"Christ....entered the Holy Place once for all....". (Hebrews 9)
I was in the noontime prayer service in the Berliner Dom. When it was over, I was asked to leave. Prayer must give way to "filthy lucre." Apparently they don't want tourists ducking the entrance fee by feigning prayer. Why argue?!?
Our text is a "Reformation" text. In the Catholic Mass, they assert that the sacrifice of Christ is offered over and over. That is the, "First Covenant." The Hebrew writer says that the Second is based on, "better promises." There is just non better than when Jesus cried out, "It is finished," it was indeed, "finished."
'It's done, the great transaction's done. I am my Lord's and He is mine." Catholicism is based on "coming and going," theology, much like, "Take us into His presence." Don't need that. Reformers believe we entered, "once for all," when Jesus entered our very beings and we entered, "were grafted in," to Jesus. We entered Jesus and Jesus entered us when we, "open(ed) the door." So whether in the Berlin Mitte, or a 6+ hour time difference, no matter. Jesus, "entered the Holiest, "once for all," and so did you and I.
"He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By the will we have been sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL." It is time the praying, worshiping community reestablishes the Reformation roots, the call to the Church to once again proclaim and live, "once for all."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I am eternally thankful for, "once for all." Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'" "Looking unto Jesus" Hebrews 12:2
