Written ~ 12-08-2023
Hebrews 10:19-25
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.
WOW! Look at all the promises from God in these verses! If you’re ever unsure what to be thankful for, turn to these verses!
- We can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place
- We have a new and life-giving way to the Most Holy Place through Jesus
- We have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house
- Because we sincerely trust in Him we can go right into the presence of God
- We have hope because God keeps His promises
- One day, Jesus will return
Because of these wonderful promises we can motivate one another, encourage one another and love one another. The World English Bible translation says we are to “stir each other up!”
One of the most important things we can learn from our verses today is that when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we now have the only way to heaven’s Most Holy Place, the throne of God. In Ephesians 3:12 it says, “Because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” Our verses for today confirm that message, we are to be bold when coming into the presence of God. Do you have that confidence? That boldness? Are your hearts sincere and fully trusting the Lord? Look… we all have things in our past that could be holding us back from fully trusting in the Lord. Maybe we are going through a period of doubt or unbelief that God can do what He says He’ll do because our circumstance are not changing. These are the types of things we can bring to the Father with confidence. Verse 10:22b says,
22b “For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”
So what is it we need to remember? Well… Christ died on the cross for us, rose from the grave and now sits at the right hand of God. He gave us the way to be clear of our guilty consciences, we have been washed, we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. If we still can’t seem to go to the throne of God with boldness it’s very possible we could have unresolved issues harboring deep within our hearts that require assurance that they are indeed washed clean. There’s no reason, by looking at these verses, for us to be timid, hesitant or unwilling to go to the Most Holy Place and be present with God. What are we hiding behind? Verse 10:20 says,
20 “By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.”
Where there once was a “curtain” between us and the Almighty God, the moment Jesus steps into our lives, that curtain is torn in two and immediately we have been given access to the Holiest of Places, the Throne of Grace, God’s Presence.
Because of our varying levels of confidence, we are given the instruction in verse 10:24 to motivate one another. Look at verses 10:24-25,
24 “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.”
Believers need to meet with one another, none of us should walk through this life alone. We need to encourage each other. Where one person might be struggling another may be flourishing! When we come together we can learn from each other, and “stir each other up.”
I believe all of us can learn important lessons through our verses for today. We learned from Hebrews 10:11-18 that the Word of God has been written on our hearts and in our minds, we have been cleansed by the perfect sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ. When we study the Scriptures, we are drawing in the truth, we are allowing the Word of God to come alive within us. Verse 10:23 says, “…we are to hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm…” That means we validate the Word of God by our actions, we testify through the words that come out of mouths that we have a strong belief and dedication to the truths we find in the Bible. We hold tightly to those truths. Why? Look at the rest of verse 10:23, because “…God can be trusted to keep His promise.”
~ God can be TRUSTED! ~
Father, I pray that I can be an encouragement to others, to help in whatever way I can to motivate and “stir up” my fellow believers. Help me to overcome any doubt or fear of coming boldly to Your Throne of Grace. Help me to enter into the Most Holy Place with confidence. Thank You for giving me Your Son to be the way through the curtain so I can have access to Your Presence. Help me Father to hold tightly to the truths that I learn from Your Word and help me to never waver in my faith and dedication to the study of Your Word. My hope is in You Lord, thank you for saving me.
~AMEN~