Hebrews 6:13-20 English Standard Version (ESV) Listen: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.6.13-Heb.6.20 The Certainty of God's Promise 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Let us not miss this. God, when He made the Abrahamic covenant did not make Abraham swear to anything...Abraham was put into a deep sleep and God swore by His own name and reputation that He alone would accomplish this great deed. He would make a covenant people for Himself out of one man and by that man every nation on the earth would be blessed and that Abraham's descendants would be like the sands of the seashore or the stars of the heavens. God had no need to swear by anyone or anything else because there is nothing else greater than God and nothing else greater to swear by then the name and reputation of God, which is why we are told in the third commandment not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain. We should not put God, His name, or His reputation at risk by our idle or flippant words.
But God did give us a sign for the covenants so that we could be certain to remember His promises. He gave us the rainbow to remember His promise to never flood the earth in a global flood again, He gave us circumcision to mark His people and to be a sign of the Abrahamic covenant, and He has given us baptism and communion (the Eucharist) as signs of the New Covenant. God cannot lie and we remember His promises as we see and participate in these signs of these covenants. When Jesus died on the cross the curtain that was as thick as a man's hand that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn from top to bottom in a sign that the God had made a way for us to enter the presence of God any time by way of the blood of Christ. Jesus had gone before us and lives in the presence of God now serving as our Great High Priest so that one day we will also join Him and live in the presence of God forever and ever.
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Hebrews 5:11-6:12 English Standard Version (ESV) Listen: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.5.11-Heb.6.12 Warning Against Apostasy 11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. 9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. First the writer to the Hebrews admonishes his audience for only hearing what they want to hear and lacking spiritual growth and failing to be the reproductive Christians that Christ called for in The Great Commission. How will we make disciples of the whole world if we as disciples of Christ don't turn around and teach others to also obey everything the Lord has commanded of us? The gospel and the truth of God's Word is not something that is meant for us to keep to ourselves, but is something that is meant for us to shout from the rooftops and the mountaintops, even if it's something as simple as "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so." The Word of God should be like our daily bread....we should not be able to go without it without feeling hungry and going without it will make us spiritually "malnourished" and stunt our spiritual growth God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness in His Word and He wants us to grow up to be spiritually mature so that we can discern good from evil so that those called to be teachers of the word of God will be able to teach the "meat" of the Scripture. There is nothing wrong with preaching about repentance and issues of sin and sanctification and the Resurrection of Christ and of the Church when He returns or the eternal judgement that awaits those who are found to not be in Christ at His returning, but what if this is ALL you preach because you can only teach what you know and you know nothing more than the basics? This is what these Christians are being admonished for....they have never dug deep into the Scripture to find the truth that they need to apply to their lives to tell them how to live daily. Yes, Jesus paid it all so that one day we can be with Him in heaven, but He left us here on earth to accomplish a mission here and now and to be His ambassadors....to be salt and light.
Then a very bold statement....it is impossible for someone who had had a genuine conversion experience and is part of the elect to turn away to their old life before Christ and then once again be brought back. They have made their decision to exchange the truth for a lie because they wanted to believe the lie instead of the truth and nothing is going to make them want the truth that they already knew and have turned away from. Of this Jesus told us to be careful to not cast our pearls before swine and to not give what is sacred to the dogs. Those that have divorced themselves from God and sought after strange gods and strange flesh should not expect God to let them enter the rest He has prepared for His Bride. It is often times impossible for us to know genuine faith from fake faith until we see the fruit that is produced. The writer here tells us that it is not the fault of the farmer (God) who prepares the soil of a man's heart if the time for harvest comes and instead of the seed that He has planted bringing forth fruit, the soil was toxic and all it will produce is thorns and thistles. It is by their fruits you will know them and it is by our words and our actions that our thoughts and the meditations of our hearts and our true identity is revealed. In such a case the ground is unsuitable for planting and the farmer moves on to find fertile ground that will produce even more than what He has planted because His true disciples will be reproductive and share the truth they know with others and also teach them to be disciples and in this way an eternal kingdom in subjection to our King will be formed of those who have been rescued from darkness and brought into His glorious light. Even with all that said the author of Hebrews was assured of this group's salvation and that they had not committed the unforgivable sin. We would all be in trouble if God cut us off any time we sinned after we sin after we are saved, but we do need to be careful to call each other back to repentance and to expel the immoral brother through the process of church discipline established in the gospels and the epistles so as to show that we take both sin and apostasy as seriously as God does, and we must also be careful to preach a true gospel to others--not just one that is "fire insurance" to keep us out of hell, but one in which we are bought with a price and now belong to God and are have a new identity, a new mission, and a new code of conduct--we are now soldiers in the Lords army and ambassadors of the King and His kingdom. Let us proclaim the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the kingdom of God, and let us be those who are found faithful in the end. Read Hebrews 4:14-5:10 English Standard Version (ESV)Listen to Hebrews 4:14-5:10 English Standard Version (ESV audio Bible) Jesus the Great High Priest 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” 7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. We now move onto to Jesus as our Great High Priest. The role of the High Priest was to make atonement for the people of God and mediate between God and man so that He could speak to the people for God and could speak to God on behalf of the people to plead for God to forgive their sins and remember His covenant with His people. He was an advocate that was one of the people that was called out to be separate and different than the rest in his role and actions, but yet still a representative of the people of God and of the human race in general. Jesus is just such a representative. Since He came in the form of a man and lived a human life and died a human death, He is aware of all of our frailties and sorrows. He can not just sympathize but empathize with us because He has been there and experienced similar griefs, pains, sorrows, and adversities. He was tempted like us and yet, unlike us or any other high priest, He Himself did not fall into temptation and commit any sin against God or man. This is the one person who can stand before God on our behalf and make intercession for us, so let us boldly put our faith in Him and approach God by way of the grace and mercy available in and through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
As we mentioned before, Jesus was without sin and therefore He did not need to make a sacrifice for Himself. Because of this He was the only one that could be an acceptable sacrifice to God in place of any or all of us. Someone innocent must take the place and the penalty of someone guilty. If it was simply another guilty person, He would just be dying for His crimes and could not pay for the crimes of anyone else, but Jesus having committed no "crimes" (sin) against God was rightly found not guilty by Pilate but was killed to be The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This was not a role that Jesus wanted (other than He wanted to fulfill God's plan), but we see that in the Garden of Gethsemane He pleads with the Father that if there is any other way for God to provide it but ultimately He prays, "Not my will, but Yours be done." It is during this time that we see Jesus act most as High Priest as He engages in intercessory prayer before His arrest and death-see John 17. Now comes one of the most interesting prophecies about Jesus. He would be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. What in the world is that to mean? The Hebrew readers would recognize this name from Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. Melchizedek was both a king--the king of Salem, a place mentioned only one other place in the Bible--Psalm 76--where it says, "In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel. His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion." (Psalm 76:1-2). So Salem seems to be "the city of God" and we are told that Melchizedek was also a priest of the Most High God. He served Abraham bread and wine--while we shouldn't read too much into this, isn't it very interesting that these are the symbols of the New Covenant that Jesus would use during the Last Supper in what we now call Communion or the Eucharist in many of our churches today? Melchizedek blessed Abram and Abram gave him a tenth (a tithe) of everything that Abram had just won in battle. He doesn't do that with any of the other kings here--in fact right after this Abram gives everything back to the other kings and refuses to take a portion for himself after he makes sure his men were paid and provided for. So who is this royal priest who shows up out of nowhere and is given a tenth of the spoils before they are divided among the victors and shares in what we would call Communion with Abram and blesses Him and speaks on behalf of the Most High God and seems to come from the very place later referred to as the place where God dwells? It seems like this may be none other than Jesus Himself in what we would call a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ or a Christophany. At a minimum this is what we would call a "type" of Christ--someone that foreshadowed something important about the coming Messiah. Back to the person of Jesus. The writer of the Hebrews references the passionate prayer of Christ in the Garden that we mentioned earlier as Jesus prayed as God's Son for the Father to make some other way, but obeyed and submitted to God's way so that He could make a way for us--the only Way and so that He could bring many sons (and daughters) to glory. "Being made perfect" is probably a bad English translation here as the word "perfect" in the New Testament could also be translated as "complete." So maybe this verse could be better translated as, "And having completed everything perfectly, He became the source of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him..." Quick note here that the author to the Hebrews doesn't say that He is the source of eternal life for all those who believe in who He is and what He did. We see in other places in the Bible that even the demons believe that, but they refuse to be willingly obey God or the Son of God or the Spirit of God. They cannot however ignore God's authority over them and are compelled to obey even though they do so unwillingly. Everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth (in hell) will one day worship Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords whether it is done willingly or unwillingly. The choice is ours if we choose today to put our faith in the one who is not only our propitiation (the satisfaction) for our sin debt--the one who was a better sacrifice--but the one who is the only Advocate and Great High Priest who can enter the very throne room of God and plead for you because He is both God and Man. Not only that, but this is the One who will one day actually sit in judgement over all men. Don't you want your advocate to be the one ruling in your favor because He has already paid your debt in full? What a great salvation God has provided for us, and how foolish it would be of us to refuse so great a salvation and expect to find some other way and escape the punishment that we so justly deserve. Hebrews 4:1-13 English Standard Version (ESV) Listen: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.4.1-Heb.4.13 1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. We discussed much of this in the last blog as I tried to make the connection between the Sabbath rest and our eternal rest. The end of chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 are all one passage that was too long to ask you all to read and digest in one sitting, so I broke it up at the chapter break for you guys and wrote two blogs from it.
What I failed to mention yesterday because it was more important to today's text is that there were two who were faithful and believed that God could take them into the Promised Land and do all that He had promised--namely Joshua, and Caleb. Whether or not we enter God's rest (heaven) pictured by entering the Promised Land is somehow dependent on a choice that we make by faith that we are responsible for, yet we know that we don't even have that faith if it is not given to us by God and we cannot understand the gospel or the Word of God unless God gives us that understanding and that only those who are chosen of God to be His people (the Church eternal and the True Israel made of all tribes, tongues and nations and people of all times and places) will be faithful in following Him. We have already studied how those who appear to be apostates and turn from the truth they know are actually just showing that they were never really part of the Church (the Body of Christ) to start off with because all real members of the Body submit to the authority and instructions given by the head. Obedience is not optional. Back to Joshua. He became the military commander of the Israelites, but even the rest that he led the people into was imperfect. It only was an image to show them what was to come. We know this being in the land was not the final fulfillment of the promised rest because Jesus would later say "Come unto Me all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus promised that we would find rest in Him and obedience to His teachings (the "yoke" that He mentioned). This is a better rest than even Moses or Joshua could provide One day we will enter into a Sabbath rest where like God we will rest from all of our work and be able to fully enjoy His presence and worship Him all the days of our eternal life that He has given to us in Christ. So, what is it that God has provided to us to make sure that we are prepared to enter His rest? If our faith is somehow measured by our obedience, what are we to be obedient to? The end of this passage speaks to that. The Word of God is what is living and active (it is at work in all times, in all generations, in all situations), and like a scalpel can do precision surgery to cut to the heart of the matter and show us what is truly inside of us and where we need to repent because we are in disobedience and how to live a life of obedience. No one can hide from the presence of God and no man can hide from the Word of God....all he can do is harden His heart until he no longer hears the voice of God and is no longer convicted of His sin, but our passage yesterday spoke to how this just seals His fate because this is rejection of God, His Word, and His ways--especially the one Way that He made for us through Christ. Do not be described by God like the rebellious Israelites in the desert--a "stubborn and stiff-necked people" who "will never enter My rest." Hebrews 3:7-19 English Standard Version (ESV) Listen: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.3.7-Heb.3.19 A Rest for the People of God 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Recall that our theme so far as been an argument for that which was "lesser" to that which was "greater," "superior," and "more excellent." In this text we will see that the Sabbath rest of the seventh day of creation and the Sabbath rest observed by God's people in response to the 4th commandment to "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" is a "lesser" rest than the "more excellent" eternal rest that will await God's people as we enter God's presence at the end of our lives and exist in His perfect peace and rest.
Today is the day of salvation. If the Spirit quickens your heart to be able to hear and understand the truth of the gospel, it is so that you may immediately receive it because as we spoke of earlier, no man knows how many days or hours he has left. Do not be like those who were led out of Egypt through the Exodus out of slavery across the Red Sea and provided for daily by God with manna and quail and led by the very presence of God only to rebel and say that they wished that God had killed them or that they could go back to their lives of slavery and made false gods to worship and did and said many other things to make God finally say that particular generation of people would never enter the rest of settling in the Promised Land (which symbolized heaven for them), but their children would have to inherit that blessing if their children followed God and did not turn away and rebel as their fathers and mothers had. God was still gracious and refused to simply kill off His people, but He refused to give rest to those chose not to be His people. In a very real way this is a picture of eternity where God gives us every opportunity and evidence and cares for our every need and we have a choice whether to live in submission to Him or rebel against Him. Why should any King let seditious and rebellious citizens experience the blessings he has prepared for his loyal subjects? We know that those who are faithful to the end are those who were chosen by God and are genuine because man alone cannot be faithful to the end and will fall away when times get hard if his belief is not real (think of the seed that fell on rocky soil in the Parable of the Soil...it looked alive and well until the sun came and it had no root and dried up and therefore had no fruit). Do not harden your hearts in rebellion and let the seed fall on the hard path where the seed can never take root or on the rocky soil where it cannot put down deep roots or in the area full of weeds that choke out any growth because of the cares of this world and a love for the things of this world that are opposed to the things of God. (see Matthew 13) Do not be those who are counted as disobedient and never experience the Passover and Exodus from slavery because you fail to believe in the work of the blood of Jesus, and do not be like those who believed enough in a Jesus that could lead them out of Egypt but could not provide for them daily in the wilderness of life so that their lives were not changed and they did not become the new creations that God had called them to be and were never transformed and were not ready to enter the presence of God and experience His perfect peace and rest. Do not let this blessing pass you by because you failed to act when given the opportunity. At some point in Egypt Pharaoh's hardened his heart and then it reached a tipping point where God seemed to say, "I see the choice you've made, and you're going to have to live with it" and God continued to harden Pharaoh's heart even more so that he wouldn't believe and so that God's work might be seen and God's name would be glorified. God wants everyone to come to salvation and has provided a way for everyone...even for the Egyptians that believed and participated in the Passover and left in the Exodus with the Israelites, but God has shown us that true faith leads to fruit and a new life. To go back to our example God wants us to change from a caterpillar into a butterfly because He has places that He wants us to fly to and wants us to enjoy the sweet nectar and soar on the winds that may take us on a cross-continental migration to a new and distant land (like heaven) but we never can make that trip if we stay a caterpillar or refuse to live like a butterfly and try to still live like a caterpillar after our supposed conversion. God doesn't just call us live in obedience to be a rule monger, but this conversion and obedience in all areas of our lives prepares us for living in His presence where everything will live in a state of absolute submission to our Lord and King as all those who rebelled against the King and the kingdom have been cast out into "utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth" (see Matthew 13:42--link to Matthew 13 appears earlier in the blog) away from this peace and rest that God wants for His people. Hebrews 3:1-6 English Standard Version (ESV) Listen: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.3.1-Heb.3.6 Jesus Greater Than Moses 1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Remember that the book of Hebrews is being written to Christians who are ethnically Jewish and have come out of Judaism. The are what some would refer to as Messianic Jews or Completed Jews because they believe that the Messiah has come in the person of Jesus Christ and that He came to complete and fulfill the requirements of the Old Testament--Recall in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.." (Matthew 5:17). Moses was equivalent to the Law and the Old Covenant (the Mosaic Covenant) for the Jews, so this passage is not just saying that Jesus is greater than the person of Moses--we already know that because Jesus is God in the flesh--but that the covenant that Jesus brought is superior to the Old Covenant brought through Moses. Like Moses, Christ had come to tell people what God had to say (a prophet), intercede to God on behalf of the people and make atonement for sin (a priest) and to lead his people as their king (though this won't be fully fulfilled until the second coming of Christ). The author to the Hebrews reminds us that while Moses may have been responsible for having the Tabernacle there, the Tabernacle was great because of the presence of God that lived in it....not because of the hands that built it or the people that served in it and that Christ is the creator of all things which makes Him more excellent than Moses. The Tabernacle was only a representation of what heaven was like and the ministry of the priests was only an image of the ministry of Christ that He was already performing at that time and that He still does for us today. It is Christ who is the guilt offering, the fellowship offering, the offering of firstfuits, the Bread of Life that the Showbread symbolized the fragrant incense that is pleasing to the Lord, and the Ark of the Covenant in whom the Law, our daily bread and the power to make something living out of something dead (like the budding rod of Aaron) indwells. He is the high priest who is the one mediator between God and man. He is the Tabranacle Himself who took on flesh (like the outer coating of the temple) to hide His glory and make His dwelling (the word there is "tabernacled") among us (see John 1). Moses built a temporary house for God to live in among His people, but Jesus did more--Jesus has made a new people of God all which are living temples of the Spirit of God and God tabernacles among all of us and is with us wherever we go. Let's pull a few verses from the Bible that speak to this point. 1 Corinthians 3:16 English Standard Version (ESV)16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
2 Timothy 1:14 English Standard Version (ESV)14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. Ephesians 2:22 English Standard Version (ESV)22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 3:17 English Standard Version (ESV)17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, Colossians 1:27 English Standard Version (ESV)27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. John 14:23 English Standard Version (ESV)23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Hebrews 3:6 English Standard Version (ESV)6 but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Hebrews 2:5-18 English Standard Version (ESV) Listen: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.2.5-Heb.2.18 The Founder of Salvation 5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. We have just been talking in chapter 2 about how Jesus is more excellent than the angels and how God has a relationship with His Son that no mere man or angel has ever had--though Satan tried to usurp this role and was cast out of heaven. We pick that thought back up after a brief aside that reminded us that the entire point of telling us that Christ is more excellent is that we need to make a decision here and now about what we are going to do with the gospel--accept it by faith or reject it.
Both man and angels are created beings and while in this life it may appear that angels have been given dominion over us because they can do things that we cannot, God has chosen man to be the federal head over creation and to give us stewardship of the earth and all that is in it. Even more important than that though, God made us in His image so that we could know Him and have a relationship with Him unlike any relationship that the angels have because the dye is cast for them and they are made in such a way where they are always obedient to the will of God or actively trying to rebel against the will of God, but they do not appear to be able to choose to act out of love for God--instead, they just act in a way consistent with their nature. There is no chance for redemption with the angels, and we are told that they are witnesses to that mystery and marvel at it. But the text points out that just as Adam was the first federal head of the human race, we needed someone better than Adam and better than all other men who could be a Second Adam and succeed where Adam failed. As the perfect representative for all mankind, Jesus could die in our place and take our sins upon himself and pay our penalty because He had no penalty of His own to pay. He did this to restore creation and create a remnant of redeemed people until Himself for His glory and the glory of God the Father. We focus in on this picture once again of Jesus being high and lifted up and seated on the throne. but also that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and that Jesus is The Way--the one and only way--to the Father. Here though we have a new term for Jesus--brother. We see that God's plan was more than for Jesus to save us to make us servants (though we are), but to adopt us into the family of God and to be co-heirs with Jesus and as those who were adopted by choice, we have equal status in the family with the who are the "flesh and blood" children of the father--this is something we miss about the culture that this letter is being written to because we often experience family structures where the adopted children may feel they are not really a part of the family and aren't really loved by the parents, and maybe are made to feel that way by their siblings, but we can say with great confidence that God knew everything about us and loved us before we loved Him and He chose us for no other reason than His good pleasure. Let me say it again--if you are God's child, God chose you. Jesus came and paid the ultimate price so that you might be called a son or daughter of God and that we might be able to call Jesus our King, our Lord, our Friend (since He has told us His plan), Redeemer, Savior, but also Brother--because we now have the same Father. Even so, Jesus will have a special relationship with God as He is the only one worthy as we will see in the book of Revelation (when we get there) to open and unroll the scroll that is the title deed to all creation. The last section focuses on yet another reason that Jesus died--to free us from the bondage of sin and the power of death caused by sin. In the Garden of Eden, Adam was told to not eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because in the day that he did, he would surely die. This was part of the problem that Jesus needed to address and it was shown that Jesus was given authority over death when He raised Himself from the dead on the third day. Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him. Together we can say, "“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:54b-56) Jesus has become our Great High Priest so that He can represent all of his brothers (in Christ) before God and make intercession for us by presenting His blood which is the satisfaction of the demands of God's Law. He prays for us and pleads our case as our defense attorney as we have an Advocate before God. This is something that no angel has and is part of the mystery that they marvel at because while they witness it they cannot understand it. Jesus has been where you are. He lived a human life where He experienced every kind of difficulty and frailty that we do. He was poor, homeless, hungry, exhausted, overworked, underappreciated, ridiculed, hated, beaten, tortured. and was even called the devil incarnate by some of the religious leaders who wanted to keep the Jews from following Him. He came to His own people and they did not recognize Him or receive Him (in general, though a few did--and some Gentiles did too). Men chose to love the darkness and hate the light because they felt safety that their sins were hidden in the darkness and did not want the light to expose them for who they truly were, but Jesus came to bring light into the world and to take away our filth and give us freedom and abundant life. "Those who I have made free are free indeed" and "It is for freedom that we have been set free." |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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