Monday, March 17, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Hebrews 10-11
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 32
Key Verse
Hebrews 11:1 — “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Devotional Thought
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish believers who knew the temple courts well—the lowing of bulls, the smoke of burnt offerings rising morning and evening, the blood of goats sprinkled on the mercy seat year after year on the Day of Atonement. Yet the writer presses a startling point: those sacrifices were only a shadow, never the substance. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins; it could only remind the worshipper, again and again, that sin remained. Every priest stood daily at his post, offering the same sacrifices, but Christ offered one sacrifice for sins forever—and then sat down. That seated posture is the whole gospel in a single gesture. The work was finished.
Then Hebrews 11 unrolls the great cloud of witnesses like a scroll: Abel, who offered a better sacrifice; Enoch, who walked with God until God took him; Noah, who built an ark for rain he had never seen; Abraham, who left Ur not knowing where he was going and later lifted the knife over Isaac, accounting that God could raise the dead. Sara laughed, then conceived. Moses refused Egypt’s treasures, choosing affliction with God’s people. Rahab, a harlot in Jericho, hid the spies and was spared when the walls fell. Some through faith subdued kingdoms; others were stoned, sawn asunder, and wandered in sheepskins, of whom the world was not worthy. All of them died without receiving the promise, seeing it only afar off.
We read this in mid-March, with Lent’s shadows still upon us and spring not yet fully come. The ground is beginning to thaw, but the trees remain bare—a fitting picture of faith itself, which is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is not wishful thinking; it is the substance of what God has promised, held in hands that cannot yet touch it.
Psalm 32 sings the same tune from another angle. David knew the misery of unconfessed sin—bones waxing old, moisture dried up like summer drought—until he finally said, “I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” That is the joy Hebrews describes: sins remembered no more, a conscience sprinkled clean, boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
So this day invites us to draw near with a true heart, to hold fast our profession without wavering, and to keep our eyes on that city whose builder and maker is God—the same city Abraham sought, the same country these pilgrims confessed they were seeking. We are strangers here too, and that is not a sadness but a hope.
Reflection
- The priests of the old covenant stood daily, offering sacrifices that could never take away sins—but Christ sat down, His work complete. Where in your life are you still standing, laboring to earn what He has already finished?
- Hebrews 11 names people who died in faith without receiving the promises, seeing them only afar off. What promise of God are you still waiting for, and does your life confess plainly that you seek a better country?
Prayer
Lord God, we thank Thee for the one offering of Jesus Christ, by which we are sanctified once for all. We confess that we have too often stood where He has sat down, striving to add our own works to His finished sacrifice. Forgive our unbelief, and sprinkle our consciences clean by His blood. Give us the faith of Abel, of Abraham, of Moses, and of Rahab—faith that obeys though it cannot see, that endures though it does not yet receive. Make us strangers and pilgrims here, seeking that city which Thou hast prepared. Hold fast our profession without wavering, for Thou art faithful that promised. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 32:1 — “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”