I love the way many New Testament passages reveal the ultimate truth that we first find in Old Testament passages. Hebrews 10: 19 – 24 is a beautiful example of this and another excellent option for building your music and worship philosophy.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Imagine you were a first century Jewish believer reading this letter, or more likely, hearing it read aloud in a house church meeting. The images involved here would have immediately drawn your mind to the customs and rituals of the tabernacle - priests entering the Most Holy Place after ceremonial washing and the sprinkling of the blood of a sacrificial animal. But the writer of this letter is saying to the early Church, and to us, that we now have access to the Most Holy Place (where God met and now meets His people); the curtain separating God and man has been torn. We have our hearts sprinkled with the blood of the ultimate Sacrifice. We have not only our hands washed (as the ancient priests did), but our entire bodies.
We now have access to God. An incredible, unbelievable assertion on the part of this writer! And what it means is this: the old has become new; everything that these early believers had seen done for generations has given way to a brand new idea; what once was symbolic is now reality.
And for us? Two things come immediately to mind:
- We really should think about our approach to and interaction with each other; not neglecting the priority of worship, but spurring each other on, encouraging each other while we're together. It's hard to tear somebody down when you're building them up.
- In thinking about the old becoming new, it's worth asking – Is there something in my worship of God that I sense He wants to begin altering? Any familiar custom or ritual that needs His infusion of new meaning and fresh reality?
This could change everything!
