The Jewish people heard a message from God. If they kept His covenant with Him He promised to bless and protect them, and they would become powerful leaders in the world.
Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, foretold that the Lord God of Israel would rescue His people, fulfilling the promise made to the ancestors since the start of time. He promised to deliver them from their enemies.
Isaiah 11:1-2
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
Out of the stem of Jesse, King David, would come the Savior, the King of the Jews. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit gives us His wisdom, His understanding, His counsel, His power, His knowledge, and instills in us the reverence due to Jesus the Christ.
The Lord is coming back unexpectedly. Without Christ, there’s no way we can find true peace in this world. The anti-Christ will pretend to bring peace, but in reality, he will just desire to destroy us. As we wait eagerly for Christ’s return, let’s try to live in love and peace, and keep our faith in Jesus strong. Remember, Jesus has already conquered the world, and we can trust that. Take care, Carla
Hebrews 5:5-11
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. The New King James Version
The ultimate expression of God’s mercy is His voluntary offering of His only Son for our sins, even when we were still His enemies. Since Jesus, our Intercessor at the right hand of God has experienced every kind of temptation we endure we can approach Him with boldness, knowing that we will find sympathy and mercy. We who have experienced God’s mercy and forgiveness should, in turn, show mercy to others.
Melchizedek In the old testament, Melchizedek is described as the king of Salem and a priest (Genesis 14:18). In Psalm 110:4, Melchizedek is evoked as an ideal priest-king; the psalm suggests that another Melchizedek will come from David’s lineage. As a place, Salem is often identified with Jerusalem because of the similarity of names and because the meeting between Abraham and Melchizedek occurred within the King’s Valley, which is associated with Jerusalem (Genesis 14:17). The Jewish extrabiblical book of Second Enoch depicts God as instructing the angel Michael to save Melchizedek from the flood. The Melchizedek Scroll, a text from the Dead Sea Scrolls, depicts Melchizedek as a heavenly figure who is more exalted than the angels. Other Dead Sea Scrolls texts, along with the ancient writers Josephus and Philo mention Melchizedek with little or no elaboration.
Like priests in the line of Aaron, Christ did not appoint Himself—Christ was crowned with glory (doxa) on account of His death. This quotation from Psalm 2:7 emphasizes that God—who called Jesus His “Son”—appointed Christ as high priest. The same verse is quoted in Hebrews 1:5. 5:6
This citation from Psalm 110:4 is cited to demonstrate that God appointed Jesus as an eternal priest. God designated Christ as high priest. Faithlife Study Bible
Christ did not call Himself to the office of High Priest; the Father called Him to the honor. Both Psalm 2:7 and 110:4 are cited to prove this fact. Psalm 2:7 is also quoted in 1:5 to prove Christ’s superiority to the angels, and now the writer uses the quote to prove Jesus’ special relationship with God the Father.
The quote from Psalm 110:4 highlights the eternal nature of Jesus’ priesthood. He will be Mediator between God and us forever.
Jesus experienced all of what a person goes through on this earth. He knows how difficult it is to obey God completely, just as He understands the attractions of temptation. Yet He persisted in obedience, leading a sinless life. Having been perfected does not suggest that Jesus had not been perfect before. It means that He successfully carried out God’s plan for Him. He endured suffering and temptation so that He could truly function as our High Priest, understanding our weaknesses and interceding before God for us.
Jesus’ obedience to the Father led to Calvary, His own death on the Cross. The sacrifice of this sinless One in our place makes Him the source of our salvation.
Called here means “designated” and introduces Christ’s formal title, High Priest. Though the author of Hebrews has much more to say about Jesus’ priesthood, it will be hard to explain to the readers of this letter because they are dull of hearing. Dull means “sluggish.” When these people heard the word of God they were not quick to accept it. They had grown even more lazy in the faith, so explaining the truth to them would be difficult. The NKJV Study Bible
Mark 14:32–42 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed…
Psalm 110:4
The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
Psalm 2:7
“I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Hebrews 6:20–7:22 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him…
Matthew 26:36–46 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed…
Sin sometimes trips us up even after we have put our faith in Jesus, but as Romans 3:23-24 says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift ..." We all need God's grace to continue to meet us on our journey.
God's grace provides more than just forgiveness of our sins: A heart changed by grace is a new beginning, a chance for God to take what is broken and rebuild it into a life of purpose for His Kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:17) First5
Here’s what I do know: when we are wired to see only the emptiness (the scarcity), to see only what is lacking or missing, we completely miss the gifts. We miss the joy, the wonder, the offerings, the delight. We miss the sufficiency.
Using Lynne Twist’s words, “Sufficiency isn't two steps up from poverty or one step short of abundance. It isn't a measure of barely enough or more than enough. Sufficiency isn't an amount at all. It is an experience, a context we generate, a declaration, a knowing that there is enough, and that we are enough.”
I loved this reminder from Mj Blossoms, that the gift of sufficiency is found in the little stuff, “Maybe the real happy ending is falling in love with the simplest parts of life. It’s savoring that first sip of coffee in the morning, or losing yourself in the smell of freshly baked bread. It’s driving down familiar roads with the windows down, letting the air mess up your hair while your favorite song fills the car. It’s lingering on a quiet afternoon, reading the pages of a book you’ve put off for too long, letting each word wrap around you like an old friend. These moments — the ones that seem so ordinary — hold a kind of magic that fills the cracks we sometimes forget are there.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s finding a piece of joy in small things we often take for granted. Like the laughter that comes out of nowhere, shared with a stranger in a grocery store aisle. Or the comfort of a cozy night at home, wrapped up in a blanket, watching a show you’ve seen a hundred times but still brings a smile to your face.
It’s these little things that pull us back to life, that remind us of just how blessed we are, not because everything is perfect but because we find beauty in what we already have.” Sabbath Moments
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