“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them. We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.”
We are nearing the end of Hebrews — we’ll finish this series tomorrow. If you have been reading along with us each day, congratulations for completing another book of the Bible! Let’s dive in: today’s passage emphasizes the importance of holding on to the reality of Jesus Christ. He is constant. Because of this unchanging nature, we know that any teaching about Jesus that presents a new idea of who he is will be wrong.
The only thing that has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament is the covenental system that God had with his people. God’s nature did not change. Instead, he took a step to fulfill the old covenant by providing the perfect sacrifice: Jesus. In doing so, he ushered a new type of access to himself because he overcame sin and death. This plan was always God’s heart.
Some people think that God was angry and punishing in the Old Testament and then softened when Jesus came in the New Testament. Far from it! Jesus perfectly reveals who God is in every way. Now that we know him, we offer new kind of sacrifices: praise, evangelism, and caring for those in need. Just as Jesus showed us who God is, now our job is to show God’s nature to the world. Who can you show God’s heart today?