10:16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those
days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will
write them on their minds,"
10:17 he also adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless
deeds no more."
10:18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any
offering for sin.
10:19 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the
sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
10:20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the
curtain (that is, through his flesh),
10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
10:22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water.
10:23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without
wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
10:24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and
good deeds,
10:25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.
This passage can be beautifully related to Mat. 27:51 ("At that
moment [Jesus death] the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from
top to bottom..."). At the moment of his sacrificial death Jesus has
become our high priest, every believer now has personal access to
the holy of holies through Jesus. What a privilege.
I'm interested in the idea that we can "provoke" one another to
love. Usually you think of provoking as a negative. How do we
provoke love?
And did Jesus' death provoke our love (we love because he first
loved us...)?
I think of how hardship can sometimes draw the best out of people. I
read in the NYTimes today of a soldier in Iraq who decided to read
the Bible. That day he read something that struck him as true,
though he couldn't find it again. But he remembered what it said (No
one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's
friends.) I wonder if that would have ever struck him as true if he
hadn't been fighting for 12 hours straight and exhausted.
Hope there is someone out there to reflect with!
DGinNYC
