In our last installment we learned that because the Israelites refused to enter the Promised Land by faith, God declared that they would never enter His rest.  He turned them back into the wilderness and they spent their lives there.  He still provided for them and protected them, and they were still His people.  But they didn’t receive the promises that should have been theirs, because of their unbelief.  We saw that the Israelite who accepted deliverance from the bondage of slavery in Egypt but refused to walk by faith into the Promised Land is a model of the believer who has accepted deliverance from the bondage of sin yet refuses to walk by faith in victory.  Both are redeemed from bondage and both receive God’s provision, but both are deprived of His power and doomed to spend their life in the wilderness.

Hebrews Chapter 4:1 to 5:10

A Sabbath Rest For The People Of God

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.

Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ [Psalm 95:11]” And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.”[Genesis 2:2] (Hebr. 4:1-4)

We begin this installment by learning the spiritual meaning behind the weekly Sabbath.  This is a good time to review the idea that external and physical actions in the Old Testament often become internal and spiritual principles in the New.

As an example, in the Old Testament the sign of the covenant was circumcision. It was of the flesh, external and physical. (Genesis 17:9-14)  In the New it’s of the heart, internal and spiritual. (Romans 2:28-29)  In the Old Testament the Bread from Heaven was external, for physical sustenance. (Exodus 16:4-5)  It the New it’s internal, our spiritual food. (John 6:28-36)  As we’ll see there are more.

And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice,  do not harden your hearts.” [Psalm 95:7-8] (Hebr. 4:5-7)

Again we’re told that the Israelites heard the Gospel story in their flight from Egypt but it was of no value to them because they didn’t combine it with faith. How many people today fall into that same category?  Faith comes from hearing the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)  Any one who reads the Bible with an attitude of discovery can develop the faith to believe.  The Lord promised us that all who ask will receive, all who seek will find, and to all who knock the door will be opened. (Matt. 7:7-8)

The Greek word translated disobedience here also means unbelief.  God had made Himself so obvious to them through their miraculous deliverance that He used the two words interchangeably. And this is still true today.  To Him, those who claim unbelief are really just being disobedient.  It’s not that they can’t believe, it’s that they won’t. (Romans 1:18-20)

Since David wrote Psalm 95 long after the events recorded in the Book of Joshua, the writer is saying that entering the Promised Land could not have been the complete fulfillment of God’s promise of rest for His people.

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.  There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.  Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. (Hebr. 4:8-11)

In the Old Testament the weekly Sabbath was a reminder that on the 7th Day God rested from all His work.    No work was permitted on the Sabbath, symbolizing that the job of creation was finished.  This point was so important to God that  anyone found working on the Sabbath was put to death.  (Numbers 15:32-36)  Now, the concept of the Sabbath is being applied to our salvation. What was external and physical has become internal and Spiritual.

When we accept the Lord’s death as payment in full for all of our sins our work is finished, and we enter into a Sabbath rest that lasts the rest of our lives. All we have to do now to remain in fellowshhip with Him and enjoy His blessing is to confess when we sin. (1 John 1:9)   Once again the writer is warning his readers (and that includes us) that continuing to work after our work is done is evidence of unbelief.  Anything we do in a effort to add to or maintain our salvation (like keeping the Law) other than resting in faith of His forgiveness is being disobedient.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebr. 4:12-13)

They couldn’t pull the wool over God’s eyes in this matter.  Going back into the Levitical system  meant that they didn’t believe the Lord’s death was sufficient to keep them saved, so they had to keep working. They could never enter His rest, because they would be ignoring the only provision He had made for their ongoing sin, trying to cover themselves with religious work instead.  They’d spend their whole lives out of fellowship, deprived of His power and blessing. Their attitude would lead to spiritual defeat, just like the Israelites’ attitude had led to physical defeat.

The reason that a combination of faith and works will ultimately fail is that it’s self contradictory.   By definition, work indicates a lack of faith in God, substituting faith in self for faith in Him.  We can’t tell except by faith that God has done His part.  But we can tell if we’re doing what we think is ours.  So we adopt our own set of laws and measure the extent to which we’re keeping them. Sooner or later the certainty of what we’re doing will over ride our faith in what He’s done and we’ll have assumed responsibility for our own lives.  It won’t cost us our salvation but it will deny us our victory by depriving us of His power.  To me one of the most obvious examples of this is the insistence by some believers that we turn  the very symbol of our rest into an act of religious work that has to be rigidly observed as proof of our salvation.  I’m talking about the Sabbath.

Of course for some, the insistence on living a life of religious work is evidence that they were never saved in the first place, but have assumed responsibility for their salvation as well as their lives.  The Lord, before whom everything is uncovered and laid bare, knows this.  For them, continuing to work during what should be their sabbath rest will bring spiritual death, just as the Sabbath breaker in Numbers 15 experienced physical death.  But the writer has addressed his readers as holy brothers who share in the heavenly calling (Hebr. 3:1).  He assumed they were saved and were in danger of living a defeated powerless life like their ancestors in the wilderness had.

Let’s also remember here that living a life pleasing to God purely out of gratitude for the salvation He freely gave us is not only permitted, it’s encouraged.  It’s the motive of our heart that counts.  Are we working to earn something, or saying thanks because we’ve already been given something? When God looks into our heart, our motives are revealed to Him and He knows which it is.

Jesus the Great High Priest

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebr. 4:14-16)

Having lived our lives, the Lord knows our weaknesses.  He has experienced our temptations and understands how powerful they are to us.  He could resist because He doesn’t have a sin nature, but He knows that we can’t because we do. (Romans 7:20)  We can ask His forgiveness for our ongoing sin in confidence because He knows we’re unequal to the task of sinlessness.  When we’ve tried and failed, we can count on His mercy because He knows what we’re going through has already paid our penalty. (Romans 8:1)  Though our mind urges us try and redeem ourselves with religious work,  our spirit knows we’ll just make things worse because we’ll be saying we don’t really trust Him to forgive us.

Hebrews Chapter 5:1-10
Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.  No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was.(Hebr. 5:1-4)

Though there were strict guidelines for the appointment of the High Priest, he was still just a man. The first sin offering the High Priest performed on Yom Kippur was on his own behalf.

So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
“You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” [Psalm 2:7]

And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”  [Psalm 110:4]

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebr 5:5-10)

Some say that the prayers Jesus offered in the Garden of Gethsemane to the point of sweating blood were unanswered because God didn’t save Him from the cross.  Some even make the preposterous claim that since the Father ignored his Son in the Garden, we should ignore our children when they cry out to us for comfort. They claim it’s Biblical justification for leaving our babies alone in the dark to cry themselves to sleep saying that we’re teaching them the skill of “self-soothng” as the Father did to His Son.

But here the writer says that the Father did hear His Son, and did not ignore Him. Jesus said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt. 26:39)     There are only two alternatives.  Either there was another way for us to receive salvation and the Father made Him die anyway, or else there was no other way but for Him to die for us.  And as for ignoring Him, Luke 22:43 says that the Father sent an angel to strengthen Him in His time of need.  Realizing again that there was no other way, the Son obeyed His Father and went to the cross, becoming the source of eternal salvation for those who obey (believe in) Him.

We’ll talk about His connection to Melchizedek in chapter 7.  But first we have to finish chapter 5 and then we’ll clear up once and for all the controversy over chapter 6.  We’ll do both of these next time.

In our last study we saw the anonymous author give proof that Jesus is as superior to the angels as His name (the Son of God) is to theirs (sons of God). The Son of God is the exact representation of His being, His prophet for the Last Days, the sole provider of our purification, and when He had finished His work, He sat down at the right hand of majesty. Now we’ll see that in the process He descended lower than the angels for a little while to become a man in order to save mankind. Let’s begin.
Jesus Made Like His Brothers

It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?  You made him a little   lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.” [Psalm 8:4-6]

In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.(Hebr. 2:5-9)

Both here and Psalm 8 the phrase “a little” is also translated “for a little while”. Jesus, who as the Son of God is superior to the angels and in fact created them, temporarily descended down the hierarchy of creation to a place lower than theirs to become the Son of Man.

In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists,

should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.  Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.” [Psalm 22:22] and again, “I will put my trust in him.”[Isaiah 8:17] And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.” [Isaiah 8:18] (Hebr. 2:10-13)

We, the Father’s children, have been given to the Son to be his brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29 tells us that in God’s view we’ve been conformed into the likeness of His Son so that He might be the first born among many brothers. And Paul also wrote:

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.  (Galatians 4:4-7)

In the Greek and Roman cultures, sons were not automatically heirs to their father’s estate. When they reached a point of maturity where they could understand what it meant, usually between 14 and 18, they went through a formal adoption process where they received “the full rights of sons”, qualifying them to inherit their father’s estate.  Until then even though they were biologically related to their fathers, they had no more legal standing than the household slaves.  Through the Lord’s atoning sacrifice, we’ve been given “the full rights of sons” in our Father’s family.  No longer slaves to sin, and not just forgiven, we’ve been made heirs with Christ of all eternity.

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.

For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebr. 2:14-18)

God didn’t make His son an angel to save angels, but a man, to save mankind, to be our High Priest, our atoning sacrifice, and our mediator before God.  When Adam sinned, he lost his immortality and his inheritance, and all his children were made slaves to Satan.  Without a redeemer man was hopelessly lost, unable to save himself.  God had the price of redemption and the desire to pay it, but according to His own law only a man, Adam’s next of kin, could save us. (Leviticus 25:25,47-48)  But being enslaved themselves, no one of the family of man could do it.  And so God became a man in the form of His own Son and paid the price of our redemption with His own life.  But He didn’t just save us. As He ascended back up the hierarchy to His rightful position on the throne of creation, He took us with Him, past the angels, to be sons and daughters of God and joint heirs with Him, seating us beside Him in the Heavenly realms (Ephes. 2:6).

Hebrews 3
Jesus Greater Than Moses

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. (Hebr. 3:1-6)

Here the recipients of the letter are described as born again believers, and are told that their most revered ancestor Moses has been surpassed by Jesus.  As the apostle John would write, the Law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus. (John 1:17) The superiority of the Son over the servant demonstrates the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old. Those who had been trained from birth to rely on the Old Covenant now had to have the courage and hope to cling to the New.

Warning Against Unbelief

So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“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, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ “[Psalm 95:7-11]

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

 

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebr. 3:7-19)

Another warning not to go back into the Levitical system. Having been freed from slavery in Egypt with an outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgment (Exodus 6:6) the Israelites rebelled when God asked them to walk by faith into the Promised Land and achieve victory over its inhabitants.  “There are giants in the land,” they said, “and we looked like grasshoppers in their sight, and in ours.” (Numbers 13:33)  Because of their unbelief, God withdrew His power and when they tried to take the land in their own strength, they were soundly defeated (Numbers 14:41-45) and consigned to life in the wilderness.

The Israelite who accepted deliverance from the bondage of slavery in Egypt but refused to cross over into the Promised Land is a model of the believer who has accepted deliverance from the bondage of sin yet refuses to walk in victory. Both are redeemed from bondage and both receive God’s provision, but both are deprived of His power and doomed to spend their life in the wilderness.

Sacrifices For Sin

A central element of the Levitical system was the daily sacrifice for sin. Every evening a lamb was placed on the altar and allowed to burn all night to cover the sins they committed during the night.  At sunrise it was replaced with a new one that burned all day to cover the sins they committed during the day. In addition Israelites had to make a personal sin offering for their own sins.  Failure to do these things deprived them of God’s blessing and brought His anger upon them.

John introduced Jesus to Israel as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29)  He was referring to the daily sacrifice for sin. The difference is that this Lamb would only be sacrificed once for all time.  With the establishment of the New Covenant we only have to believe that He died for us to be saved for Eternity. (John 3:16)  But that doesn’t stop us from sinning, and every time we do we have to confess to remain in fellowship with God in the here and now. (1 John 1:9)  We never again have to worry about God’s anger (Colossians 1:20) but failure to confess when we sin will still deprive us of His power, His protection and His blessing.  It’s the New Covenant replacement for the daily sacrifice.

In effect, the writer admonished the Hebrew believers that turning back from the New Covenant would leave them just as weak and powerless over spiritual enemies as their ancestors had been over physical ones after turning back from the Promised Land.  It would demonstrate their unbelief in the sufficiency of the Lord’s death to cover all their sins.  It would not endanger their salvation, but it would put them out of fellowship with Him.  While still on the right side of pardon they’d be on the wrong side of power, stuck in a spiritual wilderness just as their ancestors had been stuck in a physical one. Confession and forgiveness were God’s only acceptable remedies for their sins.

It’s the same today.  How many believers live powerless lives because of their unconfessed sins?  Oh they’re still saved, but where is their victory on Earth and what will be their reward in Heaven? They have life without health, trial without triumph, service without success.  They’re on the right side of Easter but the wrong side of Pentecost.  How about you?