Christ Church

The Order of Melchizedek

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THE TEXT

4 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

5 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. 4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:

“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.”

6 As He also says in another place:

“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek”;

7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” 11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing (Hebrews 4:14–5:11).

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Lethal Glory (Authentic Ministry #7)

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INTRODUCTION

We have now come to what might be called the crescendo of the great new covenant symphony. The overture was glorious, but it nevertheless fades in our memory as we listen to the part of the performance that God has brought us to now.

THE TEXT

“But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished . . .” (2 Cor. 3:7–18).

A QUICK CORRECTION

Before summarizing the text, we need to begin with a correction of a common misconception about this passage. That misconception is that Moses put a veil on his face so that the Israelites would not realize how transient his radiance was. This is thought because of a mistranslation of a verb that occurs three times here (vv. 7, 11, 13). In this understanding, the radiance of Moses’ countenance drained, like a battery drains, and he would then go into the tabernacle to meet with God, and to recharge. This is not correct; the verb used here (katargeo) does not actually have the meaning of “to fade away.” The children of Israel could not look at the glory of the ministry of death, a ministry that was going to be rendered inoperative, or be made obsolete.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The law was a ministry of death. Graven in stones, external to the heart, all it could do was kill you. Nevertheless, this killing law was glorious, and the Israelites couldn’t even look at it (v. 7). This glory, the glory of the law, was to be done away. How much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit have to be then (v. 8)? If the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much surpassing glory would the ministry of imputed righteousness have (v. 9)? Like a bright moon that fades when the sun rises, the former glory pales in comparison (v. 10). If the temporary ministry of condemnation was glorious, why would the permanent ministry of imputed righteousness not be much more glorious (v. 11)? All of this is the basis of Paul’s plain speaking (v. 12). Paul could do what Moses couldn’t, which was to minister the glory which both of them had (v. 13). Israel couldn’t even look at their glory. The reason was that their minds were blinded, down to Paul’s day. For them the veil remained in the reading of the law, but the veil is removed in Christ (v. 14). He repeats that down to his day, when Moses is read, the veil is on their hearts (v. 15). When they turn to Christ, the veil is lifted (v. 16). The Lord is the Spirit who brings the liberty of being able to handle glory (v. 17). But we, like Moses in the tabernacle, worship the Lord with unveiled faces, and are ourselves transformed by the work of the Spirit (v. 18).

A GLORY THAT KILLS

The common reading that I rejected a moment ago has the problem of making Moses a manipulator and deceiver. He didn’t want the people to realize that his glory was not permanent, and so he hid the fading of that glory away. Or worse, Moses was not the deceiver, but Paul interpreted that episode in such a way as made Moses out to be a liar.

“And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him” (Exodus 34:29–35).

The passage in Exodus doesn’t have any hint of Moses trying to hide the fact that his radiance would fade. He wore the veil because his radiance was frightening to the children of Israel, and it was hard for them to come near. This is the ministry of death, remember, according to Paul. The law is not sin, but the law is death to sinners. Two chapters earlier, in the aftermath of the golden calf fiasco, three thousand Israelites were killed (Ex. 32:26-28). God had told them in the previous chapter that He would not go with them, lest He have to consume them in the way (Ex. 33:3, 5). Moses was veiling them from a glory that kills.

WHAT IS PAUL’S ILLUSTRATION ABOUT THEN?

Moses was not being deceptive about the glory that would fade, but some of his ostensible heirs most certainly werebeing deceptive about it. When the law was read, the unbelieving Jews could not see the condition of their Ichabod-hearts. The veil covers the face, and in his illustration, the heart is the face (v. 15). They cannot see the true condition of their heart. When the law was being read, a veil was over their heart, preventing them from seeing what the law was saying about their heart.

But we, with open face (heart), are looking at the glory of the Lord. We are in the same position that Moses was in during his visits to the tabernacle. This is why we are being transformed from glory to glory. And why? Because you become like what you worship—which means we can look ahead. God is giving us the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

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All of Christ

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THE TEXT:

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law,blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself (Philippians 3 ESV).

INTRODUCTION

Here at King’s Cross we have adopted the great mission statement of Christ Church as our own: All of Christ, for All of Life, for All of Moscow. We want the salvific fullness of Christ—all of His person and work—to flow into every nook and cranny of our lives—nothing untouched by Him. And we want this reality not just for ourselves, but for our whole town. All of Christ, for All of Life, for All of Moscow.

Therefore, in our church community, we put a big emphasis on living out the Christian life faithfully. We preach and teach a lot on marriage, family, Christian education, community and hospitality, evangelism, culture- building, business and finances, societal issues, and more. We want our faith to permeate everything. We want Christ to sanctify it all. We want to work hard to see his kingdom advance here and now. We want to see generational faithfulness.

However—if we are not careful, we can get this backwards. We can begin to make so much of our focus the All of Life part, leaving the All of Christ part somewhere in the distance behind. When this happens, pride creeps in and you can begin to look upon your good works, your efforts, your family or ministries, as the center of it all. Without realizing it, we can substitute the centrality of Christ with the centrality of certain convictions or endeavors – making the activity or good thing itself our focus. And so we must resist any temptation to elevate our families, our theology, our politics, our culture-building, or any other good work to a place where they begin to eclipse simple faith and trust in Christ.

We cannot let these good works, these blessings, become the things we begin to point to, in our hearts and minds, as the center of our faith and our confidence. It must be All of Christ. Christ is indeed the foundation… But He’s also what holds the whole building together. We do not move on from the person Christ. We don’t start with Christ and then move on to the work. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans, everything is from him, through him, and to him.

Christ is all in all. Christ is supreme. Christ is primary. Christ is central. And so here in his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul sets forth the knowledge of Christ as the most valuable possession in all the heavens and earth. Here Paul teaches that our greatest privilege in this life, and the life to come, is to know Christ and be known by Christ. If you were to live a thousand lifetimes you would never even get close to exhausting the riches found in Him. In fact, if you indeed are in Christ, you will one day spend forever beholding Him perfectly as He is, face to face, and yet still not come to the end of knowing Him in all His glorious splendor.

For the Christian, knowing Christ is everything. And here in this passage before us this morning, through warnings and encouragements, Paul is inviting you to imitate him in seeking to know Christ more and more—for making the knowledge of Christ as your true righteousness, your great ambition.

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Forgiveness & Your Feelings

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INTRODUCTION

The habit of modern man is to act based on his feelings, instead of action based on fact. The Disney catechism has worked its way deeply into our culture: follow your heart. We are the foolish man, building on the sands of emotion, instead of the rock of the Word. The pile of grievances swept under the cultural rug is getting quite obvious. Yet no one knows how to actually sweep out the grime, because no one feels like humbling themselves.

THE TEXT

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him (Colossians 3:12-17).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul instructs Christians to put on a particular disposition due to their standing as the elect of God (v12, Cf. Rom 13:4, Gal. 3:27); this disposition includes various attributes which are, to the carnal man, like drinking castor oil with a vinegar chaser. The disposition of the saints is to be one of patient mercy & humility (v12). By putting these virtues on, we are equipped to the action of forbearance and forgiveness of the quarrels we may have against another. Forgiveness is not a passive event which happens to you, it is an imperative. It puts a victim of offense as an actor in the restoration. This forgiveness is in imitation of Christ’s great forgiveness of the saints (v13).  Agape is like the jeweled clasp that holds all these virtues in place (v14), while the peace of God rules in our hearts individually and corporately. Our response to it all should be gratitude (v15).
We both put on Christ, and Christ dwells in us. His Word is to dwell in us richly. The fruit of His presence is made evident in  our teaching and admonishing of one another. This is done most poignantly in our biblically founded and faithful praise (v16). All of this should be done with grace in our hearts (v16). The whole  scope of Christian activity is be offered up entirely to God, through Christ, with thankfulness (v17).

THE SHIPWRECK OF TRAUMA-PEDDLERS

In the midst of a culture where apologies have been weaponized, both by faux-victims and by real perpetrators, a great deal of misunderstanding has arisen about what forgiveness is, and how it works. Trauma-peddlers are not interested in the fire of bitterness to be put out by the water of forgiveness. Cruel men are only interested in apologies as a means of preserving the brand. We must reject both approaches.
Scripture gives us a way out of the shipwreck of feelings, and onto the solid ground of truth. If you’ve been wronged, true harm has been done. Whether the harm is physical or verbal, emotional or financial Scripture equips us to handle the harm done to us with, as Paul puts it in our text, the peace of God ruling in our hearts.
Grace is in our hearts and so we sing one to another the songs of God. God’s peace rules our hearts, and so we forgive as He forgave us. Notice in the text that it is by God’s presence within us that enables us to the action of forgiveness. By resting in our justification before God through Christ we are enabled to go about the activity of objective reconciliation. This doesn’t dull our emotional state; rather it is by the Spirit’s governance within us that our emotions are strengthened, sharpened, and sweetened. Elsewhere, Paul instructs that true forgiveness is tied up with tenderheartedness (Eph. 4:32). A new heart, in other words, is absolutely necessary.

TRANSACTIONAL FORGIVENESS

When you’re wronged, Scripture gives a few routes to take. This text in Colossians sets forth one path plainly and implies the second. You can forbear the offense, covering a whole catalogue of sins (Cf. Pro. 10:12). The second path is to pursue the offense straight up the middle, seeking to address the wrong in order to extend forgiveness.
Again, forgiveness is a transaction, not a feeling. This is where many modern grief counselors, like blind guides of the blind, stagger off into the marshlands. Say in a quarrel with a spouse, friend, or coworker you utter a truly cruel insult to them. You’ve done objective harm, so by seeking forgiveness you are identifying the true guilt of your actions, along with the objective harm you did, and then seeking to restore what you harmed. The option for the victim is to either extend forgiveness and receive the restitution, or curl up into hardened shell of resentment.
This transactional aspect of biblical forgiveness removes relational restoration from the fluctuating realm of feelings and excuses and “sweep it under the rug” approaches. Biblical justice requires restitution (Ex. 22:12), ranging from double what was stolen (Ex. 22:7), to a fifth for lesser faults (Num. 5:7) to four-fold (Lk. 19:1-10). Did you gossip about someone? You need to seek their forgiveness as well as seek to restore the good name you tarnished. Did you lie? You need to come clean, then restore the harm done by your falsehood. This doesn’t just factor in material harm, but the harm from time-lost.

I DON’T FEEL LIKE FORGIVING

For the offended party, the last thing you may feel like doing is forgiving. True forgiveness isn’t dependent on the alignment of heavenly bodies, or hormones to balance, or enough time to pass. Put on Christ, and grace rules in you.
You get the forgiveness ready, from the heart, because your heart is under the authority of Another. It isn’t under the authority of what your feelings are doing. Furthermore, while extending forgiveness it’s lawful to lay out the clear damages needing restitution.
What is not an option is to say that you just won’t forgive. Jesus gives stern warnings to the unforgiving. You are insisting on receiving infinite kindness from God, and refusing to extend finite kindness to your brother.

AS GOD FORGAVE YOU

Once more, the virtues we are commanded to cultivate are all derivative. You don’t draw up forgiveness juice from the well of your own inward goodness. The well from which your forgiveness springs from is the same well that you have drunk from. The infinite ocean of God’s kindness to you through Christ.
See how God sees you. The Gospel draws open the shades, and allows you see the pristine view of God’s mercy toward you. God calls you elect, chosen. Through no deserving on your part. God calls you holy. God calls you beloved. None of it earned. None of it because you were on your best behavior. All of it freely given by the cross. Lay hold on the cross, and then forgive as God forgave you. Not because you feel like it, but because you have a new heart.

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The Supremacy of Christ and His Salvation

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INTRODUCTION

Christians can grow sluggish in their Christianity. They can start to loosen their grip on the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And they can do this as recipients of the heavy blessing of God. Cotton Mather once said, “Religion begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother.” Moses said something similar. He sang of God making his people ride on the high places of the earth that they might eat the increase of the fields. And then, “Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked” (Deuteronomy 32:15).

The solution of course is not to go on a diet from the blessings of God. The solution is to truly taste and see that the Lord is good and so give thanks. That’s the logic of the text before us. The original hearers, like us today, needed to pay closer attention to what God had said to them and done for them through his Son (ch. 2:1-3). And where we will we get strength to do that? In God’s Son (ch. 1:1-14)

THE TEXT

Hebrews 1–2:3.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul begins by pointing out that God spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets (v. 1). And he contrasts God’s manner of speaking back then with his manner of speaking in “these last days” (v. 2). In these last days, God has spoken to the saints by his Son. Many things are acknowledged of this Son through whom God spoke to his people: He has been appointed heir of all things, not just some things (v. 2). He was the one through whom God made the worlds (v. 2). He is the brightness of God’s glory, and his express image such that if you have seen Jesus Christ then you have seen the Father (v. 3). This Son upholds all things by the word of his power, the same all things that he is inheriting, remember (v. 3). This Son purged our sins and is sat down at the right hand of God on high (v. 3).

The Son of God has obtained a better “name” than angels (v. 4). Now, this assertion can be confusing. Why does it need to be made? Doesn’t everyone already know that the Son of God is better than the angels? Well, yes, they do. Paul isn’t speaking to the supremacy of Christ’s divine nature to the angels. He’s speaking to the supremacy of the Godman, Jesus Christ, and particularly his mediatorial office as the Godman.

This idea is further expressed in verse 5 and 6. In verse 6, the angels of God worship the Son when God brings him into the world. The point is not simply that the angels worship the second member of the Trinity. The point is they worship the Son of God made flesh. In verse 5, Paul signals that God has not exalted any angel like he has the Son. For God said to the Son, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” Paul is quoting Psalm 2 here. And the “begottenness” happened on a “day.” And that needs explaining. (Remember Peter said that Paul wrote things hard to understand).

When the Apostle John refers to the “only begotten Son” in John 3:16, he speaks of Christ’s eternal Sonship to the Father. That eternal Sonship is, of course, eternal. Therefore, it did not happen on “a day.” Psalm 2 and Hebrews 1:5 speak to a different begotteness, a different thing. Psalm 2 signals that “this day” was the day of Christ’s resurrection. And the begotteness refers to the Father raising the Son from the dead. Paul makes this very clear in Acts 13:33. He cites this same verse from Psalm 2 while referring to the Father raising the Son from the dead. God has not done the same for angels, they are ministering spirits (v. 7).

Several Old Testament texts are referenced as Paul points out the supremacy of the Son. God the Father says many things of the Son. He speaks of the Son’s never-ending throne (v. 8), his love of righteousness, hatred of iniquity, and exceeding gladness (v. 9). The Son laid the foundation of the earth, built the heavens with his hands, and will remain after they grow old and he folds them up like a dress (v. 10-12). Christ is better than angels for he has ascended to the right hand of God with his enemies being made his footstool, while the angels minister to Christ’s people (v. 14).

The application of all of this is that the saints must pay closer attention to what God has said through this exalted Son, lest we let his words to us slip (ch. 2:1). If God’s word delivered by angels in time past was so steadfast that every disobedience was punished, how much more will be the case for those who neglect the great salvation brought by Christ himself (ch. 2:2-3)?

CHRIST WHO PURGED OUR SINS

Paul’s logic runs something like this: Would you leave God? Would you slip away from him? May it never be! God has not only saved you. He has saved you through his Son.

The passage is not concerned with the supremacy of Christ abstractly considered. It is not merely a matter of putting God’s Son on one side of the scales and the prophets and angels on the other side. The Son, whose supremacy is in view, is the Son who purged our sins. He is the Son of God who entered the world. He is the Son who was “made a little lower than the angels” and then was raised from the dead and exalted above the angels as the Godman. And when he was raised up there in the heavens, he took you all with him for you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).

This Christ is not merely the Word spoken to you that you must hear. He is the Word that binds you. What does he bind you to? He binds you to God. Would you slip away from God’s word? It is the Word made flesh that binds you to God. Would you loosen your hold on the Word? It is the word that upholds you and all things.

THE LAST DAYS AND OUR DAYS

Paul says that God has spoken to his people by his Son “in these last days.” These “last days” can be easily misunderstood. So a word about them is in order. We do not live in these last days. And these last days are not in our future. Rather, these “last days” refer to the Jewish age or the old covenant. When Paul wrote, the Romans were soon to destroy the temple in Jerusalem. The destruction of that temple was an act of God signifying the vanishing of the old covenant. Jesus referred to this in Matthew 24:1-2 when he said to his disciples that not one stone of the temple would be left on another.

That temple destruction was not merely about the destruction of temple worship. It signified the removal of the old covenant, the end of an age. We see Paul expressing this same idea later in the book in Hebrews 8:13. There he speaks of a new covenant that God is making. And he writes, “In that he saith, a new covenant, he made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”

That old covenant was glorious. It was so glorious that Paul says “the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance” (2 Corinthians 3:7). But, he adds that this old covenant glory was coming to an end. And it would be replaced with a new covenant that was even more glorious.

You live in the epoch of the seen Christ, of the revealed mystery. The veil of the temple has been torn in two. You live in the time of the gathering together into one both things in heaven and things on earth. You are members of the new covenant. And the Virgin-born Son of God is the mediator of this new covenant and Lord over all things in this new covenant era.

You live in the days after the last days. And they are days of great wonder and glory. How then should you live? You should give more earnest heed to the things God your Father has said to you through his Son (Hebrews 2:1).

PROPHETS, ANGELS, AND GOD’S SON

Speaking about the word of God, Paul stirs up the saints to reverence for that word by contrasting the various ways God has delivered his word to his people. In time past, God spoke by prophets. And in time past, he spoke “by angels” (ch. 2:2). And the word that he spoke by prophets and angels was steadfast. We’re not dealing with a shaky word back then and a stable word here and now. We’re dealing with a rock-solid word back then, (the kind of rock you could build a house on), and diamond-hard Mount Everest word here and now (the kind that supports the world-wide growth of an everlasting kingdom).

In both cases, God speaks. The contrast is not between prophets and angels themselves speaking in the old and the Son speaking in the new. The contrast is that God spoke by prophets and angels in the old. And he has now spoken by his Son in the new. Think book publishing. There is an author from whom the word originates and there is a publisher of that word.

Paul says in Galatians 3:19 that the law was “ordained by angels.” God spoke the law by these angels on Mount Sinai. John Owen said these angles “raised the fire and smoke; they shook and rent the rocks; they framed the sound of the trumpet . . . and therein proclaimed and published the law.” Not many men would not complain about having an angel as his publisher. That’s a sure word.

How much more then ought we to take confidence in the word published by the Son of God, the Word made flesh? Take this to heart. Man often cast his doubts in a humble light, “I just don’t know. I haven’t quite made up my mind, still exploring.” We often do the same with anxiety. But the doubting man and anxious woman do not doubt an idea. They do not doubt a sentence in the sky. They doubt a person, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the only way to snap out of your worrisome unbelief. God the Father says, “This is my beloved Son, Listen to him!” God said that on the mount as Jesus was transfigured and his face shone as the sun. And his face still shines today. So, hear him. He’s the Living Christ. Hear him.

The only appropriate response to this word from God is that of the disciples on that mount, “The fell on their face and were sore afraid” (Matthew 17:6). That’s it. No more huffing and puffing, no more what-iffing. Hear him and fall on your face in fear.

THE ETERNAL THRONE AND KINGDOM

We have every reason to because this Christ through whom God speaks to us not only purged our sin. He not only ushered in the new covenant era. And he not only is superior to prophets and angels. He has been raised up and seated on an eternal throne (ch. 1:8). And he is a happy king, anointed with the oil of gladness.

This king rules over his kingdom. And here is glory, you are in that kingdom. Look around, you are fellow members in that kingdom. And the kingdom that we find ourselves in will be around after Christ folds up the heavens like a curtain on moving day. The Palouse hills will be wrapped up like a bed sheet. And the kingdom we are in right now will still be here. And the King of this kingdom will still be here.

Do you feel shaky? That’s because things are being shaken. Well who is doing the shaking? God is. He says so in this very book, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” (Hebrews 12:26). Do you feel breakable like a clay pot? That’s because you are a clay pot. Do you feel like a brick that could be pulverized if dropped from too high up? That’s because you are a brick. You are a brick being placed one upon another. And you are a dwelling place for God. The designer and builder of this house is God. He is building this eternal kingdom and we are receiving it even now, “And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:27-28).

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