Tag Archives: Hebrews

Hebrews 12:1: Two Ways to Improve Your Race

Leave a reply

“Therefore let us also, who have all these witnesses surrounding us like clouds, cast from us all encumbrances and sin which is always prepared for us; and let us run with patience the race that is appointed for us.” (Hebrews 12:1 AENT pg.424).

Notice here how we are encouraged to remove ourselves not only from sin, but ALSO from “encumbrances.”

Encumbrances must be somehow different from “sin:”  Why else would the writer distinguish the two using the separator “and?”  Therefore, we can improve our Race by removing (1) sin and (2) encumbrances from our lives.  Here we will focus on #2. However, the NT definition of sin may surprise you: Check here and here.

Back to “encumbrances:”  Are there things in your life which slow down your race, even if they’re not firmly in the “sin” category? Take a moment and prayerfully consider this.

Chocolate may not qualify as sin, but it could be an encumbrance; caffeine and alcohol are arguably in this same category.  With what reading material do we fill our minds?  Which TV shows, movies, music do we allow past the gates of our eyes & ears?  Which relationships hinder our walk, and which friends exhort us higher?  Our expenditures of time, money, and resources: Are these an encumbrance to our race?  It is up to the individual to decide for themselves.

Consider the witnesses who surround us who are mentioned in the previous chapter:  Hebrews 11.  Consider the shortness of this present life compared with eternity.  Are we really running our race with patience, efficiency, with a goal to actually win?

Don’t you know that they who run in the stadium, run all of them; yet it is one who gains the victory.  You run so as to attain.  25. For everyone who engages in the contest restrains his desires in everything. And they run to obtain a crown that perishes; but we, one that does not perish.  26. I therefore so run, not as for something unknown; and I so struggle, not as struggling against air;  27. But I subdue my body, and reduce it to servitude; lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should despise myself.  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 AENT pg.514.)

May the Messiah Y’shua bless your race.

Teddy,
Yerubilee

Do you find the translation of these NT verses to be attractive?  They have been translated into English directly from the Aramaic–the language spoken by Messiah Y’shua.  More info at the link below:

P.S.  The Aramaic-speaking Syrian church has always known without a doubt that the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews was Paul the Apostle.  This fact was only debated in the West, never in the East.

Y’shua’s Blood Offered in the Heavenly Sanctuary

2 Replies
Today, I am going to give answer to a ‘Jews for Judaism’ statement which misreads the context of Leviticus 17:11:
“Clearly, not any spilled blood is accepted by the Torah as a sacrifice.  Jesus’ crucifixion may qualify as an atonement according to the Greek Testament, but since his blood was not offered on the altar, it is not in line with what the Torah mandates.” -Jews for Judaism, “Another Look at Leviticus 17:11”
If something seems “off” in the statement above, you are correct; there are several things wrong with that paragraph.  First,  the phrase “not any spilled blood is accepted…” means that obviously, pig’s blood for example is not acceptable– and, in the writers’ opinion, neither is Jesus/Y’shua’s, ostensibly because his blood was not offered in the earthly Temple.

However, the writer(s) missed an important fact:  The blood of Yeshua was offered in Heaven, the True Sanctuary which trumps the earthly sanctuary.   The earthly Temple was a mere representation; a picture of the Heavenly Sanctuary.

This is the reason why Yeshua’s blood did not need to be offered in the earthly temple made with hands.  As Paul explained to the Hebrew disciples of Y’shua haMashiach:

“Because everything, according to Torah, is purified with blood: and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.  For it was necessary that these, the representations of heavenly things, should be purified with those things [shedding of blood]; but the heavenly things themselves, with a sacrifice [which is Y’shua] superior to them [that is, superior to the earthly representations of the heavenly things.  In other words, Y’shua the Messiah is superior to the Temple].

(v.24) “For the Mashiyach entered not into the sanctuary made with hands which is the emblem of the true (sanctuary): but he entered into heaven itself to appear in the presence of Elohim for us.”  – Hebrews 9:22-24 (AENT p.414 [my emphasis added])

That is the answer sought by any Hebrew person who is familiar with the Temple: Y’shua haMashiach, as sacrifice, is superior to the earthly temple.  His blood offered in the heavenly sanctuary trumps whatever blood might be offered in the earthly.

Now, without faith, no one can accept the book of Hebrews.  Without faith, no one can accept the Mashiyach even if He has been sent by YHWH.  In fact, without faith, how can one accept even the Biblical account of the Passover?   However, WITH and THRU FAITH, it is clear that anyone, Jew or Gentile, can accept  the pure and spotless sacrifice of Y’shua’s blood.  It has been offered in the Sanctuary in Heaven, and His blood does in fact qualify as the perfect atonement for sin, once and for all.

As regarding Leviticus 17:11, the J4J writer(s) neglected the context.  Clearly, Leviticus 17:10-16 is about the eating of blood; and that it is forbidden not only for tribes of Israel, but also for “sojourners” (Strong’s 01616 גר ger) that is, those from any nations who live with Israel.  In other words, since blood is for sacrifice, therefore eating blood is forbidden.  Arguably according to Ephesians 2 and Romans 2, this  applies to any who have been grafted in to Israel (Romans 11) through the blood of Y’shua the Messiah.

The J4J quote reference to the “Greek  testament”  intends to point out how far the faith in Yeshua is from the Hebrew faith.  (Too bad he doesn’t yet know about the Aramaic NT!)  In truth, the Renewed Covenant (Brit Chadasha aka NT) affirms an extraordinary amount of connection between the Tanakh (aka OT) and the Brit Chadasha:  The blood sacrifice of Y’shua haMashiach ABSOLUTELY satisfies EVERY requirement for Temple sacrifice and thus provides Atonement, for Hebrews as well as those joined to Israel through faith.

Teddy Chadwick, Yerubilee
“Messianic Roots Reggae from Jerusalem”