Verses 1-6
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Priests under the Old Covenant—the law of Moses—were appointed by God, and they were required to make sacrifices to atone for sins.
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A priest under the law of Moses had to be from the tribe of Levi (a descendant of Jacob's son, Levi).
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A priest represented God's people, and served for the benefit of the people's relationship with God (verse 1).
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In the same way, Christ was appointed by God to be our priest. We need Him, and His sacrifice, in order to have relationship with God.
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Jesus did not need to be a descendant of Levi, because He is priest after the example of a man called Melchizedek (more on this later).
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Verses 7-9
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Jesus represented us well, and stands as a great leader to follow!
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He experienced what it's like for us to struggle to obey, even crying out to God to save Him from death (Matthew 26:39), and yet, He perfectly obeyed.
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He knows your struggle, and showed you how to overcome.
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Knowing how much Jesus suffered for you, yet in perfect obedience, to bring you to God, you also be obedient to Him!
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Like Jesus, resist temptation, and pray for strength to submit to the will of God.
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We are not suffering as greatly as Jesus did, so we can surely overcome our temptations and remain obedient with His help (Hebrews 12:3-4).
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Verses 10-14
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Verses 10-11. There is much that God wants to teach us, but it's difficult to explain when we lack understanding from the Holy Spirit.
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Pray to grow in understanding, and seek to hear from the Holy Spirit. As you grow, more will be able to be explained to you.
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Verses 12-14. Deeper explanations of the Word, and matters more difficult to understand, are for mature believers (1 Corinthians 2:6).
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Understand, obey, and learn how to explain the basics of the Word first, and then you will be ready for deeper things.
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Form habits of obedience to the basics of the Word, and through those habits, continued over time, your spiritual “organ of discernment” will grow to be able to recognize the subtle differences between good and evil.
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Both the Holy Spirit and evil spirits can speak to us in a way that we can hear (1 Timothy 4:1). Thoughts come to us that we think are God, when they're not. It is only through maturity, knowledge of the Word, and continued obedience that our hearing and discernment can grow, so that we can accurately discern what is godly.
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