Gospel Reflections #873: Only The Holy Spirit's Work

Hebrews 7:14 "For it is evident that our Lord sprang from Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe."

The priesthood is the duty of offering sacrifices for people's sins and receiving forgiveness from God. Through this, people become accepted by God, can draw near to Him, and receive His life and grace.

And if the Levitical priesthood had been able to fulfill this duty perfectly, there would have been no need for another priest. Yet a priest equal to the order of Melchizedek was appointed. This means the Levitical priesthood was imperfect and could not achieve atonement for sin.

The decisive difference between the Levitical priesthood and the Melchizedek priesthood is that the former pertains to a commandment concerning the flesh, while the latter belongs to the "power of an indestructible life."

It is the difference between what is earthly and what is heavenly, between what belongs to the flesh and what belongs to the Spirit.

Even though we are Christians, even though we have been born anew by the Spirit, we make the mistake of trying to keep God's commandments as if we still belonged to the flesh.

It is the compulsion commonly called, "A Christian must be like this."

We struggle, trying to keep Christ's commandments by our own efforts, yet failing to keep them and instead doing the opposite.

But what we have received is the "power of life."

We stand before God just as we are, with this sinful body, confirming that we are crucified with Christ.

Therefore, it is not us, but the Spirit of Christ within us who accomplishes what we ourselves cannot do.

Only the Spirit can overcome the flesh. What we can do is lay ourselves bare before God and allow the Holy Spirit to deal with us.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.