Good Things Have Come

Early this year, my heart’s meditation and delight was in Hebrews 9:11: 

Christ appeared as the High Priest of the good things that have come.   

I devoted spare moments to pondering what these good things are; I journaled my way through many passages and prayers.  My soul was nourished by these times.  

Compare Hebrews 9:11 with Hebrews 10:1 wherein we hear that the law is a mere shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, and can therefore never make us perfect, never cleanse our conscience, never usher in any blessing, especially not our eternal inheritance.  Christ is the true form of these realities.  He is the good things to come, and He lavishes His grace and kindness on us!  

It has been refreshing to ponder what the “good things that have come” are.  We really can never plumb the depths of all the “good things” Christ has ushered in. Nevertheless, here are a couple of my current favorites for meditation: The Promised Spirit, and His Power currently available to us. 

While studying through Galatians, I was struck by phrase “promised Spirit.”    He gives the promised Spirit to us through faith (Galatians 3:14) .  Many promises will not be fulfilled until heaven, as is evident from reading through Hebrews 11.  We still wait for our true home in the heavenly country.  Yet here in this world, we receive the promised Spirit.  O what joy and peace are multiplied within us who contemplate that, and then pray accordingly.  Contemplate, take the time, ten minutes a day for a season to gather all the verses pertaining to this; followed by a season of ten minutes a day pondering your collection of verses, and then praying out of a posture of abiding in His Word.  Devoting this time in this manner, and fighting the distractions that will attempt to tear you away from it, will prove to be cleansing, healing, and nourishing. 

We are given the Spirit of Truth, Who alone is our true Comforter and Helper.  We are given the Spirit of love, and sound mind, and discipline or self-control.  We are given the Spirit who brings the Light of Christ into our hearts, enlightening us that we may know Him.  He will grow us in understanding, making known to us all that is freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:10-12).  He abides in us, helping us cry out to our Father, assuring us of our belonging to Him (Galatians 4:6-7; 1 John 4:13; Romans 8:9-17).  He is the stream of living water Jesus promised to all who would believe (John 7:37-39), and He will ever be refreshing and renewing our inner man.  

Perhaps one of the most exciting “good things that have come” through Christ our High Priest, is the “surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe…in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead…” (Ephesians 1:19-20). His resurrection power at work in us?  Yes, and that is why Paul prays that God “would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man…”. (Ephesians 3:16).  Jesus Christ, our High Priest of the good things that have come, delights to answer this prayer.  He can take on any enemy of your soul, none can match His strength.  He has freed us from all that once held us captive, and will not abandon you now to struggle on your own.  Let these rich prayers from Ephesians become your prayers.       

What other good things has God promised, that our High Priest will usher in?  Read through Isaiah 32, and 60-65 with this question in mind.  What happens in you as you meditate on Christ as the reality of all your soul’s longings?  What would happen in you if this meditation was daily?  (Do you fear having a longing that He will not meet?)  That time of meditation, spent honestly and humbly with Him, will bring the promised peace and joy of Christ further into your whole being.  He will not fail to guard your heart and mind as He has promised to do. Consequently we will be more useful in building His kingdom now, today.