We were driving the other day and listening to Dr. Andrew Farley do an overview of the book of Hebrews. He came to chapter 9 and verses13 and 14: "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" and the little phrase "how much more" caught my attention.
Certainly, the cleansing provided by the shed blood of Jesus cleanses so much more than the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices. But I was suddenly curious about where else that "how much more" phrase shows up. I'll give you a few instances.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches "what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:9-11). Paul has the same idea in Romans 8:32: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" This heavenly Father of ours is"the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" and "every good and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from (Him)" (James 1:17). We are instructed to trust in "the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy" (I Timothy 6:17).
In Matthew 12:12, Jesus faced the challenge of the Jews who asked "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" His response was, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." He said a similar thing in Luke 12:22-31: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse or barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?...Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin ; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you." With prices on everything we need soaring out of control, it is important to focus on, trust and praise the God who has promised to take care of us. He is our Good Shepherd.
And the greatest "how much more" is probably in Romans 5:17, which says, "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!" The one man, Adam, with his one trespass, caused spiritual death to reign for generations after him. But then Jesus came, providing "God's abundant provision of grace and...the gift of righteousness" and we can now "reign in life" because of Him.
Hallelujah and praise the Lord! Jesus told His disciples, "In the world you will have tribulation (or trouble) but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33) .We have troubles in this life but how much more has God given us all we need to walk in victory, fully supplied to face every need and trial!
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