Okay, Plan B

I read: Hebrews 7-9

There are actually a few topics that I considered diving into in chapter 7 so I want to bring the one major rabbit trail before going into the main thought for the day. Melchizedek. This dude is very important to understanding this chunk of Hebrews but he's a pretty bizarre fellow. I recommend reading up on him and his appearance to Abraham and then checking out what Paul says about him in Hebrews. You want Bible conspiracy theory, you got it here with some scholars saying that Mel is actually Christ making a cameo appearance early on.

Anyways, there's a statement in 8 that I found very interesting: "The former way of doing things, a system of commandments that never worked out the way it was supposed to, was set aside; the law brought nothing to maturity." At first blush (what the heck is a first blush anyways?) this thought struck me as odd. "Never worked out the way it was supposed to." I'm sorry, I thought God was perfect and omniscent, shouldn't he know how things were supposed to work out? Shouldn't he be able to plan something that would work perfectly? Kind of a disturbing thought if those things aren't true, isn't it?

Let me say before going any further that I don't claim any authority on this subject so I'm blindly groping here. Feel free to step in with the wisdom I don't have on this subject :)

Anyways, looking a bit forward into chapter 8 we get this: "If the first plan--the old covenant--had worked out, a second wouldn't have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting . . . " Found wanting. Who/what was found wanting? God? The plan? Us? Us. And the plan too. Not God.

Instead, I think God kind of knew the Law wouldn't work. It looks good on paper, but not the sort of thing that can be put into practice. And that's the point. Going back to my understanding of dispensations, salvation by the Law isn't an end to itself, it's God's teachable moment for humanity. It's the sort of thing that you have to do with a child, the real relationship works when grace is present.

God knew what he was doing and he did it in a very interesting way. It's a plan, his plan. It's also a process. As far as we haven't come in the last 6,000 years, we have at least come to a better understanding of God by his grace.