Hebrews 10

It seems like it must have been hard for the Jews in the early church. The Gentiles didn't know one thing from another, so for them to accept salvation apart from the law was not big deal. They didn't know anything about the law in the first place. For the Jews, though, things were being turned on their ear. For as long as anyone could remember, the priest had to enter the tabernacle each year to make atonement for sins. And no one except the priest could do that job.

Now, Jesus has come along and the Christians are saying that He complements the Law. Only thing is: they don't see why the priest is important anymore. Jesus is the priest who went into the tabernacle of heaven with His own blood to make atonement for the last time. That's got to be a hard concept to get across when it challenges everything that you've been taught from birth, and it's the reason that the author continues to back to this same idea. Jesus only needed to make one perfect sacrifice and it was done for all time. There is no need to go through this process over and over again.

The catch, as in everything, is living into this, though. Once you get over the hump of believing in Christ and understanding at a high level how He fits with your traditions and beliefs, you've got to live that everyday. You've got to live that among people that haven't yet believed. You've got to live that in spite of everyone telling you that you're crazy. You've got live that even though most of the encouragement that you are hearing is asking you to come back to Judaism. Those guys had a huge challenge, and it's no wonder that the author is encouraging them to stick together.

So, what does that mean to us? Most of us are Gentiles living in the USA. Our country's tradition is Christianity, so how does this apply to us? Think about this. What if someone challenged your traditional view of the Bible? What if someone told you that Jesus wasn't born in a barn behind a hotel? Would it make a difference?

If it really shakes your world, then you might be clinging too much to traditions and laws just like the Jews. If, on the other hand, you are able to look objectively at that statement and see how it doesn't change a thing in the world about Christ and your salvation, then your focus is likely to be in the right place.