The past two weeks we’ve been looking at the holiness of the Lord compared to us, and how repentance is an indicator of whether a person has met the Lord or not. The way we know if we’ve met Jesus is if we have been convicted of our sin. For we see throughout Scripture, that the people who realize the Lord’s holiness and simultaneously realize their own sin, trembling in fear and awe before the Lord, are the people who become converted and follow the Lord. We looked at Simon Peter, Isaiah, Job, and Moses as examples of this.
I also mentioned last week how the Lord provided a burning coal to cleanse Isaiah’s lips, and that He provided cleansing for us when He died on the cross. But I want to add another part to this sermon series. While a respectful fear of the Lord is a proper posture to hold, I don’t want to leave anyone thinking or feeling that God’s awesome holiness and our sinfulness leaves us in an uncomfortable place of fearful trembling. What the fear of the Lord should not be is feeling that the Lord is indifferent to us, or removed from us, or distant from us because of our unholiness. While encountering God’s holiness brings us to a place of fearful awe before Him and a realization of our uncleanliness, that is not the end for us. God’s great and perfect holiness does not mean that He is unaffected or repulsed by us humans. While it is true that He does not need us, that does not mean that He doesn’t deeply love us.
Rather than leaving us in that fear and unholiness, Jesus bridges the gap between us and the Father. Not because Jesus is loving, and the Father is demanding. Not at all. Jesus embodies the exact same heart of the Father. He says so when He says in John 14:6-11 (CSB), “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
‘Lord,’ said Philip, ‘show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.’”
Jesus clearly states that if you have seen Him, you have seen the Father. He further explains that He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him. In that statement, Jesus is giving us another hint at how He and the Father are one, which is something He said earlier in John 10:30. He said, “I and the Father are one.” Because of those declarations, and other similar ones that Jesus made, we see that He is in complete alignment with the Father. The same heart of love we see Jesus express to people as He heals them and speaks to them is the same heart the Father has.
More proof of the depth of the love of the Father is seen in many passages throughout the Old Testament. Jeremiah 31:3b says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.” In Isaiah 65:2, the prophet, repeating what God spoke to him, says, “I spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the path that is not good, following their own thoughts.” In that same prophecy, he adds in verse 24, “Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
The Father’s heart is one of patience and mercy. He’s waiting, with open arms, ready to receive all who would come to Him. Just as the New Testament tells us in Romans 5:8 that, “God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” so, too, in the Old Testament we see that the Father is waiting to answer our prayer to Him, even before we call to Him. His heart is for us, and that is why He opened wide the way for all people to come to Him. God provided the way for us to be holy, so that we could be in His presence and worship Him.
We know He accomplished this by sending Jesus to die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. That is true, but to help us understand why Jesus went to the cross, we need to look at God’s system of priests and sacrifices in the Old Testament. Before Jesus died on the cross, people received forgiveness by going to the temple and offering a sacrifice for their sins. A priest would be the mediator between God and each person. But the people kept sinning and breaking the covenant that God made with them. They would worship other gods and break His laws. God saw there was a “further need” to give His people a different priest. He needed to change the priesthood, for He saw the old system of priests could not bring “perfection.”
The book of Hebrews goes into great detail about this. Hebrews 7:11-17 says, “Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron? For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well. For the one these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar. Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah, and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests. And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life. For it has been testified:
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
God wanted a priest, who like Melchizedek, was not of the tribe of Levi. One who was not a priest because of “physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life” as verse 16 said. God gave us this better priest; a priest who speaks a “better hope” and promises a “better covenant” as verses 19 and 22 go on to say in the text.
Jesus is this high priest. Like Melchizedek, He is a priest and king. But Jesus did not advertise His role of priest and king externally. He chose a very different way. He chose the way of humility. He entered Jerusalem in lowliness, riding on a donkey. Much like His birth, His path was the opposite of pomp and ceremony. Yet He is the only one who actually deserves such reverie, for He is so much greater. For as Hebrews 7:23-25 tells us, “Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.” That is indeed the major difference and is unquantifiable in its importance.
As Hebrews 7:26-28 concludes, “For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected forever.”
That passage holds the key to understanding what Jesus did for us. He sacrificed Himself one time for our sins in order to make us holy. Just as a lamb was offered for Moses’ sin, and a burning coal cleansed Isaiah’s lips, Jesus became for us the ultimate sacrifice to cleanse us from our sin. He became for all of us, the ultimate sacrifice. He gave His life for us so we, though we are unclean, can be washed and forgiven and be declared clean and holy. His blood cleanses us. Because He is God and is perfect and holy and sinless, unlike the other priests, He didn’t need to offer sacrifice for His sins. And also, unlike the former priests, He never has to do this again. His sacrifice was complete. So when we are converted and come to faith in Him, and we repent of our sins and receive forgiveness, He then declares us forgiven. We are declared holy. He doesn’t need to die on the cross again when we sin again. We can simply repent and ask Jesus to forgive us.
This is proof of why Jesus is so much greater than the Levitical Priests were. He took it upon Himself to be the ultimate priest and to offer the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, making us holy. He did this for us out of His great love. This heart of love that we see so clearly expressed through Jesus’ words and actions is the same heart of the Father. Remember, they are one. They are of the same heart and mind. There is no difference between them. It was God the Father who, out of His great love for His people, decided to do away with the old broken covenant and make a better covenant for them. As Hebrews 8:13 says, “By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.”
That is proof of the Father’s great love for us. He sent us Jesus to die on the cross for us. This High Priest, who because He was not just a man but the One “who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” has offered Himself for us (Hebrews 8:1). It is exactly as John 3:16 says so succinctly, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” And as Jesus says in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.”
Now the Holy Spirit, God’s very presence, lives inside of us in so we can know Him. This new covenant is so much better than the old system. Jesus offered Himself so we can know God. As Jeremiah said, and Hebrews reminds us, God promises us this:
“I will put My laws into their minds,
And write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
Instead of the covenant being written on stone tablets, now the covenant is written in our hearts. Instead of the old covenant being a set of laws, the new covenant is one of grace. Jesus became the “mediator of [this] better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises”, when He proved Himself to be the great High Priest by becoming for us the sacrificial lamb.
Jesus dying on the cross accomplished all this for us. He created this new, better covenant. Understanding this helps us understand Jesus’ words to the disciples the night before He died. Luke 22:19-20 says, “And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’”
Every time we take communion, we remember what Jesus did for us. When we repeat those words of Jesus, we can think about what that new covenant is and what it means for us today. It means that by dying on the cross, Jesus proved Himself to be the ultimate High Priest. No other priest is ever needed, for we have the One who is seated next to the Father and is God Himself. He mediated the way for us to come to the Father. We no longer need anything else but faith in Him. This is why when Simon Peter dropped to his knees at Jesus’ feet, aware of his sin and shortcomings, Jesus said, “Do not fear.” Jesus knew what He was going to do, how He was going to die. He knew He would be providing, not only for Simon Peter’s sin, but for all of humanities sins. He was going to make the way for us to be declared holy. All we must do is be converted. For once we have repented and been washed by the blood of the Lamb and forgiven, then all we must do is keep our faith in Him.
This is the main point of all of Christianity. We have a God who became for us the offering needed for our salvation. He humbly became a baby, grew up and lived perfectly submitted to the Father, and willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sins, fulfilling Scripture, offering us a new covenant with Him. How could our response to such an incredible sacrifice be anything but falling at His feet? How could we not offer Him our lives in return for what He has done for us? If we don’t fall at His feet with thanksgiving, in overawed humility, then have we even met Him?
You might remember from last week’s sermon that after his conversion, Isaiah became a prophet of the Lord. He said in Isaiah 66:2b (CSB): “This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.” If we truly understand what Jesus has done for us, why would we not bow down before His feet in humility, submission, and tremble at His Word? If we understand who Jesus is and what He did for us, this must be our response to Him. Simon Peter, Isaiah, Job, and Moses, each had that response after they saw the Lord. And therefore, they were used mightily by God. It’s clear that our response to what the Lord has done for us must be characterized by those three things, as well, if we want to be of service to the Lord.
But the problem is, we cannot perfectly be and do those three things all the time, can we? Not even our examples of people from the Bible could do this perfectly. We don’t know much about Isaiah and Job’s failings, but for sure we know that Simon Peter and Moses were not perfect. We know from Scripture that they failed to be humble and submitted to God’s Word all the time. If we knew all of Job and Isaiah’s details, I’m positive we would see they were not perfect, either. No one is.
No one except Jesus. He is the only one who illustrates this passage in Isaiah perfectly for us: He became human by being born of woman, humbling Himself even to death; He submitted His will perfectly to the Father’s by completing the plan of salvation; and with perfect respect and honor, He fulfilled all the prophesies of Scripture. He never stumbled or failed. Jesus alone perfectly exemplified and fulfilled these three qualities that God promises to favor.
While it’s true we will never be those things 100% of the time, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Now that we are forgiven and washed clean by the sacrificial blood of Jesus, we should try, to the best of our ability, to be humble, submitted to Him, and obey His word. The way to start doing this is by praying for the Holy Spirit to work these three foundational character traits into us. If we cooperate with Him and try to be these three things, not only does He promise to look favorably on us, but this will keep us on the path of following the Lord.
But I have to issue a warning: have you ever prayed for the Lord to help you be humble? I have, and in a short order, I discovered just how much pride I have in my corrupted heart. Have you ever prayed for patience? I have, and I found out pretty quickly just how impatient I am as the Lord revealed my impatience to me. But this was good. The Holy Spirit started revealing weakness and shortcomings in me, and He’s steadily been growing His fruit of the Spirit inside of me, changing me and refining me. I’m not the same person I was when I met Jesus 32 years ago as a 17-year-old. He’s been molding me and helping me become more humble, more submissive to Him, and more fearfully respectful of His Word.
But the longer I follow the Lord, the more I realize just how imperfect I am. I remember thinking that I was a pretty unselfish person after a few years of following Jesus, but then I got married and discovered that I’m actually quite selfish and want my own way. Then we had children, and I learned even more how selfish and self-centered I was. The Lord is still showing me the depth of my unholiness in a myriad of ways. Next to Jesus, I’m still prideful, disobedient and not nearly as respectful of His word that I should be. For example, have you ever been submissive to the Lord, then felt proud of how you obeyed Him? Even our following Him well can lead us to be prideful; there is no way for us to escape our sin on our own. That is why, when we consider the Lord’s standards for even one moment, we see that even after He’s been cleansing us and changing us, we still do not measure up. If we truly understand that, then our only response is one of fear and trembling. His perfect holiness reveals to us just how unholy and unclean we are. And the closer we get to Him, the more sin He reveals to us. That is why God made that better covenant for us. He made a way for us to be declared holy before Him.
Our perfect, sinless, holy God took our sin away. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 explains, “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The fear and trembling we have now is not fear that He will reject us, but fear and awe at the fact that our Holy God loves and cares for us. So much so that He gives us His righteousness and declares us holy in His sight by forgiving us and cleansing us.
This is why we should never stop bowing at His feet, overawed by His perfect holiness, humbled by His great love for us. We don’t tremble before Him because we are afraid of Him and need to earn His love. We tremble before Him because He is worthy of respect and honor. He has chosen to love us. Now we have a proper posture of fearful trembling before the Lord, expressed through our humility and dependence on Him.
I will say it again. If we don’t humble ourselves, submit to the Lord, and tremble at His word, then that’s proof that we don’t actually know who He really is. Let us pray for our world, that all people will come to know Jesus and bow at His feet.
Then, globally, we will see God’s promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV) come to pass. He says, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Pray: Heavenly Father, we pray along with Ephesians 3:14-21 and kneel before You Father, You from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We pray that You may grant us, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with power in our inner beings through Your Holy Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. We pray that we, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all believers what is the length and width, height and depth of Your love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of You. To You who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— to You be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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