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Hebrews 3:7-4:13
Hebrews 3:7-4:13
Study Text:
Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.Hebrews chapter 4:
1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.[ Top of Page ]
1. Murray McLellan
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith...) (3:7)
By using "therefore" ("wherefore" - KJV), the writer pulls together the truth he has already proclaimed, to be the foundation upon which he builds this call in our passage. After extolling the wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, and the glory of being redeemed and perfected and sanctified by Him, the writer of Hebrews warns those who would ignore such a great salvation. Israel becomes the writer's illustration (i.e Don't do what the children of Israel did). In verses 7b-11, we find a quote from Psalm 95:7b-11. These words are inspired by the Holy Spirit, not the mere words of men (1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Peter 2:1). This is what "the Holy Spirit says." Do not ignore the very words of God Himself.
(...To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) (3:7b-11)
"Today" shows the urgency of His proclamation. If you turn from the truth, you are suppressing it. You are hardening your heart to it. If your conscience is sensitive now and you can neglect this truth of the glorious Redeemer-King, will you ever turn to Him when your heart is harder? O, the foolishness of unbelief. Israel "in the day of trial in the wilderness" had been miraculously redeemed from slavery and bondage in Egypt. God guided them through revealing His presence in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He provided them with bread from heaven (manna), quails for meat, and water from a rock. Despite all the Israelites had seen and experienced, their hearts never delighted in God. God did not thrill them. They were consumed with their own desires, lusts, and comfort. Thus they complained, dissatisfied with life. The entire time they walked in rebellion to the very One who would have satisfied them. The Psalmist captured it very well when he penned the Lord's words in Psalm 81.
I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it. But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I WOULD HAVE SATISFIED YOU. (Ps. 81:10-16)
An unbelieving heart never has enough proof. These unbelieving Israelites tested and tried God and saw His works 40 years. The heart of natural man is dead to the things of God. He does not want to believe, nor indeed can he. He hates the light, and darkness has no communion with light. The unbeliever neither smells the aroma of Christ that we smell, nor does he see the glory we see He cannot really taste the graciousness of the Lord. nor can he hear the Good Shepherd's voice. He cannot feel the love of God poured out in his heart; he is dead to spiritual things - cut off from the life of God. He needs a new heart - one that is spiritually alive. The unbeliever can know that the Scripture says he is a sinner, but inside his heart, he just doesn't feel as bad as the Bible proclaims him to be. The unbeliever can read the words of the Bible but it is not the very voice of God that he hears, thus he has no true communion with the Lord. The Word of God is bland to the unbeliever, and therefore, God's commandments are burdensome to his heart. The glory of Jesus Christ is veiled to the one with a dead heart, though they can understand facts about Him. The fragrance of His knowledge does not diffuse and fill his heart with worship and adoration for the majestic and victorious Redeemer. Do you smell and see and taste and hear and feel? Then praise God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved!
God is not to be trifled with. "They always go astray in their heart." God does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart. God is angry with pretenders, who honor Him with their mouth when their heart is far from from Him. These unbelieving Israelites never entered into God's rest. They never experienced the joy of knowing Him. Their only expectation is fiery judgment - God's wrath.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. (Rom. 1:18)
The rest for these Israelites was Canaan. It was here where the toil of slavery and wandering would end. This is a picture of the greater salvation rest the believer now finds in Jesus Christ.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (3:12)
Let the illustration of Israel's unbelief in the wilderness be your warning. God has not changed. In any assembled group of professing believers this call could go out. For perhaps in some is an evil heart of unbelief. Jesus continually warned His disciples - Judas being one of the twelve. The writer here is faithfully proclaiming the warning against unbelief and sin. This watchman is faithfully blowing the trumpet and warning the people.
Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. (Ezek. 33:4)
Those who have had greater opportunity and greater exposure to the truth, will bear greater accountability (Mt. 11:20-24; Luke 12:46-48). This one's punishment will be more severe. The root of all sin is unbelief. That is why we who are the called must fight the fight of faith. We battle against unbelief every time we are tempted to sin. Let us not play around with sin. Let us believe what God says about sin. Let us look to the reward of faithful obedience which is far better. God is faithful. His Word is true. Believe Him. To depart from the living God is to depart from life. He is the source and sustainer of life. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights." Will you forsake the fountain of living waters to drink from broken and rusted out cisterns? (see Jer. 2:13)
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (3:13)
We need to exhort and encourage one another daily. We are not saved by some "one time act of faith". No, the faith we are given is eternal. The just shall live by faith. We continue to walk in repentant faith. We do battle with unbelief on an ongoing basis. When we fall into sin, what a joy to be rebuked by a brother or sister who encourages us to look at the face of Jesus. Then weeping bitterly, we cry out in repentance, "Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief." Then trusting, we bow and follow our faithful and righteous Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. When we have returned to Him we can strengthen our brethren (see Luke 22:61-62 and 32). Sin is so deceitful. It makes deceptive promises (ie. "It is not so bad." "This isn't really sin.") How sin tries to justify or excuse itself! How often we need to be reminded of the truth! Praise God for faithful brethren who as "iron sharpens iron," love us and Christ's glory enough to come alongside us.
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said,To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (3:14-19)
These people wanted a savior - a deliverer - but despised a Lord! Therefore, they fell as corpses in the wilderness. They never entered the rest of true salvation. The root problem was a wretched, sinful, unbelieving heart. To not trust God is to call Him a liar. It is an attack on the virtuous character of the God Most High.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (4:1-3)
Like Lot's wife who left Sodom in body but left her heart there, Israel's heart was more delighted with the treasures in Egypt than the promises in Christ. Oh that more would heed the interpreter's lesson of Passion vs. Patience, as told in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Praise God for the faith in Him that gives us rest. The believer's rest is secure in Christ - our strong tower - our righteousness - our sanctification - our redemption! He has finished the work and has sat down at the right hand of the Father on high. We rest entirely in His finished work. Woe to those who seek to work on the Sabbath. (Col. 2:16-17) When you add your works of righteousness, which are filthy rags, to the perfect and completed work of Christ, you condemn yourself. You greatly over estimate your own righteousness and greatly underestimate His. (Rom. 10:3-4; 11:6) Yet, for Israel "a promise remains of entering His rest." To any who repent and believe there is the promise of entering that rest. This promise remains. Should you neglect the one and only Savior, you will die in your sins - whether you be Jew or Gentile. Hearing the gospel is not enough. It will not profit you unless it is mixed with faith. It is "we who have believed" who "do enter that rest."
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (4:4-10)
This is not a rest brought about by weariness but the rest of a finished work. God has finished His work. God has done it all and anyone who wants to enter into His finished work and share in His rest, does so by faith alone. Most certainly "some must enter it." By God's sovereign decree some will enter into the rest that God designed for mankind (John 6:37,44). The writer says, "Today" for the fourth time in this passage. Today is the day of salvation. Behold now is the accepted time (See 2 Cor. 6:2). God's Spirit will not strive with man forever. No man can boast about tomorrow. Now believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now enter into Christ's finished work by faith. Verse 9 reminds us that one day we will fully enter into our rest.
We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ will also raise us up with Jesus. (2 Cor. 4:13-14; see also 2 Cor. 4:16-5:8)
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (4:11-13)
If we really believe, we will diligently pursue the glory of God. We will look to the reward - seeking to please Him. We will run the race with endurance, pressing toward the mark. We will fight the good fight of faith - battling the false promises of unbelief with the sharp two-edged sword. That Sword gets to the very heart of the matter. We can deceive others, but we cannot fool Him to whom all things are naked and open. You can't escape. This Sword will tear you right open to show you the real condition of your heart. Praise God that when you have been opened up, He can also take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you! Trust in the Great Physician to do His life-giving surgery. In light of such certain and complete judgment, and of such a beautiful and wonderful rest, why would you harden your heart toward God? If your own heart is feeling cold and dry and lifeless, cry out to the living God. Look unto Him. He alone can grant life to dry bones and dry hearts. Our Savior has finished the work - enter it. Look unto Him. Behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In Him you will find rest for your soul. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Murray McLellan
m.mclellan@sk.sympatico.ca
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2. Jim McClarty
"Wherefore..." (3:7)
The writer of Hebrews has just contrasted Moses, the primary Old Testament figurehead, to Christ - showing Christ's primacy as the builder and heir-apparent of the house of Israel and, on the larger scale, the church of all the redeemed. However, to any Hebrew man, woman, or child, the story of the Exodus would be ingrained into their education, conscience, and religious history. The delivery of the Children of Israel out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery was one of Moses's chief accomplishments. So, now the author will take on this revered event and reveal it to be an incomplete delivery contrasted with the superior salvation we have in Christ.
The deliverance out of Egypt is one of the best-known Old Testament "types" or "shadows." While it is an accurate account of historic events, the truth of Christian salvation is woven into the "warp and woof" of the 40+ year journey through the wilderness. There's neither ample space, nor is it the intent of this particular commentary, to demonstrate the abundance of "foreshadows" embedded in the Biblical account. But, a few basics will help us understand this week's passage:
- Egypt is the type of sin. Sin has us all in "bondage". And, we are slaves to that sin. "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." (John 8:34)
- Israel is the "chosen" and "elect" nation of God. "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth" (Deut. 14:2). "For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me" (Is.45:4). That's the type of the church, the elect and chosen who are in bondage to sin and in need of a deliverer.
- Moses is the God-sent deliverer of Israel. "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt" (Ex.3:10). He is the type of Christ who is the God-sent deliverer who will bring the redeemed believers out of the bondage of sin.
Moses was to lead Israel from Egypt to "the promised land". "And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land; unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey;" (Ex.3:8a). That land of promise is a type of Heaven, the eternal home, overflowing with blessings, to which the church's Deliverer is leading them.
Now, to our text - with those simple types in mind, let's look at one other comparison between these two deliverers and their end result...albeit a negative one:
Wherefore, (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) (3:7-11)
The writer lifts a direct quote from Psalm 95:7-11. The K.J. translators added parentheses for readability, but this is far from a parenthetical thought. It is the basis of the writer's further discourse. This is a reminder of an important event and vital bit of historic Hebrew theology.
We have to go back into Genesis to understand the depth of this passage. Abraham was called of God to leave Ur of the Chaldees, his country, his kindred and his father's house, and head toward a land which God would show him. Abraham believed God and started traveling, though he didn't know the final destination. He arrived in a land which has ever after been known as "Canaan." "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land" (Gen.12:7a). That promise was renewed in Gen.13:14-15. Read how definite it is:
And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.
That's a firm promise.
But, there was one seemingly insurmountable problem - Abram was childless. So, how in the world were his descendants going to take possession of this land when he lacked even the first offspring? Well, God took care of that and promised him not only a single heir, but seed as the sand of the sea and stars of the heavens. "And, he believed in the Lord: and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen.15:6).
Then, in verse 7 God repeats the promise that Abram's seed will inherit this land of Canaan. But Abram asks a question which inspires God to reveal the next several hundred years of human history as a guarantee that His word is good. "And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" (v.8).
Immediately God instructed him to prepare sacrifices fit for a covenant. As evening fell God put Abram into a deep sleep and God answered his question.
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. (Gen.15:13-17)
- God's answer was, "Well, you're going to die. But, your offspring are going to end up in a strange land." That happened, by the way. Through Joseph, they ended up in Egypt.
- God also stated, "They'll become slaves in that land." That happened. The book of Exodus begins by telling us that a pharaoh came to power who had no memory of Joseph. He feared the Israelites might side with an enemy of Egypt, so he put them into bondage.
- God continued, "They'll be under this affliction for 400 years." That happened. According to Exodus 12:40 it was 430 years, to be exact.
- God accurately added, "And I'll judge that nation which afflicts them." That happened. Egypt was smitten was the infamous plagues which culminated in the death of all the firstborn of Egypt. Later, Pharaoh and his army were drowned in the Red Sea.
- God also promised, "Your offspring will leave there richer than when they went in." That happened. The Egyptians were so anxious to be rid of the Israelites that they gave them gold, silver, clothes - whatever it took to get them to leave.
- And, God's concluding statement was, "And, they will come back to this very land."
That's vital! If you miss that you miss the whole point! Everything else God had promised to Abram had come to pass with pinpoint accuracy. And, generation after generation, the Israelites had passed this prophetic land promise down. As they departed Egypt they were eyewitnesses to the severity of God's punishment and their own miraculous deliverance. They heard the wailing of Egypt over their dead, and they had walked through the walls of water dry shod as God led them across the Red Sea. And, just to seal the imagery and shake their memory, God appeared as a pillar of smoke, clouding the way of the Egyptians who pursued them. But, He appeared as a burning light to guide His chosen through the sea. The same two elements which sealed the covenant to Abram appeared to seal the deliverance of his seed! (Ex.14:19-20)
Now, my point in all this is that these people should surely have been overwhelmed with confidence and faith toward God. He had controlled the events of time and human circumstance to keep His faithful word to Abram, and these Israelites should have been convicted with unwavering, unswerving dedication and faith to the God who had moved so mightily in their behalf!
But, amazing, they weren't. After God drowned their enemies, they sang a joyful song of deliverance and began their journey. After only three days, however, they started murmuring. Three days!!! And right away God started threatening them,
And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. (Ex.16:26)
God gave them bread from Heaven to eat. They grew tired of it and learned to "loathe" it. The journey became a constant series of complaints and chiding against Moses. Three months into the trip, they arrived at Mt. Sinai. While Moses was on the mountaintop receiving the terms of their relationship, the Israelites were in the valley making an idolatrous cow to worship. At every turn, the children of Israel proved themselves to be a "stiffnecked" and stubborn people.
Their undoing, though, came only two years and few months after their departure as they approached the very land they were to inhabit. The Lord instructed Moses to send spies into the land. And, their report began thusly,"We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it" (Num 13:27).
Hey, that's the place! Word for word, it's the land Abraham was promised! Go get it!
But they continued,
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. (Num.13:28-29)
Hey, wait! That's not a bad thing! That proves it's the place! Remember God's promise to Abram:
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.(Gen 15:18-21)
That's them! It's all yours! Go get it!
But, no:
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. (Num 14:1-4)
And, what was God's reaction, considering all He'd done for these people and their faithless, spineless, stiff-necked reply?
Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. (Num 14:28-30)
He revoked their inheritance and strew their dead bodies through the wilderness for the next 40 years. Their children, the second (or new) generation, finally entered into the Promised Land.
Now, that rather extended exercise was an attempt to bring us into the mindset of the Hebrew reader of this letter. When they read the following reminder, it was a bitter memory of Israel's worst days.
Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest."
They had the long-standing promise given to their father, Abram. They had the history of their nation played out in perfect accord with God's prophetic word. They had the miraculous deliverance. They ate the manna. They drank of the rock. They saw the land of milk and honey. Yet, they were rebellious and hard-hearted. And, they paid the supreme price for their foolishness.
God swore against them that they would never "enter into my rest."
Quite a parenthesis, eh? So, how does that apply to a New Testment believer?
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (3:12)
What a sobering warning. Take heed. Take account. Check yourself. In this day of relativistic thinking, when we're supposed to give credance to every man's "belief," regardless of how bizarre, this warning should slice through us like a razor. Any system of belief which departs from the clear revelation of God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God revealed by Messiah Jesus - found in Scripture is considered an evil lack of belief.
Get that. It is not counted as simply misinformed thinking backed by good intentions; It is evil. It is not belief. It is a departure from the only God in the universe who can save your ever-living, never-dying soul.
Pay attention: check your heart.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (3:13)
I'm thankful that God has not left me here, alone. Rather, He has surrounded me with faithful Christian brethren who push me on and remind me constantly of the value of this journey. And, that's one function of the body. We are to be a daily reminder, a constant correction and edification to each other.
Do you love your brothers or sisters in Christ? Tell them. Tell them now. Today. Are you thankful for someone's gift or help? Tell them. Now. Today. Does someone need to hear a good word, or an uplifting message? Do it. Don't wait. Do it now. Today. Do you know a lost person whose soul hangs in the balance? Do they need to hear about the only Deliverer and Captain of their soul? Tell them. Exhort them. Today.
Why? What's the rush? Isn't tomorrow soon enough? Well, no - now is the time, because sin is working overtime. Sin never sleeps. Sin takes no vacations, and sin is tricky. Sin will confound and confuse us; it's deceitful, and Satan is a deceiver. Sin will lie to you and tell you everything's okay.
Sin is a lot like smoking. When a kid takes his first drag off a cigarette, his body instantly goes into convulsive coughing spasms. That's the body's way of saying, "This may not be real good for us." But rather than heed the obvious hints, the kid will give in to pressure from the commercials that make smoking look "cool," and he'll force himself to smoke more cigarettes until his body adapts and even becomes addicted. That's the "deceitfulness" of it. What he thinks is "cool" and good for him socially is actually eating away at him from the inside.
Our natural fleshly selves love sin. And, there's pleasure in it...for a season. Sin often feels good. Sin is fun. Sin can usually be hid from other folk. But, that's the deceitfulness of it. It cannot be hidden from the One who searches the secret places of the heart.
Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD." (Jer.23:23-24)
So, exhort, lift-up, and support one another every day. We can all use the help.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." (1 Pet.5:8-9)
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; (3:14)
Christ is heir to everything, and the ones who complete this journey become "joint heirs with Christ" (Rom.8:17). We will partake of His heavenly, eternal nature if we end this race the same way we started - driven by faith. Do you remember the joy and excitement that flooded your soul the day you first realized the truth of the Gospel? Remember how wonderful it was to drop the burden of your endless attempts to please God through your own effort? Remember the flood of emotion that stirred your heart as you realized the horrible and wonderful price Christ paid to guarantee your place in eternity? Well, hold on to that! Just as we began resting in Christ's finished work, we must end knowing that He is truly "our every hope and stay." Be steadfast, unmovable, convinced. Never let go of Him who has promised to never let go of you
Okay, let's turn our attention back to the New Testament application of the Exodus saga:
While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (3:15)
This thought is connected to the previous verse: Hold your confidence steadfast to the end because the Scripture admonishes us "today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."
There are only two reactions to truth. Acceptation or rejection. There's no middle ground. Some people would like you to think there is a "middle path" of picking and choosing those aspects of Christianity which fit well with your personal lifestyle or religious line of reasoning. But, that's part of that "evil unbelief" stuff. It's an all or nothing-at-all proposition. Some get it...and some don't. Who are the ones who get it? Who hears the voice?
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." (John 10:2-5)
Interestingly, the very Psalm which contains this warning not to harden our hearts to His voice includes this thought: "For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice..." (Ps. 95:7).
The sheep will hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow as He leads. But, let's continue the warning :
For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. (3:16)
That's right. Joshua and Caleb encouraged Moses to go in and take the land. "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!" (Num.13:30). So, those two faithful old men and every child under 20 years of age made it all the way to the land of promise.
Interestingly, the name Joshua is a contraction of the Hebrew designation "Jehovah-Oshua", which means "Yahweh is Deliverance." The Greek cognate of that name is Jesus. Moses was forbidden to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land after their 40-year judgment. Instead, it was this Joshua who led them across the Jordan River and into their inheritance.
Meanwhile, Caleb (whose name means "raging with canine madness") just happened to be the a ruler in the house of Judah, the very tribe from which the Messiah would come. No accidents, just providence. It's good to know that God can produce faith and reward even those of us who started out raving like a mad dog.
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? (3:17,18)
The answer is, "Yes, that's exactly who and that's exactly why."
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (3:19)
That's the crux of this whole discussion. In one sentence the author has defined the very core of the Exodus story. Some did not enter into the land which God promised to the seed of Abraham, and they didn't get in because they refused to believe the promise of God which had been passed down for hundreds of years and which had played out on the stage of human history with such accuracy that only the omnipotent hand of God could have caused it. There was no good reason for any of them to react in any other way than with absolute confidence and faith in God's ability to see the entire venture through to the end.
But, they didn't believe. Their hearts were hard. And, they were refused entrance. So, what does that mean to us?
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. (4:1)
Do we have such a promise? Yeh, absolutely:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30)
What is the focus and center of that promise of rest? Learning of Christ. Lay down your burden of law-keeping. Drop your load of endless, useless philosophical arguments and hear about the one who is "the truth". Abandon your egocentric, man-pleasing, flesh-exalting practices and hear about the one who is meek and lowly in heart. Stop running the rat race. Take a breather. Find peace for your conscience and rest for your soul. Because the alternative - the "coming short of it" - results in a heavy price: "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night..." (Rev. 14:11a).
"Let us therefore fear..."
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (4:2)
There's a bit of debate concerning the "them" of this verse, whether it's the Israelites previously referred to or those who've heard the New Testament good news message and refused it.
As I pointed out earlier, the Gospel of Christ is interwoven in the story of the Exodus, and Christ is typified again and again. Perhaps the author is telling his Hebrew audience that their progenitors had sufficient evidence and promise of a Messiah/Redeemer that they are held guilty of not only rebelling against Moses, but against the very Christ of whom Moses was the forerunner.
On the other hand, it may be a contrast between the "us" and "them" of the New Covenant. The appeal of the Gospel goes out into all the world. Everyone is beckoned, "why would ye perish?" The "whosoever will" is thrown out into the discourse of modern life. Some will profit eternally from the message and some will turn away and harden their hearts. What's the deciding factor? Faith. Plain and simple. When the gospel message is mixed with faith it produces new life. When the faithless hearer comes in contact with the gospel, it is "the savour of death unto death" (2Cor.2:16).
So really, regardless of who "them" turns out to be, we know this about "them" - they have no faith, and "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Heb.11:6).
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (4:3)
The faithful do enter into the Promised Land. We will enter into the inheritance we've been promised and which has been upheld in Scripture and human history. We have plenty of evidence of God's faithfulness to His promises. Plus, we've been indwelt with the Holy Spirit to seal our redemption. Thus, we will surely enter into His rest.
The author requotes an earlier reference to God's rest to prove that such a promise exists, and is just there for the taking. And, being faithful, God will not allow His word to return to him void (Is.55:11). He will see to it that someone is the recipient of His grace. It is certain that someone will enter in. And, it's not left to chance - "the works were finished from the foundation of the world."
If God were to leave the possibility of someone claiming His promises up to the variable will and changeable opinions of men, no one would ever make it in. So, from the very foundations of the world, God has declared that His elect would enter into the promise. I love the way Bible writers aren't afraid to intersperse God's absolute sovereignty and man's utter responsibility throughout the same passage. Things that seem contradictory to us are no problem to God. In a few verses we will be instructed to "labor" to enter into this rest. Work hard to enter the place of ceasing from work..."although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."
No problem.
And God, Himself, is our example. He worked so that He could rest -
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. (4:4)
That's a reference to Gen.2:2 where God made the universe, the earth, the animals and the people in six days. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."
And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. (4:5)
We saw that in the Exodus account.
Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. (4:6,7)
The language in the King James is a little convoluted here, but the point is simple: as we already mentioned, the promise of rest was offered by God and He will not be defeated or undermined in His desire to fulfill that offer. Hence, "some must enter therein." But the Israelites, to whom the promise was first revealed, did not enter in because of their lack of faith. Later, however, God dangled the promise again when David was inspired to write, "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." So, if the promise of rest still existed during the Davidic reign, then the door was still open. It's as if God fixed a new starting point, a new day.
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (4:8)
Logic prevails. If the Israelites had become the final recipients of this promise, then it would be fulfilled and there would be no need of a new offer. But, they didn't.
By the way, the word translated "Jesus" in this verse is simply an English translation of the Greek cognate name. It's more accurately "Joshua." Joshua led the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, as the type of Christ leading His people into the Heavenly land of promise. So, the contrast is between the type and substance. Joshua did, in fact, lead some people into the parcel of earth which was promised to Abraham. But, that didn't fulfill the larger spiritual promise.
It's a new day. That means that there's still a standing promise of Christ available for us to lay hold of. And remember - "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (4:9)
There's an intriguing bit of word-play occurring here. The word translated "rest" in this verse is the greek "sabbatismos," a derivative of "sabbaton" or "sabbath." In fact, the NAS and NIV render this verse, "There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God."
A vital part of the Old Covenant, a sign of the agreement between God and His chosen people, was that every seventh day they would rest from all their work. And every seventh year they would let the land rest. The Israelites failure to keep this "sabbath-rest" resulted in the Babylonian captivity.
So, the author brings this particular notion of sabbath rest into the New Covenant and states that there is still a "rest from your all your works" available to us, today.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (4:10)
That's one of the basic tenets of Christianity, the notion that our best efforts and righteous works are of no value at all. But, Christ's works are of eternal value. So we can halt our every attempt to please God, attempting to gain Heaven based on our own "righteousnesses," and rest in the finished work of Him who bore our sin and imputed His perfect righteousness to us. Just as God finished His work, saw that it was good, and rested in its perfect completion, we can drop our burden and rely on Christ's good and perfect completed work.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (4:11)
Here's that seeming paradox that I alluded to earlier. We have before us an example of unbelieving faithlessness on the part of Israel when they failed to enter Canaan. Given that poignant example, we should give all diligence to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to us.
And here's the best part - how do we implement this labour? We rest. We pick up the promise of God that an entrance is still available. And, we enter via our perfect Deliverer's completed labour on the cross. Yes, there will be work for us to do, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10).
But that is work which is a reaction to Christ's finished work, not an effort to push God into a corner and require Him to save us based on the quality of our labour. No, I'll say it again. The best way to work toward entering into the eternal Sabbath is to rest in His ability to get you there. Have faith. Believe.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:28-29)
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (4:12)
God's words stand firm in the Heavens, unshakable and unmoved. Every person will be held accountable for their reaction to this monument of blessing and cursing. And the word of God cuts the heart of it, dividing the sheep from the goats. It is "quick." (an Old English word for "alive."), and "powerful" or "active." The most potent weapon in the hand of an Israelite soldier was a twoedged sword, sharpened on both sides so it could cut either way it was thrust. The word of God is just such a weapon.
Men have argued, and even developed rather complex theologies, about the relative relationship of the human soul and spirit. The common line of reasoning is that the soul is the internal life of every living creature, that essence of being which leaves when an organic lifeform dies. The spirit, on the other hand, is the eternal nature of humans only, seeing they are the only creature which is spoken of in scripture as continuing to live in a spiritual form after their physical demise. But, we'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the soul and spirit of an individual. A physically alive Christian is also spiritually alive. When he's physically dead, he continues to be spiritually alive. But, does the eternal nature of spirit quicken the human soul, the very essence and nature of the individual, so that he retains his "personhood" in Heaven? Apparently so, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1Cor.13:12). Paul seem to speak of being known as an individual, not just part of some cosmic spiritual conglomerate.
Cool, Jimbo, but what's your point? Just this - it's an impossible task to accurately discern and divide the soul and spirit of an individual. But, know what? The word of God does just that. It "divides asunder," or cuts them in two. God knows exactly what's of you and what's of Him. He knows whether you're resting in your work...or His.
Doctors, particularly those specializing is osteopathy, know that bones have marrow at their center. In that marrow, red blood cells are created. Those cells are vital for life; they carry oxygen and nutrition to every nook and cranny of our bodies. A version of that marrow keeps our joints lubricated enough to move without pain. Now, the inter-relationship of those bones and that marrow is such that at the place where they meet it's hard to tell exactly where the bone starts and the marrow ends...or vice versa. But, know what? The word of God is sharp enough to cut clean through our physical form, hack away those things which would destroy us, and heal our mortal wounds.
And, the word of God lays bare our every thought and intent. Let me offer an example: Let's say a "legalist" and I come across a hungry fellow. We both stop at the local McDonald's and buy this poor soul a Big Mac and fries. We might even "Super Size" it. To the outside observer we've both accomplished the exact same deed, but the legalist did it because he is trying to obligate God to save him on the basis of his string of good deeds. ("and in thy name done many wonderful works?" Mat.7:22) However, I would have been motivated by the fact that my Saviour has already secured my position with the Father, and because he first loved me and saved me as an act of charity, I would respond by being charitable to this hungry person.
Again, we both accomplished the same action, but the word of God would cut through to discern our innermost thoughts and intent of our hearts. God's no fool. He can see right through our activity and get straight to our intent. He knows if we are performing for His glory, or our own.
That word is alive and active.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (4:13)
Everybody - absolutely everybody - is held accountable. And, they are laid open before His sovereign knowledge. That's why we use words like "omniscient", or all-knowing. There are no secrets which God will not uncover. He knows His own and He knows how to deal with the rest. They will stand naked and exposed before the piercing gaze of Him who cuts to the thoughts and intent.
Frightening. Who could stand before such a court? Who could be found guiltless under such complete scrutiny? We need an advocate. We need an atonement. We need a worthy High Priest to make such a complete covering of our desperate state and naked unworthiness.
Good news...there is such a one -
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. (4:14)
Amen, hallelujah, and hooray! He's done it! He is it! He's even called by name - Jesus the Son of God!
Hold on to that! Grab hold and hang on tight, your eternity depends on it! Declare His name, profess His salvation, have faith in His redemption...and, follow our promised Deliverer into our Heavenly Canaan, the Promised Land of Eternal Rest.
It may be a long journey, but it's a magnificent destination!
Jim McClarty
McClartyfam@juno.com
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3. Maurice Bergeron
Heb 3:7-19
Theme: Unbelief is FatalSo we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (3:15)
The Spirit of God continues to state the dangers of unbelief by reminding the recipients of this letter how unbelief brought about the tragic ruin of that first generation who followed Moses into the wilderness. These various warnings were intended to encourage these professing Hebrew Christians to continue in their walk by faith. They were in grave danger of falling away through their unbelief. If unbelief kept the Israelites of old from entering into the promised rest (Canaan), then it follows that unbelief will prevent any professor of Christ from entering into His rest.
In verse 10 the Greek word "prosochthizo" reveals that God was in fact "disgusted" with those people as a result of their unbelief.
Some think the language of this portion of Godīs word is strange or harsh since, in their opinion, it seems to chip away at their doctrine of eternal security. I cannot agree with such a poor understanding of these passages. Our God is not in the business of discouraging His children!
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:26-29)
Should our God allow the faithless and Christless into His rest? Certainly not. Faith, if anything, is the key that opens the door wide to Godīs glorious kingdom. It is the evidence of things not seen. It is the step into His presence. Habakkuk wrote (2:4) “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” How shall these Hebrews live if they live not by faith?
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
Were these Hebrew Christians fearful as they found themselves surrounded by Satanīs ambassadors? Christ has said,
“...Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? (Mark 4:40)”
We are to live by faith or we shall certainly perish without it.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb.11:1)
Thanks be to God and His Son Jesus Christ by whom we have been given the gift of faith. Amen.
This encouragement toward self-examination is to the point but the expected fruit from such an honest discourse may very well reap eternal benefits. I thank God that he would consider awakening false professors from out of their bondage.
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (2 Cor. 13:5)
Those who preach should prayerfully consider Hebrews 3:7-19.
Heb 4:1-13
Theme: The Fruit of Faith is ObedienceThere remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (4:9,10)
Having or possessing this rest is conditioned upon a trusting, true faith. How so many can conceive of this faith without considering the active trusting of Christ is beyond me. There is a rest enjoyed only if we have ceased from our works (specifically, works to merit salvation) and laid hold of Christ.
5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6) Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 7) Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (Rom. 4:5-7)
These Hebrew people needed the stern reminder that if they returned to the covenant of works they would, in fact, be turning their backs to the free offer of salvation which is discovered only in Christ Jesus. He is, in fact, the whole of this new and superior covenant. From our vantage point, faith in Christ opens this new covenant relationship. Today there are no other options. The old covenant has passed away. Sinners must either obey Christ or perish.
Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. (Isa. 8:13-15)
Faith produces obedience. This obedience is not for the meriting of salvation but rather the sign that salvation is already at work. How can we divorce salvation from Christ? He is the believerīs salvation. How can we divorce eternal life from Christ? He is the saintīs Life. It is our privilege to do the works of Christ.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (Job 6:35)
Where is the difficulty? These professing Hebrews possessed a name to live but through an apparent growing tendency to disobey the voice of Christ they were on the verge of slipping.
But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: (Rom. 16:26)
The alarm had been sounded, and the writerīs objective was to get them back on track. It was for them to continue in faith through their obedience to the voice of Christ or else they would suffer a more horrible end than those who disobeyed God in the wilderness. It is essential that we understand true saving faith produces obedience to God. If this is understood and taught there will be no lordship controversies, carnal Christian theories, and the like. True faith produces fruit unto salvation, and obedience through love is the first bud to blossom on the new branch.
May I conclude by stating that our Lord was extremely gracious to these Hebrew believers by revealing to them their deficiency. He is a good shepherd indeed!
I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. (Isa. 42:6,7)
Let us examine ourselves to determine if we be in the Christ or not. If we find that we have not trusted in ourselves or our own works, we have cause to rejoice. If you discover that you are yet a stranger to Christ the Covenant keeper, then you must humble yourself before Him, and confess your need of Him, and Him alone, for our salvation, all the while rejoicing that He, in mercy, revealed your need. Whatever be your lot, obey His word, turn from your sin, and look to Christ only for your salvation.
Maurice Bergeron
ic@mdc.net
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4. Donald Blind
Surely verse six is needed here to fill the context:
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." (3:6)
The whole text has to do with that one word; "if." To many, this is extraordinary. They think if they were considered as part of the house of God, they would be spared the "if." Once saved, always saved, they say. Well, this is the answer: we believe in the perseverance of the saints, and so does our inspired writer. The "if" means "if you are in Christ, then you will abide." This mainly has to do with the Hebrews "on the fence," which permeates this entire epistle. All of the narrative concerns the Exodus experience, like unto 1Cor 10, Just a few verses:
11) Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 12) Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Cor. 10:11,12)
The whole chapter should be read.
In Hebrews 3:18, the inspired writer brings up the concept of rest. Along with the "if," he carries it through to verse eleven. The rest of the promised land and everything that has to do with the First Covenant, is the shadow of Christ.
16) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17) Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Col 2:16,17)
Now therefore the writer quotes David from Psalm 95 about not entering God's rest, and then another day by Joshua. A physical rest, whenever or wherever, will never do. For those Hebrews there remained a rest, because they, we, and everyone must cease from their own works, which of course is sin. Faith in Christ Jesus is the only answer.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:27-30)
I don't believe the rest here is the Heavenly rest (so called future), not unless it is in Christ Jesus, and now, here on earth. As believers, and according to the scripture, we, in Christ, are already in heaven: Eph 2:6, "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" katapauo: G2664 (LXX translation at Genesis 2:2) which is translated rest in verses 1,3,4,5,8,10 and 11 and sabbatismos: G4520 which is translated rest in verse 9, and anapausis: G372 , translated rest in Matthew 11:30, are all referring to the same rest; that is in Jesus Christ. Verse 9, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God," is from the stand point of the Hebrews of that time, who have not as yet embraced Christ, as the following two verses expound.
Hebrews 4:12 and 13, tell us that The Logos of John one, The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, is the judge to prove whether a person is truly at rest in Him. The following verses will let us know if we are at rest in Him.
Donald E. Blind
dblind@erols.com
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5. Mark McCulley
HEBREWS 4:10-12
For those who enter Godīs rest also cease from their labors as God did from His. (4:10)
God was not tired when He instituted the sabbath in Genesis 22. God stopped. We unbelievers (yes! help our sinful unbelief!) are not commanded to rest up and gather more strength to resume our works at a later time. We are commanded to stop. God has finished His work. This does not mean that we are to stop working for our justification, but continue to rely on “nonmeritorious” working for our sanctification. Like Galatians, Hebrews is not only about justification but also about sanctification.
But how do we stop? The NT answer is death: our death with Christ. It our duty every day to “reckon,” to consider, our death with Christ. We have died. It is not our job to die. It is our job to live as though we HAVE died. There is an imperative: to rest, to remember that Christ died to sin ONCE (and we with HIM). The temptation is to forget the indicative (who we are) and to make who we are depend on the imperative (what we do). But the imperative of Hebrews has everything to do with our rest in Christ and what Christ did. If we donīt start with who we are, then we wonīt even have the right imperative! We are to strive every day to enter the rest, and NOT to rest on what we will do that day.
As usual I emphasize the antithesis. Romans 11:6 “but if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would be no longer be grace.” This is not only about justification: all the promises of God are fulfilled by grace, even the promise that the righteousness of God shall be seen IN US.
There is no “balance” here. Those who rest cease from their labors. Those who will not cease from their labors have not and are not resting in Christ. Thus the antithesis. Gal 2:19 “Through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.” If we mix in our works to get sanctification from the law,then we do not live to God. So the warning of Gal 3:3: “Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?”
This contrast between Spirit and flesh, between Rest and our works, leads me to the other verse from our section I want to consider this week:
...the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit...(4:12)
Yes, I want to think a bit about the contrast between soul and spirit. I certainly am not dogmatic about this topic, but I must confess this is one area in which reading Watchman Nee has influenced me. I think we need to think about the word ‘flesh” (despite the NIV avoiding the word) and the word “soul.” I know that many donīt see a distinction between soul and spirit (F. F. Bruce, Hebrews, Eerdmans, 1964, p96, Leon Morris, EBC,Zondervan,1981,p44).
But let me quote two exegetes who do see a distinction. Fee (Godīs Empowering Presence, The Holy spirit in the Letters of Paul, p66) writes: “those who see ‘spiritī as denoting that part of human existence that serves as a place of intersection between the human and divine by means of the Holy Spirit are most likely moving in the right direction.“ David Needham (Alive to God for the First Time, p246), writes, “though I doubt oneīs belief in a distinction should rest primarily on this verse, the fact that even as ‘marrowī as deeper than ‘joint,ī as unseen within the joint, so ‘spirit” may in this passage also refer to that deeper, unseen level of personality.”
There are 'soulish' people and 'spiritual' people. (I cor 2) “Spiritual” does not mean nonmaterial, but “controlled by the Spirit.” “Soulish” means unspiritual, only “natural,” without the Spirit: it means you are NOT A CHRISTIAN. When as we are born, we need to be born again , from above. We are not naturally immortal. We are not born Christian.
Contrary to Plato, our problem is not that we are born with a body, born physical. The problem is that we born without the Spirit and need to be born from above, regenerated. Without the Spirit with our spirit, we will rely on our labors and never cease from our ”soulish” sense of self-sufficiency. It is wonderful that we have been created in the image of God: body, soul, and spirit. An unsaved, unregenerate human being is precious, and is created already in the image of God. But to stop at this, instead of stopping in the Spirit and resting on the work of God, is to be unsaved and foolish.
It is sown a soulish body, it is raised a spiritual body...The first man Adam became a living being (soul); the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit....As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. (1 Cor. 15:44-48)
I have neither the time nor the inclination to get into all the eschatological questions raised here. Nor do I even want to discuss in what way we Christians now can be and are “soulish.” I just want to say: thereīs nothing wrong with dust, but the dust needs to be given life, and if we call this giving life to dust “soul,” what shall we call giving the Spirit to our spirit?
Salvation! I realize now that I have bitten off more than I can chew. The topic is big. But I did just get happy at what God has done (and is going to do) for us. Redemption is not a ticket to a (postponed) heaven. We have the Spirit with our spirit. While others hear the Word without any effect, the Spirit with the Word is ‘living and active” and thus pierces us and judges us. And there is no salvation in our lives without judgment. This judgment in our lives (the working of the Bible and Spirit) is not a bad thing, not condemnation. This judgment is the prelude to more grace, more deliverance. As grace led to judgment, so judgment leads to grace. If we did not believe what the Bible said about the grace, we could not believe what the Bible said about our sin.
Iīm going to have to conclude there. But I will add some notes on “soul.”
“Nephesh”-four times in Genesis one:
1:20 "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living soul."
1:21 "And God created every living soul that moves."
1:24 "Let the earth bring forth living soul after its kind."
1:30 "...to everything that creeps along the ground wherein there is a living soul."So the difference between us and the animals is not “soul”!
Gen. 2:7, "and man became a living soul" In the body before he is made to live, man is already man. Notice it does NOT say: became an immortal soul. Cite Calvin or Plato for that!
"Nephesh" used 754 times in OT; "psuche" used 105 times in NT, BUT translated in many different ways in different versions to fit different doctrinal assumptions.
When God says "psuche" (soul) , He does not mean "pneuma" (spirit)
Gen 6:3, "Then the Lord said, 'My spirit will not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh.' "
John 3:6, "That which is born of flesh is flesh."
The “soul” is in the blood. Gen 9:5, "The blood of your souls will I require." Lev 17:11, "the soul of the flesh is in the blood."
I think I posted earlier on the souls dying. Lev 19:28; Numbers 31:19; Josh 2:13 and on and on Acts 2:23, "...every soul that shall not listen to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed."
"He poured out His soul unto death": Isaiah 53:12
The soul goes to sheol: Ps 16:10; 30:3; 49:14;86:13; 89:48; Prov 23:14
David ascended not into the heavens: Acts 2:34. John 3:13, "No one has ascended into heaven, but He that descended out of heaven...”
The soul knows: Ps 139:14. The soul thinks: Prov 23:7. The soul loves: Matt 22:37, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul...."
The soul hungers and desires: Ps 42:1, "As the deer pants after the water, so pants my soul after you...."
Godīs “soul”! we are created in the image, not God in our image... Leviticus 26:30 Judges 10:16; I Sam 2:35, "I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in soul.
(have any of you seen Gordan Clarkīs word study on “heart”? (Faith book)
Is 42: "my chosen, in whom my soul delights."
soul/blood, spirit/breath Gen 7:21, "breath of the spirit"
???soul desire, spirit energy; "It is the spirit which quickens": John 6:63 (gives life) II Cor. 3:6.
soul to hades, Acts 2, spirit back to God Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59; Ecc 12:7
practical point for now (other than the eschatology!)
Luke 12:19 "And I will say to my soul:soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years: relax, eat, drink, be merry...” To rest in what the soul rests in OR "LOSE YOUR SOUL TO GAIN YOUR SOUL," Mark 8:34-38. Enter the rest of our spirit with Godīs Spirit.
Mark McCulley
mcculley@ redrose.net
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6. Michael Cruz
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: (3:7,8)
Verses seven through eleven are quotations from Psalm 95:7-11 and refer to the time of young Israel's rebellion after deliverance from Egypt. Letīs first look at verses seven and eight. These verses are very important and I will take a departure from what man might see as the traditional Calvinistic perspective in order to handle this. I will state first off that I believe man is dead in his trespasses and sins. He is deaf, dumb, and blinded by the god of this world. His only hope for salvation is that the Holy Spirit will regenerate him and allow him to freely choose the Saviour which is his only hope. But the scripture is clear: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,..." I think it is immensely important that if, by the grace of God, we are able to hear the calling of our Saviour, then we are obligated to come. If we don't, what excuse do we have for God sending us to the lowest part of hell to experience the worst that it has to offer its denizens? The God who shed his blood for us is no one to be trifled with. The title of a Rolfe Barnard sermon says it best: "The God of the Bible Kills." Any mercy that he shows us is bought with a price and any flippant attitude on our part is worthy of double damnation.
When your fathers tempted men. proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. (3: 9,10)
These verses are interesting in that they clearly show the depravity of the natural man. Even though God's people had seen the miracles of God as they were brought out of Egypt; even though they had seen the handwriting of God at Mt. Sinai; and even though they had seen family members and friends cut down before them, still they hardened their hearts to God's voice. They did not seek God due to the fall of Adam which hopelessly stained their hearts so that they would not follow God.
So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. (3:11)
Verse eleven shows the consequences of Adam's sin. God cannot and will not look upon those who remain in rebellion and so they are excluded from entering into the rest of Christ. More specifically this refers to the Holy of Holies which none but the high priest could enter. The priest offered the sacrifices for Israel each year, over and over again. But we know we have a high priest who has entered on our behalf once for all.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. (3:12-14)
In verse twelve, we have a another stern warning against unbelief. The Christian is out of the will of God when he dwells in unbelief! If we look at the multitude of sins committed by both Christians and non-Christians it is evident they all stem from the sin of unbelief. By not trusting God to fulfill his word and thus each of our needs, we can be easily led astray from the living God into darkness. We should "bear one anotherīs burdens" by encouraging one another, thus lightening the burden of temptation that besets the believer on all sides. The word "today" refers back to the previously mentioned verses from Psalm 95. This puts the burden on us acting in the present. Do not put off your relationship with God as the Hebrews did in the wilderness. In the same way, when we leave sin unattended to, the cancer grows deeper and stronger, and little by little, each day, it hardens us against the harkening of God. And sin is deceitful, for it never delivers what it promises, but brings only heartache and misery. But, there is a reward that awaits us.We see from verse fourteen the great blessing that is in store for the believer who, by God's persevering grace, reaches the celestial city.
While it is said, To day if ye will heat his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (3:15-19)
Verse fifteen through nineteen reiterates the main points of verses seven through eleven; We can be sure this is important! Note again that it was the very ones who had seen the miracles and power of God who heard and yet disobeyed God. Believers have seen the miracle of the new birth, so what a tragedy to turn our backs on the living God. God was angry with those because of their unbelief and for that reason, they died in the wilderness. How dreadful to fall into the hands of an angry God. Those who did not believe. God did not allow to enter his rest. We can be sure the sin of unbelief is the root of all sin and, because of it, the nation of Israel did not enter in to his rest.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (4:1,2)
Verse 4:1-2 gives heed to the fact that God's promise was the same throughout history. The same eternal rest promised to the Jews is now offered to us. Now the writer begins to lay the foundation for a warning that we test our faith (..to see whether you are in the faith). The Jews who wandered in the desert heard the same good news of a saviour that we have heard but they did not have the work of the Spirit applied to their hearts as a people. We know that amongst this mass of Hebrews led out Egypt, there were some who believed (Moses, Johsua,...etc), but as a nation they continued in unbelief.
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: (4:3-6)
We know from the last verse in chapter three that the Hebrew children did not enter into the promised rest, but by the grace and mercy of God we have entered into his rest through our faith. It is interesting to note that God's rest began when he finished the creation of the earth and everything in it. It is a rest God now enjoys after proclaiming of all of his creation that "it is good," We may now enter that rest through belief in Christ. In verse four the writer quotes Gen 2:2 to show that God rested when he had completed his creation and again quotes Psalm 95:7,8 in verse five stating that the Hebrews would not enter into his rest. In verse six we again see the point being made that the unbelieving Jews did not enter his rest even though the gospel fell on their ears. But there are also those of us now and in time future who will indeed enter that rest.
Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. (4:7)
Verse seven begins one of the clearest passages in scripture that Christ is now our Sabbath. The "Today" which the writer spoke of earlier is the day which we now rest in. He is our rest and we are to rest in him day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute. For we see again from David's words in Psalm 95 that the admonition is given for us to act "Today."
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (4:8-10)
In verse eight we see the all important contrast between the old and the new covenant. Here it is evident that the old covenant - symbolized by Joshua does not give true rest. Our Sabbath and rest comes through Christ. In the same way that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, the Sabbath of the old covenant could not provide true rest. Christ points us to himself for true rest (Matt 11:28,29), and it is in him alone we find the rest God experienced when he pronounced for the last time, " it is good."
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (4:11,12)
The eleventh verse brings to mind Christ's admonition to "strive to enter in." Since he is our true rest, we should not spend our time milling about at the entrance to the kingdom and in the process block others from entering as the Pharisees did. Exercise of our persevering faith is an example that is needed by so many who look to Christians for reasons to believe. Our disobedience begets further disobedience in our family, friends, and acquaintances. Verse twelve assures us that we indeed have persevering faith by the word of God which is able to slay all of our enemies. We can live without fear since we, as believers, have that word planted within our souls. If God has given us a new birth, then we have a wellspring of life in us which can melt all opposition.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (4:13)
And finally, in verse thirteen, we see that the Spirit of God is all-knowing of our hearts and the hearts of others. Therefore we should not try to hide our sin from God, but boldly confess it before him and beseech his forgiveness. He is the creator of all things, and thus has rights over all things - even our personal thoughts.
Read My Testimony at:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/1695/carter.htmlMichael Cruz
a_la_cruz@technologist.com
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7. Kevin Hartley
Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. (Heb. 3:7-4:13)
Commentary:
The clear design of our author in this selected text is to rouse his readers toward vigilance. His numerous admonitions of an imperative nature demonstrate the importance of the matter and should procure the readersī utmost thoughtfulness. We must consider then that to listen to Christ in servile abstention devoid of demonstrated action and response is an exercise in futility. The one who hears him must attend to Christ and His words. The readers of our text had heard Him and are exhorted to consider Him in contrast to the voice of Moses and the proponents of the Old Covenant, considering the greater manner of His address.
But reader, stop and consider for a moment what our author uses as a means to compel his audience to consideration of the Son of God. While our text bears a threatening tone and warns its readers of their peril, still there remains an underlying resonance of irresistible grace. For what is it the author uses to allure his readers unto Christ? Threat? Yes, but yea more so, he does use the alluring fragrance of the sweetness of Christ to draw the elect back. Ah, how sweet the words of the lover of Christ, to not present Him as a brute unto his readers, as a towering figure of wroth and indignation filled with vehement anger and hatred, but it is the mercy of Christ which our writer uses as the enticing aroma to arrest oneīs affection. What should rivet the soulīs affections? The threats of hell and of its unquenching flames? Surely this realistically portrays the peril of the reader who does not hear Him, but this does not arrest oneīs affections, it simply with threat brings the wretch to cower and flee the wrath to come. What is it that brings the troubled soul to Christ? The sweetness of Him.
Consider the petals of the sweet rose which our author has set against the fading flower of the covenant of old; Christ the Son seated upon the throne on high, One of an excellent name, He has spoken of salvation so great; He who is not ashamed to declare our name amidst the holy assembly; He that, by the grace of God, has tasted death for His own; One like unto His brethren, a merciful and faithful High Priest; the reconciliation of His people; the succor of the tempted; the faithful Son of the Fatherīs house; the apostle and High Priest of our confession. Unto the soul that hears these words, where is the threat? Is it in coming to Christ? Never. But the threat is to the soul that turns from His sweetness. How could a soul ever turn from the reality of the gospel of Christ? Surely from Moses some would dare turn, perhaps even from Sinai many would flee, but what soul, that has ears to hear, will have their ears stopped to the sweet sound of mercy in Him? O listener, might it be that in our zeal to drive men to Christ by threat and legality, we have overlooked what it is that brings a soul to Christ? Grace, irresistible, sovereign, that which delights the soul, it is the soul that hears Him and says, ""His mouth is full of sweetness. And he is wholly desirable." Let no man come to Him unless it be from the glorious bonds of eternal love that grips and sears the soul. For love is the binding cords that keep the soul in Christ.
In light of these thoughts, let us consider the text at hand. In them we see the misery of the soul that falls short of faith in attaining to a glorious, lasting union with Christ. He, who by sovereign grace has met with mercy in Jesus, does not depart from the sweetness of His cords. He, though, that hears Him apart from faith fails to know Him and His love that keeps and restrains the soul. Consider then the admonitions of the author in this section.
First we have the imperative "blepete" (Blevpete) in the twelfth verse of the third chapter. It follows upon the heels of a quote from the 95th Psalm, as the passage is brought forth as an example of the jeopardy of those who fail to persevere in grace. The reader should hear these words and his soul should weep at the thought of neglect. For consider how marvelous the falling away of Israel in their redemption and then consider the marvel over those who could turn and walk away from the richness of Christ? It is as unthinkable as the incident in the ministry of our Lord where He did cleanse ten lepers, but only one returned. We do not marvel and find any inability or insufficiency in our Christ, rather, we grieve that the hearts of men are so callous that any man could depart from Christ. You look! This is what the text declares, look and consider, dear heart, when for a moment your thoughts stray from Him; look and gaze upon the Son of God the very moment your heart does linger in unbelief. The soul that reads and hears and considers by the efficacious grace of our sovereign Lord, will not depart from Christ. For he knows that in Him is life, and He is the light of the world. So like the two milk cows that had never been yoked, that bore the Ark of the Covenant from Philistia back to Israel, turning neither to the left nor to the right, lowing all the way, let the soul that has heard Christ not bemoan what it has left back in Egypt, nor desire the relics of the covenant of old, but let us walk straight on unto Christ, lowing the sweet burden raised from off of our backs.
Following the quote of the 95th Psalm, the author embarks upon a New Covenant exposition of the text. It is this manner of exegesis that we, in Christ, must learn. For if we simply are moved to obedience as a result of the threat of suffering the woeful end of Israel, we miss the greater sorrow of the soul that is ignorant of Christ. The intent of our author is that we learn the lesson the LORD taught us through Israel of the blessed restfulness of our position in Christ. When one looks upon Israel in the wilderness for nearly 40 years, what sees he? An obstinate, rebellious people, a restless people wanting of quietude, homeless, comfortless, contentious, and unthankful. Such a people perish in their rebellion. Ah, but then consider that those who are faithless, and know not the rest Christ brings, know an even greater peril. For the external grief of disobedient Israel far pales in comparison to the faithless soul that turns back from Christ. Consider the 95th Psalm then not so much in relationship to Israel the nation falling in the wilderness, but consider the grief of the soul that falls in the wilderness of legal religion and the plight of the restless laboring soul. Work, you lover of religion, labor long in your filthy righteousness, for your greatest deeds are but the filthy and defiled rags of unclean Israel in her issue of blood.
Profit then reader from the hearing of Christ. May our Lord grant unto you faith that hearing Him you might believe, and believing you may not depart from Him in unbelief. For if Israel provoked Him to wrath so that they did not enter into His rest, consider how much more dismal is the soul that perishes apart from the rest of Christ, our Sabbath. There remains a day,listener, while it is today, a day of sovereign grace and mercy, a day of salvation. Today is the day to hear Him, to heed Him, and to delight in coming to Him in your weariness. Your labor is long, your thirst is not quenched, your plight is without ease, come to Christ. For in Him is rest. He is the end of our labors. He has labored to the end of our sins upon the cross; He has labored to the end of our burden under the law; He has been cursed on our behalf that we might not be accursed. Oh what a delightful rest does one know in Jesus. What fool would turn from the day of His rest to the observance of trivial and laborious matters, observing days, feasts, sacrifices, and burdens. O what a burdenless Savior we know, we who have come to Him by the gift of faith alone. Labor then soul; labor in perseverance; labor in prayer; labor in repentance; labor in reform; labor in His word; labor in faith. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Ask yourself in your labors, what moves the soul toward Christ? The unbearable burden of the law and the woefulness of sin, depravity, and our utter helplessness and need for His lasting rest. Ask yourself, what brings the soul that has come to Him to cry out for mercy? Knowing Him as the cure to our labors. He has rest to give for the weary. How can any soul turn back to unceasing labors when the Sabbath of our souls is before us in this the gospel? No other day, no other name, no other Lord, no other Savior. Christ and Christ alone. May we delight in His rest. Solus Christus.
Kevin Hartley
kartleyk@erols.com
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8. Tim Clifton
Wherefore... (3:7a)
Verse 7 starts off from the context of Christ being a son over His own house, and us being a part of that house, 'if'. The 'if' in v.6 is, "if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." The 'wherefore' of v.7 ties that thought to the coming of God's people to Himself in Psalm 95, where the Psalmist exhorts us to come cheerfully before the Lord, unlike the people of the provocation. Now, here in Hebrews, we take the end of Psalm 95 for verses 7 to 11 (the same verses in both of them) to present the thought, 'wherefore, if...', and insert the thought of the perseverance of the saints. "To day, 'if' ye will hear His voice, ...."; places those in Christ's house who actually 1) do freely come to Him, and 2) hold fast their confidence unto the end. The Hebrews of the provocation, which the audience of this book are well acquainted with, become an example of the temporary nature of Moses vs. the permanent nature of Christ, even in the lives of believers. The, 'if ye will hear His voice,' becomes the dividing line between the two, and faith, which is a product of the new covenant, will satisfy the conditional 'if' according to the outworkings of the grace of God
...as the Holy Ghost saith... (3:7b)
Here, it should not be missed, that the writer of Hebrews attributes the words of Psalm 95 as being the very words of God! Thus, we see the first and most fundamental of all our beliefs: "the Bible is the Word of God." We are not 'bibliolaters,' but are Christians, and yet, Christ, for us now, is inseparable from His written truth.. We know about Christ through the written word the Holy Ghost has penned. No wonder God says in Psalm 138:2,
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name.
Take heed, brethren, (3:12)
The conditional nature of being in the Son's house continues in verse 14, and the exhortation in v.12 is simply this: Take heed! Work out your salvation in fear and trembling. Exhort one another, now, and daily. I believe the sister book to this chapter is James, where we see that faith without works is dead. Spurious faith is rampant, and always has been. But note here in verse 12, that the heart of one without true faith is an evil heart of unbelief. Take heed that you have the real thing and not just the symptoms. True faith lasts, and we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end (v.14). Works salvation?; no, just the true fact that God 'giveth more grace' to true sons. It's all of grace. So the warning,
Let us therefore fear (4:1)
or simply "take heed brethren," lest your carcass fall in the wilderness with spurious faith, which is really in God's sight an evil heart of unbelief!
...not being mixed with faith.... (4:2)
Do the elect, chosen people of God actually have to believe to be eternally saved? In this passage there are only two options, rest or unbelief (v.11). We enter into true rest by believing (v.3). Not everyone enters in, as God says in v.5 again, 'if they shall enter into my rest.' The Hebrews of the provocation did not enter in because of an evil heart of unbelief. Some say these Hebrews are eternally saved anyway, as they ate and drank of that 'Rock' which was Christ. But Jesus settled that in John 6, where He said,
... I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:35-37)
In whatever sense the Hebrews of the provocation ate and drank of Christ, it was not for eternal salvation, as the 'eating and drinking' of the Christ of the new covenant of John 6 includes faith in Jesus Christ! And thus the Hebrews here mentioned, or any of us, will also fail to get eternal rest in God if our lives and professions are 'not mixed with faith.' The eternal nature of this faith can be seen in Acts 13:48, "... as many as were ordained to eternal life believed," and in 2 Thess. 2:13, "...because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:" Belief/Faith is part of the program! It is given by God, and not to mix our lives with faith, is to not be mixed with the family of God at all. This is seen in v.8, where it states, "For if Jesus had given them rest..." We see here that it is Jesus that gives the rest of God, and those in that rest are called 'the people of God' (v.9). Yes, we have to believe to be the eternally saved people of God, and this 'mixing the gospel with faith' is part and parcel of the plan and purpose of the new covenant of God.
... another day. (4:8)
Should we worship on the true Sabbath of the Jew, which is Saturday? Then what is this, 'another day' as opposed to the seventh day Sabbath mentioned in creation? Is it Sunday? To what day does it refer? The rest, the Sabbath to us, the people of God that remains, is 'His rest' of verse 10. It is the rest where we cease from our own works. It is the rest that Jesus gives! And what day is that? It is 'that day' mentioned in Isa. 52:6,7,
Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in *that day* that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isa. 52:6,7)
That day is more than Saturday or Sunday. It is every day we enjoy the blessings of not having to work for our righteousness! And that is truly a 'day' of grace. It is the day of the reign of God in men's hearts, where He has put His laws, and they shall be His people. This is truly rest, and this day is forever!
...the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper.... (4:12)
1. The Word is alive!
I once heard that Moody put his Bible under a hat; danced around until he got a crowd yelling, 'it's alive,' and then lifted the hat and started preaching! It is true that God's Word lives, and is the agent of His mighty plan.
1 Pe. 1:23, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
John 6:63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
2. The Word is powerful!
- Time cannot contain it.
1Pe. 1:25, "But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
- Man cannot stop it's effect.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isa. 55:11)
- And all the corruption in the world cannot change it.
Mt 24:35, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
3. The Word is sharp!
Eph 6:17 "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:"
- It will settle all arguments.
Even when you are in hopeless straits, it will get you through. "When they heard that, they were cut to the heart." is true for the council in Acts 5.
- It is also God's sharp sword for the crowd in Acts 2,
when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
- And best of all, it is true for me 2000 years later.
I lay with a broken back one night, and couldn't change the stupid TV channel off an old man reading from the end of Romans 8 in an old Bible, but still a very sharp one. The words of that text cut me in half, and I have not been the same since! When the tears and the falling on my face before the God of heaven was over, I found that blessed sword had entered my heart and had given me a new one. I love the God of heaven and I love His Word!
In Christ, Tim Clifton
tclifton@hotmail.com
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