Life Project Blog

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 good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 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.

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

Hebrews 4:1-5

The warning continues in this text, but now the warning is building up to something wonderful.  The “promise” of entering His rest still stands. Needless to say, this is sometimes a source of confusion; what exactly is this “rest” that still stands?  In the original Old Testament context, the “rest” was the Promised Land, but it was also the Sabbath.  Now, there seems to be another context taking shape: What’s going on?

Whatever is going on, we still have that hope somehow, and we need to be careful that we don’t fall away from God before we get there. Now our author adds the rest and the Sabbath.  So, is the Sabbath a promise?  Some say so, but last time I checked, it wasn’t a promise, it was a Commandment!  In fact, it’s one of the 10 Commandments, but unlike the other 9, Jesus didn’t re-assert this one in the Gospels:  Why? Because it was the sign of the Old Covenant, just as circumcision is the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant; neither are in force now. And yet, there is still a rest for the people of God…?

Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”

Hebrews 4:6-7

There it is again!  There is still a “rest” that we might enter into, and we need to ensure that our hearts aren’t hardened into disbelief, or we might miss out.  I don’t know about you, but I think this is really cool… and great fun! What could he mean?

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 their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:8-11

Again the promise, again the warning- and more clues. Joshua led the people into the Land, Moses had given them the Law, and still centuries later, David spoke of another “rest” and the disobedience of old.  Hebrews has several instances where the Old Testament is said to contain “shadows” that are pictures of the glorious reality to come in Christ, and this is the first one of them, even though the author hasn’t come right out and said so yet.  In this case, both the Land and the Sabbath are mere shadows of a great reality that doesn’t come until Christ.  Everything in the Old Covenant is centered on the physical world. The promises, the curses, the worship, the Temple, the festivals… all are physically oriented, but point to a great reality that was to come; this is called “typology” and these things are called “types.”  Thus, the Land and the Sabbath are “types” of something wonderful that the people of the Old Testament had no real concept of… eternity.  When Jesus began speaking of eternal life, He was speaking of something that the Old Testament made no mention of… at all. All of the promises in the Law were earthly, not one was eternal in scope.  Jews do not die and go to Heaven; they die and live through their children. If you don’t believe me, ask one of your Jewish friends.

Yes, I know that some Christians might want to dispute this, saying that God hasn’t kept the Land promise, and will do so in the millennium. Personally, I think that runs counter to our text right here, but my normal reply is: “Would you rather have a Tel Aviv address for a thousand years, or eternal life with Christ?  Jesus fulfilled the promise of land with something far better than real estate: This is the wonderful part. Yet, another warning, “make every effort” to enter the rest and not to perish because of disobedience.

For the word of God is alive 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.

Hebrews 4:12-13

This is the sternest warning of all in this section, and yet it is wonderful at the same time: The Word of God- powerful, penetrating, alive! We often refer to the Scriptures as the Word of God, and so they are.  Then we go and relegate it to a mere academic discipline full of teachings, rules and promises… even trivia, but the Word of God is never trivial.  The Word of God is powerful, the most powerful force in our universe, for it holds the entire universe together as we saw in chapter 1.  The Word is also a Person.  Go back and read John 1:1-4; 14.  The Word of God is none other than Jesus Christ Himself: The Word of God is Wonderful!

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 wilderness,
where your ancestors tested and tried me,
    though for forty years they saw what I did.
 That is why I was angry with that generation;
    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.’ 

Hebrews 3:7-11; cf Psalm 95:7-11

As we begin, we need to recall that this is an expansion on the conditional statement in verse 6: “And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” (Heb. 3:6b)

These verses taken from Psalm 95 recount the experience of the people in the wilderness.  You’ll remember that they kept trying God’s patience, complaining, rebelling and being disobedient in the extreme, and of all those who were saved out of Egypt, only two of them were allowed to enter the rest, the Promised Land. Not even Moses was permitted to enter into it; they all perished in the wilderness.  God had promised to deliver Abraham’s descendants out of Egypt, which He did, and into the Promised Land, which He did, even though of the ones who left Egypt, all save 2 died en route. Yet a vast number did enter the Land, but they were born during the 40 years between the exodus from Egypt and the entry into the Land, and thus we can see that God’s promise to Abraham was unconditional for the group called the descendants of Abraham, but conditional to the individuals within the group. God kept His promise to the Israelites in the Wilderness, in spite of the fact that most of them turned their backs on Him and never entered… see how this worked?

See to it, brothers and sisters, 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 indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts
    as you did in the rebellion.”

Hebrews 3:12-15

As our attention is turned back to the “here and now” the author issues a challenge to his readers.  They are to “see to it” that they aren’t led to turn their backs on God.  Instead, they are told to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today'”.  As I read it, this reference to “Today” tells us that this is a command that is not just for the recipients of the letter, but for all generations until Jesus returns: Encourage one another daily, lest any should fall away from their faith!  This seems to harmonize nicely with the injunction that we love one another, don’t you think?  How can we love one another and not encourage and help our brother or sister in times of trial and testing?

With that warm and cheerful mental image of love, encouragement and community, the author drops another conditional statement: We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. “Share in Christ” refers to all that we have attained in Him: Salvation, forgiveness, freedom, joy, hope, peace, sonship, eternal life, God’s family, co-heirs… all of it… IF… we hold onto our faith until the “very end.”  Then, he repeats the warning from the Psalm…

 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 perished in the wilderness? 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.

Hebrews 3:16-19

Hold on to your faith until the very end!  This is the clear message for both his original recipients in Nero’s Rome, undergoing persecution often unto death, and it is also the clear message to us today.  The various theologies might dispute what the alternative is, but all agree that we must hold on to our faith.

By now, three chapters into Hebrews, you should see the pattern: Something wonderful, followed by a warning, and then something wonderful…  What an amazing letter!  I hope you’ll also be seeing that it is not a theoretical kind of book, it is real, living and alive with vitality, the kind of life and vitality that can change a person’s outlook on life itself.

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 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,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future.  But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Hebrews 3:1-6

Chapter 3 begins with a summing up from the previous chapter: Fix your thoughts on Jesus!  We acknowledge Him as our “apostle and high priest.” The next sentence is the transition to a comparison between Jesus and Moses…

“Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses” which really sets Jesus apart as an important figure in the Jewish mindset, for apart from Abraham, nobody would have been considered greater than Moses.  “Just as the builder of a house is greater than the house itself” is the comparison between the two. In saying that Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s house, but God is the owner of the house, and Jesus is the owner’s Son and Heir; Moses was working for Him. Thus, Jesus is far greater than Moses.  While Jesus is “over” God’s house, and Moses was a servant in God’s house, we are God’s house, if  “we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.”

Moses served in God’s house. We are God’s house.

Once again, we see a stark contrast between the relationship of Old Testament Israel and God, and the New Testament Church and God; the two are profoundly different.  Israel consisted of God’s covenant people, His Nation on earth.  He was their God and they were His people.  They did not, however have eternal life, the removal of sins or a direct relationship with God.  Christians have these things and more, because while the Israelites were born into their covenant as a function of biology, we are born again into a covenant relationship as a function of the life force of the Holy Spirit within us, and as a result, we are not just His people, but His children, whom Jesus calls brothers; Israel was God’s people, we are God’s family.

This is great news indeed, and I hope you are filled with joy at the thought… BUT… this is very much a conditional statement, for there is a great big IF in the middle of it. Depending on your doctrinal positions, you might start feeling a little uneasy right about now, but I would encourage you to recognize that this is not simply “Don’s crazy thinking” here, for you might have noticed that the rest of the chapter is another warning… and I’m not making that up, obviously.  Of course, you are free to see things differently than I do.

The IF is this: …if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. What is this hope in which we glory business?  Does he mean just a hopefulness about things in general, or does this specifically refer to something?  Jesus is our hope for glory; our author is making remaining faithful as followers of Jesus a condition for the promises.  In the verses that follow, which will be our next subject, you will see that our author cites examples from the Old Testament that back this up, so if this statement of mine seems unsettling to you, I sure hope you’ll read on…

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of 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 them, fully human 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.

Hebrews 2:14-18

Following the last section, in which we saw that we are God’s children, Jesus’ brothers and sisters, our author continues with his theme in verse 14. Since these “children” have flesh and blood, Jesus took on flesh and blood too, and then we clearly see why.  Jesus was incarnated so that He could die, to break the power of the devil, by setting us free from the fear of death. Interesting concept isn’t it?  Being set free from slavery to the fear of death, and from the one who holds power over us by our fear of death…

So, how does the author move from the fear of death to Satan holding power over us because of our fear of death?  Here’s a thought: If you are a follower of Jesus who lives in a place where following Jesus is not permitted by law, will you follow Jesus or will you follow the law of that land? If the authorities in power there are seeking to enforce their laws, then they will seek to coerce you into following their laws, right?  What is the ultimate means of coercion on this earth? Death.  If you fear death, you are likely to follow the law.  If you have been set free from the fear of death, you are free to follow Jesus.  Consider who this letter was written to: Jewish Christians in Rome during the persecution of Nero.  The whole book of Hebrews is a persuasive argument to them to hold onto their faith, even to the point of death, a death they have no reason to fear. We also have no reason to fear death, since we know that because of Jesus, we have eternal life. You can destroy my body, but I live on anyway. Yes, dear reader, this is much more than empty talk or an academic doctrine, it is very real.

He continues: Jesus didn’t do this amazing thing for the angels, He did it for “Abraham’s descendants.”  This might trip you up if you don’t keep your covenants straight.  “Abraham’s descendants” is a term used in the Old Testament to refer to the Jews, for they were literally the genetic descendants of Abraham, and were sometimes called the “children of Israel.”  Of course “Israel” was also one of Abraham’s descendants.  In the New Testament, the Gospel changed all of this.  Through having been born again, both Jew and Gentile are saved by Christ.  There is no more Jew and Gentile, there is only “in Christ.”  Thus, this refers to all followers of Jesus, not just Jewish followers, for as Paul says in Galatians 6:16, we are “the Israel of God.” To accomplish all of this, the Son had to become fully human… and so He did become fully human, and in so doing, He became a faithful and merciful high priest in service to God.  There will be much about this “high priest” as the letter continues.

His humanity also made Him subject to every temptation that you and I will face in life, and thus, He is able to help us when we are tempted.  What a great comfort this is!  Jesus had to deal with the same kinds of things that may get to me, and He is able and willing to help in those tough moments.  I don’t know about you, but I find that He is much more helpful when I get out of His way, when I ask for His help, and when I am willing to turn to Him.  When I force Him out of my mind, I always seem to fall… Maybe there’s a pattern there.

 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

Hebrews 2:10-13

This is another section of text that is breathtaking if you’ll relax and let its full significance settle in.  Check out that first paragraph…  Yes, it was quite fitting for God to make Jesus perfect through His suffering, but that isn’t the breathtaking part, at least not for me.  It is the part about bringing many sons (and daughters) to glory.  Jesus attained glory through His suffering; we attain glory through His suffering. Jesus is in glory- we are headed for glory.  Wow!

Note: If you are wondering why I put “sisters” and “daughters” in parentheses, it’s because those words are not in the Greek. It’s “brothers” and “sons”. If you would like to accuse the “new” NIV of being politically correct, I would join with you here, and it is irritating to me too.  However, it does capture the full intent of the original, because while they didn’t come out and say it literally, those were inclusive terms in context.  Sometimes we forget that in Middle Eastern cultures back then, and even today, it is not polite to refer to women in this fashion; the masculine form represents the whole.  By adding those terms, the NIV has captured this and made it clear to modern Western readers that it was intended in the inclusive form. Back to the text…

The one “who makes people holy” is obviously a reference to Jesus. We who are His followers are the ones made holy, and another “wow” moment: Both are in the same family: Welcome to God’s family, we are the brothers and sisters of Jesus! Therefore, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Jesus Christ, as He sits on the throne at the right hand of God, ruling heaven and earth is not only King of kings and Lord of lords, but He is also our “big brother”.  If you aren’t filled with awe right now, please slow down and read that again.

The Old Testament quotes that follow are placed there to demonstrate that this is something that has been foretold in Scripture, even though people may not have comprehended it at first.  Imagine how early Jewish Christians in the circumstances of their time would have reacted to this.  Being the brother of the Son of God, a God whose name it was unlawful to even say out loud: Amazing!

I hope that it strikes you the same way.  So many of us go through our lives filled with guilt, grief and fear, not ever comprehending how precious we are in God’s sight… Brothers, in the family… relations…  Not evil, wretched sinners.  Thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and your acceptance of His grace, all of that is so far away, and God remembers it no more… Brother! Sister! Son! Daughter!

Welcome home!

For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying:

“What is man that You are mindful of him,
Or the son of man that You take care of him?
You have made him a little lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
And set him over the works of Your hands.
You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

Hebrews 2:5-9 (NKJV)

When I was a teenager, this passage grabbed my imagination and really locked me in as a follower of Jesus; “you have made him a little lower than the angels…” Wow!

At any rate, our author is moving on from our last tour segment, and he is making the case that Jesus is superior to the angels.  In verse 5 he mentions that the “world to come” is not in the subjection of the angels, but it is made subject to a man.  Then he quotes Psalm 8 which is an amazing journey into God’s purpose. Beginning with the great and wonderful question What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him?  Obviously questions such as this have gone through all of our minds, but there is an amazing answer, an answer that blows us away every time we consider it. Yes, God made us “a little lower than the angels” but He also put the world under us in His hierarchy; amazing.

Recall that back in the Garden, God gave Man “dominion” over all of the creatures of the earth; that “dominion” was not given to angels, nor was it given to any “fallen angel” for it was given to the Man.  Of course, we know that particular man went astray, but there is another Man who would change that.  God put all things under Mankind, but we don’t currently see that having entirely come to pass because of what happened later, when the first man rebelled…

But we see Jesus!

Jesus, that second Man, who has changed everything, yes, we see Him. Yes, He was made a little lower than the angels, so that He could suffer death for everyone, yes, this Jesus is now crowned with glory and honor, for He has tasted death for all of us.  What a glorious sight that is; it is our deliverance. Jesus, remember who He is?  He is the One through whom all things were made, way back in the very beginning. In the fullness of time, when God saw that the right time had come, Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, which is to say that He took on the form of a human body, being entirely human and entirely divine, this amazing Jesus came to earth to take away the problem of sin and shame to restore Mankind to the purpose for which God had created Him to fulfill.

Jesus, who is in every way superior to the angels, allowed Himself to be humbled greatly to accomplish the purpose of God, and soon in God’s time, all will be returned to God’s original design. How is it that God even takes notice of Man?  Yes, it still blows my mind, but He does, for He has big plans for us.

WOW!