All Access - April 21 - Day 6

READ – Hebrews 10:11-18

Ritual can never take the place of relationship. Imagine the drudgery of the ancient sacrificial system. It wasn’t just the worshippers who had to contend with the monotony; it was the worship leaders, too. They manned their stations without fail offering sacrifice after sacrifice. It must have been a gory, terribly tedious job.

The funny thing is, we often try to connect with God through ritual instead of relationship. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for ritual. There is something that is often reassuring and calming about experiencing a routine. The church gathers every Sunday, after all. We sing songs, and commune together around the Lord’s table every Sunday. There is a place for ritual.

But ritual must never take the place of relationship.

Because a ritual cannot connect you to God. Only a relationship with his son, Jesus Christ, can do that. He provides you with an all-access pass to the Father

All Access - April 20 - Day 5

READ – Hebrews 10:1-10

It is difficult for us to imagine the emotional and spiritual impact of having to offer repeated sacrifices to become reconciled to God. “The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.” (verse 1)

Some of the Hebrews must have felt a sense of futility in it all of it: try to live sin-free, fail, offer a sacrifice. Repeat. In spite of their attempts to cleanse the conscience, their sacrifices served only to remind them of their sin and reinforce their guilt before God.

God has a better way: his son, Jesus. “God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all.” (verse 10) 

Many Christians have allowed effort, work, study and doing good deeds to replace the ancient system of sacrifice in their lives. They don’t slaughter animals before an altar to be reconciled to God, but they do “try to be extra good.” Or they put effort into learning about God, or serving God in the hope that their deeds will gain them favor with God. Trying to gain favor with God through good deeds is just as futile as trying to sacrifice your way into favor.

The path to reconciliation with God goes through Jesus. He provides the access to God that we long for.

All Access - April 19 - Day 4

READ – Matthew 27:45-54

Jesus’ divinity was confirmed by miraculous signs and wonders that took place at his crucifixion. 

For three hours, the sun refused to shine. The Passover took place during a full moon so this could not have been accounted for by an eclipse. It was the heart of the day, so there must have been something that blocked out the sun. Was it a storm of some kind? Whatever it was, God expressed his displeasure by blotting out the sun

The curtain in the temple split in two, from top to bottom. The curtain that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple signified the limited ability one had to connect with God. This room was accessible by only one person: the high priest, once each year: the Day of Atonement. God destroyed this barrier demonstrating that Jesus’ death created an all-access pass to God.

The earth shuddered. It was by the spoken word of Jesus that the earth was created. (John 1:3) and now the creation was crying out at the death of the creator.

Godly men and women who had died were resurrected and made their way into Jerusalem. Jesus’ death on the cross was the beginning of the end for death; it was defeated in Jesus’ triumph on the cross.

The immediate result of these events? A roman centurion professed his belief that Jesus was the Son of God.

That is who you have access to. “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” (Romans 8:11)