And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. Hebrews 9:22, 23.
What is the cleansing of the sanctuary? That there was such a service in connection with the earthly sanctuary, is stated in the Old Testament Scriptures. But can there be anything in heaven to be cleansed? In Hebrews 9 the cleansing of both the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary is plainly taught….
The cleansing, both in the typical and in the real service, must be accomplished with blood: in the former, with the blood of animals; in the latter, with the blood of Christ.
The cleansing was not a removal of physical impurities, for it was to be accomplished with blood, and therefore must be a cleansing from sin.
But how could there be sin connected with the sanctuary, either in heaven or upon the earth?
As the sins of the people were anciently transferred, in figure, to the earthly sanctuary by the blood of the sin offering, so our sins are, in fact, transferred to the heavenly sanctuary by the blood of Christ. And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. This necessitates an examination of the books of record to determine who, through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of His atonement.
Then [in the great day of final award] by virtue of the atoning blood of Christ, the sins of all the truly penitent will be blotted from the books of heaven.
He [Christ] asks for His people not only pardon and justification, full and complete, but a share in His glory and a seat upon His throne.
The Faith I Live By p. 206
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Prayer Requests
—-Lou is doing a little better. Please continue to pray for her. Eileen
—please pray for my granddaughter Sarah. her ex husband died of over dose of heroin. Please pray that she can get custody of her daughter. M
—-Please pray for Frank. He is in the hospital with a brain bleed. They can’t do an MRI because he has shrapnel due to Vietnam. Thank you for your prayers. Diane
—-One of our church members grandson in a car accident asking prayers for the family. Rhonda
—-Prayers appreciated for grandson who can’t seem to stop vomiting. They are taking him into hospital. Olive
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Dear Friends,
Over the years, my mother has done many different hobbies to satisfy her artistic talent. I remember as a child, being fascinated at the beauty she could create. For a short time, she etched beautiful pictures in plexiglass. One that I remember was a winter scene: another was a canary. We had a real canary then and as I compared the two, the etching was perfect.
She soon tired of etching, so she began to make Indian jewelry with tiny, colorful beads. She made intricate decorations on her cowgirl outfit that she used when she sang with a country-western band. She had a tiny loom on which she formed rings and bracelets with Indian designs. I would watch her for hours. After that it was embroidery. She made many beautiful items. First, she tried the usual pillow cases, but that did not fill her need of artistic expression. She drew a horse running with mane and tail flowing in the wind. She gave it to her sister on one of those occasions when they were friendly to each other. Joyce cherished that gift for the rest of her life. My mother sometimes started her project with a transfer that she had bought at the store, but when she began sewing, she was never satisfied. Then she would draw her own pattern which was always far superior to the store-bought one. Outline embroidery was too easy for her. She did solid embroidery which made any thing that she did look like a photograph. No matter what it was, she put her whole heart into whatever she made. If it was an animal, she was able to make the thread look like the animal’s fur. If it was a bird, she made the thread look like feathers.
Her largest project was a full-sized quilt with all the state birds of the 48 states. (There were only 48 when she made it.) She bought transfers for these, but, as normally happened, as she worked, she did not like them, so she re-drew them to make them look more realistic. She spent many hours in the library researching each state bird. I quietly watched, as she looked at picture after picture of a particular bird and then would duplicate it in embroidery. Many times she would be nearly finished, but as she looked at it, she would not be satisfied so would rip out all of the threads and start over.
Finally it was finished. She entered it into the fair and won the golden state award. She was very proud and happy. She felt rewarded for all those many hours of research and sewing. After the fair, she folded the quilt up, put it in a plastic bag, and put it in her closet. Now it is in my closet safely tucked away and rarely thought about.
How vital it is to our present and future happiness, that we put as much energy into our Christianity as my mother did into that quilt. How important that we keep focused on Jesus so thoroughly, that He controls all of our thoughts, all of our energies, all of our desires? In order to have that vital connection, we must search the Scriptures with as much interest as my mother had when she was researching for her project.
Our Great Creator assures us, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jer 29:11-13 To truly follow Jesus, we must put Him first in our lives. We must earnestly seek Him. We must remove from our life all that would hinder us from having that close connection that He yearns for us to have with Him.
Let us be as diligent in our Christian walk as was my mother with her art projects. (2 Peter 1:10) “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb 12:1, 2 Let us determine so to live, that as we look back upon our life, we can declare, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Tim 4:7, 8
Rose

The Heavenly Things Purified