My Forever There
Not many people are intrigued by languages like I am. I fell in love with Greek when I took my first Greek class in college.
I loved the nuances of the language and how that translates into the New Testament that we read, study, learn, and live by. I went on to take another Greek class in college and two more in seminary.I can work with the language, but I need the tools to help me decipher the meaning and function of words.
I had a New Testament professor in college that only took his Greek New Testament into the pulpit when he preached at chapel. He knows Greek. I just dabble. Probably most Greek scholars would correctly state that I know enough Greek to be dangerous.
Read Hebrews 9:15. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
All that talk about my love for Greek is to say this: the word translated “promise” in Hebrews 9:15 is a compound word made up of a preposition (epi) which means “upon” and a root word (angelos) which means “messenger” or “angel.” So “promise” (epangelomai) means to bring news or tidings upon or into a situation. Or, stated another way, to announce ahead of time that something is going to be true. “I promise” means I am saying beforehand that my word or my message will come to be.
Let’s read our verse again with fresh eyes into that word. The writer of Hebrews is saying: “Therefore, Jesus is the mediator of a new contract (covenant), so that those who are called (and respond to that call as God works in their lives) might receive the promise (the message, the news, the statement of fact before it actually comes to be) of the eternal inheritance (that which God is providing through Christ).”
Who makes the promise? God does. God is stating beforehand that this message of eternal inheritance will come to be. The God who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light also said, “so that those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”
God is saying that the message or truth or reality of eternal inheritance will be received by those in Christ. That is His “beforehand message.” That is His promise.
The promise of eternal life (eternal inheritance) was sealed through Jesus’ death on the cross. It is on that cross that the effects of sin are defeated because the payment for sin has been made. It is on that cross that the blood of the perfect sacrifice was poured upon the altar.
God has spoken a message upon our hearts dead in sin. His message is the proclamation of forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life. Through the bread and the cup, we remember and we anticipate. We know it will come to be because God has promised.
(Questions/Responses: jeff.perkins@mbclife.org)