October 25 2009    Reading:  Hebrews 4 and 5

 Theme: ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord........................’

John Knox was a man of prayer. When very ill, he called to his wife Marjory and asked her to read the beautiful prayer of Jesus from John 17. Then he began to pray. He prayed for his friends. He prayer for those who had so far rejected the gospel. He prayed for those who had recently come to know Jesus Christ. And he prayed for those in Scotland who were facing persecution. A short time later he passed away. A man of prayer.

In many places in the New Testament we read of prayer. Prayers to God........ in worship, in times of difficulty, and in times of thanksgiving

take the book of Acts.......for example........

When Peter and John were set free by the Council in Jerusalem, and returned to the believers, ‘all the believers joined together in prayer to God’. When Peter was kept in jail a little after this ‘the people of the Church were praying earnestly to God for him’

But, you know, there’s a phrase found throughout the New Testament, which is a little more mysterious - the New Testament speaks in several places of prayer ‘through Jesus Christ’ ? prayer ‘through Jesus Christ’

Paul says at the beginning of Romans: ‘I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, ’

At the end of Romans he writes:

‘To the only God , be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen’

Or again in Col 3.17 we read:

‘Sing psalms, hymns and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through Him to God the Father’.

what do these two words mean ? through Jesus ?

well, it turns out that these words through Jesus have a very deep and rich meaning, for us

To find out a little more of this, we take a closer look at the letter to the Hebrews.

In his letter to the Hebrews the writer takes us right back to the Old Testament, to

the Tent of Meeting described in the book of Exodus and Leviticus...................

What was The Tent of Meeting...........

If we were able to send a camera team back 3000 years ago, to film the people of Israel as they camped on their journey through the desert. We would see first tents, countless tents, people moving about, people washing, lighting fires, cooking, we would see cattle pens, sheep pens, goats tethered, donkeys. And, of course, children calling out, laughing,. We would recognise this right away as a nomadic people.

But then walking around we would notice that at the centre of the camp, is a great square area, enclosed by a high screen. The camp, it turns out is arranged round this space,

Stepping into this area we would see an altar with fire blazing in one corner, and a huge container of water in the middle – and at the far end, standing alone a separate, a tent. This is the Tent of Meeting, and it is

the holy place of the living God....

The people in this camp were once slaves in Egypt,

but God in His power and grace led them out, and now here He is in their midst

in the Tent of Meeting,

the living God is at the centre..........

shaping and ordering the lives of these people,.........

If you stepped into that Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, Exodus tells us, you would first see a table covered with gold, and a fresh loaf of bread lying on it, and a lamp, which was kept burning permanently, ...................

all of these things spoke of God: the table of gold, of the precious treasure of His word, the bread, the bread of life that only He can give............

the burning lamp telling of the light of God,

but in the light of that lamp you would see in front of you

a curtain running from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling.............

a curtain of richest colour, blue, and red, and purple..............cutting off the far end of the tent: and behind this curtain, hidden in mystery, and darkness,

was the Most Holy Place,

the place of the presence of God,

there behind that curtain,

in undisturbed stillness,

lay a simple box containing

the stone tablets of the law,

a rod which once belonged to Aaron,

and a small jar of manna.........

The Tent of Meeting: and in it the Most holy place –

the place of the presence of the living God,

present in fearful, awe inspiring Holiness.............

hidden from sight, but present.

And though the people of Israel camped around are faithless, unreliable, rebellious, sinful the living God in His grace and love

nevertheless stays with them, and even offers them a way to come into His presence...........

How ? Well once a year, once only, and only once a year, one man stepped in behind that curtain into the Most Holy Place into the presence of the living God,

the High Priest of Israel stepped behind the curtain,

with all the people gathered around outside,

the High Priest of Israel stepped behind the curtain,

bringing with him, the hopes of all the people,

bringing all their needs before the living God…………. and confessing their sins in His presence......... so, you could say, through the High Priest, on that one day, the people were brought into the presence of God......

Once a year............ on that day, those filled with remorse, looking to be restored

the broken hearted, looking for comfort,

the sinful, were brought before God through the High Priest and

know themselves renewed, refreshed and restored to communion with the living God......

Now, the letter to the Hebrews, proclaims that in Jesus we have a High Priest,

but one on a different level entirely, a High Priest who is of a different kind altogether.......

who has gone into the presence of God not here on earth, but in heaven

Jesus: close to us

Hebrews declares that in Jesus we have a High Priest, who knows us,

he knows human life, this life of ours, through personal experience, He understands us

Yes, there are times, perhaps, when we feel far away from God,

but in Jesus we have a High Priest there in God’s presence who understands us......

Who knows what it is to live human life,

He knows what it is to call upon the living God in the midst of troubles,

he knows what it is to leave everything entirely in God’s hands

He as our High Priest understands us,

Jesus as Mediator

He has gone into the presence of the living God for us,

knowing our hopes, all our needs,

bearing all these into the presence of the living God,

so now, through Jesus, we are brought into the presence of God......

through Jesus we are restored to communion with the living God......

through Jesus who is there in the presence of the living God, for us !

And there Jesus prays for us - unceasingly,

He lives now, to pray for us,

when we can hardly pray, because our hearts are so heavy

Jesus, who prayed in the gathering darkness of Gethsemane

now prays in the full light of God’s presence,

He knows these cares that weigh us down, says Hebrews,

and He lives to pray for us, to the moment when we draw our last breath

Jesus is there ! and through Him blessing upon blessing is poured out on us..............

More than this, He takes our broken, wandering, frail prayers, transforms and completes them, and brings them before the living God,

He takes our broken, wandering, frail worship, transforms and completes it, and brings our worship before the living God,

lifting up our hearts, and the worship of the whole Church throughout the world

all of this through Jesus..............

this is why when we pray we say - through Jesus...........

everything we have, is through Him,

There is a wonderful message here for the Church today............

in our jadedness, in our weariness, as men and women,

and its this:

that through Jesus are prayer is taken up into God’s presence,

through Jesus, our morning worship finds its direction

through Jesus we have blessing after blessing,

for through Jesus, we are brought into the presence of God......

through Jesus our hearts are lifted into communion with the living God......

through Jesus who is there, there, in the presence of the living God, for us !

AMEN.