O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.1 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?2
From beginning to end, there is no other greater than our Lord Jesus. “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”3 For the same reason, Isaiah trembled after he saw a vision of the Lord and said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”4
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has made.5 He orchestrated a plan for our salvation; patiently showing that apart from grace, we cannot save ourselves. The entire Scripture was written for us to study, understand God’s will, and be equipped.6
God wrote his laws and regulations to reveal his holiness and our sinfulness; apart from a Savior we are hopeless.7 God chose a people, Israel, for himself; not that they were deserving but because God is faithful and loving.8 God set apart the first born for himself;9 he anointed Aaron and his sons as priests;10 later, he chose the tribe of Levi to minister to him11 (the people were not allowed to come near God). This arrangement was transitory.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . . God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.12 God tore the curtain of the temple that prevented his people to directly access the Holy of holies.13 Jesus rose from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of God.14 Jesus is now our high priest with no beginning nor end.15
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity . . .16 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.17
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.18
Notes:
1. Psalm 8:1
2. Psalm 8:3-4
3. Revelations 22:12-13
4. Isaiah 6:5
5. Psalm 145:8-9
6. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
7. Galatians 3:19-26
8. Deuteronomy 7:1-16
9. Exodus 13:1-2
10. Exodus 40:9-15
11. Numbers 3-8
12. Romans 5:6-11
13. Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:37-38; Luke 23:44-46
14. Luke 22:69; Acts 2:32-36
15. Hebrews 5:1-10:18
16. Hebrews 6:1
17. Hebrews 10:19-23
18. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
