiness

July 28th

“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God…”

Hebrews 12:14 (ESV)

My longings after God, and holiness, were much increased. Pure and humble, holy and heavenly Christianity appeared exceeding amiable to me. I felt a burning desire to be, in everything, a complete Christian; and conformed to the blessed image of Christ; and that I might live, in all things, according to the pure, sweet, and blessed rules of the gospel. I had an eager thirsting after progress in these things; which put me upon pursuing and pressing after them. It was my continual strife day and night, and constant inquiry, how I should be more holy and live more holily, and more becoming a child of God, and a disciple of Christ. I now sought an increase of grace and holiness, and a holy life, with much more earnestness, than ever I sought grace before I had it. I used to be continually examining myself, and studying and contriving for likely ways and means, how I should live holily, with far greater diligence and earnestness, than ever I pursued anything in my life; but yet with too great a dependence on my own strength; which afterwards proved a great damage to me. My experience had not then taught me, as it has done since, my extreme feebleness, every manner of way. However, I went on with my eager pursuit after more holiness, and conformity to Christ.

from Jonathan Edwards’ Personal Narrative

We Are Leo’s song Dimensions on Youtube and Spotify

Learning obedience

June 18th

During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.

Hebrews 5:7-8 (BSB)

Nearly all of those who serve God, think of serving him for themselves. They think of gain and not of loss; of being comforted and not of suffering; of possessing and not of being deprived; of increase, and never of decrease. On the contrary, all work within consists in losing, sacrificing, lessening, belittling oneself, and even divesting oneself of the gifts of God, so as to cling to him alone.

We only revolve in a small circle of common virtues, and never go wholeheartedly beyond that. As soon as we find ourselves deprived of sensible blessings, which are only milk for babies, we believe that all is lost. This is a clear proof that we cling too much to the means, which are not the ends, and that we always want everything for ourselves.

We want very much to have God make what he wishes of us provided that he always makes something great and perfect. We would like to enter into pure faith, and always to keep out own wisdom: to be a child, and to be great in our own eyes. What a fantasy of spirituality!

from Fenelon’s Christian Perfection (Privations)

…and for your listening pleasure, Michael Card’s A Violent Grace, on Google Music and Spotify respectively

More light than heat

June 7th

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Hebrews 10:31 (ESV)

God regards men not as they are merely, but as they shall be; not as they shall be merely, but as they are now growing, or capable of growing, towards that image after which he made them that they might grow to it. Therefore a thousand stages, each in itself all but valueless, are of inestimable worth as the necessary and connected gradations of an infinite progress. So far then the revelation, not being final any more than complete, and calling forth the best of which they were now capable, so making future and higher revelation possible, may have been a true one.

But… while men take part with their sins, while they feel as if, separated from their sins, they would be no longer themselves, how can they understand that word which pierces to the dividing between the man and the evil, which will slay the sin and give life to the sinner? Can it be any comfort to them to be told that God loves them so that he will burn them clean. Can the cleansing of the fire appear to them anything beyond what it must always, more or less, be—a process of torture? And is not God ready to do unto them even as they fear, though with another feeling and a different end from any which they are capable of supposing? He is against sin: in so far as, and while, they and sin are one, he is against them—against their desires, their aims, their fears, and their hopes; and thus he is altogether and always for them.

The man who loves God, and is not yet pure, courts the burning of God. Nor is it always torture. The fire shows itself sometimes only as light—still it will be fire of purifying.

For, when we say that God is Love, do we teach men that their fear of him is groundless? No. As much as they fear will come upon them, possibly far more. But there is something beyond their fear,—a divine fate which they cannot withstand, because it works along with the human individuality which the divine individuality has created in them. The wrath will consume what they call themselves; so that the selves God made shall appear, coming out with tenfold consciousness of being, and bringing with them all that made the blessedness of the life the men tried to lead without God. They will know that now first are they fully themselves. The avaricious, weary, selfish, suspicious old man shall have passed away. The young, ever young self, will remain. That which they thought themselves shall have vanished: that which they felt themselves, though they misjudged their own feelings, shall remain— remain glorified in repentant hope. For that which cannot be shaken shall remain. That which is immortal in God shall remain in man. The death that is in them shall be consumed.

from George MacDonald’s Unspoken Sermons (The Consuming Fire)

So… I may have posted from this essay once or twice already, but this fit in so well with yesterday’s post that I’m going to keep beating this dead horse, because… it’s what I do.

And I’m not even reading in Hebrews right now, honest.

Second thoughts

June 6th

” ‘…But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.’ “

Hebrews 10:38 (NIV)

Flexibility and promptness in yielding to [the Holy Spirit] is what advances souls the most. Those who never hesitate soon make an incredible progress. Others never lack reasons to keep them from doing what they have at heart. They want to and they do not want to. They wait for certainty. They ask advice at this point, which lets them out of what they fear to undertake. At each step they stop and look backward. They languish in irresolution, and unconsciously alienate the Spirit of God.

Alas, “Who has resisted God and been at peace?” Can God, who is the only true peace, leave a heart at rest which is opposing his purposes?

…We did not want to hold anything back in the offering which we were making to God. But then, when God takes us at our word, and accepts our offerings in detail, we feel a thousand strong repugnances which we had not suspected. First we slow down, and we doubt if we should go on; then we only do half of what God asks. Into the divine project, we mix a certain movement of our own natural ways, to save some last measure of that corrupt core which does not want to die.

Happy he who never hesitates, who fears only nor following quickly enough, who always would rather do too much than too little against himself!

We think that this state is horrible. We are mistaken. It is there that we find peace, liberty, and that the heart, detached from all, expands without limit. Nothing contracts it, and according to his promise, it becomes one with God himself.

from Fenelon’s Christian Perfection (The Word Within)

Part 2 of this post, because I couldn’t figure out where to stop. Anyway, it took me a long time to figure this out, but: it’s not actual thinking that’s a problem, it’s calling a whole host of selfish, emotional decisions ‘thinking.’

Also, the author of Hebrews is quoting from Habakkuk 2:4, it’s just that the second bit is only included in the Septuagint. (Sifting through different recensions is easily my least favorite part of serious literature, so I appreciate the HCSB’s footnotes.)

Last day of Passover week

April 26th

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”

Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”

And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:1-23 (NIV)

…and, for your listening pleasure, here’s Michael Card’s A New and Living Way on… Google Music and Spotify, because apparently no one on Youtube likes that one.

Edit: obviously, I screwed up the dates on here. I really do know how to use a calendar, I swear.

Covenants vs. deal-making

February 3rd

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. …Therefore, from one man — in fact, from one as good as dead — came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.

Hebrews 11:8, 12 (CSB)

So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban [his uncle]…

He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.

The LORD was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I’m making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safely to my father’s family, then the Lord will be my God. This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me.”

from Genesis 28 (CSB)

I didn’t really want to editorialize too much on here (and look how well that’s going), but there’s something about this chapter that’s so human. Jacob would have —as my great grandma (or some female old person in family legend, honestly can’t remember who) liked to say— rather have walked five miles to tell a lie than go next door to tell the truth.

Jacob’s also one of my favorite characters in the bible. Though… I liked Edmund best in The Chronicles of Narnia too, the little turd… and Snape, and Loki in the Marvel universe (actually in the sagas too, for that matter), and Satan in Paradise Lost… so, yeah, I might not have the best taste.

Anyway, Jacob’s typical response to God is to find some way to wriggle out things or make a profit on it. In this case, God’s there, promising miraculous, staggeringly huge things; his plan goes generations into the future, will affect the whole world, and is put in no uncertain terms:

Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

…aaaand Jacob takes a moment to be suitably awed (I like how they used to set up memorial markers in the OT of when their minds were Officially Blown), after which he proceeds to make a deal with God, essentially saying: ‘Alright, if you keep me safe, and give me food to eat, and clothing to wear, and get me back home safely, then you can be my god and I’ll give you a tenth of everything, m’kay? Good. Good talk.’

History does not record how God felt about this, but without reading too much into things I think it’s safe to say that Jacob totally deserves the ass-kicking he gets later.

Michael Card’s Asleep on Holy Ground, on Youtube and Spotify respectively, because I don’t know any other songs about Jacob. Actually, that’s a lie, I’m just too lazy to find them.