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 nce
upon a time there lived a vain emperor.
His only worry in life was to dress in elegant clothes. He changed
clothes almost every hour and loved to show them to his people.
Word of the Emperor’s “refined” habits spread
over his kingdom and beyond. Two scoundrels who had heard of
the Emperor’s vanity decided to take advantage of it. They
introduced themselves at the gates of the palace with a scheme
in mind. “We are two very good tailors and after many years
of research we have invented an extraordinary method to weave
a cloth so light and fine that it looks invisible. As a matter
of fact, it is invisible to anyone who is too stupid and incompetent
to appreciate its quality.” Finally, the two men were allowed
to meet the emperor, “Besides being invisible, your Highness,
this cloth will be woven in colors and patterns created especially
for you.” The emperor gave the two men a bag of gold coins
in exchange for their promise to begin working on the fabric
immediately. The two men finally finished and presented the
new clothes to the emperor who was encouraged to show them to
his subjects. Of course he was naked, but everyone said, loudly
enough for the others to hear: “Look at the Emperor’s
new clothes. They’re beautiful!” “And the colors!
I have never seen anything like it in my life.” They all
tried to conceal their disappointment at not being able to see
the clothes, and were unwilling to admit their own stupidity
and incompetence. A child, however, who had no important job
and could only see things as his eyes showed them to him, went
up to the carriage. “The Emperor is naked,” he said.
Self
Deception.
The
above story is an old fairy tale called “The Emperor’s
New Clothes.” It was not written to illustrate the problem
we find in the book of Hebrews. But it illustrates what the
men and women to whom Hebrews was written thought they had done.
They had left Judaism for Jesus and found trials, conflicts,
and difficulties. They did not realize, as we do not usually
realize, that when there is a battle, trouble is just around
the corner. When they looked back, they thought they had left
Judaism for nothing. They thought they were now “wearing
spiritually invisible clothes.” They were wondering if
they had made a mistake on leaving their old, “real clothes”
behind.
So
the Holy Spirit has explained that Jesus is better than the
angels who in some way helped give the law to Moses (Acts 7:53;
Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2). The Holy Spirit has shown them that Jesus
was more faithful than Moses who was the mediator of the Old
Covenant - the Law. (Gal. 3:18-19; Heb. 3:1-6). Jesus is also
better than earthly priests, since He a priest after the order
of Melchizedek, and lives forever. The Holy Spirit has laid
the foundation and is ready for the shocking, unbelievable conclusion.
Main
Point.
The reason the first seven chapters of Hebrews were written
- the main point - is now given.
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Now
the main point in what has been said is this: we have
such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a
minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched, not man. (NASB) Heb. 8:1-2. |
The
main point is that Jesus is not just a man who lived and died,
but He is our high priest and He sits at the right hand of God
the Father in heaven. |
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