20/20 for JESUS - Blogpost #394 for 11/3/2021: THE APOSTLE AND HIGH PRIEST OF OUR CONFESSION: JESUS… FAITHFUL TO HIM WHO APPOINTED HIM… WORTHY OF MORE GLORY THAN MOSES…. THE BUILDER OF THE HOUSE HAS MORE HONOR THAN THE HOUSE… THE BUILDER OF ALL THINGS… CHRIST… FAITHFUL AS A SON OVER HIS HOUSE … OUR CONFIDENCE… THE BOAST OF OUR HOPE… THE LIVING GOD…

 

Hebrews 3

“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider THE APOSTLE AND HIGH PRIEST OF OUR CONFESSION: JESUS;  

² HE WAS FAITHFUL TO HIM WHO APPOINTED HIM, as Moses also was in all HIS house. 

³ For HE has been counted WORTHY OF MORE GLORY THAN MOSES, by just so much as THE BUILDER OF THE HOUSE HAS MORE HONOR THAN THE HOUSE.  

⁴ For every house is built by someone, but THE BUILDER OF ALL THINGS is GOD. 

⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all GOD’s house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 

⁶ but CHRIST was FAITHFUL AS A SON OVER HIS HOUSE —whose house we are, if we hold firmly to OUR CONFIDENCE and THE BOAST OF OUR HOPE

⁷ Therefore, just as THE HOLY SPIRIT says,

“Today if you hear HIS voice,

⁸ Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked ME,

As on the day of trial in the wilderness,

⁹ Where your fathers put ME to the test,

And saw MY works for forty years. 

¹⁰ Therefore I was angry with this generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

And did not know MY ways’;

¹¹  As I swore in MY anger,

They certainly shall not enter MY rest.’”

 

¹² Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from THE LIVING GOD. 

¹³ But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 

¹⁴ For we have become partakers of CHRIST if we keep the beginning of our commitment firm until the end, 

¹⁵ while it is said,

“Today if you hear HIS voice.

Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked ME.”

¹⁶ For who provoked HIM when they had heard?

Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 

¹⁷ And with whom was HE angry for forty years?

Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 

¹⁸ And to whom did HE swear that they would not enter HIS rest, but to those who were disobedient? 

¹⁹ And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”

Thank you for joining us today!  As we continue looking at JESUS through the different books of the Bible, we will be in the book of Hebrews, in November.  On this blog, I highlight words that are names/descriptions of JESUS that either appear for the first time (since beginning this blog) or have been previously referred to or highlighted on this blog.  Most of the time, we look at a chapter a day, except the last 3 days of October we looked at the 5 chapters of the book of James.

20/20 for JESUS - Blogpost #393 for 11/2/2021: SO GREAT A SALVATION… THE LORD… SON OF MAN… FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN ANGELS… CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR… EVERYTHING IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET… HE LEFT NOTHING THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO HIM… JESUS… CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR… THE GRACE OF GOD… TASTED DEATH FOR EVERYONE… FOR WHOM ARE ALL THINGS AND THROUGH WHOM ARE ALL THINGS… BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY… PERFECTED THE ORIGINATOR OF THEIR SALVATION THROUGH SUFFERINGS… HE WHO SANCTIFIES AND THOSE WHO ARE SANCTIFIED ARE ALL FROM ONE FATHER… HE IS NOT ASHAMED TO CALL THEM BROTHERS AND SISTERS… THROUGH DEATH HE MIGHT DESTROY THE ONE WHO HAS THE POWER OF DEATH…. FREES THOSE WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE SUBJECT TO SLAVERY ALL THEIR LIVES… HE DOES NOT GIVE HELP TO ANGELS… HE GIVES HELP TO THE DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM… HE HAD TO BE MADE LIKE HIS BROTHERS SO THAT HE MIGHT BECOME A MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THINGS PERTAINING TO GOD… MAKES PROPITIATION FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE… SINCE HE HIMSELF WAS TEMPTED IN THAT WHICH HE HAS SUFFFERED, HE IS ABLE TO COME TO THE AID OF THOSE WHO ARE TEMPTED…

 

Hebrews 2

“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 

² For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a just punishment, 

³ how will we escape if we neglect SO GREAT A SALVATION? 

After it was at first spoken through THE LORD, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 

⁴ GOD also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, and by various miracles and by gifts of THE HOLY SPIRIT according to HIS own will.

 

⁵ For HE did not subject to angels ^]the world to come, about which we are speaking. 

⁶ But someone has testified somewhere, saying,

“What is man, that YOU think of him?

Or a SON OF MAN, that YOU are concerned about him?

⁷ YOU have made HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN ANGELS;

YOU have CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR; 

⁸  YOU have put EVERYTHING IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.”

For in subjecting all things to HIM,

HE LEFT NOTHING THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO HIM.    

But now we do not yet see all things subjected to HIM.

 

⁹ But we do see HIM WHO was made FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, 

namely, JESUS, 

because of His suffering death CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR,   

so that by THE GRACE OF GOD HE might TASTE(D) DEATH FOR EVERYONE. 

¹⁰ For it was fitting for HIM, FOR WHOM ARE ALL THINGS AND THROUGH WHOM ARE ALL THINGS,

in BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY,   

to PERFECT THE ORIGINATOR OF THEIR SALVATION THROUGH SUFFERINGS.  

¹¹ For both HE WHO SANCTIFIES AND THOSE WHO ARE SANCTIFIED ARE ALL FROM ONE FATHER; 

for this reason HE IS NOT ASHAMED TO CALL THEM BROTHERS AND SISTERS, 

¹² saying,

“I will proclaim YOUR NAME to my brothers,

In the midst of the assembly I will sing YOUR praise.”

¹³ And again,

“I will put my trust in HIM.”  

And again,

“Behold, I and the children whom GOD has given ME.”

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, HE HIMSELF likewise also partook of the same,

so that THROUGH DEATH HE MIGHT DESTROY THE ONE WHO HAS THE POWER OF DEATH, that is the devil, 

¹⁵ and FREES THOSE WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE SUBJECT TO SLAVERY ALL THEIR LIVES.  

¹⁶ For clearly HE DOES NOT GIVE HELP TO ANGELS,

 but HE GIVES HELP TO THE DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM.  

¹⁷ Therefore, in all things HE HAD TO BE MADE LIKE HIS BROTHERS SO THAT HE MIGHT BECOME A MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THINGS PERTAINING TO GOD, TO MAKE PROPITIATION FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE.   

¹⁸ For SINCE HE HIMSELF WAS TEMPTED IN THAT WHICH HE HAS SUFFFERED, HE IS ABLE TO COME TO THE AID OF THOSE WHO ARE TEMPTED. “   

Thank you for joining us today.  As we continue looking at JESUS through the different books of the Bible, we will be in the book of Hebrews, in November.  On this blog, I highlight words that are names/descriptions of JESUS that either appear for the first time (since beginning this blog) or have been previously referred to or highlighted on this blog.  Most of the time, we look at a chapter a day, except the last 3 days of October we looked at the 5 chapters of the book of James.

20/20 for JESUS - Blogpost #392 for 11/1/2021: HIS SON… HEIR OF ALL THINGS… THROUGH WHOM HE ALSO MADE THE WORLD… THE RADIANCE OF HIS GLORY… THE EXACT REPRESENTATION OF HIS NATURE… UPHOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER… MADE PURIFICATION OF SINS… AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH… SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS… HE HAS INHERITED A MORE EXCELLENT NAME… A SON TO ME… THE FIRSTBORN…. LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM… THE SON… YOUR THRONE, GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER… THE SCEPTER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM…. YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS… GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL OF JOY ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS… YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH… THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS… YOU REMAIN… YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END…

 Welcome to November!  

As we continue looking at JESUS through the different books of the Bible, we will begin today in the book of Hebrews.  On this blog, I highlight words that are names/descriptions of JESUS that either appear for the first time (since beginning this blog) or have been previously referred to or highlighted on this blog.  Most of the time, we look at a chapter a day, except the last 3 days of October we looked at the 5 chapters of the book of James.

Hebrews 1

1 GOD, after HE spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 

² in these last days has spoken to us ^]in HIS SON,

WHOM HE appointed HEIR OF ALL THINGS, 

THROUGH WHOM HE ALSO MADE THE WORLD. 

³ And HE is THE RADIANCE OF HIS GLORY and

THE EXACT REPRESENTATION OF HIS NATURE,

 and UPHOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER.

When HE had MADE PURIFICATION OF SINS,

HE sat down AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH.  

⁴ having become SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS,   

to the extent that HE HAS INHERITED A MORE EXCELLENT NAME than they.

⁵ For to which of the angels did HE ever say,

“YOU are MY SON,

today I have Fathered YOU”?

And again,

“I will be a FATHER to HIM and

HE will be a SON to ME”?

“I will be a Father to Him
And He will be a Son to Me”?

⁶ And when HE again brings THE FIRSTBORN into the world, HE says,

“And LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.”

 

⁷ And regarding the angels HE says,

“HE makes HIS angels winds,

And HIS ministers a flame of fire.”

 

⁸ But regarding THE SON HE says,

“YOUR THRONE, GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,

And THE SCEPTER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.

 ⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore, God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of joy above Your companions.”

¹⁰ And,

“YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH,

And THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

¹¹ They will perish, but YOU REMAIN;

And they all will wear out like a garment,

¹²  And like a robe, YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP;

Like a garment they will also be changed.

But YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END.”

¹³ But to which of the angels has HE ever said,

“Sit at MY right hand, until I make YOUR enemies a footstool for YOUR feet”?

¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to provide service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

 

20/20 for JESUS - Blogpost #391 for 10/31/2021: GOD… GRACE… HUMBLE… THE LORD… ONLY ONE LAWGIVER AND JUDGE… THE ONE WHO IS ABLE TO SAVE AND DESTROY… THE LORD ALMIGHTY… PATIENT… STANDS FIRM… THE JUDGE… BLESSED… PERSEVERED… PERSEVERANCE… FULL OF COMPASSION AND MERCY… FAITH… RIGHTEOUS… THE TRUTH…

 

James 4 

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 

² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask GOD. 

³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against GOD? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of GOD. 

⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that HE jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 

⁶ But HE gives us more GRACE.  That is why Scripture says:

“GOD opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the HUMBLE.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to GOD. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

⁸ Come near to GOD and HE will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 

⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 

¹⁰ HUMBLE yourselves before THE LORD, and he will lift you up.

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 

¹² There is ONLY ONE LAWGIVER AND JUDGE,

THE ONE WHO IS ABLE TO SAVE AND DESTROY. 

But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 

¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is THE LORD’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 

¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 

¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”

 

 

James 5 

“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 

² Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 

³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 

⁴ Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of THE LORD ALMIGHTY. 

⁵ You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 

⁶ You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Patience in Suffering

⁷ Be PATIENT, then, brothers and sisters, until THE LORD’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 

⁸ You too, be PATIENT and STAND(s) FIRM, because THE LORD’s coming is near. 

⁹ Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. THE JUDGE is standing at the door!

¹⁰ Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of THE LORD. 

¹¹ As you know, we count as BLESSED those who have PERSEVERED. You have heard of Job’s PERSEVERANCE and have seen what THE LORD finally brought about. THE LORD is FULL OF COMPASSION AND MERCY.  

¹² Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. 

Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 

¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of THE LORD. 

¹⁵ And the prayer offered in FAITH will make the sick person well;

THE LORD will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 

¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a RIGHTEOUS person is powerful and effective.

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 

¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from THE TRUTH and someone should bring that person back, 

²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”

 

PLEASE NOTE:  

Highlighted words are names/descriptions of JESUS that either appear for the first time or have been previously referred to or highlighted on this blog.

20/20 for JESUS - Blogpost #390 for 10/30/2021: OUR GLORIOUS LORD JESUS CHRIST… GOD… FAITH… HIM TO WHOM YOU BELONG… GIVES FREEDOM… MERCY… MERCIFUL… MY FAITH… RIGHTEOUS… RIGHTEOUSNESS… TEACHER… PERFECT… OUR LORD… WISE… GOOD LIFE… HUMILITY… WISDOM… THE TRUTH… PURE… PEACE-LOVING… CONSIDERATE… FULL OF MERCY AND GOOD FRUIT… IMPARTIAL… SINCERE… PEACEMAKERS WHO SOW PEACE…

 James 2 & 3:

James 2

“My brothers and sisters, believers in OUR GLORIOUS LORD JESUS CHRIST must not show favoritism. 

² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 

³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 

⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not GOD chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in FAITH and to inherit the kingdom HE promised those who love HIM? 

⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of HIM TO WHOM YOU BELONG?

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 

⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 

¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 

¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.”  If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that GIVES FREEDOM, 

¹³ because judgment without MERCY will be shown to anyone who has not been MERCIFUL. MERCY triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Deeds

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have FAITH but has no deeds? Can such FAITH save them? 

¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 

¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in PEACE; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 

¹⁷ In the same way, FAITH by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have FAITH; I have deeds.”

Show me your FAITH without deeds, and I will show you MY FAITH by my deeds. 

¹⁹ You believe that there is ONE GOD. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that FAITH without deeds is useless? 

²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered RIGHTEOUS for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 

²² You see that his FAITH and his actions were working together, and his FAITH was made complete by what he did. 

²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed GOD, and it was credited to him as RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called GOD’s friend. 

²⁴ You see that a person is considered RIGHTEOUS by what they do and not by FAITH alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered RIGHTEOUS for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 

²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so FAITH without deeds is dead.”

 

 

James 3 

“Not many of you should become TEACHERs, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 

² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is

PERFECT, able to keep their whole body in check.

³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 

⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 

⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 

⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 

⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ With the tongue we praise OUR LORD and FATHER, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in GOD’s likeness. 

¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 

¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 

¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

¹³ Who is WISE and understanding among you? Let them show it by their GOOD LIFE, by deeds done in the HUMILITY that comes from WISDOM. 

¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny THE TRUTH. 

¹⁵ Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷ But the WISDOM that comes from heaven is first of all

PURE;

Then PEACE-LOVING,  

CONSIDERATE (GENTLE),

SUBMISSIVE (REASONABLE), 

FULL OF MERCY AND GOOD FRUIT,   

IMPARTIAL and

SINCERE (WITHOUT HYPOCRISY). 

¹⁸ PEACEMAKERs WHO SOW IN PEACE reap a harvest of RIGHTEOUSNESS."