And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Hebrews 10:11-14
“The Aaronic priests never sat down in the sanctuary; they remained standing throughout the whole performance of their sacred duties (Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews, New International Commentary on the New Testament, Eerdmans, 1979, page 238).” They never sat because their work was never done.
(NavPress Bible study, Hebrews, NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO: 1989, pg 131)
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh. Isaiah 16:11
Karse (my belly,bowels) in this case means “my heart.” “Inward parts,” or “kidneys” mean tender mercies. Easterners often say, “My hearts burned for them; my kidneys kindled with fire.”
All these sayings are used allegorically, signifying sorrows and bitter weeping. The kingdom of Moab was to be invaded by the king of Babylon and punished for its sins.
(Lamsa, George M. 1964. Old Testament Light. San Francisco: Harper Collins., pg 648)
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;Hebrews 1:3
In Jewish culture, sitting at the right hand was a place of honor, privilege, dignity, and power. That Christ sat down at this exalted place indicates that His work was finished.
(NavPress Bible study, Hebrews, NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO: 1989, pg 24)
I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 1 Timothy 2:8
Semites, when praying, stretch out their arms and lift up their hands as though they were about to receive something. This is a gesture of supplication.
When men plead before a high official of church or state, they lift up their hands, making gestures of sincere appeal.
When they stand at attention, their hands are folded in front of them.
When people beg for mercy they also stretch out or lift up their hands. “Lift up holy hands” means to plead with a sincere heart and motive.
(Lamsa, George. New Testament Commentary, A.J. Holman Co., Philadelphia: 1945, pgs 406-407)
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:6-7
He who really knows the truth is daily more and more cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus. The verse is correct enough here but it can very easily be misunderstood. It runs: “The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” That can be read as a statement of a general principle. But it is also a statement of what ought to be happening in the individual life.
The meaning is that all the time, day by day, constantly and consistently, the blood of Jesus Christ ought to be carrying out a cleansing process in the life of the individual Christian. The Greek for to cleanse is katharizein which was originally a ritual word, describing the ceremonies and washings and so on which qualified a man to approach his gods.
But the word, as religion developed, came to have a moral sense; and it describes the goodness which enables a man to enter into the presence of God. So what John is saying is, “If you really know what the sacrifice of Christ has done and are really experiencing its power, day by day you will be adding holiness to your life and becoming more fit to enter the presence of God.”
Here indeed is a great conception. It looks on the sacrifice of Christ as something which not only atones for past sin but equips a man in holiness day by day.
(Barclay, William, The Letters of John and Jude Revised Edition, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 1976, pgs 30-31)
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5
Imagination, in the Bible, does not denote a mental faculty or activity, but an evil purpose, plan, scheme, device, or argument. One Hebrew word, sheriruth, is translated "lust" in Psalms 81:12 and "imagination" in Deuteronomy 29:19 and in eight passages in Jeremiah (3:17; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12; 23:17). These are mistranslations, for the word means firmness in an evil course.
"Imagine" as used in the Bible, means to purpose, plan, contrive. Its object is action; and, rather oddly, it is always directed to action that is evil or futile.
Except for Acts 4:25, where "imagine" translates a verb quoted from the Greek Septuagint, the RSV uses other words: "think" (Job 6:26), "meditate" (Psalms 38:12), "propose" (Genesis 11:6), "plan" (Psalms 140:2), "plot" (Psalms 2:1; Nahum 1:9, 11), "devise" (Psalms 10:2; 21:11; Hosea 7:15; Zechariah 7:10; 8:17). (The Bible Word Book, Bridges & Weigle, pg 183)
The heart (Leb, Strongs #3820), according to Scripture, includes not only the motives, feelings, affections, and desires, but also the will, the aims, the principles, the thoughts, and the intellect of man. In fact, it embraces the whole inner man, the head never being regarded as the seat of intelligence.
Hence we read of men being “wise hearted” (Exod. 31:6; 36:2); of wisdom being put into the heart (II Chron. 9:23); of the heart being awake (Eccles. 2:23; Song of Sol. 5:2); of the thoughts of the heart (Deut. 15:9); of words being laid up in the heart (I Sam. 21:12); and of mercy being written on the tablets of the heart (Prov. 3:3). In II Kings 5:26, Elisha says to Gehazi, “Went not my heart with thee [or after thee]?” Here a combination of knowledge and feeling is implied.
There is also a beautiful expression in the Hebrew, “to speak to the heart,” which we render “to speak comfortably or friendly” (Ruth 2:13; II Sam. 19:7; II Chron. 30:22; Isa. 40:2[“Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem”]; Hos. 2:14 [“will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her”].
(Girdlestone, R.B., Girdlestone’s Synonyms of the Old Testament, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts, 1983, pg 81)
