Hebrews 7:4,5 - Giving a tenth

7:4

Abraham was the patriarch of the nation of Israel. The nation was formed by God from Abraham. The Jews regarded themselves as Abraham’s children, his descendants. So whatever Abraham did, or the way that God interacted with him, is of crucial importance. Paul uses this line of argument when saying that Abraham was made righteous by his faith. So if Abraham gave a tenth, a tithe, to Melchizedek, then Melchizedek must have been very important. Melchizedek was probably not paid too much attention, given the two mentions in the Old Testament. The writer is showing how significant he actually is, and that the two mentions are of great importance.

7:5

Giving a tithe was an important aspect of Jewish religion, of the Law. All the descendants of Abraham were required to give a tenth, and this was collected by the Levites. So even though the people were descendants of Abraham, they had to give a tenth. The Law required the people to give, Abraham freely chose to give a tenth to Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:1-3 - Melchizedek

7:1

Melchizedek gets very few mentions in the Bible. He meets Abraham in Gen14:18-20, he is mentioned in Psalm 110:4, and here. The writer to the Hebrews seems to give him undue significance! So why does he do this? In Paul’s writings one of the points he makes is that the promise to Abraham on the basis of faith was made long before the Law came in, therefore faith is primary. The writer wants to make the point that since the Melchizedek priesthood was around long before the Levitical priesthood came in, it too has primacy.

Back in Genesis Melchizedek met Abraham after Abraham had defeated the kings, and he pronounced a blessing over Abraham. Now blessings were not mere words but had a profound effect - remember how crucial the blessing was in the story of Jacob and Esau. Melchizedek was the king of Salem, or the king of peace, and he was the priest of God Most High. There some who see Melchizedek as a preincarnate appearance of Christ. While he prefigures Christ, seeing him as Christ Himself is probably pushing things too far.

7:2,3

Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils of war. The writer will later make much of this point. Melchizedek is king of righteousness, and king of peace. Such terms were never used of the Levitical priests. He came from nowhere, and went nowhere. Now in relation to the possibility of his being a preincarnate appearance of Christ, the “without father or mother” statements here may just mean that there is no indication of lineage at all, whereas with other people in the Bible the ancestry of a person is almost always given, along with any children they have. The writer sees him as a forerunner of Christ, a type of Christ. However, if he is just a “normal” person, this does raise the question of where did he come from? How did God appoint him as a priest? By the way, the term “resembling the Son of God” implies that he most definitely is not actually the Son of God.

Hebrews 6:18-20 - Hope as an anchor

6:18 The two unchangeable things are the promise and God Himself. This is not a burden upon us, it is an encouragement. We are meant to live life in the light of God’s complete reliability, and His complete commitment to us, but instead we chose to go our own way, and so ended up living in fear and insecurity. We are used to living in fear and insecurity, it is the natural state of affairs in the world, but in God’s kingdom peace and security are the natural state of affairs. We need to learn to live again, to live in this kingdom of peace and joy. 6:19 So the hope that we have is not an uncertain thing, not a vague hope for the future that things might just turn out alright. It is a solid hope, one on which we can base our lives, one which is an anchor for the soul, providing stability in our lives. This hope goes into the inner sanctuary. The writer here is alluding to the Most Holy Place in Mosaic religion (Ex 26:31). He will expand on this later (first he has to deal with the topic of Melchizedek!). 6:20 Jesus has entered the inner sanctum. He went there before us. The Levitical high priests entered a copy of the real thing, Jesus actually went into the real inner sanctuary. But just as the high priest entered the copy on behalf of the people, so Jesus entered the real thing on our behalf. And as a forerunner, ie we will go there too one day. Jesus is the perfect high priest, in the order of Melchizedek. Explanation to follow!

Hebrews 6:16,17 - Swearing

6:16

Now this verse is a lesson in how interpret Scripture. So called “literal” interpretations can be nothing of the sort, and paying no regard to context can cause needless problems. Elsewhere Jesus has spoken against swearing by someone or something else (Matt 5:33-37), here the writer speaks positively about oaths. Are they in contradiction? Not at all. Jesus was stressing the importance of simply speaking the truth, living and speaking consistently. Here the writer is stressing the importance and validity of a promise. When people speak under oath it stresses the importance and veracity of what is about to be said. There no ifs or buts.

6:17

Where did God make the “oath”? It is when He said “I will surely bless you”, rather than “I will bless you”. The circumstances said there was no way this was going to happen. God said it most certainly was going to happen. God was in no doubt, He wanted the people to be in no doubt either. God does not want us to have doubts. Now this does not mean we won’t have the questioning and doubts that we all go through, but the goal is that come to full assurance of hope. We can rely completely upon God’s promises.

Hebrews 6:13-15 - I will surely bless you

6:13

Remember that the writer has just been speaking if having full assurance of faith. He is now giving one of the reasons we can have this assurance, and this will lead the way into the discussion about Melchizedek. There has been a severe warning, and more warnings are to come in Hebrews, and people worry and debate about these because they think it means our salvation is unsure. But just take a moment to think. What is the writer doing? What is he trying to achieve? He is interested in us realising just how complete and how secure our salvation in Christ is. So if we think the a passage casts doubt on that we are misunderstanding it.

God made a promise to Abraham. In fact He made several promises, or at least reemphasised and enlarged on the original promise. When men make an oath they swear by someone greater than themselves to stress the validity of what they say. There is no one greater than God, so He swore by Himself. The validity of God’s promise is  that it comes from God. As an aside, remember that Jesus criticised men for swearing by something, instead our yes is to be yes, and our no is to be no. We are to be more like God! Not in that we are as great as Him, but that we are dependable. We were made in His image.

6:14,15

God’s promise to Abraham was that he would have many descendants. The readers would know the story of Abraham full well. Abraham could not have children, naturally speaking. Yet he did indeed have children, and did indeed become the father of many nations.  He received what was promised. Our faith is built upon the promise of God. Note that Abraham’s spiritual children (which includes you and me) are more important than his natural children (I do NOT mean natural children are not important!).

Hebrews 6:11,12 - Don't become lazy

6:11 The translations here when they speak of your being fully realized (NIV) sometimes give the impression that we do these things so that our hope will come true. I am not sure that that is the real meaning. The Amplified Version perhaps captures the meaning when it says “realise and enjoy the full assurance of hope”. If we are lazy in our faith, paying little attention to following Christ then we most certainly will not enjoy full assurance of hope. If instead we persist in following Christ diligently we will find that our hope increases, we become more and more convinced of the truth and reliability of it all. 6:12 Laziness will produce nothing good. People sometimes ask how do I get more faith, why does so and so seem to be so much more secure in Christ than I am? We get more faith and security by actively living out our faith, by putting effort in! This growth is generally a slow ongoing process, not an overnight thing, though there may be times when there are spurts of growth. The more we live by faith, the more we will find that faith is justified.

Hebrews 6:9,10 - Convinced of better things

6:9

The writer now reassures his readers that he does not actually think they are all about to fall away! He calls them “dearly beloved” and says he actually believes that they will receive the fruits of salvation.Yet still severe warnings have been given. This life is real and what we do with it is real and matters. Yet salvation is actually assured. How can we square these two things? Assurance of salvation and our lives really counting, sometimes faced with momentous decisions or choices, where the wrong choice could be fatal? But this is what the Bible teaches. If we rely on human wisdom we tend to have either (i) assurance of salvation, but it doesn’t really matter what we do with our lives for God will save us anyway; (ii) what we do with our lives matters, but we live in fear because we know how frail we are and how prone to error we are. Relying on human wisdom, the second of these is the one we will most likely go for, for the reality of everyday life will quickly disavow us of any notion that the first can be true. But we are not to make human wisdom the foundation of our lives, we make Godly wisdom our foundation. We live our lives in absolute trust in God, knowing that this life is real and the decisions and actions we take are real, and that we can have a wonderful positive effect on the world. This is the way that Christ lived!

6:10

Some of the Hebrews may have been feeling somewhat disgruntled by the writers severe warnings, for they had made real sacrifices for their faith. Later we will read that they had suffered for Christ, here we see that they had given to Christian brothers and sisters, showing practical Christian love. Doing these things affects, positively, our relationship with God. Now some people get all concerned about a works-salvation thinking, and, of course, if we go down that road we are in trouble, but the Bible is clear that what we do matters. We also need to remember that we are in a relationship with God. And in any relationship how we act affects the outworking of that relationship. So it is with our relationship with God.

Hebrews 6:6-8 - Falling away

6:6

“Who have fallen away”. Now what does he mean by “fallen away”? Our immediate reaction is probably to think that it refers to moral sin (eg adultery, thieving etc), but given that none of the preceding text (all five chapters of it) has been concerned with Christian behaviour, but about what we put our faith in, this may not be the case. So it could be that it refers to those who have tasted of the goodness of the gospel, but even then choose to trust in some other means of justification (Jewish sacrificial and religious system, in the case of the Hebrews). This then makes sense of the second part of the verse. The Jewish leaders crucified Christ because of His challenge to the whole Jewish religious system, so those who reject Christ were doing exactly the same thing, though obviously in a metaphorical sense.

Now the question that everyone asks is if someone falls away is this text saying that there is no hope for them? This is the wrong question. The primary aim of the writer is that we do not fall away, that we trust only in Jesus Christ, in His sacrifice, and in His priesthood, and do not go following after anything else. What if we see someone else going down that road? Well pray for them, and if we have opportunity, remind them of the truth, and the seriousness of the matter, just as the writer of the Hebrews is doing here. Hopefully we are not in that position, then let us learn more of the depths of who Christ is, and of His priesthood and sacrifice, as the writer of Hebrews is teaching us.

If all you are interested in is having a debate then these verses are a problem. In reality they are no problem at all, certainly not in terms of practical discipleship.

The once saved always saved thing is useless. I do believe my salvation is absolutely secure because I have confidence in Christ. I also know that what I do with my life matters, and I must seek to live my life according to God’s word, with the help of the Holy Spirit. And what if a close friend or relative once made a profession of faith but has since fallen away in some sense? Are we to think, well because they once made a profession of faith they will go to heaven anyway? This is not the way to think. Instead we should be praying for that person to truly repent and for them to know Christ now and to exhibit the fruit of the gospel now.

6:7

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9) are words that Jesus often said. Moreover, the Father commanded us to listen to Jesus (Luke 9:35). We need to pay attention to the words of the gospel. Jesus also said you will know a tree by its fruit. Mere hearing of the word is never considered enough in the Bible, we need to receive and respond to the word, to be transformed by it. That is what the writer to the Hebrews is saying here.

6:8

The converse is that if we do not produce good fruit, but only thorns and thistles then we are in severe danger. These analogies are common to both the Old and New Testaments. Whatever the minutiae of debates over the security of our salvation, the whole of Scripture is clear that we must take God’s word seriously and to do otherwise is to put ourselves in a precarious position.

Hebrews 6:4,5 - For those once enlightened

6:4

These verses are ones that cause a lot of trouble amongst Christians, they are also ones where we need to make sure that we hear what God is saying, rather than trying to make the text fit into our preconceived ideas. So what is it clearly saying? It is saying that we need to take God’s word most seriously, there is absolutely no place for a casual attitude towards God, His word or His gospel.

The NIV has an unfortunate habit of missing out the word “for”, as it does here in v4 (see ESV). What is said here follows on from what has just been said. So when the writer speaks of “once been enlightened”, he probably means that when we first hear and believe the gospel we are enlightened, we have tasted the gospel, which is the heavenly gift. Ie the gospel comes from God, it is not man made, but is God’s gift to mankind. And we need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes in the first place, and then by the Spirit we are born again.

6:5

Once we are born again we taste the goodness of the word of God. We have a living experience of it, it cleanses us, it brings life into our lives. It brings love, joy and peace. We experience the “powers of the age to come”. We start to experience something of eternal life. There is, of course, much more to come, but we get a foretaste of it. So whatever else the writer is saying here, he is most definitely speaking of those who have had a genuine experience of meeting God, it is not nominal Christians. Something real had happened to them.

Hebrews 6:1-3 - Let us move on

6:1

The writer urges his readers to “move beyond the elementary teachings”. The Greek is actually passive, meaning more “let us be moved beyond ...” It is the Holy Spirit who ultimately instructs us and we need to let Him move us on. The basic teachings of the gospel are laid at conversion or shortly thereafter, and then we are to move forward. Ie we should not be constantly debating the foundational teachings, but instead building upon them.

When we look at the things that are listed as “elementary teachings” we see that most of them refer to the basics of salvation. In turning to angels, or to Jewish religious practices the readers were undermining the fundamentals. For in Christ and the cross everything needed for our justification and righteousness has been achieved.

“Acts that lead to death” is actually “dead works”. Similar expression is used elsewhere in the New Testament when talking about faith that is dead. Faith that is dead, as in James 2:14-16, is faith that does not produce anything, and so is dead and worthless. Likewise, following Jewish religious practices with regard to sacrifices etc would produce nothing towards salvation, so were deadworks. In his first sermon in Acts Peter told the people they needed to “repent and believe”.

6:2,3

“Cleansing rites” or “washings” may refer to baptism. The Qumran community had various washings, and Jewish religious practice also had purification rituals, including baptism for converts. In Acts we read of some who had heard only of “John’s baptism”.  So the reference here maybe to the difference between Christian baptism and these practices. It also implies that the readers had a strong Jewish background.

Laying on of hands could refer to people being baptised in the Holy Spirit, who was sometimes, but not always, given by the laying on of hands, or to healing, or to ordination.

The resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement are regarded as fundamental too. The gospel is most definitely not for this life only.

The writer is determined to move the Hebrews on, but knows that he is completely dependent upon God for this to be successfully achieved.

Hebrews 5:13,14 - Solid food for the mature

5:13

Now I like the NIV, but at times I get a bit fed up with it. The NIV says “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness”. ESV says “for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child”. The ESV is closer to the original Greek. Now what does “word of righteousness” mean? Is it referring specifically to the Bible’s teaching on righteousness, which is how the NIV has taken it, or is it referring to the Bible in general? The NIV has made a judgement here, and we need to be aware when we are reading translations that they will do this from time to time, and that is why it is good to read more than one trnaslation. The ESV, NASB, KJV will not do this very often, the NIV a little more often, the NLT significantly more often, and the Message will do this all of the time and is not to be trusted! Here the NLT says “For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right”. Now I also quite like the NLT, but here we see that it has further interpreted the meaning of the text, and not particularly well in my opinion.

Anyway, the text would seem to imply that an initial gospel presentation does not go into enormous depth about righteousness and justification, but that after responding to the initial message one should expect Christians to deepen their understanding of these things.

5:14

Part of the purpose of studying the word is not to make us puffed up, but so that we can distinguish good from evil. Given the context of Hebrews, here the writer is thinking primarily of being able to recognise what is truly of the gospel and what is not. So worshipping angels is out, the Jewish system of sacrifices and priests is out. We need to train ourselves, discipline is an essential part of the Christian life.

Hebrews 5:11,12 - Solid food

5:11

“We have much to say about this ...” The writer intends to expand on the importance of Melchizedek, but he realises that this is a difficult topic and he has concerns about his readers’ ability to comprehend it. We may well empathise with their inability! But note also that the writer clearly thinks they should be able to understand, so we should take that as an encouragement that we too should actually be able to make sense of it all!

The NIV says “because you no longer try to understand”, the ESV has “because you have become dull of hearing”. The NIV is probably an interpretation rather than a translation of the Greek. However, it might be an accurate assessment of the situation. There are parts of Scripture that we do find difficult and give up trying to understand. We need to realise that part of the work of the Holy Spirit, part of the purposes of God, is that we become alive to His word, that we see the truth. So we should never take a lazy attitude, we should never rest on our laurels. There are infinite depths of truth in the Bible and we should never stop trying to explore all the depth that is in there.

5:12

There is a clear expectation of growth and maturity. Becoming a Christian is absolutely not about a “ticket to heaven”. It is about being born again, about being adopted into God’s family, about becoming a child of God and a servant of Christ. It is about starting to become all that God intended us to be.

“All should be teachers”. This might imply that the original recipients were leaders in the church. Or it could be “teachers” in a more general sense. All mature Christians should be an example for others, we may not all be formal teachers, but our lives should teach others.

The writer admonishes them for still needing to be taught the basic truths of the gospel. The whole of the New Testament is clear that we should grow in our faith, both in the quality of our lives, and in the depth of our understanding.

Hebrews 5:8-10 - Made perfect

5:8

He learned obedience. This does not mean that he was ever disobedient, but Jesus was fully human,. He came into the world as a baby, in fact as an embryo. He therefore developed as He grew older, and part of that development was learning obedience to the Father. He knows exactly what it means to obey the Father in this world. Why through suffering? Jesus suffered from the moment of birth. Herod tried to have him killed as a baby. In His ministry He was under constant attack, people always trying to get Him, to catch Him out. In the midst of all this opposition He continually faithfully obeyed the Father. And this carried on right to the cross, even through Gethsemane when everything fleshly within Him was crying out no, He continued to say yes to the Father. Jesus has demonstrated that a man can obey God in all circumstances.

5:9,10

“Made perfect”. Again, this does not imply that He was ever imperfect, it is more in the sense of made complete. If Jesus had not gone to the cross He would not have been the “source of eternal salvation”. The cross is much more than an expression of God’s heart (though it is that). It is a concrete act that has a real effect upon the whole of history. “For all who obey Him”. The obedience is to believe the gospel, to put our trust in Him. Refusing to believe the gospel is not a choice, it is an act of disobedience.

We then get a second mention of Melchizedek. We will have to wait until chapter 7 for further explanation, but Jesus was a greater high priest than any who had gone before.

Hebrews 5:5-7 - A priest forever

5:5,6

Now the comparison with Christ is made. It is perhaps significant that previously the author has referred to Jesus the Great High Priest, now he calls Him Christ, ie the Messiah, or Anointed One. Jesus was anointed by the Father to be the Messiah. Christ did not choose Himself to be the High Priest, but God appointed Him. See also the link with Sonship. The first quote comes from Psalm 2:7, previously quoted, and the second from Psalm 110. Jesus is the Son and He is the high priest. Some may think that since He is the Son He cannot be a High Priest and so we still need priests. This is not so. Jesus is both Son and High Priest, because God has said so!

We have here the first reference to Melchizedek. A lot more will be said about Melchizedek in chapter 7, where it will be shown that there was going to be a priesthood that was far superior to the Levitical priesthood.

5:7

We in the West sometimes get a bit embarrassed by overly emotional displays. Well this verse shows that there is definitely a place for emotional and expressive prayers, for Jesus Himself did this! This may be referring to Gethsemane, but the phrase “in the days of His flesh” indicates that it is referring more generally to His earthly ministry. See also that He offered prayers to “him who was able to save Him from death”. While there is definitely a place for expressive prayers, these are not offered in desparation, but in faith. For we pray to the one who is able to save. Jesus also came in a reverent attitude. We must all come before God with the same attitude. If we do not we should not expect to be heard, but if we do come in faith and reverence we should come in confidence knowing we are safe in the hands of the God who is able to save.

Hebrews 5:3,4 - Sins

5:3

The Levitical priests had to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as those of the people. He was in exactly the same boat as the people for he too was a sinner in need of forgiveness. All of us as Christians always need to remember that when we serve others we serve as fellow sinners. All of us are in need of the grace of God.

5:4

The final point made here is that the high priest is appointed by God, no one can take this honour upon himself. Now if we look at the arguments of critics of Christianity they are often “taking honour upon themselves”. They object that Christ is the only way to God, they think that we should be able to decide how God is to be approached. A moment’s thought should reveal how stupid and arrogant a notion this is. Imagine you are approaching someone far greater than you, who sets the terms? If you were going to meet the head of your organisation, who decides if, when and where the meeting will take place? You or the boss? The answer is obvious. So if we are going to meet the creator of the Universe, who sets the terms?

Moreover, if you were rightly convicted of a crime, who would decide if a pardon was going to be granted? You would have no right whatsoever, you are completely at the mercy of the judge. He is under no obligation to grant you, the guilty person, a pardon. If he does it is an act of grace. So it is with God. We are all guilty, and totally reliant upon His mercy. We are fools to imagine that things can be any other way.

Hebrews 5:1,2 - Subject to weakness

5:1

Having declared that Jesus is the great high priest, the writer now goes on to expound on the what the Biblical requirements for a high priest are, and will show how the the Old Testament is all pointing to Jesus, and how He is the fulfilment of the Old Testament priesthood.

First a high priest is selected from “among the people”. He has to be a man, not an angel or some sort of super being.

Secondly he is appointed to represent them in matters related to God. His role is not to meet human aims and objectives, but God’s aims and objectives. And his primary purpose is to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Sin is our biggest problem, and the high priest is appointed by God to deal with this problem.

5:2

The high priest does not act as a superior being, for he is subject to weakness himself, ie he understands how and why we fail. So he is able to deal gently with those who “ignorant and going astray”. It is so much easier just to cast off the weak and failing people, but that is not the role of a high priest. We should remember that we are all part of a royal priesthood, so we should be on our guard against a superior, aloof attitude on our own part, something we are so prone to. God want us to help the weak and failing.

Hebrews 4:14-16 - Jesus the Great High Priest

4:14

We now come to one of the major themes of the book, the priesthood of Christ. “Since then ...”, how does this tie in with the last verse? Well if God knows absolutely everything about us, and nothing is hidden from Him, we are in big trouble! We need an intermediary, someone to speak on our behalf. We have just such a person in Jesus. He has “ passed through the heavens “, He has entered the very presence of the Father. He is the Son of God, He is the best intermediary, the best high priest we could have. So we should hold fast to our confession, for the gospel offers everything we need, and we would be foolish to do anything else.

4:15

Now since Jesus is so great, the creator of all things, the one with all power and authority, one might think that He is unable to sympathise with our plight, but this is not so. He was tempted just as we are, yet did not sin. He is the perfect priest. For He understands what we go through perfectly, yet He did not sin, He was never defeated.

4:16

So we should draw near to God with confidence, we approach the throne of grace. Notice the two elements here. There is the power of the throne, but it is also a throne of grace. Oh how perfect and wonderful is God's provision for us. So if we approach the throne we will receive help and mercy in our time of need, when we need it most.

Hebrews 4:12,13 - Sharper than any two-edged sword

4:12

The words in Psalm 95 were written about a thousand years before the time Hebrews was written, but the word of God is living and active. We do not read and study an ancient book, we read and study the living and active word of God. And this word is incisive, it gets to the heart of the matter, it divides soul and spirit. It reveals what is really going on inside.us.So how does this apply to the matter in hand? Suppose someone was looking back to the old covenant stuff? This shows a denial of all that Christ has done, a lack of belief in what God has done through Christ. It shows a reliance on what man can do. Suppose someone makes no effort, what does that show? It reveals a complete lack of repentance, a complete lack of seeking after God and His ways.

4:13

This verse contains a vital truth, and one that man is desperate to avoid facing up to. God knows everything, He knows all that we do along with the motives that lie behind the actions. And we must all give an account to God. Our Western society is increasingly pushing God out of the picture, we become our ultimate authority, instead of acknowledging that there is a higher authority to whom we must all one day give an account. This will lead, indeed is leading, to disaster. Have you noticed how keen secular societies are to kill people, but in the nicest possible way? It defends the right to abort babies as a human right, then at the other end of the age spectrum it is keen to help people die. We are not the ultimate authority, and authority we have is a delegated authority and we do well to remember that.

Hebrews 4:10,11 - Make every effort

4:10

There are two key points in this verse. First there is a resting from our own works, then their is resting as God did. The Hebrews were hankering back after the temple, the sacrifices and all the Old Testament stuff. All of this was a reliance on the works of man. We need to rest from our works, for they cannot bring us into the kingdom of God. In Lev 16:30,31 God declares that the day of atonement  is a day of Sabbath rest. Only God can cleanse us of our sin, and this He did on the cross.

Genesis 1 tells us that on the seventh day God rested. This does not mean that He stopped doing anything. Indeed the rest of the Bible is full of the things that God is doing! It meant it was complete. The cross completed the work of justification, and we need to enter into that rest.

4:11

So the record of what happened to the Israelites who came out of Egypt is a warning to us of what not to do. We are to make sure that we do not perish. Instead we are to make every effort to enter God’s rest, ie to enter His kingdom. Note that we are to make every effort. All the New Testament writers urge us put effort into following Christ. We are saved by grace, saved by the sovereign act of God, saved by His act of mercy, it is totally undeserved and we are totally unable to save ourselves. All this is true, but the Bible is absolutely clear that none of this means that we are not to put effort into the matter. Any (mis)understanding of the Bible that leads someone to think they don’t have to put effort in is completely wrong.

Hebrews 4:6-9 - Today, if you hear His voice

4:6,7

Let’s follow the argument carefully. The Israelites who came out of Egypt had the opportunity to enter God's rest but did not take it because of their unbelief and lack of obedience. God’s rest  still exists as does the opportunity to enter that rest. How do we know that opportunity still exists? Because hundreds of years after the failure of the first lot to enter His rest God spoke about it in Psalm 95, making it clear that the opportunity was still there and we should be careful not to neglect that opportunity. As an aside note the assumption that God spoke through David. As has been mentioned before, the New Testament is absolutely convinced that the Old Testament is the word of God.

4:8,9

So we need to pay attention. However, someone might say the Promised Land was God’s rest, and Joshua did take the people into the Promised Land. So the promise was fulfilled. This is where the general argument in Hebrews comes in, that the new covenant is vastly superior to the old, and that the old contains only a shadow of the true covenant. Specifically at this point the writer reminds them that God spoke about His rest in Psalm 95, a psalm written many years after Joshua had led the people into the Promised Land. So God certainly did not consider this to be fulfilment of all His plans!

So the conclusion is that there is a Sabbath-rest to be entered into. Life can be put so much better than it is now. As Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Hebrews 4:3-5 -They shall never enter my rest

4:3

The Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land because of their lack of faith. We have faith, so we enter God’s rest. Notice how it says “just as God has said”, and then quotes a rather negative verse. He does this because the verse illustrates a principle, as he stated in the previous verse. Having faith is the key. So if not having faith means you do not enter His rest, the converse is also true, if you have faith then you will enter His rest.

Then we get a reference back to Genesis 1, where it speaks of God resting on the seventh day. So what are we to make of this? When God created the world it “was good”. God has not changed, His rest has always been available, what changed was man’s sin.

4:4,5

So the writer is drawing a comparison between God resting on the seventh day, and the disobedient, unbelieving Israelites being denied entry. What this means is that the unbelieving will never be part of God’s kingdom. There is only one way into God’s kingdom, only one way to live in the kingdom, and that is by faith. Remember that the writer is writing to Hebrews who were at least considering other ways, eg worshipping angels, holding on to Old Testament concepts like the priests and sacrifices. These things were seen as a means of gaining access to God’s presence, but the writer has shown that it is faith that gains us access. Unbelief will most certainly deny us access.

Genetics, Sex and 6-day Creationism

Some thoughts on Genetics, sex and 6-day creationism on my other blog.

Hebrews 4:1,2 - Let us be careful

4:1

So we have had angels and Moses, now we get Joshua. Why Joshua? Because he did actually lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. But first the writer reminds the people of what all this is about. First, the promise of entering God’s rest still stands. Now we need to be careful here, for rest to us implies passivity, here it does not. It means the place of God’s rule, His chosen land. God still invites us to enter His chosen land. But as the history of Israel demonstrates, entering this land is not automatic, there is “no ticket to heaven”. We need to ensure that we live by faith.

4:2

The Israelites in Egypt had good news preached to them, freedom was proclaimed to them. Likewise good news has been preached to us. Yet most of the Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land because they failed to believe. For us too the message is of no value unless we combine it with faith. Notice the combination of obedience and faith, these two words go together a lot in the New Testament, yet so often we seem to think that they are opposed to each other! Faith is not a mere intellectual assent, it is not a mere emotional response, it is an active belief, one that leads to us basing our life on what we have believed in.

Hebrews 3:16-19 - Who died in the desert?

3:16

The writer then expounds on the background to Psalm 95, which is about the Israelites who came out of Egypt. First of all, who were the people God is speaking about? They were those who were led out of Egypt by Moses. So they had seen great miracles, they had been set free from slavery. They were on their way to the promised land, they were led by a great man of God. And they all (except Joshua and Caleb) died in the desert because of their unbelief. We may be part of a great church, we may have experienced God doing wonderful things in our lives. I guess many of us know people whom we know God has done significant things in their lives, yet they later fall away. We all need to believe, we all need to persevere.

3:17

“With whom was He angry”? God being angry is not just an Old Testament concept, it applies today as well. This was not a baseless anger, He had good cause. The Israelites had experienced much, He had been extremely patient with them. Time after time He had intervened miraculously, yet they never learned, they never started to actually trust God. And their bodies perished in the desert. Their disobedience, their lack of faith, had consequences. We should never imagine that any lack of faith or disobedience on our part will not have consequences.

3:18,19

It was not mere bad luck that stopped the Israelites reaching the Promised Land, it was a direct, deliberate, judgement from God. He declared it would happen and it did. So if they could not enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief, how much more we will fail to enter a much greater “Promised Land” if we persist in unbelief?

Now let me make a small caveat here. We absolutely must take God seriously, but that does not mean that every little sin or time of doubt will mean we have had it! The Israelites sinned persistently for forty years. If at any point they had seen the light and repented they would have been able to enter the promised land. There is a balance to be had. We should not live in fear that every failing means we are doomed, if that were the case no one would be saved, but we should take life seriously, we should take following Christ seriously.

Hebrews 3:14,15 - If we hold to the end

3:14

We have come to share in Christ. We share in His inheritance, we will share in His glory. He is the firstborn of God’s people. We are raised with Him and will share in His resurrection. However, all these great things are ours only if we continue to follow Him, to believe in Him. Now some people get very upset about this sort of stuff, getting worried about “once saved always saved” and “can I lose my salvation”. This sort of thinking is sign of completely missing the point. We were saved to live, saved to become Christlike. Every book in the New Testament is absolutely clear that how we live matters, and that we need to persist in following Christ. So, however all the details work out, I can absolutely assure you that things will be an awful lot better, both now and in the future, if we persevere in following Christ. Conversely, things will be an awful lot worse, both now and in the future, if we give up. So stop having your silly arguments and let’s get on with following Christ. You know it makes sense!

3:15

The writer repeats the first verse (Ps 95:7) of his quote from Psalm 95. This stresses the seriousness of the matter, it also draws our attention back to what God says. This is not a warning from a mere man, it is a warning direct from God. Peter tells us to preach as if preaching the very words of God (1 Pet 4:11). Our preaching and teaching should always be God focused. We are not preaching or teaching our own ideas or our own words, we are not drawing attention to what we think, but to what God says.

Hebrews 3:12,13 - No easy message

3:12

People sometimes mistakenly think that the New Testament is “easier” than the Old Testament. We can now sin and get away with it, or so the thinking goes. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the argument of Hebrews is that things are now even more serious and vital. So the argument is that the Israelites did have sinful and unbelieving hearts and had turned away from the living God, and they paid a heavy price for doing that. How much more will we pay a price if we too turn away from God?!

3:13

So instead of taking a lackadaisical approach, we are to be vigilant. Moreover, this is not just a matter of us taking care of ourselves. Instead we are to encourage one another. The reference to “Today” harks back to the beginning of the quotation from Psalm 95. The warning in Psalm 95 applies to us as well. Sin is deceitful. We are all experts in sin having had a lifelong experience of it! And we know that it is deceitful. It promises what it cannot deliver, it distorts our thinking and our vision. It hardens our hearts. So we need to be on our guard against sin at all times.