[Hebrews 9:11-14, 10:1-4 and 11-14]
By Gerald Cowan
It
can be said in this way: If our greatest need had been for
information, God would have sent us an educator. If our
greatest need had been for technology, God would have sent
us a scientist, a technician, or an engineer. If our
greatest need had been money and material wealth, God
would have sent us a financial adviser, an investment
broker. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would
have sent us an entertainer. If our greatest need had been
to be served, God would have sent us a servant. If our
greatest need had been for freedom, God would have sent us
a deliverer.
We
do have a need for information – about God, about our
world, and about ourselves. So God sent men inspired by
His Spirit to tell us about himself and the world and how
to relate to properly to Him and the world. He endowed us
with intelligence and rationality; He made us able to
investigate and learn how to develop and use the resources
at hand. Of course we got sidetracked by the desire to
possess more and more of the things that became available
to us and God-sent teachers could never convince some of
us of the futility and transience of earthly treasures,
though they often stressed the point. The search for
entertainment is mostly man-made, and God does not supply
it. But the need for information about how to relate to
God has never gone away, so God’s inspired persons
prepared us for life in His kingdom, life in the
called-out church of His Son. He revealed through them all
we will ever need to know to function properly in the
Kingdom/Church of the Lord, to please Him and secure a
place in His heaven (1 Peter 1:1-9, 2 Peter 1:3-4).
Jesus
was called The Teacher, and was surely the greatest
teacher ever in things pertaining to God and the spirits
of men. He knew the mind of God and was able to put God’s
will into understandable words for us, to give us a
perfectly understandable and applicable object lesson in
how to live and please God. In him we could see God and
hear God – we could know and experience God for ourselves
by following his words and example (John 14:9, 15:1-8). He
did not come to entertain us or make us feel good. But he
did tell us how to be blessed and how to be a blessing,
how to enjoy life – abundant life – how to be truly happy,
satisfied, and always rejoicing in God (Mt. 5:1-6, Phil.
4:4). He supplies all our real and abiding needs through
His Son, Jesus Christ (Phil. 4:13, 19).
God
knew that our greatest need was not to be free from all
others, or to be served by others. We can be submissive to
masters, rulers, and other authorities under whom we are
placed – that kind of adjustment is required for happiness
and satisfaction (Rom. 13:1-7, Eph. 5:21-6:9). Our
greatest needs are spiritual. God knew our greatest need
would be for the forgiveness of sins, errors and
mistakes – whether deliberate and willful or inadvertent
and accidental – our weaknesses, failures, shortcomings,
and doubts. Our greatest need was for salvation. So God
sent us a Savior, a Redeemer and Deliverer for our
spirits. He sent a Sacrifice who was able to remove all
our sins and give us the peace of mind that can only come
from a clean and clear conscience (Heb. 9:26-28, Phil.
4:6-9). In giving himself Jesus became the servant of all,
serving and ministering to our greatest needs. His service
can be rejected and his gift not received, but if that is
the case, nobody else can make up for the loss (John
13:6-17).
In
the process of providing for our salvation God made it
possible for us to live in peace with Him and with each
other. He also made it possible for us to be at peace
within ourselves, with untroubled hearts looking forward
to the consummation of all things in heaven (John 14:1-9)
where neither He nor we shall ever fade away (1 Peter
1:3-4).
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