Believe the Word

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post in the archives, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to add in any reflections or comments you may have.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Monday, January 25, 2010
Devotions: Ps 41, 44, 52; Gen 14:1-24; Heb 8:1-13; Jn 4:43-54

Blessed are all who consider the poor; YHWH takes up their part and protects them in times of trouble. My human friends desert me, but God is always caring for me. I know this because my enemies have not triumphed over me. Blessed is YHWH, God of Israel, for ever! God puts our enemies to confusion, and we will boast in our God forever. Let God now arise and deliver us for the sake of Your steadfast love! God makes me like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in His steadfast love for ever and ever, and proclaim Your name and Your word before the godly!

There was a war among kings in the Valley of Siddim, four against five. Enemies captured Sodom and Gomorrah, and pillaged them, taking among the captives Lot, Abram’s nephew, and all his household and possessions. When word came to Abram, he led forth his trained forces, 318 men, and pursued the enemies until he overtook them north of Damascus. He freed Lot and his household and their goods, and returned. The king of Salem, Melchizedek, brought out bread and wine to meet Abram as he returned; he was priest of God Most High [El Elyon]. Melchizedek blessed Abram and God Most High, and Abram tithed the spoils to Melchizedek. The King of Sodom offered for Abram to keep the spoils, but Abram refused: ‘I have sworn before YHWH El Elyon, Maker of heaven and earth, that I would not take anything that is yours, lest you later declare that you have made Abram rich. I will take only what the young men have eaten and the share of the Amorites who went with me: Aner, Eshcol and Mamre.’

The Hebrew writer continues: Here’s my point: we have a High Priest seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven; He ministers in the true Sanctuary and Tabernacle, the ones established by the Lord. A high priest must have worthy sacrifices. Jesus would be no priest at all on earth—the earthly priesthood is fully staffed, from another tribe. But earthly temples and priests are a shadowy reflection of the heavenly originals. Moses set up a tabernacle by exact specifications provided by YHWH on His mountain. But the Messiah has obtained a ministry as superior to the old as the covenant He mediates is better, since it is enacted on the basis of better promises. There would have been no second covenant if the first had been effective. God’s word testifies to this, as Jeremiah wrote: ‘The days will come, says YHWH, when I will establish a new covenant with the houses of Israel and Judah; not like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I led them out of Egypt; for they did not follow My covenant—so I paid them no heed. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says YHWH: I will put My laws into their minds and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people. They’ll not have to teach one another to know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and remember their sins no more.’ When God speaks of the new covenant, He treats the first as obsolete; and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

After Jesus stayed two days in Sychar, He continued His journey to Galilee. Jesus had testified that a prophet has no honor in His own country. Yet, when He arrived, the Galileans welcomed Him, for they had seen all Jesus did in Jerusalem during the national feast. In due course, Jesus came again to Cana, where he had made the water into wine. An official from Capernaum had a very sick son; when he heard that Jesus had returned to Galilee from Judea, the official journeyed to Cana and begged Jesus to come down and heal his dying son. Jesus responded, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ The official persisted, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies!’ And Jesus said, ‘Go. Your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. As he was going down from Cana to Capernaum, his servants met him, and told him that his son was living. He questioned them, and they told him the boy’s fever had broken at the seventh hour on the previous day—exactly the moment when Jesus said to the man, ‘Your son will live.’ The man and his whole household placed their faith in Jesus. This healing was the second sign Jesus accomplished when He had come from Judea to Galilee.