The assurance Melchizedek provides.

I'm afraid I have not been as consistent with posting as I had hoped to be; thanks to Kaia for poking me on Facebook to give some updates. I'm currently still working through Hebrews in my quiet times, and finished up Hebrews 7 this morning. In many ways, the author's style is a bit complicated, mixing both polemics and pastoral counsel. When I was working through Hebrews 6, perseverance and assurance were twin themes that played on each other; perseverance supplements assurance, and assurance bolsters our perseverance. I found the same idea of assurance running through Hebrews 7, which becomes more prominent in Hebrews 8 when the author applies the truth of Christ as High Priest to our hearts.

The author explains that the order of Melchizedek, the office that Christ holds as High Priest, is superior to the Aaronic order for three reasons: 1) it is sealed by a divine oath, 2) the priesthood is permanent because Christ never dies, 3) it is occupied by one [Christ] who is perfect and holy.

Three hymns came to mind when reading this--"Arise, My Soul Arise":

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off they guilty fears;

The bleeding Sacrifice in my behalf appears:

Before the throne my Surety stands, before the throne my Surety stands,

My name is written on His hands.

"Before the Throne of God Above":

Before the Throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea,

A Great High Priest Whose name is Love, Who ever lives and pleads for me;

My name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart,

I know that while in Heaven He stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart.

"I Hear the Words of Love":

I change He changes not, the Christ can never die;

His love not mine the resting place, His truth not mine the tie.

General updates:

• I'm going to be attending a pre-departure orientation for study abroad tonight.
• I lied last week; the ESOL picnic on the mall is this upcoming Saturday afternoon.
• Working on a group project on Oman.
• Going to the Johnsons' house for college/intern fellowship night this Friday.
• I've begun attending the Bible Study that AJ and Matt lead, which has been great.
• Still waiting to hear back from internships and housing possibilities.

Reading updates:

• Reading Jacques Derrida's The Gift of Death for class; not a fun assignment.
• Finished Martin Buber's I and Thou; not a fun assignment.
• Finished A Quest for Godliness and the new book next to my bed is True Sexual Morality: Reclaiming Biblical Standards for a Culture in Crisis which has been an enlightening read so far; I'm also reading Carson's Christ and Culture Revisited. I've been reading up a bit on the debates that go on about Christianity and how it should interact with culture.
• Still working through Ferguson's The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction with Brandon; hopefully we'll be able to finish it before the end of the year.