Scripture

By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

~Hebrews 10:20, NLT

Quote

Consider the blessed Son of God who came down to this lower world, lived among us, died for us so as to open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

~Henry Scougal

I continue to be amazed by my ignorance. I read the book of Hebrews last week and I noticed a lot that I have never noticed before. The I was reading Henry Scougal and he provoked another thought which had never crossed my mind. The Temple veil was 4 inched thick and they say it would talk a horse to pull this huge curtain, yet when Jesus died, the thick gigantic curtain was ripped in half opening away from the outside into the holy of holies a symbol of God’s presence. Of course that thought in and of itself was not new but for some reason, I had never pictured the gates of a city, and in this case, the heavenly city; gates that were shut tight until Jesus our Savior opens them for all the repentant to go it. The I thought of a song that I have heard my entire life…TO GOD BE THE GLORY…not the new Gaither version but the old hymn…

To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Henry said, “Let us withdraw our thoughts for this earth, the scene of misery, suffering, folly, and sin, and raise it toward the vast and glorious world to come whose innocent inhabitants enjoy the bliss of His divine presence and know no other passions than unmixed joy and unbounded love.” It brings another song to mind…Heaven will surely be worth it all. I had a second thought in reading this passage from Scougal: Jesus was thinking about us when He died on the cross and He is still thinking about us. He is thinking of us right now. He is our Great High Priest in heaven and our names are inscribed in the palm of His nail scared hands. Wow, that should be enough to get you through the day, amen! It is enough to make a Presbyterian shout.

Extra

Soccer season is over for this granddaddy. I love my grand daughter [and her friends] but I do not love soccer. It is a lame game that has a bunch of dumb rules. You can’t snowbird in soccer, you have to wait for the defenders to get ahead of you. If that isn’t stupid, what do you call it. We got beat 4-0 but we have won and lost games where only one point was scored in two hours of misery. Personally, I don’t think there is much hope for the game but I could improve it. [1] Do away with the dump off side rule [2] Make the goal twice as big and then there would be more scoring [3] Have a 2 point shoot for goals made outside the 30 yard line [4] Get the officials some new clothes. They need black and white stripes. Do away with those sissy pathetic uniforms they wear. That is the reason they cannot get good officials, no one wants to be caught dead in those ridiculous outfits. [5] Give the coach a red flag if he wears a bow tie.

Headed to Huntsville today, LORD willing. Have lunch at the Marriott and listening to a speech by one of the professors at Hillsdale College where I am tempted to work on my Doctorate in Philosophy. Only two reasons I don’t enroll today: time and money; especially time.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

I wonder if Jamie and Mandy will read my critique on soccer.