Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

This scripture is where two worlds collide. You have heard of the many paradoxes that are found in the New Testament. One has to die to live. One has to be a servant to lead. The heart has to be hungry or it can never be full. The paradoxes are many and it is because the Kingdom of God operates in an entirely different way than this world does. We as saints walk physically through this world but we already exist in the world that was and is and is to come. The Kingdom clashes with this world where flesh meets spirit. I live in Kansas and the jet stream is often right above us. The warm air from the south clashes with the cold air from the north. Canadian cold air verses warm gulf air. It creates violence. Dramatic storm systems that produce tornadoes that have such destructive power that literally no structure can stand against a direct hit.

The substance and the evidence of faith only exists in the Kingdom of God but it supernaturally manifests itself in our world. And when it does, all hell can break loose. Whether it is in the mind, as the flesh battles against the spirit, or whether it is actions we take directed by our faith, they are violently opposed by those who know nothing of it. Our blessed hope in Christ is only substance to those who have been born again. Only we can see it. The unsaved cannot see it and it cannot be explained to them, only demonstrated, and even then it is beyond them. It may draw them into the Kingdom and they can see it for themselves or it may cause them to violently follow after their flesh and everything they know to be real. We have faith in Jesus. He is our blessed hope. We cannot see Him with our human eyes but we can see the substance of Him through the eyes of our faith. We can come before the throne of God and see God high and lifted up and the Lord Jesus sitting at the right hand of glory.

And so, what is most real to us, the saints, and what we would die for because it is so real is the substance and the evidence of our faith. It is directly contradicted by a world ruled by what they can see with their physical eyes, what they can observe, measure and replicate. The evidence of things seen. The substances that can be observed. We saints are entirely different and should never be ashamed of that or make apology for it.  Men of science are very much limited by what they can see. We see what they see but we also see beyond what they see. And so by believing we see Gods Kingdom. And by seeing we are convinced. Convinced of the invisible God who frequently violates the natural order of this world by the supernatural order of the Kingdom.

We are not of this world but we must be in it. And while we are in it the storm shall rage. It must rage for two entirely different forces are at work and something must give. Any man made structure, whether its an invention of his mind or a physical invention will fall when it meets it meets the supernatural. We who walk with God cannot be overcome even by the worse excesses of this word for we walk in the Kingdom reality. The most violent storm, the most violent clash of two elements the world has ever seen was when Christ Jesus stepped down into it. The vain imagination of their big bang theory pales in comparison to the collision of the seen and unseen world. Everything changed.

(Heb 10:19-20) Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Jesus is our new and living way. He made a way for us to enter into the actual holy of holies. Now we all know that, we have read it a thousand times, but I want to ask you this. When was the last time you entered the holy of holies? Have you ever? The veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom thus revealing the shadow, the room within the temple. Jesus flesh was ripped and torn and sacrificed for us on the cross, outside of the temple, outside of the city, outside of the walls and by His death and resurrection He made a way for you and me to come before the throne of the Living God and cry our “Abba Father.’ So therefore, since the cost was so great, it is not an impertinent question to ask the question “have you come before the throne?” Have you entered the holiest? Have you drawn near to God with a true heart and in full assurance of faith?

In coming into this place, this place of glory and of majesty and of holiness we are reminded just who we are in comparison to who God is. Outside of the Blood of Jesus we could never come into this place. Outside of His sacrifice we could never come and fall upon our face. And cry holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty! Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. We here on earth are the Church militant and in heaven we see the Church triumphant. Yet I am afraid that much of the Church has lost its militancy. Our boldness. Our unwavering faith in the face of increasing hostility seems to be wavering. There is a reason we come before the throne, first and foremost Jesus made the way there and secondly we are emboldened in the presence of God, of His glory and His majesty and that translates directly in how we walk our walk. The Church used to talk in military terms all the time, they knew they were in a battle, and yet just as the greatest battle is looming, we waver. We do not want to offend the world. Some old hymns…………….

Stand up , stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross, lift high His royal banner it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory His army He shall lead, till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed. Onward Christians soldiers marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ the Royal Master leads against the foe, forward into battle see His banners go. Soldiers of the cross arise and put your armor on. A mighty fortress is our God, the battle belongs to the Lord. There is power, power wonder working power in the Blood of the Lamb and the Blood will never lose its power for it reaches to the highest mountains and it flows to the lowest valley, this Blood , this precious Blood of Christ gives me strength for each new day. Like a mighty army, moves the Church of God, brothers we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one Body be, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity. So I’ll sing of the cross, that old rugged cross where I first saw the light, where the burden of my heart rolled away, it was there, right there, where Christ died for us it was there that He made the way.

Heb 8:13  In that he says, “A new covenant.” He has made the first old. Now that which is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

A new covenant! And in this new covenant He puts His laws in our minds and writes them on our hearts. We are infused by His desires for us and His commandments for our lives, the Word made flesh. We are now taught by the Holy Spirit for we know Him. We do not need an earthly priest to know Him. We do not need a teacher in order to know Him, we know Him because He knows us. We are known by God and in the knowing we walk in the beauty of His Holiness by the guidance and the direction of the Holy Spirit. Our hearts and our minds are illuminated by the power of God. Our knowing does not reside within the realms of our heads, rather we know Him in the innermost depths of our heart. In our unrighteous state we found mercy and our sins and unrighteous deeds? He forgave us of them all, praise Jesus.

Jesus became our mediator of a better covenant. The old covenant was fatally flawed and we were the flaw. The old covenant could never bring a man or woman righteousness, it could only show us how helpless we really were and how we were in desperate need of a Savior. And Jesus became our High Priest. He offered up Himself once, and for all time. His perfection became our salvation. We are saved by the perfect Son of God and by the Blood He willingly spilled for us. He is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. The true tabernacle.  And so brothers and sisters we became a Royal priesthood and Jesus is our High Priest. We are His special people. A called out people. A chosen generation. We have no clergy/laity divide, that is purely a religious construct. It stands in defiance of the Word of God and the reality of our High Priest, Jesus. It is but a vestige of an old religious system that was swept away 2000 years ago. Let us fulfill our priestly roles as we minister to one another.

(Heb 6:19-20) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence within the veil; where the forerunner has for us entered for us, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Hebrews chapter six is so dramatic and the contrast it presents could not be more stark. In the end, there is really only two kinds of people. Those who endure to the end and those who walk away. There are promises made by God and these promises are the blessings of God. As saints, we have this promise, we know that Jesus Christ our Lord is the anchor of our soul. Does the anchor hold? Yes He does! Now brothers and sisters, how many know that waiting upon the Lord in the midst of a storm can be very very difficult? We have our hope, we have our faith, we trust in Jesus. Then the wind blows from a category one hurricane to a category three. Then it intensifies again and now its blowing a category five. Anything not anchored down is getting ripped from its moorings and carried away by mountainous waves. Are we still with Him? Do we still trust? Where is our faith? Abraham was promised a son, and this would lead to the blessing of all the nations. There’s a blessing coming. There’s a blessing coming. Twenty years in, how is Abraham doing? Only after twenty five years did the fulfilment come. How about Jospeh and his dreams? Was he still enraptured by his dream at the bottom of the pit? How about when he is falsely accused of rape? How about when he was languishing in prison? Twelve years later comes the fulfilment.

Its easy to love God in the moment, in the first flushes of our relationships. When all is new and we have hopes and dreams and visions for our lives. Then life begins to play out. We have pressures at work, putting a roof over our heads. We have hard times in our relationship with our spouses. Children come along and we have hopes and dreams for them that often do not come to fruition. We suffer losses, disappointments, illnesses, and deaths come knocking at our door. Have we stuck close to Jesus the whole time brothers and sisters? Just in the world and by reason of my gray hair I have lived long enough to see two groups of folks in the world, whether Christian or not. I observed them go through really tough times and one group, by far the larger, begin to crack and to fracture under the pressure. They drink more, they smoke, they take anti-depressants, they begin to isolate themselves, they grow apart from their spouses and they eventually get divorced. It’s sad enough to see it in the world, its tragic when you see it in professing Christians. There is the second group. The ones who pull together. The trial brings them closer to God, it brings them closer to their spouses. Their love grows deeper as they face the battles together, back to back. They become seasoned like fine wine. They grow wise and mature and they empathize greatly with others and they are kind and patient, loving and forgiving.

The fact is, that in every storm, the saint has an anchor and His name is Jesus. We are out there in the roiling seas and He is the forerunner. He goes before us into the harbor and draws us in. In ancient times when the sea was too stormy to enter the harbor and giant waves would crash against the harbor walls and the ships would drag their anchors and be in danger of overturning and being swamped, they would lower a skiff, a forerunner. The anchor would be placed on the small boat and the boat would make its way into the harbor and the anchor would be dropped in calmer waters ,then the boat would be pulled into the harbor. Jesus is our forerunner, Jesus is our anchor and He has went before us and prepared a place for us. A place of peace and stillness, His very presence speaks to the storms, be still! When you flee to Jesus He shall be our Rock, our strong high tower. Come to Me, He says, and I will give your weary souls rest. God and His Word are immutable, that is to say unchanging over time, any time, eternity even. God is unchanging and the Words that He speaks are unchanging. He never lies and this immutability, the Word says, is so that we “might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” There it is, its right there, take a hold of it, grab onto to it, never let it go, let it take you into the still calm harbor of His presence so that you might survive the storm. Take hold of this brothers and sisters, and you shall not drown.