Hebrews 13:10-14 — OT ceremony or NT suffering...somehow the second IS better!

READ THIS: Hebrews 13:10-14

10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

Yesterday's verses ended by saying that it is better for us to focus on the grace of God than to try to do all the correct ceremonial things. The verses today speak into that more. But, first, we have to understand some important ceremonial things. In the Old Testament, those who ministered the "sin offering" would shed the blood of animals over certain holy areas and things, including an altar inside the tabernacle, and then the animal itself would be burned outside the camp where the Israelites were. This is how they ceremonially dealt with sin. 

For clarity, an altar is like a table for ceremonial things. The tabernacle was the name for the portable area that was like a meeting place between earth and heaven. 

With that all cleared up, this is what these verses are saying: People who believe in Jesus have their own altar that people who care about the ceremonial stuff will never get to take part in because the ceremonial stuff has to do with their work, not the work of Jesus. The altar of Jesus is His grace, given to us because He bled for us, and He hung on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem just like the animal sacrifices were burned outside of camp. Therefore, for those who believe in Jesus, we need to be willing to go outside of our comfort areas, our camps, and suffer for Jesus, because we live for Heaven, the city that is to come. 

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. Do these verses make sense to you now? What is still confusing? Who can you talk out these verses with?
 
2. What's one way you can go outside your comfort zone today to do something for Jesus?

TRY THIS:

You felt this coming...go do that thing you said for question number 2!!!!

SONG OF THE WEEK:
 
Listen to this song! The reason we know God is here for us and will never leave us is because of the suffering Jesus went through FOR us! (Can we try to do the same for Him?!)





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