General Articles

Hebrews Study: Jesus, Our Mediator :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10

Hebrews 8:1-6

“Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’ 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.”

Last week we looked at the New Covenant that we have in Jesus. He paid for the covenant in His own blood and secured eternal life for all who trust in Him, from the Old Testament saints that looked forward to the New Testament saints that look back at His sacrifice for us. This new chapter begins by stating that Jesus “is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” This refers to sitting at the right hand of God.

As we explored and learned last week, the Old Testament priests were not allowed to sit as they ministered in the Tabernacle or the Temple. This was because the work of covering man’s sins was never done until Jesus came. Now, Jesus is sitting in Heaven as the work has been completed. All that was required by God for the eternal salvation of all men from Adam was completed by Jesus on the cross in about 32 AD. Jesus did not go to Hell, as we often hear many false teachers saying. He did go to Paradise; he told the thief that He would meet him there. This is not Hell.

  • The Sanctuary in Heaven, verse 2

When we read through the book of Exodus and then into Leviticus, we get this elaborate explanation of how the Israelites were to build the Tabernacle. This was a tent that served as a temporary place for God to meet with His people. Later in 2 Samuel, we find the building of the Temple by Solomon, and this place was very, very elaborate. There was gold everywhere, and no expense was spared to build this marvelous place. But we are told that the Tabernacle and later the Temple were just copies of a similar sanctuary in Heaven. This heavenly sanctuary was erected by God according to verse 2. We can also see other verses like Habakkuk 2:20:

“But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

Psalm 11:4, “The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”

These are just a few verses about the Lord in His Temple. There are many more. This Tabernacle and the Temple were just pictures of the Temple in Heaven where God resides. Moses, we are told, was instructed to build it exactly the way that God told him; he was not to take any artistic license at all. Jesus is our High Priest in Heaven. He is the one who offered his own blood to blot out our sins and transgressions. In Acts 20:28, we are told this by Luke:

“Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.”

We have been purchased, redeemed, and restored into the right relationship with God by Jesus, who bought us with His own blood. His blood was and is powerful enough to wipe out our sins once and forever. He finished the work, and He sat down.

  • Our Mediator, verse 6

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word mediator as ‘one that mediates between parties at variance.’ The two parties, in this case, are God, who is Holy and perfect, and mankind, you and I, who are imperfect and unholy. The ‘variance,’ the reason for the divide between God and man, is Sin, yours and mine. Jesus, our Mediator, is the one who settles and negotiates peace for us based on His finished work on the cross. The Bible offers us an example of a mediator in the person of Moses in Exodus 32: 10-12:

“Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.’ But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, ‘O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.”

God was going to kill all of the Israelite people and begin a new Israel with Moses. God was angry at their sin, their constant complaining, and rebellion. He had enough, and He was about to wipe them out. But Moses intercedes and asks God not to kill them based on God’s good character and how it would look to the nations around them. Jesus mediates based on His shed blood and finished work at Calvary for our eternal security. We will never lose it because Jesus’ blood is enough to cover all of our sins and blot them out. Our security is in Jesus, and there are several verses that promise this. See Micah 7:18-19:

“Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

See also Isaiah 43:25, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

Isaiah 38:17, “Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love, you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.”

There are many, many verses that remind us and comfort us in our current failures and sins that God has removed forever, yes, even the ones you have not committed yet, and you are secure in Jesus. The work is done, it is finished, and Jesus is our permanent Mediator.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch
Online: https://mmbchurch.ca/
Email: seangooding@mmbchurch.ca

Attack On Free Speech :: By Bill Wilson

Published on: by RR10

In the past week, at least three attacks have been exposed on the Constitutional guarantee of free speech initiated by the ever-growing tyrannical US and state governments and its deep state actors.

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s interpretation of antidiscrimination law is punishing a Christian web business because the owners refuse to go against their religious beliefs and make websites celebrating same-sex marriages. The Supreme Court will take up this case.

In addition, FBI agent Elvis Chan, in deposition, revealed that the FBI ordered Twitter to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, and Twitter owner Elan Musk said Twitter was also ordered by the Biden presidential campaign to censor the story.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, in December 2 Twitter posts, revealed: “In our deposition of FBI agent Elvis Chan on Tuesday, we found that the FBI plays a big role in working with social media companies to censor speech – from weekly meetings with social media companies ahead of the 2020 election to asks for account takedowns…. Chan stated that the FBI regularly sent social media companies lists of URLs and social media accounts that should be taken down because they were disinformation from “malign foreign influence operations.” The FBI then inquired whether the platforms have taken down the content.”

In particular, the FBI coerced censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story that implicated his father, Joe, in unethical and possibly illegal international influence peddling deals that enriched the Biden family at taxpayer expense.

The same story was the example Musk used when he exposed a trove of emails indicating the Biden campaign successfully pressured Twitter to censor information about the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi, who released the information with Musk, said, “By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.”

There are previous admissions by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that the government pressured his platform to censor the Hunter Biden story.

In addition, the government blatantly censored dissent surrounding COVID lockdowns, vaccinations, and treatments.

These examples and others like them indicate the government’s tightening grip on Americans who do not agree with government policy, much of which is activated through legal interpretations by unelected administrative agencies with assumed enforcement authority.

Private companies are allowed to censor information, but when acting at behest of the government, under pressure from government actors, or being outright told by the government to censor free speech, this is a violation of the First Amendment. Moreover, it is a signal to every American that the government needs to be reined in before it wraps those reins around the throats of dissent.

As Christ said in Luke 8:17, “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest.”

These dirty dealings are coming to light. May the evildoers be held accountable.

Posted in The Daily Jot