In the midst of all we do, it is important for us to understand that our only hope is God. We live on the mercy that exalts God's greatness and His love. We live on the "but God" that says despite our own failures, despite our own weakness, despite our own hatred, God still offers mercy. Despite all we are, God says "But I will…"

As we think about God's better promises, we have to realize that we really NEED them! For we are truly powerless; the basic dilemma of mankind is that God commands us to love Him (Deuteronomy 6.4) and we cannot nor will not obey. God has graciously promised that He will give us all that is needed to fulfill this basic command. However, in the OT that was still a future promise. We were still in the stage of God overlooking our sin (Romans 3.25), but the promise of true deliverance from sin and self was bound up in the coming of Jesus. Because of the God who keeps His promises and sent His Son for us we have the hope of forgiveness and eternity with God.

The covenant of messiah is founded on better promises than any that have ever been given, these rich and excellent promises are founded on the eternal purpose of God to redeem a chosen people for His own pleasure and glory. As we enter the Christmas season I want to pivot on this idea of the new covenant being promised and being based upon those better promises. We live in the new covenant and enjoy the blessings of the redeemed, and the value and beauty of this truth cannot be overstated. It is worth the time to consider the promises that have been the foundation of this new and glorious covenant… and since all these promises point to Christ, what better time is there to consider them than at the time we remember His coming… for God has been working toward the fulfillment of these promises from the dawn of creation until the time of Christ, and in the coming of Christ all of these promises have become yes and amen."For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us." (2 Corinthians 1:20, NKJV)These rich and glorious promises are the birthright of every child of God, and although we have the fulfillment in Christ today, we ought to remember the promises. These promises give us great comfort and joy to consider that God has always been working for our redemption, even when we still hated Him.These promises can be considered from many differing angles, but they all stem from the first and great reality that God Himself will be among us and WITH us…

We often use words that we really don't fully understand. In matters of faith this is dangerous precedent. We need to understand just what we are saying and remember that words have meaning which are inherent to the word and cannot be simply redefined to please us at a whim. One such word is Covenant: A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties that calls God to witness and seal the arrangement. The root word for covenant is to bind or fetter. When we speak of the Divine or eternal covenant we speak of God's promise to Himself which binds Him with His own everlasting purpose. When man is brought into the covenant God binds Himself (for man cannot ever bind God) for that same reason. But the covenant God makes with man is the OUTFLOW or RESULT of the covenant He has made with Himself from all eternity.

We live in a time when human ingenuity is at its peak. The advent of AI, of all manner of technology have left us all a little dizzied… every last one of us holds more computing power in the phone in our pockets than the most advanced military computers of just 4 decades ago… we love to invent and God has made us creative and given us wisdom and ability to do so. But He has not granted us permission to invent new ways to worship. He has not given us license to ignore His instructions about how we are to approach Him, or how we are worship Him. From the beginning of His relationship with man, God has instructed us in how to worship Him in a manner that is acceptable.

There is much lore in our culture about shadows. They seem to be imbued with power to many, they are objects of terror to some, they are the essence of all childhood fears.. But shadows possess these things only in the mind of the person who sees them. For shadows really only have one purpose, they indicate that something else is there, that it is real and that it is coming. It is this fact which terrifies so many, for the thing they dread above all is indeed there. Death waits for all men and in death we come face to face with the terror of the judgement seat of God. The shadows of the Old Testament are shadows of promise and hope, but when we stretch them out of proportion, or make of them something they were never meant to be, they cease being promise and become omens of dread. Shadows simply indicate the presence of the real, and for those of us in Christ, this is no terror but hope. Hope of promises fulfilled, hope of a home we have never known except in our most precious dreams, hope of a Father who loves us.

It is not possible for Messiah be the priest for the whole of all redeemed mankind if His priesthood was of the temple. For He is not a priest of the tribe of Levi, and no one not of the tribe of Levi is permitted to serve the temple. Further, no one except Israel could come into the temple and find mercy there; for none but Jewish males were permitted to worship fully. Thus, the place and pattern of the new priesthood had to be changed so that the full people of God could be brought into the family of God… The problem is plain, God purposed to save a people of all nations, all tribes and all tongues… but the OT law and covenant excluded all but Israel, and while a proselyte could worship, they were never to go past the court of the gentiles… they were not Israel, they were not family. How is a priest to minister to those who are by their very birth, outside? So, what is a man bound to the temple and the physical reality to do for those who are outside? Nothing.

Seeking first the kingdom of God is difficult sometimes, but God is always faithful to provide what is needed for His own children. Our calling is to seek Him above all else and leave all else to Him.

Our entire relationship with God is founded on an audacious reality; Christ Jesus, the Son of God, died for our sin, and He carries our prayers before the Father so that they are heard. No prayer offered by anyone outside of Christ is heard with favor by God. God will never hear us unless we are first reconciled to Him, but before reconciliation can occur, His wrath must be pacified, He must be appeased. Hence the need for sacrifice, This creates a more significant problem than many of us realize, for no man nor angel has in their hand an acceptable price for the permanent appeasement of God's wrath. There is NOTHING outside the blood of the perfect Lamb of God which can hope to avail us anything. And until the blood carries the prayer, it is not heard. The blood of Jesus is forever applied to our sin, forever applied to our guilt so that our sin is forever atoned for; and so our prayers are heard. This is the true work of the God ordained mediator. Only Jesus Christ has carried the payment and still sits in remembrance at the throne of the majesty on High to intercede on behalf of His own chosen and precious sheep. No one else has the authority nor favor with God; no one else has the price of forgiveness, nor the right by payment of that price; no one else has anything to do with our being accepted by God… for no one else had anything to do with the work!

We are often tempted to see history and the events of the world as caused by man and his strivings… there are also many who believe that man is able to alter the course of the planet and its climate. We struggle against the innate sense of our impotence, and rage against the God who has made us His own and who tells us again and again that He is at work fashioning the full display of His own glory. He tells us that the coming of Jesus was not a stopgap measure, but that it was the point of all creation for the entire course of all created history. God has been building the world for the display of Jesus since before He made light… The calling of scripture is for us to lean in and rest in the God who has made all things for the full display of His glory!!!