The Ancient Word...

The Greek philosopher Plato (ca. 427-347 B.C.) developed the theory that ultimate reality takes the form of "Ideas" (or "Forms"). These changeless, eternal, nonmaterial "Ideas" originate in heaven, in the mind of God. We cannot perceive them with our senses, but can grasp them with our minds.

According to Plato, the material realities we see around us are mere "copies" made after the "pattern" of the Ideas. To illustrate: We recognize the image at the top of Bare Roots as a tree because it embodies, more or less, the Idea of a tree in our minds. The image is an imperfect copy of the Idea of a tree, which originates in the mind of God in heaven.

Philo (ca. 20 B.C. - A.D. 45), a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria in Egypt, introduced this Platonic way of thinking into Jewish circles. Platonic philosophy seems to lie behind Hebrews 8-10, leading some scholars to believe that this book was written by a Jewish Christian from Alexandria -- someone like Apollos (see Acts 18:24-28).

The Hebrews writer seems to use Platonic ideas to contrast Christ's sacrifice on the Cross with Jewish sacrifices offered in the Tabernacle:

[Jewish high priests] serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" [quoting Exodus 25:40]...The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming -- not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. (Hebrews 8:5; 10:1, NIV)

Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own...[Instead, Christ] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:24-26)

It's hard for us to think in Plato's terms because his theory of reality has gone out of fashion. But hear the biblical writer's main point: We can sacrifice bulls and lambs and goats all day long. We can beat drums and sing songs and offer prayers for forgiveness all day long -- like the prophets of Baal did on Mount Carmel (see 1 Kings 18). But none of it will make a difference -- it won't forgive a single sin -- unless God Himself accepts it as an atoning sacrifice.

Christ's death accomplishes forgiveness of sins in the heavenly realm, in the sphere of ultimate reality, in the mind of God. It's what God thinks that counts.

... for Today

Yes, what God thinks is what ultimately matters. And His ways are definitely higher than our ways.

Jesus is the ideal High Priest. He represents everything that God ordained and desired in a priest. Jesus is also the ideal sacrifice, accomplishing results that could never be achieved by the "copy" sacrifices of this world.

But as we ponder the idealism of Christ -- "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9) -- we might also consider what the Father thinks of us.

He declares that we are His children, and means it in the absolute perfect sense of the world -- to be perfectly cared for and never again orphaned. He loves us -- not with the limitations of love that we commonly experience, but in the most ideal, complete, and perfect way. He prepares a place for us (John 14:2) that surpasses the very best of all places we have ever known or imagined..."immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).

The Lord does not share our flaws and limitations. In every way He models perfection and invites us to come alive in this ultimate reality. "Set your minds on things above, not on the earthly things." (Colossians 3:2)

Discuss...

1. Discuss some examples of "ultimate realities" that we cheapen or lessen by defining them from an earthly perspective.
   
2. How well do you "set your mind on things above"? What makes this hard for most of us? How might we do better?

Chris Davis, PhD & David Timms, PhD
Hope International University
Fullerton, California

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