SERIES
Sojourn: Toward an Enduring City
2017-02-12T11:00:00-06:00
8:1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
8 For he finds fault with them when he says:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
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.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright (c)2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://www.esv.org
As Jesus lived, so must we.
This is the logic central to Peter’s charge to us in this passage. Jesus suffered for doing good, and so must we. While suffering, Jesus refrained from reviling or threatening, and so must we. Jesus endured, and so must we. As Peter says in Verse 21, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.” United to Jesus by faith and commissioned to carry on His mission, we are now called reflect Him as servants and sufferers.
To many, this call seems impossibly high. How can we serve like Him when the siren song of self is so strong? How can we suffer like Him when our hearts are hard-wired for retribution? To those of us still struggling with the more ordinary, everyday challenges of Christlikeness, the call to follow Christ into the pain of unjust suffering seems too extraordinary. How could we possibly prepare to endure the day of such suffering?
As Jesus prepared, so must we.
Jesus prepared by cultivating a certain belief and practice, one which began long before His suffering and sustained Him through it. Peter names it in the second half of Verse 23, saying, “When He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.” Jesus endured through His suffering by entrusting Himself to His Heavenly Father. The language of entrusting is the language of stewardship. Entrusting is more than believing something to be true; it is the practice giving over of responsibility to another person. Jesus did not merely trust His Father; He actively gave Himself over to His Father. Into the Father’s hands Jesus entrusted His will and His life, including the terror of unjust suffering. We see this entrusting belief and practice actively expressed in Jesus’ prayers, His use of God’s Word, and in His committing every detail of His life to His Heavenly Father.
While the circumstances of our suffering may be different, we too are called to entrust ourselves into the hands of our Heavenly Father. Like Jesus, our will and life is to be given over to God. To some, this may feel passive, irresponsible, or perhaps even reckless. But there is nothing more practical, wise, and secure than to actively entrust ourselves and all that we have into the hands of our God. For our God is faithful and trustworthy steward of our lives. As Peter says in his conclusion, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good (1 Peter 4:19).”