The Promised Inheritance

The reading for last week from the Messianic Writings was Hebrews 9:11-28. Hebrews talks a great deal about the sacrificial system, and I would recommend reading it in the Complete Jewish Bible. (At this point, any other translation trying to discuss the sacrifices is frustratingly Gentile.) Related to the sacrifical system is the role of the high priest, which can't really be understood apart from the context of the Temple and the sacrifices. Thus, we don't really get the impact of Jesus being our high priest.


But my real "aha!" moment came when I was reading the commentary on Hebrews 9:15. The verse says, "It is because of this death that He is mediator of a new covenent. Because a death has occurred which sets people free from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promised eternal inheritance."


Here is Stern's comment on "promised eternal inheritance":
"These three words can be traced through the Tanakh as they outline one of its major themes. God promised Adam everlasting life, conditional on obedience (Gen. 2:9, 16-17;3:22). God's covenant with Noah includes many promises and is called eternal (Gen. 9:16). God promised Avraham and his seed the Land of Israel forever (Gen. 13:15), and the term 'inherit' is first used in the Bible in connection with this promise (Gen. 15:7). God's promises to Avraham are reconfirmed in the covenant of Moses, but people's sins disqualified them from receiving what had been promised. Those who accept Yeshua's once-for-all dealing with sin, as explained in these chapters, may receive the promised inheritance."


For whatever reason, I was still connecting eternal life to Yeshua's sacrifice -- as something new, even though I know Jews have always believed in the world to come. But no. We receive eternal life from His sacrifice BECAUSE eternal life was already a part of the covenant. By being grafted in to Israel and coming into the covenant they have with God -- through the shed blood of Messiah -- that is how we receive eternal life. You can't accept Yeshua's sacrifice apart from Him being the Messiah of the Jews, and you don't receive eternal life in any other way than through the covenant God has with Israel.

It's been there all the time, and maybe you've already seen it. But it's blowing my mind.