Psalm 95:8
8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
Hebrews 11
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
In the wilderness our hearts can be hardened, or they can be made hungry and hopeful.
This world is like a wilderness to us for we are not of this world.
This world can not sustain or fulfill us. We walk in this world, but we must also walk in the reality of the kingdom of heaven.
This is the hope that keeps our hearts alive.
Submitted by Mark Kaphaem
The topic 'endurance' leads to Hebrews 11.
ESV Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." 39 ¶ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
I see a play on the words in the Greek text here. 10:39 talks about Upostolaes. 11:1 talks about Upostasis.
10:39 talks about 'hesitating, shrinking back, balking at what God has called us to'.
11:1 speaks about confidence, sureity, assurance, manifesting a reality of the unseen in our behavior without any backward glances.
After Hebrews 11 is finished, the theme of endurance is named again. Hebrews 11 is written to show the nature of faith in a believers life demands we never give up. We never surrender.
ESV Hebrews 12:1 ¶ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
What are the issues that tempt us to give up?
1) We lose sight of reality in exchange for the visible things in this life.
2) We harden our hearts by not dealing with sin in them now.
3) We don't know the stories of the bible.
4) We don't know the stories of the Kingom of God in our own recent history.
5) We don't see the 'interpretive key' to the Bible. Hab 2:4
ESV Habakkuk 2:4 "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Most, if not all of the stories cited in Hebrews 11 do not mention faith in the recorded history. But we are hearing
that faith is the common element of each of these stories. How did they endure to the end of their journeys? It was
by faith. In the context of endurance what really is faith?
If we can say anything about faith at all, it is this: Faith changes the reality of our lives because we are so confident
in what God has shown us that we will stand on that reality until we die if necessary. In other words, real faith acts on
what it knows to be true. Faith is not just an inward assurance that God will move on our behalf. No, faith is so sure, that
the believer cannot imagine doing anything but standing in faith. Doubt does not enter into the equation. There is no place
for it.
When biblical faith arises in ones heart, doubt becomes like the third digit in a double digit equation. There is no place for it
at all. It is never considered.
Faith is like a lion's roar. Faith is like the dive of great whale. Faith is like the sound of an eagle over a canyon. Faith is like
the sunlight burning up fog in a meadow in the morning. Faith overcomes. Faith is the victory.
The necessity of faith: Faith is not an optional part of the Kingdom.
Without faith, no one can please God. No one can approach God without faith. Without faith we are helpless.
We think that faith brings blessings in this life? It often does. But the real blessing of faith has nothing to do with this world.
It is eternal. Sawn in two...wandering prophets.
The difference between those in the OT who were accepted by God and those who weren't was 'faith'.
Our faith is not objectless. Our faith is not a detached spiritual law or power. Our faith is issued by Jesus. He is the 'author' of our
faith. Not only that, but our faith is not developed by some detached spiritual law or power. Faith was never meant to operate as a
principle on it's own. No, Christ is not only the author of our faith, but the perfector of our faith. This means that Jesus guides us in the
very operation of this powerful dynamic the bible calls faith. Jesus is the author and the perfector of our faith.
Faith is the product of a relationship with God. In our relationship with God we are shown something by Him. These revelations that He
gives us produce in a faithfilled heart a knowledge. Faith is the knowledge of a revelation from God...and a standing firm in that knowledge
until the end.
Faith grows as we use it. It takes faith to seek God. As we encounter God He issues a deepening of our faith. It is the developing of our faith that enables us to receive more revelation from God. That new revelation tests and develops our faith as we walk in it.
Faith endures: 2 Corinthians 4:16 ¶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
A) Faith is a revelation of our future hope that transforms our lives today.
11:13 ¶ These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Some tips to grow in faith
1) Jesus issues it.
2) Jesus authors it.
3) His vehicle is the Word of Christ.
4) Remember what God has done in scripture.
5) Remember what God has done in our recent history.
6) Remember what God has done in your life.
7) Meditate on scripture as the food source for faith in your life!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Sunday, September 02, 2007
A Call To Persevere (Heb 10:32-39)
Hebrews 1-:32-39 "A Call To Perseverance"
ESV Hebrews 10:32 ¶ But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." 39 ¶ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
A) Summarize Hebrews 10:1-31
1) 10:1-4 Talks about the old order as a shadow of the reality of heaven's Kingdom
vs 3. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
A typical Jew would expect that the sacrifices would remove their sin(s) before God. But in reality,
the domain or sin, and the penalty of a particular sin could never be removed by the sacrifices of the Old Covenant
The law pointed to the true sacrifice: Jesus' dying on the wooden tree at Golgotha.
2) 10:5-10 The new order is reality. Irony that the physical is a shadow of the spiritual!
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Note that Christ's death is once for all. Note that we have been sanctified through Christ's physical death.
3) 10:11-18 Christ is not only the High Priest, but the King...'The Enthroned High Priest'.
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Christ is seated in heaven, as a King and a High Priest, who has offered a permanently effective offering for our sin.
His death removed the power of sin, the penalty of sin and secures us not only in the realm of sanctification, but
removes sin from all accounting before God on our behalf!!
4) 10:19-25 Our access to God is only through the sacrifice of Christ
Encourage one another to get closer to God through Christ's atoning sacrifice...through faith in His blood.
5) 10:26-31 Hebrew's fourth warning: Wilful sin of apostasy (intentional rejection of Christ)
This is not our daily struggle with sins, but the sin of rejecting Christ (apostasy) intentionally.
In the New Covenant, the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord still works effectively. There is a place for an awe of
God that drives us towards Him with a trembling.
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
B) Heb 10:32-39
A warning against apostasy is followed up with encouragement and reassurance because many people might become discouraged
and be tempted to quit after a strong warning like this. So to embolden them.
God's processes often look like this:
you were enlightened
you endured a hard struggle with sufferings
These are designed or allowed by God with a side benefit of delivering us from a love of
a good reputation or fame
a comfortable life
a desire to be with only the successful
a love of money and material things
And these experiences are designed or allowed by God to deepen our
faith
endurance
hope in eternal reward vs temporal reward
Shrinking back means to completely abandon Christ because it is difficult to follow Him.
We are not of that nature. We are of those who depend on Christ no matter how things
go for us in this life. This is a crucial component of real spiritual faith, which will be opened up
in depth during the next several paragraphs of Hebrews in chapter 11.
exploring God's processes...
How are we enlightened?
How can we stand when our struggles include sufferings?
Rid yourself of the love of self
Rid yourself of the love of a comfortable life
Rid yourself of a desire to be with the successful looking people in the world
Rid yourself of the love of money
Rid yourself of the love of things
Deepen your faith.
Reflect on the crucial passages cited here:
Hab. 2:3-4
ESV Habakkuk 2:3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end--it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4 "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
BTW-the reason that Hebrews 10 is not exactly the same as Hab. 2:3-4 is because it is a paraphrase of the original. Let that fact sink in, that we ought not to be so touchy
about which translation we use. The Bible itself often paraphrases other parts of the Bible. But that is not our topic today.
This passage about righteousness living and faith are quoted in Romans and in Galatians.
ESV Romans 1:16 ¶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
ESV Galatians 3:10 ¶ For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." 12 But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them."
Abraham's faith is identified in ESV Genesis 15:6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Hebrews includes hope in faith. Endurance is linked to a persevering hope.
ESV Luke 21:19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
ESV Mark 8:35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.
ESV Hebrews 10:32 ¶ But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." 39 ¶ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
A) Summarize Hebrews 10:1-31
1) 10:1-4 Talks about the old order as a shadow of the reality of heaven's Kingdom
vs 3. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
A typical Jew would expect that the sacrifices would remove their sin(s) before God. But in reality,
the domain or sin, and the penalty of a particular sin could never be removed by the sacrifices of the Old Covenant
The law pointed to the true sacrifice: Jesus' dying on the wooden tree at Golgotha.
2) 10:5-10 The new order is reality. Irony that the physical is a shadow of the spiritual!
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Note that Christ's death is once for all. Note that we have been sanctified through Christ's physical death.
3) 10:11-18 Christ is not only the High Priest, but the King...'The Enthroned High Priest'.
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Christ is seated in heaven, as a King and a High Priest, who has offered a permanently effective offering for our sin.
His death removed the power of sin, the penalty of sin and secures us not only in the realm of sanctification, but
removes sin from all accounting before God on our behalf!!
4) 10:19-25 Our access to God is only through the sacrifice of Christ
Encourage one another to get closer to God through Christ's atoning sacrifice...through faith in His blood.
5) 10:26-31 Hebrew's fourth warning: Wilful sin of apostasy (intentional rejection of Christ)
This is not our daily struggle with sins, but the sin of rejecting Christ (apostasy) intentionally.
In the New Covenant, the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord still works effectively. There is a place for an awe of
God that drives us towards Him with a trembling.
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
B) Heb 10:32-39
A warning against apostasy is followed up with encouragement and reassurance because many people might become discouraged
and be tempted to quit after a strong warning like this. So to embolden them.
God's processes often look like this:
you were enlightened
you endured a hard struggle with sufferings
These are designed or allowed by God with a side benefit of delivering us from a love of
a good reputation or fame
a comfortable life
a desire to be with only the successful
a love of money and material things
And these experiences are designed or allowed by God to deepen our
faith
endurance
hope in eternal reward vs temporal reward
Shrinking back means to completely abandon Christ because it is difficult to follow Him.
We are not of that nature. We are of those who depend on Christ no matter how things
go for us in this life. This is a crucial component of real spiritual faith, which will be opened up
in depth during the next several paragraphs of Hebrews in chapter 11.
exploring God's processes...
How are we enlightened?
How can we stand when our struggles include sufferings?
Rid yourself of the love of self
Rid yourself of the love of a comfortable life
Rid yourself of a desire to be with the successful looking people in the world
Rid yourself of the love of money
Rid yourself of the love of things
Deepen your faith.
Reflect on the crucial passages cited here:
Hab. 2:3-4
ESV Habakkuk 2:3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end--it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4 "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
BTW-the reason that Hebrews 10 is not exactly the same as Hab. 2:3-4 is because it is a paraphrase of the original. Let that fact sink in, that we ought not to be so touchy
about which translation we use. The Bible itself often paraphrases other parts of the Bible. But that is not our topic today.
This passage about righteousness living and faith are quoted in Romans and in Galatians.
ESV Romans 1:16 ¶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
ESV Galatians 3:10 ¶ For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." 12 But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them."
Abraham's faith is identified in ESV Genesis 15:6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Hebrews includes hope in faith. Endurance is linked to a persevering hope.
ESV Luke 21:19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
ESV Mark 8:35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
A Better Covenant & Priesthood (Hebrews 8)
Prayer meeting in Kansas City in 1992 where I heard Noel Alexander read Ezekiel 1 with great conviction. I saw the scene he read in an overwhelming experience, a vision, that imparted a firey desire in me to pray to Jesus. I saw a figure who was glowing white, like the figure of a man, on a throne far above the heavens. It was awesome. We will look at that passage in Ezekiel and it's parallel passage in Revelation a little this morning because it ties into the part of Hebrews we are studying today. Hebrews 8. But first, let's
rewind to the end of Hebrews 7.
23 ¶ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 ¶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
ESV Hebrews 8:1 ¶ Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
Such a High Priest
Throne of the Majesty
Ezekiel 1
22 ¶ Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. 23 And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. 24 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 26 ¶ And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 ¶ Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
ESV Revelation 4:1 ¶ After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 ¶ and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
ESV Revelation 5:1 ¶ Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." 6 ¶ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" 14 And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Jesus is not just a priest...he is a High Priest. Jesus is not just a High Priest. IN the Levitical order a priest could not be a ruler and a ruler could not be a priest. Jesus is on the throne. Jesus is a ruler. He is a king. He is the Lord. He is the ruler of rulers. He is the King of all Kings. He is the Lord of all Lords. He is the High Priest/King of Kings. He combines both the rule and the ministry of heaven into one role.
2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
a heavenly sanctuary!!
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
Aaronic high priests offered their gifts and sacrifices in Jerusalem. They had to be Levites.
4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
Jesus was not a Levite, he was of Judah's tribe...a son of David.
Jesus was not operating under the Mosaic law as a Levite, but under the order of Melchizedek...the King of righteousness and peace.
Jesus was not chosen a high priest out of his tribal birth, but because of his purity, holiness, righteous life and eternal standing. God the Father gave Him the high priesthood by a direct oath, which is far more powerful than being born into the priesthood.
5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain."
Moses did this because there is a sanctuary in heaven which he was making a reflection of on the earth. The earthly temple reflects a true reality in heaven.
The earthly temple was temporary. The heavenly temple is eternal. Moses prescribed temporary high priests. Jesus, our High Priest in Melchizedek's order is eternal.
6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.
Christ's high priestly ministry is far superior to the Aaronic priesthood of Moses' law.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Aaron's priesthood was in the law of Moses.
1 Tim 1:8 ¶ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient,
The law was not imperfect. It was fine. The people had a corruption in their soul which kept them from obeying it fully. This corruption was proven by Israel and Judah's history.
Therefore God's original plan for redeeming mankind was to establish a second covenant after the first one demonstrated the sinfulness of all mankind. This second covenant was sealed by the very blood of God's perfect sacrifice lamb...Jesus Christ.
8 ¶ For he finds fault with them when he says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
THe second covenant is eternal, not temporary. The second covenant doesn't tell us what to do only, but it empowers us to obey.
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
The first covenant had the laws written on stone tablets, deposited in the ark inside the holy of holies. The new covenant has the law inscribed on the hearts of every follower of Christ.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The first covenant had a thick curtain separating the people from God's presence. The second covenant opened up the presence of God on the people so they could personally experience His presence.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
The first covenant required the people to flock to prophets and teachers because they could not understand the truth directly. The second covenant gives us the Holy Spirit who teaches everyone which way He should go. So we follow the law of the Spirit and we interact with Jesus Christ for our daily guidance.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
The first covenant brought judgment, death and despair because people never lived up to it. The second covenant brings mercy because of the permanence of forgiveness of sins.
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The first covenant is being replaced, not because it no longer exists, but as Paul taught, we are no longer alive to the law.
ESV Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
ESV Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 ¶ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
ESV Romans 7:1 ¶ Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4 ¶ Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 7 ¶ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."
We are ministers of the Spirit, not the letter. We are ministers of life, not of death. We are ministers of the open access to God through Christ, not of separation from God by the veil.
ESV 2 Corinthians 3:6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 ¶ Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12 ¶ Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
Andrew Murray said, "a heavenly sanctuary and a heavenly High Priest ask for a heavenly Christian and a heavenly heart. And this is what the new covenant promises and what the Mediator of the new covenant gives indeed.
1 Peter 2
¶ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, (this cannot be a Levitical priesthood, but must be of the order of Melchizedek-whom Jesus is the high priest of) a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 ¶ Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
rewind to the end of Hebrews 7.
23 ¶ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 ¶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
ESV Hebrews 8:1 ¶ Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
Such a High Priest
Throne of the Majesty
Ezekiel 1
22 ¶ Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. 23 And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. 24 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 26 ¶ And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 ¶ Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
ESV Revelation 4:1 ¶ After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 ¶ and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
ESV Revelation 5:1 ¶ Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." 6 ¶ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" 14 And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Jesus is not just a priest...he is a High Priest. Jesus is not just a High Priest. IN the Levitical order a priest could not be a ruler and a ruler could not be a priest. Jesus is on the throne. Jesus is a ruler. He is a king. He is the Lord. He is the ruler of rulers. He is the King of all Kings. He is the Lord of all Lords. He is the High Priest/King of Kings. He combines both the rule and the ministry of heaven into one role.
2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
a heavenly sanctuary!!
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
Aaronic high priests offered their gifts and sacrifices in Jerusalem. They had to be Levites.
4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
Jesus was not a Levite, he was of Judah's tribe...a son of David.
Jesus was not operating under the Mosaic law as a Levite, but under the order of Melchizedek...the King of righteousness and peace.
Jesus was not chosen a high priest out of his tribal birth, but because of his purity, holiness, righteous life and eternal standing. God the Father gave Him the high priesthood by a direct oath, which is far more powerful than being born into the priesthood.
5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain."
Moses did this because there is a sanctuary in heaven which he was making a reflection of on the earth. The earthly temple reflects a true reality in heaven.
The earthly temple was temporary. The heavenly temple is eternal. Moses prescribed temporary high priests. Jesus, our High Priest in Melchizedek's order is eternal.
6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.
Christ's high priestly ministry is far superior to the Aaronic priesthood of Moses' law.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Aaron's priesthood was in the law of Moses.
1 Tim 1:8 ¶ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient,
The law was not imperfect. It was fine. The people had a corruption in their soul which kept them from obeying it fully. This corruption was proven by Israel and Judah's history.
Therefore God's original plan for redeeming mankind was to establish a second covenant after the first one demonstrated the sinfulness of all mankind. This second covenant was sealed by the very blood of God's perfect sacrifice lamb...Jesus Christ.
8 ¶ For he finds fault with them when he says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
THe second covenant is eternal, not temporary. The second covenant doesn't tell us what to do only, but it empowers us to obey.
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
The first covenant had the laws written on stone tablets, deposited in the ark inside the holy of holies. The new covenant has the law inscribed on the hearts of every follower of Christ.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The first covenant had a thick curtain separating the people from God's presence. The second covenant opened up the presence of God on the people so they could personally experience His presence.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
The first covenant required the people to flock to prophets and teachers because they could not understand the truth directly. The second covenant gives us the Holy Spirit who teaches everyone which way He should go. So we follow the law of the Spirit and we interact with Jesus Christ for our daily guidance.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
The first covenant brought judgment, death and despair because people never lived up to it. The second covenant brings mercy because of the permanence of forgiveness of sins.
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The first covenant is being replaced, not because it no longer exists, but as Paul taught, we are no longer alive to the law.
ESV Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
ESV Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 ¶ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
ESV Romans 7:1 ¶ Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4 ¶ Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 7 ¶ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."
We are ministers of the Spirit, not the letter. We are ministers of life, not of death. We are ministers of the open access to God through Christ, not of separation from God by the veil.
ESV 2 Corinthians 3:6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 ¶ Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12 ¶ Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
Andrew Murray said, "a heavenly sanctuary and a heavenly High Priest ask for a heavenly Christian and a heavenly heart. And this is what the new covenant promises and what the Mediator of the new covenant gives indeed.
1 Peter 2
¶ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, (this cannot be a Levitical priesthood, but must be of the order of Melchizedek-whom Jesus is the high priest of) a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 ¶ Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Entering God's Rest (Hebrews 4:1-13)
May 2006 trip to Anna Maria Island in Florida. The days of rest on the beach; sleeping in and doing nothing for six days. Eating every night at a sea food restaurant like the Sand Bar Restaurant with a ocean view table at sunset. While we were there a couple from Scotland had flown a small wedding party in. As they stood on the beach saying their vows, island birds of all kinds searched the gentle gulf ocean waves for fish. Other birds searched the sand for a nibble of something to eat. Some people swam in the ocean. Some walked the beach in casual conversation. Some power walked. The blue sky, azure ocean water, white crushed sugar-like sand, all calling us to rest and refreshment. It was an experience that Amy and I will never forget.
Rest in scriptures:
Genesis: God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and then rested on the seventh day.
ESV Genesis 2:1 ¶ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
ESV Exodus 20:8 ¶ "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
The promised land of Israel was a type of eternal rest. This means it pictured the eternal rest of God's people. It was an earthly picture of our eternal hope. So the Israelites travelling from Egypt to the promised land are a picture of those of us who are travelling from a life of sin to our eternal home in Christ. We are pilgrims on a journey. Sin, death, this old world and the lusts of it are our 'Egypt'. Christ, eternal rest and His hope are our promised land.
What did the Psalms say to the Israelite pilgrims who did not make it to the promised land? Why did an entire generation die in the wilderness and never arrive in the promised land, even though it was a few weeks journey? They wandered for forty years without entering their promised land. Why?
ESV Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
This means that there is a rest beyond the Sabbath rest of the law of Moses. It is a rest that God Himself enjoyed after finishing creation. It means also that He intends to share His own rest with all of the pilgrims in life who are travelling with Christ.
It was because Israel did not mix their knowledge of God's call with an abiding trust in Him that they failed to enter the promised land. They may have had a mental assent to the fact that God was God, and that He had worked in Moses to deliver them from Egypt...and that He was the one who was guiding them with a pillar of fire by night and that He worked miracle after miracle in their midst and fed them with manna....but they did not trust Him from their hearts. There is a BIG difference. That difference was what kept them from the promised land.
They may have observed the sabbath day...but the sabbath day was just one part of the law of Moses. The legal system of Moses was given to help us realize we needed Christ.
Now when Jesus came, he claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath.
ESV John 5:1 ¶ After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 ¶ Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids--blind, lame, and paralyzed. 4 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." 9 ¶ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." 11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
But the Sabbath and the festivals of the Old Covenant are all shadows of the true reality which is ours in Christ.
ESV Colossians 2:16 ¶ Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
NIV Colossians 2:16 ¶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
We must therefore see that God's rest, the rest He Himself enjoyed after creating the world, still exists. It is something that He desires to share with His people. It is only obtained by moving beyond a mental assent to His rule and reign and into a state of trusting Him from our hearts. An abiding trust in Him opens for us the experience both now and into eternity of something that is superior to resting on a beach in Florida. It is superior to the finest experience anyone can have on this earth.
So now we come back to our passage:
ESV Hebrews 4:1 ¶ Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works." 5 And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest." 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 ¶ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
What is the answer to all of this?
Set your hope fully on God's own rest.
Look for His perfect peace and tranquillity in your soul not only now, but into eternity.
Soften your heart.
Choose to submit your will to His.
Surrender your personal rights to Him.
Don't just acknowledge Him mentally, but choose to trust Him from your heart.
Notice what it says, that Joshua did not give them rest...who? Israel who entered into the promised land. You see there was a 'rest of God' that was beyond what Israel experienced under Joshua's leadership. Jesus (whose name is Joshua in the original tongue) has opened for us the answer. Eternal, glorious rest from God is ours.
So what do we do?
We press into God with a wreckless faith. We risk all we are and have to follow Christ.
We reject the call of the world. We reject the call of this life.
We trust without reservation now. And we can taste the glory of His rest now. That glory of His rest entices us to pursue Him with all that we have and to enjoy Him forever.
So let us all take time today to consider whether we are living in a mental assent to His rule and reign or whether we are trusting in Him with all our hearts.
Rest in scriptures:
Genesis: God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and then rested on the seventh day.
ESV Genesis 2:1 ¶ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
ESV Exodus 20:8 ¶ "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
The promised land of Israel was a type of eternal rest. This means it pictured the eternal rest of God's people. It was an earthly picture of our eternal hope. So the Israelites travelling from Egypt to the promised land are a picture of those of us who are travelling from a life of sin to our eternal home in Christ. We are pilgrims on a journey. Sin, death, this old world and the lusts of it are our 'Egypt'. Christ, eternal rest and His hope are our promised land.
What did the Psalms say to the Israelite pilgrims who did not make it to the promised land? Why did an entire generation die in the wilderness and never arrive in the promised land, even though it was a few weeks journey? They wandered for forty years without entering their promised land. Why?
ESV Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
This means that there is a rest beyond the Sabbath rest of the law of Moses. It is a rest that God Himself enjoyed after finishing creation. It means also that He intends to share His own rest with all of the pilgrims in life who are travelling with Christ.
It was because Israel did not mix their knowledge of God's call with an abiding trust in Him that they failed to enter the promised land. They may have had a mental assent to the fact that God was God, and that He had worked in Moses to deliver them from Egypt...and that He was the one who was guiding them with a pillar of fire by night and that He worked miracle after miracle in their midst and fed them with manna....but they did not trust Him from their hearts. There is a BIG difference. That difference was what kept them from the promised land.
They may have observed the sabbath day...but the sabbath day was just one part of the law of Moses. The legal system of Moses was given to help us realize we needed Christ.
Now when Jesus came, he claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath.
ESV John 5:1 ¶ After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 ¶ Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids--blind, lame, and paralyzed. 4 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." 9 ¶ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." 11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
But the Sabbath and the festivals of the Old Covenant are all shadows of the true reality which is ours in Christ.
ESV Colossians 2:16 ¶ Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
NIV Colossians 2:16 ¶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
We must therefore see that God's rest, the rest He Himself enjoyed after creating the world, still exists. It is something that He desires to share with His people. It is only obtained by moving beyond a mental assent to His rule and reign and into a state of trusting Him from our hearts. An abiding trust in Him opens for us the experience both now and into eternity of something that is superior to resting on a beach in Florida. It is superior to the finest experience anyone can have on this earth.
So now we come back to our passage:
ESV Hebrews 4:1 ¶ Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works." 5 And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest." 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 ¶ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
What is the answer to all of this?
Set your hope fully on God's own rest.
Look for His perfect peace and tranquillity in your soul not only now, but into eternity.
Soften your heart.
Choose to submit your will to His.
Surrender your personal rights to Him.
Don't just acknowledge Him mentally, but choose to trust Him from your heart.
Notice what it says, that Joshua did not give them rest...who? Israel who entered into the promised land. You see there was a 'rest of God' that was beyond what Israel experienced under Joshua's leadership. Jesus (whose name is Joshua in the original tongue) has opened for us the answer. Eternal, glorious rest from God is ours.
So what do we do?
We press into God with a wreckless faith. We risk all we are and have to follow Christ.
We reject the call of the world. We reject the call of this life.
We trust without reservation now. And we can taste the glory of His rest now. That glory of His rest entices us to pursue Him with all that we have and to enjoy Him forever.
So let us all take time today to consider whether we are living in a mental assent to His rule and reign or whether we are trusting in Him with all our hearts.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Consider Jesus (and He will transform you)
Hebrews 3:1-19
Consider Jesus (Jesus is greater than Moses) vs 1-6
Why Moses?
Jewish thought correctly placed Moses at the apex of their faith.
Remember the transfiguration of Jesus? Who appeared there with him in glory?
Moses signified the law, which was the instruction set for Israel.
Jesus as apostle and high priest signals he represents the Father to us on earth AND he represents us in the presence of the Father!
Care For Your Own Heart
Make a good confession
Romans 10:9-11 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."
1 Timothy 6:12 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Hebrews 4:14-15 14 ¶ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 10:23-25 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hold fast your confidence by 'considering Christ'.
Boast in the hope of salvation. Let it be like a helmet that covers your whole mind. Let all your thoughts be hopeful, righteousness and joy!
Invite God's Spirit to convict you of sin and of righteousness in your life.
Set aside time daily to put everything on the altar
This means your hopes
This means your dreams
This means your all
The Lord's prayer teaches us to ask for forgiveness daily while clearing ourselves of any unforgiveness within us.
Why does all of this matter?
What are the consequences if we harden our hearts?
Read FF Bruce's quote
Israel was judged.
Rejection of Jesus is more serious than the rejection of Moses
Jesus is God himself.
Psalm 95:1-11 ESV Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
The story of Meribah is recorded for us in
Exodus 17:1-7 ESV Exodus 17:1 ¶ All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
On top of that, Aaron was not able to enter into the promised land, which was symbolic of his priesthood being unable to lead people into the true promised land (eternity in Christ).
Numbers 20:24-29 24 "Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there." 27 Moses did as the LORD commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
Moses again later was disqualified at Meribah because of the way he performed the miracle of water coming from the rock.
Numbers 20:10-13 10 ¶ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." 13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy.
That symbolized the fact that Moses and his ministry was unable to bring Israel into the promised land.
The one who took over for Moses was named Joshua which is Jesus in the original language. Of course that is also symbolic of Jesus Christ who alone is able to lead us into the promised land of eternal life, peace and rest in God.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 ESV 1 Corinthians 10:1 ¶ For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 ¶ Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Learn from the OT stories to follow Christ more sincerely than Israel followed Moses.
Encourage each other daily.
it's not the pastors job.
It's your job.
Keep short accounts....especially with those you see the most frequently. Ask for forgiveness. Ask if you have offended.
Hear His voice
Yes God speaks to His people through the word of God and directly still.
Willingness to obey enables us to hear. Unwillingness to obey disables our hearing.
Consider Jesus (Jesus is greater than Moses) vs 1-6
Why Moses?
Jewish thought correctly placed Moses at the apex of their faith.
Remember the transfiguration of Jesus? Who appeared there with him in glory?
Moses signified the law, which was the instruction set for Israel.
Jesus as apostle and high priest signals he represents the Father to us on earth AND he represents us in the presence of the Father!
Care For Your Own Heart
Make a good confession
Romans 10:9-11 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."
1 Timothy 6:12 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Hebrews 4:14-15 14 ¶ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 10:23-25 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hold fast your confidence by 'considering Christ'.
Boast in the hope of salvation. Let it be like a helmet that covers your whole mind. Let all your thoughts be hopeful, righteousness and joy!
Invite God's Spirit to convict you of sin and of righteousness in your life.
Set aside time daily to put everything on the altar
This means your hopes
This means your dreams
This means your all
The Lord's prayer teaches us to ask for forgiveness daily while clearing ourselves of any unforgiveness within us.
Why does all of this matter?
What are the consequences if we harden our hearts?
Read FF Bruce's quote
Israel was judged.
Rejection of Jesus is more serious than the rejection of Moses
Jesus is God himself.
Psalm 95:1-11 ESV Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
The story of Meribah is recorded for us in
Exodus 17:1-7 ESV Exodus 17:1 ¶ All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
On top of that, Aaron was not able to enter into the promised land, which was symbolic of his priesthood being unable to lead people into the true promised land (eternity in Christ).
Numbers 20:24-29 24 "Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there." 27 Moses did as the LORD commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
Moses again later was disqualified at Meribah because of the way he performed the miracle of water coming from the rock.
Numbers 20:10-13 10 ¶ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." 13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy.
That symbolized the fact that Moses and his ministry was unable to bring Israel into the promised land.
The one who took over for Moses was named Joshua which is Jesus in the original language. Of course that is also symbolic of Jesus Christ who alone is able to lead us into the promised land of eternal life, peace and rest in God.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 ESV 1 Corinthians 10:1 ¶ For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 ¶ Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Learn from the OT stories to follow Christ more sincerely than Israel followed Moses.
Encourage each other daily.
it's not the pastors job.
It's your job.
Keep short accounts....especially with those you see the most frequently. Ask for forgiveness. Ask if you have offended.
Hear His voice
Yes God speaks to His people through the word of God and directly still.
Willingness to obey enables us to hear. Unwillingness to obey disables our hearing.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
The path to glory Hebrews 2:1-18
More than angels! (Hebrews 1)
Now the path to glory! Hebrews 2:1-18 Warning Against Neglecting Jesus' word.
Hebrews 2 falls into two parts. First we see a conclusion to chapter 1-this is the first of several warnings that will come in the book of Hebrews. Then a spelling out of the humiliation of Christ and the indentfication with humanity of Christ.
A) A Warning Against Indifference 1-4
Basic Comments
CSB Hebrews 2:1 ¶ We must therefore pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding, and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. 4 At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.
Angels gave Moses the law. God is mediated by Moses on the human side and angels in the spiritual realm. Twice removed in the law!
ESV Deuteronomy 33:2 He said, "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.
ESV Galatians 3:19 ¶ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
ESV Acts 7:53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."
The warnings and danger that the Old Testament community of Israel was under if they failed to heed the law of Moses, are nothing in comparison with the warnings and danger that the New Testament community, the Church, stands under if we ignore or even worse, if we intentionally violate the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
ESV Mark 1:14 ¶ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
ESV Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
We see the testimony of miracles in the first century church planting movement of Paul and Peter.
ESV Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith--
ESV Acts 8:14 ¶ Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Premise: Christ is far superior to the prophets who delivered the O.T.
Christ is far superior to the angels who gave the O.T. to the prophets.
This is a seven-fold superiority with seven sections of scripture to establish this concept.
Operating Principle: The greater the revelation, the keener we must listen. (gospel vs law of Moses)
Correllary principle 1: The greater the messenger, the greater the stakes. (Jesus vs prophets and angels)
Correllary principle 2: The more powerful the confirmations, the more important our response. (signs, wonders, miracles and spiritual gifts)
Highlighting Fact: The message of the prophets and angels (OT Law) has proven to be a true and reliable message...which means that the gospel message of Christ is that much more significant!
INSIGHT: The term drift away: A nautical term implying 'flow past' as a ship that might flow past it's dock due to inattention.
The focal point is on the gospel of Jesus. What Jesus' said must be grabbed ahold of with humble and sincere hearts. The warning
is NOT rhetorical, but real. We are not reading something just for effect. We must sincerely, humbly grasp the words of the King.
HOW NOT TO DRIFT AWAY FROM CHRIST'S WORDS: ESV 2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
ESV 2 Peter 1:19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
Since the premise that Christ is vastly superior to the prophets and angels who delivered the O.T. has been thoroughly established,
we must keenly listen for the stakes are much greater for us who have the gospel. There is no theological room for indifference!
Application Key: Don't neglect Christ's word! Study the words of Jesus. Know what He said. He is the greatest messenger of all.
Jesus' message is summed up in Matthew 4:17.
CSB Matthew 4:17 From then on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!"
"Robert Jewett" Letter to Pilgrims says that the moral seriousness of Hebrews isnot based on idealism, legalism or moralism, but rather on the inexorable conditions of dialogue itself.
What this means is that the word of Jesus is not about us grasping a dogmatic position so that we can never ever be tricked theologically...and thereby be saved. It means that we are now entering into a relationship with the Living God, who is calling us to walk with Him all of our days.
There are two statements we should focus on: Do not neglect Jesus' word. Do not intentionally disobey Jesus' word. Both are imbedded in this passage.
Similar to the parable of the Tenants
ESV Matthew 21:33 ¶ "Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." 42 ¶ Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." 45 ¶ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
The difference is that here we have the new tenants, the church of Jesus, dwelling in God's Vineyard. The chief priests and Pharisees have already had God's Vineyard taken away from them. Jesus announced to them that they were removed. Hebrews warns us not to fall into the same error that the Pharisees and chief priests fell into, that is they were unable to hear God. They were not attentive to Him and His gospel.
They reduced the word of God to their own dogmatic views which were incompatible with the very Spirit's message.
B) Temporary Humiliation of Christ 5-9 and the Son's Solidarity with Humanity 10-18
In essence Christ shared in our humanity. He temporarily embraced a position lower than angels, tasting human temptation and experiencing death, he has become the leader of all mankind, opening for us the pathway into the presence of God that we can commune with God now by faith in Christ.
(The Cross Psalm) ESV Psalm 22:22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
Responding to the gospel leads to participation in Christ's Kingdom Rule: We enter into God's presence with Christ.
Christ shared in our humanity so that we can share in His glory! Therefore, He has become the pioneer of our faith. He is the 'Adam' of eternal life, opening the way for us to enter into God's presence forever!
So when we are tempted to sin, we should look to Jesus.
When we are tempted to lethargy, we should consider how great Jesus is, and earnestly seek Him.
All of these things highlight Jesus as the answer and focus our attention on Jesus Christ.
Now the path to glory! Hebrews 2:1-18 Warning Against Neglecting Jesus' word.
Hebrews 2 falls into two parts. First we see a conclusion to chapter 1-this is the first of several warnings that will come in the book of Hebrews. Then a spelling out of the humiliation of Christ and the indentfication with humanity of Christ.
A) A Warning Against Indifference 1-4
Basic Comments
CSB Hebrews 2:1 ¶ We must therefore pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding, and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. 4 At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.
Angels gave Moses the law. God is mediated by Moses on the human side and angels in the spiritual realm. Twice removed in the law!
ESV Deuteronomy 33:2 He said, "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.
ESV Galatians 3:19 ¶ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
ESV Acts 7:53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."
The warnings and danger that the Old Testament community of Israel was under if they failed to heed the law of Moses, are nothing in comparison with the warnings and danger that the New Testament community, the Church, stands under if we ignore or even worse, if we intentionally violate the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
ESV Mark 1:14 ¶ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
ESV Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
We see the testimony of miracles in the first century church planting movement of Paul and Peter.
ESV Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith--
ESV Acts 8:14 ¶ Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Premise: Christ is far superior to the prophets who delivered the O.T.
Christ is far superior to the angels who gave the O.T. to the prophets.
This is a seven-fold superiority with seven sections of scripture to establish this concept.
Operating Principle: The greater the revelation, the keener we must listen. (gospel vs law of Moses)
Correllary principle 1: The greater the messenger, the greater the stakes. (Jesus vs prophets and angels)
Correllary principle 2: The more powerful the confirmations, the more important our response. (signs, wonders, miracles and spiritual gifts)
Highlighting Fact: The message of the prophets and angels (OT Law) has proven to be a true and reliable message...which means that the gospel message of Christ is that much more significant!
INSIGHT: The term drift away: A nautical term implying 'flow past' as a ship that might flow past it's dock due to inattention.
The focal point is on the gospel of Jesus. What Jesus' said must be grabbed ahold of with humble and sincere hearts. The warning
is NOT rhetorical, but real. We are not reading something just for effect. We must sincerely, humbly grasp the words of the King.
HOW NOT TO DRIFT AWAY FROM CHRIST'S WORDS: ESV 2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
ESV 2 Peter 1:19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
Since the premise that Christ is vastly superior to the prophets and angels who delivered the O.T. has been thoroughly established,
we must keenly listen for the stakes are much greater for us who have the gospel. There is no theological room for indifference!
Application Key: Don't neglect Christ's word! Study the words of Jesus. Know what He said. He is the greatest messenger of all.
Jesus' message is summed up in Matthew 4:17.
CSB Matthew 4:17 From then on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!"
"Robert Jewett" Letter to Pilgrims says that the moral seriousness of Hebrews isnot based on idealism, legalism or moralism, but rather on the inexorable conditions of dialogue itself.
What this means is that the word of Jesus is not about us grasping a dogmatic position so that we can never ever be tricked theologically...and thereby be saved. It means that we are now entering into a relationship with the Living God, who is calling us to walk with Him all of our days.
There are two statements we should focus on: Do not neglect Jesus' word. Do not intentionally disobey Jesus' word. Both are imbedded in this passage.
Similar to the parable of the Tenants
ESV Matthew 21:33 ¶ "Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." 42 ¶ Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." 45 ¶ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
The difference is that here we have the new tenants, the church of Jesus, dwelling in God's Vineyard. The chief priests and Pharisees have already had God's Vineyard taken away from them. Jesus announced to them that they were removed. Hebrews warns us not to fall into the same error that the Pharisees and chief priests fell into, that is they were unable to hear God. They were not attentive to Him and His gospel.
They reduced the word of God to their own dogmatic views which were incompatible with the very Spirit's message.
B) Temporary Humiliation of Christ 5-9 and the Son's Solidarity with Humanity 10-18
In essence Christ shared in our humanity. He temporarily embraced a position lower than angels, tasting human temptation and experiencing death, he has become the leader of all mankind, opening for us the pathway into the presence of God that we can commune with God now by faith in Christ.
(The Cross Psalm) ESV Psalm 22:22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
Responding to the gospel leads to participation in Christ's Kingdom Rule: We enter into God's presence with Christ.
Christ shared in our humanity so that we can share in His glory! Therefore, He has become the pioneer of our faith. He is the 'Adam' of eternal life, opening the way for us to enter into God's presence forever!
So when we are tempted to sin, we should look to Jesus.
When we are tempted to lethargy, we should consider how great Jesus is, and earnestly seek Him.
All of these things highlight Jesus as the answer and focus our attention on Jesus Christ.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
The Bible's Way To Find Happiness Hebrews 1:1-14
Hebrews 1 The Bible's Way To Become Happier Than All Your Friends and Family
(Short disclaimer-I am not saying that Hebrews 1 is primarily about how to become happy-I am simply drawing out a very practical point that is clearly implied within the larger scope of Hebrews 1-which is in essence not about how to be happy-but is about the superiority of Jesus).
In Hebrews 1 we discover the real answer to the American dream: "The pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness!"
For all those who are unhappy in life, this message is a great starting point to check your heart to see if you are missing this crucial biblical truth.
First let's look at the basic facts, so that we can get a deeper understanding for our lives to be transformed by.
Rough Outline of Hebrews 1
This chapter is part of a larger section that we could call "The Finality of Christianity" 1:1-2:18
Chapter 1 breaks down into two parts.
1) God's final revelation in His Son 1:1-4
ESV Hebrews 1:1 ¶ Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
The Greek text here reads with an alliterated sound that establishes Hebrews as a piece of literary excellence on the par of the finest Greek literature available to us from the ancient world. In the first two verses we have seven key words that all begin with the letter P (pie). That is interesting, but let's look at some key observations from the actual verses.
God has spoken. Many have pointed out that without God speaking to us, we would not be able to know Him like we can. God desires to connect with us. What a glory this is!!
Seven Facts About Jesus Stated in Hebrews 1
1) Heir of all things (this earth and all the universe)
2) Creator of the 'universe' which includes literally the ages....Jesus created space and time!
This cuts the legs out from under the view that God dwells inside of time. IF Jesus created the ages, then He is the Creator of time, not just space. Therefore He dwells outside of time and knows the end of all things and is NOT wondering what we will choose (as the angels do wonder).
3) Christ is the reflection or radiance of God.
4) Christ is the very image of the Essence of God, the impress of His being. Coins are minted using a die on a press to mold the metal into an exact replica of the die. So Christ bears God's very essence. To see Christ is to see God.
5) Christ upholds all things 'by His enabling word'. This means 'the word of His power'. ESV Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together
This is NOT like the mythological god 'Atlas' who holds the whole earth on his shoulders. This is the masterful guidance of all things forward on their appointed course.
6) Moving beyond Christ's universe care, we move into His personal efforts to know us! He functions as our High Priest...having made purification for our sins! His overall wisdom and power to create and sustain the universe inspires awe and worship in us. But the erasing of a sinful life and the implantation of righteousness in our souls overwhelms us with a sense not only of gratitude, debt and amazement...but also enables us to love God. This enabling opens up the way for us to know God personally only through faith in Jesus Christ.
7) Jesus sits down at 'the right hand of Majesty' means God. Allusions to Psalm 110 flow throughout Hebrews. Look at the them of righteousness and the Lord's mighty scepter ruling over His enemies.
ESV Psalm 110:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." 2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.
ESV Ephesians 4:10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
ESV Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Sevenfold statement about the Divine Nature of Jesus Christ is expressed in three dimensions.
Jesus is the Great Prophet...greater than all prophets of the past.
Jesus is the Great High Priest....having made purification for our sins once and for all.
Jesus is the Great King...establishing and sustaining all things, including space and time!
He is the Prophet, High Priest and King...fulfilling all three areas of leadership in the ancient world and in the modern world.
2) Christ Better Than Angels (More Than Angels) 1:5-14
ESV Hebrews 1:5 ¶ For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"? 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him." 7 Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire." 8 ¶ But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." 10 And, "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, 12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end." 13 And to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Essentially Christ is portrayed as superior to angelic beings. This creates a real problem for the JW's, who believe Jesus was an angel originally.
Like the previous passage which gave us seven statements about Christ, this passage gives us seven scriptural references to establish the fact that Jesus is in all ways possible, far superior to angelic beings.
The term firstborn here means that He exists before all creation and all of creation is His. Firstborn refers to the concept of 'heir'. In the ancient world, the firstborn inherited all of His Father's possessions.
ESV Psalm 96:1 Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! 8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! 9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! 10 Say among the nations,
3) Not A Pursuit, A By-product
Example:
Sawdust is composed of fine particles of wood. This material is produced from cutting with a saw, hence its name. It has a variety of practical uses, including serving as a mulch, or as an alternative to clay cat litter, or as a fuel, or for the manufacture of chipboard. (from Encyclopedia Wikipedia Online)
The issue of righteousness.
Uprightness: Absolute Power corrupts absolutely? Not when you are talking about Jesus...who is the ONLY one who has absolute power. So this saying is actually a lie against God. Only corrupt leaders are shown to rule corruptly when given authority!
Jesus rules in righteousness. Uprightness. This word literally means 'straightness'. Think of a carpenter hanging drywall, or a decorator trying to line up hanging pictures on a wall.
Both need an accurate guide, a 'straight edge' to help them make things perfect. Jesus rules with a perfect standard. He makes everything line up to the rule of uprightness. There are no exceptions. He does not accept unrighteousness and say 'it's ok, everybody is doing it'.
Everything must come under the standard of righteousness that Jesus holds. Justice, straightness. Uprightness.
A) Sometimes we fall into the error of thinking...'if I could only stop sinning, then I would be alright'. What we must do instead is to find out what is true, lovely and righteous and desire those things! Desire them until we 'love them'. Light casts out darkness. We don't cast out darkness by simply tell it to go. We don't drive out evil by simply resisting evil. No we add to our resistance a new implantation...the life of Jesus. The Light of the World.
B) Jesus loved uprightness.
C) Jesus hated wickedness.
Hatred of evil is the fear of the Lord!!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom will guard our hearts and extend our lives.
Spend time asking God to give you a love for righteousness. A love for the straightway. A love for His Straight Edge! His Divine judgment rod of justice!
Ask God to give you a hatred of evil. Learn to despise wickedness. Often the devil will try to get us to laugh at evil in order to lay aside a hatred of evil. This is part of
the snare of wickedness. Evil is no laughing matter. Evil is to be hated.
ESV Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
ESV Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
ESV Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
ESV Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Understanding who Jesus is gives us insight. Jesus is the Holy One!
As Christians we have Christ dwelling in us richly. We therefore have full access to all of His attributes and Presence. Therfore, ask Jesus to release His wisdom in you. Ask Jesus to release His hatred of wickedness in you. Ask Jesus to release His love of righteousness in you. Ask Jesus to extend His scepter of uprightness in your soul, to guide you and to transform you daily!
As you pursue the love of righteousness and the hatred of evil, the Father in heaven will give you such an oil of gladness, through the presence of Jesus in your heart, that you can overcome all persecution and remain in the joy of the Lord! Nothing can steal your joy.
So the key is to focus on Jesus. Seven qualities of Jesus' divinity. Seven scriptures to establish our trust in Jesus' way over the old covenant. Jesus is the great Prophet. Jesus is our Great High Priest. Jesus is superior to all angelic beings. Jesus is the Great King over all! He dwells in us and is able to complete in us a perfect love of uprightness and a hatred of evil. Our Father in heaven will fill us with an anointing of joy and happiness as we pursue the character of Christ who dwells in us richly!
(Short disclaimer-I am not saying that Hebrews 1 is primarily about how to become happy-I am simply drawing out a very practical point that is clearly implied within the larger scope of Hebrews 1-which is in essence not about how to be happy-but is about the superiority of Jesus).
In Hebrews 1 we discover the real answer to the American dream: "The pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness!"
For all those who are unhappy in life, this message is a great starting point to check your heart to see if you are missing this crucial biblical truth.
First let's look at the basic facts, so that we can get a deeper understanding for our lives to be transformed by.
Rough Outline of Hebrews 1
This chapter is part of a larger section that we could call "The Finality of Christianity" 1:1-2:18
Chapter 1 breaks down into two parts.
1) God's final revelation in His Son 1:1-4
ESV Hebrews 1:1 ¶ Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
The Greek text here reads with an alliterated sound that establishes Hebrews as a piece of literary excellence on the par of the finest Greek literature available to us from the ancient world. In the first two verses we have seven key words that all begin with the letter P (pie). That is interesting, but let's look at some key observations from the actual verses.
God has spoken. Many have pointed out that without God speaking to us, we would not be able to know Him like we can. God desires to connect with us. What a glory this is!!
Seven Facts About Jesus Stated in Hebrews 1
1) Heir of all things (this earth and all the universe)
2) Creator of the 'universe' which includes literally the ages....Jesus created space and time!
This cuts the legs out from under the view that God dwells inside of time. IF Jesus created the ages, then He is the Creator of time, not just space. Therefore He dwells outside of time and knows the end of all things and is NOT wondering what we will choose (as the angels do wonder).
3) Christ is the reflection or radiance of God.
4) Christ is the very image of the Essence of God, the impress of His being. Coins are minted using a die on a press to mold the metal into an exact replica of the die. So Christ bears God's very essence. To see Christ is to see God.
5) Christ upholds all things 'by His enabling word'. This means 'the word of His power'. ESV Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together
This is NOT like the mythological god 'Atlas' who holds the whole earth on his shoulders. This is the masterful guidance of all things forward on their appointed course.
6) Moving beyond Christ's universe care, we move into His personal efforts to know us! He functions as our High Priest...having made purification for our sins! His overall wisdom and power to create and sustain the universe inspires awe and worship in us. But the erasing of a sinful life and the implantation of righteousness in our souls overwhelms us with a sense not only of gratitude, debt and amazement...but also enables us to love God. This enabling opens up the way for us to know God personally only through faith in Jesus Christ.
7) Jesus sits down at 'the right hand of Majesty' means God. Allusions to Psalm 110 flow throughout Hebrews. Look at the them of righteousness and the Lord's mighty scepter ruling over His enemies.
ESV Psalm 110:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." 2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.
ESV Ephesians 4:10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
ESV Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Sevenfold statement about the Divine Nature of Jesus Christ is expressed in three dimensions.
Jesus is the Great Prophet...greater than all prophets of the past.
Jesus is the Great High Priest....having made purification for our sins once and for all.
Jesus is the Great King...establishing and sustaining all things, including space and time!
He is the Prophet, High Priest and King...fulfilling all three areas of leadership in the ancient world and in the modern world.
2) Christ Better Than Angels (More Than Angels) 1:5-14
ESV Hebrews 1:5 ¶ For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"? 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him." 7 Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire." 8 ¶ But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." 10 And, "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, 12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end." 13 And to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Essentially Christ is portrayed as superior to angelic beings. This creates a real problem for the JW's, who believe Jesus was an angel originally.
Like the previous passage which gave us seven statements about Christ, this passage gives us seven scriptural references to establish the fact that Jesus is in all ways possible, far superior to angelic beings.
The term firstborn here means that He exists before all creation and all of creation is His. Firstborn refers to the concept of 'heir'. In the ancient world, the firstborn inherited all of His Father's possessions.
ESV Psalm 96:1 Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! 8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! 9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! 10 Say among the nations,
3) Not A Pursuit, A By-product
Example:
Sawdust is composed of fine particles of wood. This material is produced from cutting with a saw, hence its name. It has a variety of practical uses, including serving as a mulch, or as an alternative to clay cat litter, or as a fuel, or for the manufacture of chipboard. (from Encyclopedia Wikipedia Online)
The issue of righteousness.
Uprightness: Absolute Power corrupts absolutely? Not when you are talking about Jesus...who is the ONLY one who has absolute power. So this saying is actually a lie against God. Only corrupt leaders are shown to rule corruptly when given authority!
Jesus rules in righteousness. Uprightness. This word literally means 'straightness'. Think of a carpenter hanging drywall, or a decorator trying to line up hanging pictures on a wall.
Both need an accurate guide, a 'straight edge' to help them make things perfect. Jesus rules with a perfect standard. He makes everything line up to the rule of uprightness. There are no exceptions. He does not accept unrighteousness and say 'it's ok, everybody is doing it'.
Everything must come under the standard of righteousness that Jesus holds. Justice, straightness. Uprightness.
A) Sometimes we fall into the error of thinking...'if I could only stop sinning, then I would be alright'. What we must do instead is to find out what is true, lovely and righteous and desire those things! Desire them until we 'love them'. Light casts out darkness. We don't cast out darkness by simply tell it to go. We don't drive out evil by simply resisting evil. No we add to our resistance a new implantation...the life of Jesus. The Light of the World.
B) Jesus loved uprightness.
C) Jesus hated wickedness.
Hatred of evil is the fear of the Lord!!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom will guard our hearts and extend our lives.
Spend time asking God to give you a love for righteousness. A love for the straightway. A love for His Straight Edge! His Divine judgment rod of justice!
Ask God to give you a hatred of evil. Learn to despise wickedness. Often the devil will try to get us to laugh at evil in order to lay aside a hatred of evil. This is part of
the snare of wickedness. Evil is no laughing matter. Evil is to be hated.
ESV Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
ESV Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
ESV Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
ESV Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Understanding who Jesus is gives us insight. Jesus is the Holy One!
As Christians we have Christ dwelling in us richly. We therefore have full access to all of His attributes and Presence. Therfore, ask Jesus to release His wisdom in you. Ask Jesus to release His hatred of wickedness in you. Ask Jesus to release His love of righteousness in you. Ask Jesus to extend His scepter of uprightness in your soul, to guide you and to transform you daily!
As you pursue the love of righteousness and the hatred of evil, the Father in heaven will give you such an oil of gladness, through the presence of Jesus in your heart, that you can overcome all persecution and remain in the joy of the Lord! Nothing can steal your joy.
So the key is to focus on Jesus. Seven qualities of Jesus' divinity. Seven scriptures to establish our trust in Jesus' way over the old covenant. Jesus is the great Prophet. Jesus is our Great High Priest. Jesus is superior to all angelic beings. Jesus is the Great King over all! He dwells in us and is able to complete in us a perfect love of uprightness and a hatred of evil. Our Father in heaven will fill us with an anointing of joy and happiness as we pursue the character of Christ who dwells in us richly!
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