“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?” – Isaiah 33:14b
Scripture reading: Hebrews 10:11-25
This is another thematic verse in this chapter: a confession of our unworthiness to enter God’s holy presence because we are sinful. Psalm 130:3: “If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” If you follow the description of the worthy person who could stand in the Lord’s judgment on his own or her own, you will quickly see it is not a description of you.
Except for Jesus Christ! We will see how Jesus in His righteousness fulfills the requirements in the following verses. Christ’s sacrifice for sin was “once-for-all.” We cannot escape God’s consuming fire. When offerings were burned before God, it showed the people that His wrath is all-consuming. Jesus’ sacrifice is better. Those other sacrifices “can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12-13). He sat down because His saving work was complete; “It is finished,” He said.
Only by faith in Jesus Christ can we enter God’s holy presence. We “have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh” (Hebrews 10:19-20). Tomorrow, you will enter God’s holy presence with the assembly of God’s people. Christ’s righteousness and atoning blood cover you that you may enter with fear of God’s consuming fire, but enter in the joy of Christ’s salvation.
Suggestions for prayer
Give thanks to the Lord that He joyfully welcomes us into His presence because of Christ’s sacrifice and righteousness. Give thanks to the Lord that we can know Him through Christ.
Rev. Todd De Rooy currently serves in Redeemer URC, in Orange City, Iowa. He has served there since being ordained in 2008. Get this devotional delivered directly to your phone each day via our RP App. It is also available in print, for purchase, at NTGDevotional.com.
