Ceremonial Observance

Hebrews 1:1-4

This letter is addressing Christians who were by culture and birth Jews, and the writer is addressing the danger of relapsing into Judaism, and going back to ceremonial observances.  The writer is showing a comparison of the Christian age to the Old Testament.  As a non-Jewish Christian, but a Christian who grew-up in the culture of a small Baptist church in a low-income family, did we face the same challenge that the writer is addressing?

It is important to understand that God required many of the ceremonial observances so that His chosen people would remember His faithfulness.  But it seems common to the human race to always add a few more rules, I know, I grew-up in a small Baptist church and we lived more by rules than by faith.  I assumed that living by rules and observance of Easter and Christmas and acting spiritual at church services was not the same as bowing your knee to the will of God?

We may have much in common with the letter to the Hebrew church, if only we will stop and ask the Holy Spirit to teach us and give us understanding of these truths.  The first chapter in my English Standard Version of the Bible is titled, “The Supremacy of God’s Son.”  Now that’s not Scripture, it is a title given by some person.  As we look into the first four verses, that title is very descriptive.  “Long ago, at many times in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he created the world.  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.  After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

Some may want it both ways they like religion but do not like authority.  The verses in Hebrews leave no wiggle room.  The Spirit of God is telling us in these verses that in these last days, and they began when the Church age came into being, God is doing something new.  If we were playing poker, it is time to show your cards, God’s Spirit gives you this option, believe or reject.  Jesus is Creator God, all that we see and much we do not see He has created.  It goes back to Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God, created the heavens and the earth.”  He has all authority, over all people, nature, climates, and He alone has made purification for sin.

That was the message to the Hebrew Christian church and it is the message to the Christian church today.  What kind of hand are you putting your confidence in: The fool says in his heart there is no God, that’s a hand some are holding.  The religious person often holds this hand, “I’m better than most, and I’m in many Bible studies, I give to help the poor, and I’m sure that God would not send some good person like me to a place called hell.  In fact, I’m not sure there is a place called hell, that is the hand far too many are holding.  But our Creator Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1)  But he does not stop there and you would be wise to keep reading, for he goes on to tell his disciples that he is going to make a place for them in heaven, now that sounds good, we all want to go to heaven.  But Thomas, and aren’t you glad we have a Thomas to ask the questions we want to ask, is fearful of looking foolish; Thomas asked “Lord we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?”  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.  From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:5-7)  I am not into poker, but if this was a poker hand, and it is God’s rules, only one hand is worth holding, all others must fold.  The song writer Kenny Rogers gave us some great advise; “You got to know when to hold them, you got to know when to walk away, and you got to know when to fold.  Your life on this earth is like a vanishing vapor, that is stated very clearly in James 4:14.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice