Jesus Showed Us How It’s Done (Advent 10, 2024)

Walking in victory isn’t just a matter of being appointed to victory, it’s a matter of being faithful to it. Jesus came to show us how it’s done. Continuing our look at Visitation Principles we can find in the Letter to the Hebrews, we come to a tenth.

Visitation Principle 10: Jesus Needed to Show Us How It’s Done

Hebrews 3:2 [Jesus] was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. … 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. (Hebrews 3:2-3,6)

Don’t get me wrong. Moses was a great leader. He was appointed to lead the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land, a geographical picture of God’s taking people from being under the yoke of sin and slavery into perfect blessing of freedom. But at the end of the day, Moses was still just a man. And for those of us who know Moses’ story, he died outside the Promised Land because he broke faith by sinning at the waters of Meribah. He got a chance to see the Promised Land from a distance that he would never enter on this side of heaven.

Deuteronomy 32:48 On that same day the LORD told Moses, 49 “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. 50 There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. 51 This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. 52 Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”

Jesus, as the author of Hebrews has been insisting to this point, is fully human. Now the author shifts to the fact Jesus is not a mere man. He was a perfectly faithful one. Perfect and sinless. In that respect, superior to Moses (as great as Moses was)!

Because Jesus was faithful to the end,
He entered heaven ahead of us, to prepare a place for us.
The house of God’s people is built on the blood of Jesus.

Questions for further thought:

Read the lyrics of the historic hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” (1866) and meditate on how the Church is God’s house and the perfect faithfulness of Christ Jesus is what built it.

The church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ, her Lord
She is His new creation
By water and the Word
From heaven, He came and sought her
To be His holy bride
With His own blood He bought her
And for her life He died

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your blood shed for us to cleanse us from sin, create a spiritual house to call home and redeem new people, born again out of the realm of those lost. During this Advent season we praise You for coming from heaven to seek and save us while we were yet sinners. We praise You for Your faithfulness and showing us how to live. Amen.

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Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:

“From the Jews for the World” was the theme of last Advent’s devotional series. It is archived beginning December 3, 2023, and explored how Jesus’ Jewish heritage was necessary for the salvation of Gentiles, too.
“Awaken Remnant” was the devotional topic for 2022. It began November 27, 2022, and highlighted the remnant found throughout Scripture as evident in Jesus’ lineage.
The multi-faceted Interlude between the promise of a Deliverer and the birth of our Messiah and King was the theme of 2021’s devotional series. It is archived beginning November 28, 2021.
2020’s Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times. Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence. His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology. They began November 29, 2015.
Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols. You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives. They began November 30, 2014.
The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John. It began December 1, 2013.
The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story. It began December 1, 2012.