Thursday’s classes started a little later and had several delays – some good and others not so good. We had several power outages, one in the morning that delayed our departure from the hotel and the start of classes in the morning. This put us considerably behind time in covering Hebrews 9 and 10 during the morning session. Dealing with chapters 9 and 10 is always a challenge, even with a full 3 hours. When the time was cut to less than two hours, there was no way to finish it all. Needless to say, there was no time for any break in the morning session.
We first dealt with the Hebrew writer’s description of the tabernacle and its furnishings as well as their function which was essential under the Old Law (the Law of Moses). As the “mercy-seat” was the symbolic Presence of God among the Israelites, we asked the same question raised by the writer: Who could draw near to that Presence and when? Only one man (the high priest), once a year (the Day of Atonement), and only to offer the blood for himself and the people. So what does that suggest? That the Mosaic Law did not provide for all men to draw near to God. That example of the tabernacle is used to draw a necessary inference that the Law of Moses was never meant (even from its beginning) to be the final will of God to bring all men near to Him. What a powerful point! And how was it made? In the very same way we come to see teaching from God’s word – an example of the Hebrew writer also teaching use biblical hermeneutics!
We started to deal with Hebrews 10 in the remaining time, but could not make it all the way through. We stopped after covering Hebrews 10:25 for a very good delay. The man from the “Full Gospel” denominational group had told Dario that he had decided to obey the gospel that day. We wanted him to fully understand what that meant, so Rody gave a lesson on what was involved in obeying the gospel and offered an invitation at the end.
During the lunch break, we had a longer power outage (“brown-out” as they call it here). The air conditioner that had previously broken, then fixed, and broken again, and fixed again, was broken again after subjected to the power problems. This was probably the hottest day so far in the week. Being later to start in the afternoon, we were only able to cover through Hebrews 11 rather than chapter 12 where we were supposed to end according to the schedule. Regardless, we had an excellent class with the students showing very good perception of the material and seeing the essential nature and place of the examples given of saving faith in the eleventh chapter.
When we were going back to the hotel, I asked Dario if there was a Mang Inasol around and he drove us to the mall where we ate at one that actually had a working air conditioner. I was thrilled with the food, its price and especially the air conditioner. However, when we went to the car, there was a torrential downpour as heavy as any rain that I have ever seen. We waited for it to slow down and then rain to the car as fast as my two legs and cane could take me. In other words, I was soaked, but it was a good night with these brethren I admire so much for their works sake!
That pretty well covers Thursday. Thank again for your interest in this work.
Brotherly, Harry
