A Better Hope

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All Human Life is Eternal

John 5:25-27
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God;
and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself:
and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.

Joh 11:39-44 Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord,
by this time the body decayeth; for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee,
that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes,
and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the
multitude that standeth around I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send me. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes;
and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Joh 5:28-29
Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

Our Problem

Rom 3:23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

God's Provision

John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live;

John 3:16-18
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.
He that believeth on him is not judged:
he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

PURPOSE OF THE LAW & SACRIFICE

the Law - "...that every mouth may be stopped":

Rom 3:19-20 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight
;
for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.

Sacrifice - "...a shadow of the good things to come":

HEBREWS 10:1-10

For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things,
can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.
Else would they not have ceased to be offered?
because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year.
For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure:
Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God.
Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein
(the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will.
He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Editors note: God sacrificed his Son to pay our debt and it is an affront to offer anything of our own doing to replace that sacrifice.
Nothing positive you or I can do for God or our fellow man has any redemptive value or merit in God's eyes.
We must simply put confident trust in His gift of love, and gratefully say 'Thank You' to God for it and He will provide...

A Better Hope - The sufficient sacrifice of God's Son

HEBREWS 7:12-28

For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him,
The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.