Epistle to Hebrews #7
CHAPTER ONE
God had spoken in various past times and in different ways
to the ancient Israelites, by the prophets of old. As we read
through the Old Testament, we can clearly see the truth of what
Paul stated in the opening verse of the epistle to the Hebrews.
The many and diverse ways God's spoke to the Israelites gives us
the clear picture that the Almighty does work in different and
wonderful ways His work on this earth, as He carries out His
overall plan of salvation for the world and for the peoples of
Israel.
Then in verse two Paul says God "Hath, in THESE LAST DAYS,
spoken unto US, by His Son....." Did you catch it? "These LAST
DAYS." Jesus had come in "these last days" and spoken the words
of God the Father. Ah, so the phrase "last days" or "end times"
CAN mean the last 2,000 years since the time Jesus walked this
earth in the flesh, and preached the good news of the gospel. In
1 JOHN 2:18, we can also see that John understood "the last time"
to mean the very time he was living in. There is a broader span
of time that can be meant by the phrase "last time" or "end time"
than JUST the last few years of this age before Jesus returns to
earth to set up the Kingdom of God on earth.
With this in mind, we need to be careful about narrowing
down the phrase "last time" or "end time" - people often today
say, "We are living in the end time." Well, true enough, but
"end time" or "last days" can mean the last 2,000 years. Hence we
really do NOT have much idea as to when Jesus will return. It
could still be decades away or even a hundred years or so. All we
can do is watch the signs of the times .... WATCH, as Jesus said
we were to do. Time for God is not anywhere near time for us.
What seems like a long time to us, is but a blink of the eye to
God. How long the Father will allow the events of prophecy to
manifest themselves and come to pass, is entirely up to Him. He
can lengthen them out or shorten them up, as He sees fit.
Certainly there is MUCH in prophecy to yet take place, so we
watch, and we watch. And through it all we must remember that
Christ's coming is as close for us as our death. Will He return
in the life time of you who are reading these studies? Maybe, but
it is a maybe, for it maybe not. I'm sure many of the apostles of
the first century Church of God, thought Jesus' return would
never be at least 2,000 years away.
The "last days" can be way longer than many would like to
think it is. The main thing is to remain faithful to the way of
the Lord, to grow in grace and knowledge, and to endure to the
end of whatever physical life has been, or will be given to us.
God has spoken to us through His Son in these last days, and
the Son was appointed heir of all things.
Paul plainly tells us that it was the Son who MADE THE
WORLDS. He also told us the same truth in his epistle to the
Colossians, chapter 1, verses 15-18. Jesus, was the CREATOR of
all that IS, in this physical world and in the unseen "spirit"
world.
Jesus was also the very brightness of God's glory. No doubt
a double meaning here. He was the brightness of God's character
and nature, and He is in the very literal brightness today in
glory as we can see from the vision the apostle John had, as
recorded in the first chapter of the book of Revelation, where we
are given the picture of what Jesus looks like today in the
heaven of God's throne.
Jesus was the EXPRESS IMAGE of the Father's person. You may
remember that one of the twelve asked Jesus to show them all,
plainly, the Father. Jesus replied that they who had seen Him had
seen the Father also.
Jesus also upholds ALL THINGS by the very power of His word.
He and the Father are indeed ONE! They are two individual
persons, but in ALL respects they are the same. The only
difference is that, after Jesus had purged our sins on the cross,
he went back to heaven and is sitting on the Father's RIGHT HAND.
He is not sitting on top of the Father. He did not push the
Father off the heavenly throne, and take His place. The NT
Scriptures make it very clear that Jesus is AT the Father's RIGHT
HAND. The images of the throne room as given in the book of
Revelation, show the Father to be on the heavenly throne, and
Jesus at His RIGHT HAND. The Father is the MAJESTY ON HIGH. The
Father is SUPREME in AUTHORITY. The Father is HEAD of Christ.
That truth is given in 1 Corinthians 11:3. I maintain that a
child reading the NT will come to see very clearly that the
Father is head of Christ. I came to see this when I was
about 9 years old. I came to see, just by reading the NT, that
there is no such doctrine as the "Trinity." God is NOT three in
one, or one in three.
The Trinity doctrine is very complicated by the way some
teach it, so much so that many just throw up their hands and say,
"It's just not possible to understand God." It is a mystery they
will tell you. Nothing could be further from the TRUTH!! God has
over and over again made it clear in His word, concerning Himself
and His Son. WHAT THEY ARE LIKE IS REVEALED TO US.
Jesus sits at the RIGHT HAND of the Father, the Majesty on
High (verses 1-3).
Paul now goes on to prove that the Son of God is way, way
more superior than the angels. He has first of all inherited and
obtained a more excellent name than what angels have. Jesus has
the name of SON of God. From Psalm 2:7 we learn that God had
foretold, "You are my SON, this day I have begotten you." No
angel was ever called the begotten son of God. Certainly not in
the way it was fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Jesus was UNIQUE in
birth. It was a MIRACULOUS and mind-numbing event, that no angel
has ever come close to having duplicated on themselves.
Paul then takes a verse from 2 Samuel 7:14, and applies it
to the nature of the birth of Jesus the Christ. "I will be unto
him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son."
Very interesting, in the nature of prophecy, is this example.
The context of it not suggesting at all that this would
be a prophecy of the relationship of the heavenly Father to His
Son Christ Jesus. The context of 2 Samuel 7 is the context of
David, the King of Israel. But as given here in Hebrews it is
applied to God the Father having a Son, in a very special way,
which none of the angels were ever destined to have happen to
them.
And once more, using the Greek Septuagint version, Paul
renders Deut.32:43, as a prophecy of the first begotten of the
Father (Jesus the Christ) coming into the world and for the
angels of God to WORSHIP Him!
Amazing, so it will be to some. Deut.32:43 in the Hebrew and
hence in the KJV is not close to the rendition of the LXX or
Greek Septuagint. The reader is asked to study the study on this
Website called, "Paul's Use of the Old Testament." That study is
a truth that will shock most of you, the truth of how the Greek
translations of the Old Testament were used, especially by the
apostle Paul, the mighty Hebrew scholar, taught at the feet of
the famous Gamaliel of Judea, and then by Christ Himself (as Paul
tells us in the letter to the Galatians).
The angels were to WORSHIP Christ, the Son of God the
Father. Now, angels do not worship each other, and worship is
only towards God. No other creature is worthy or holy enough to
be worshipped, only God is worthy and righteous and holy enough
to be WORSHIPPED.
Jesus was worthy and holy enough, perfect enough, godly
enough, to be worshipped. Only He was of the Godhead, made into
flesh and blood. But yet called Immanuel, by the prophet Isaiah,
which means, God with us. He was part of the Godhead from
eternity past. He did not grasp as being in the Godhead, but
emptied Himself, humbled Himself, put aside being in the very
Godhead, and came to earth as flesh and blood (all this Paul has
taught before in Philippians 2:5-11).
We shall see very shortly that Jesus is called "God" - He
has a name with the title and very name "God" attached to it - He
is Jesus Christ God. He is God the Son. The Father is God the
Father. Both bear the name "God." One is God the Father, the
other is God the Son.
It was written of the angels that they were angel spirits,
and servants who could be like a flame fire (Psalm 104:4). A
flame of fire is nothing compared to the SUN. In Revelation
chapter one, Jesus EYES are like a flame of fire, but His
countenance is like the SUN in its full strength. No angel is
anywhere near being like God in appearance or in anything that
God IS! (verses 4-7).
JESUS IS CALLED "GOD"
Verses 8 and 9, of Hebrews one, makes it as clear as the sun
shining in a cloudless day, that Jesus bears the name "God"! He
is then God the Son, or as stated before, Jesus Christ God.
The word "God" is used in various ways in the NT. It is used
as a "personal name" for God the Father, in some contexts. It is
used as a name of Jesus in some contexts. It is used as a "sur-
name" for all in the Godhead or in the very Family of God. Hence
Jesus can be rightfully called Jesus Christ God. The Father is
God, and the Son is God, both in the Godhead. Both being separate
individual persons, with spirit bodies, so God the Son can sit at
the right hand of God the Father, in the heavenly throne room. It
is quite simple really. The Godhead consists as of today, TWO
BEINGS, both bearing the name "God." The Godhead is NOT a
Trinity, in any way that Trinitarians like to teach. The Godhead
is TWO beings, personal beings, with their own personal spirit
bodies. One is the being we call God the Father, and the other is
the one that sits on His right hand, we call the Son of God, or
Jesus Christ God.
We have Paul proving from the very Scriptures of God the
Father, that Jesus, has the name "God." He quotes from Psalm
46:6,7, "Thy throne, O GOD, is for ever and ever, a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy Kingdom. You have loved
righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore GOD, even thy God
has anointed you with oil of gladness above your fellows."
Jesus is here called "God" and yet we also see that Jesus
has a "God" who has appointed and anointed Him in such a way (for
His love of and loyalty to righteousness) that is ABOVE any other
anywhere in the whole created universe. The rest of the NT proves
beyond any doubt that of all human flesh and blood people, of all
the angels and created beings in the unseen world, Jesus
inherited from physical life a position of glory ABOVE any one,
and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High.
The NT declares that Jesus existed from eternity, that he
was God and was WITH God (John chapter one), that He put aside
that position in the very Godhead, to become a physical man, so
He could conquer sin and Satan, be a perfect sacrifice through
His shed blood on the cross, and so redeem mankind, and make
their salvation possible. He was so faithful and righteous (never
having any sin, no not one) to His offering Himself as the
atoning sacrifice for any and all people, that in His
resurrection, He was made again part of the very Godhead, with
the glory of the Father, and with the very name once more of
"God."
Paul's mind now returns to the Scriptures that tell us that
Jesus (before He came to earth as Jesus the Christ) was the very
person who LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, and the HEAVENS are
the very works of His hands. Jesus was the one who did the
creating of all things. It was the Father, the Majesty on High,
who desired it, and the one who became Jesus, did the actual
creating! (Psalm 102:25).
The next quote is taken from Isaiah 34:4. One day the
physical world will perish, so also the heavens in some way, they
wax old as a garment, they are running down so to speak, they
will need TO BE CHANGED! Other verses in the Scriptures also tell
us that one day there will be a new heaven and earth, and maybe
much of a new universe. BUT, in contrast to all that Jesus is and
remains the SAME, and He will never grow old. He is eternal. His
glory as given in a fashion to us in the first chapter of the
book of Revelation, will NEVER dim, and His divine character of
perfection and holiness and righteousness, will always be the
SAME, forever.
Paul ends his teaching on this matter by once more showing
from the Scriptures that the ANGELS of God, were NEVER to be in
such a high exalted position as sitting on the right hand of the
God the Father, and having their enemies made to be their foot-
stool (Psalm 110:1).
From Psalm 103:20, the angels were created to be "serving
spirits" - and to mainly serve those who would be heirs of
salvation.
In simple terms, the angels were created to have the
important, yes, job of serving human flesh and blood people, whom
would be heirs of God the Father, in the plan of salvation. The
angels do many mighty things in the universe at large, this we
can see from reading the book of Daniel, as well as other parts
of Scripture, that show us what some of the jobs are that angels
do. But here Paul makes it clear that the MAIN function for them
is to serve at various (often unknown and unseen ways) times, US
humans who are heirs of God, through Jesus Christ. We shall see
in Hebrews chapter two, that we humans, were created to RISE
ABOVE the angels and be the actual and literal bothers and
sisters of Jesus. Paul in Romans 8, says we are co-inheritors
with Jesus of the SAME glory He inherited when He was resurrected
from death. Again, many parts of the NT prove that God the Father
is REPRODUCING Himself, that He will have MANY SONS born to Him.
Jesus will always be the greatest in authority, always be at the
Father's right hand, always the greatest next to the Majesty on
High. The Godhead will expand, that is what the Father desires,
but God the Father will always be supreme in authority, with
Jesus His Son next in authority. Who will be on Christ's right
and left hand? You will remember two of the twelve wanted those
positions, Jesus said it was NOT for Him to give or decide, but
the Father would give those high positions to whomsoever He
willed and decided.
WHAT A WONDERFUL CHAPTER OF THE BIBLE!!
So much great and magnificent truths proclaimed in such relatively few verses.
Meditate on them, be inspired, be lifted up, be humbled, and
constantly PRAISE the Father for His LOVE and His wanting to
share what He IS, with us humans who can be His very children
(verses 8- 14).
...................
November 2006
  Chapter One Hundred-one:Epistle to Hebrews #8
CHAPTER TWO
After all that was stated in the first chapter it was indeed
that we should not let anything slip away. The word of angels was
in times past, solid and steadfast, and those who did not heed
even angels received a just recompense for their folly. If that
being so, as it was, then how can we Christians escape a just
punishment, IF we neglect so great a salvation, which was
proclaimed by the Lord, and afterwards by those who heard Him
proclaim it. It was all backed up by God performing miracles,
wonders, signs, and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as God
willed (verses 1-4).
Paul now once more affirms the GREAT and MIGHTY calling, and
what it all means for those who ARE the children of God, and the
very brothers and sisters of Christ. The "age to come" that Paul
and other apostles spoke about, as part of the Gospel message,
was not going to be ruled by angels, as they being in charge and
being the main beings over that new age, that the prophets of old
have spoken about in so much of their writings.
It is MAN, human kind, that is going to be the chief ones in
the new age of things. God the Father's plan in creating mankind,
was it have them as part of His family, above the angels in
authority and power, and it was human kind that was to be given
the whole universe to rule and help govern under the Father and
His first begotten and first born Son - Christ Jesus.
Paul quotes from Psalm 8, that asks the question of "What is
man that you are mindful of him? You did make mankind lower than
the angels, but you in your plan have crowned him with glory and
honor, and have determined to set him over the works of your
hands."
Paul was then inspired to tell us that when God had
determined to put mankind over His works, it did mean ALL His
works of creation, the entire universe. All things was eventually
to be in subjection to man. And there was NOTHING that was not to
be under the rulership of mankind. But as of yet, the present,
this was not the reality, all things are not yet under the
rulership of human kind (that was created as God tells us in
Genesis, after the God kind, "after OUR image" - God said).
But, there is one fact, we do see Jesus, who was also for a
short while made into flesh and blood, a little lower than the
angels, for the purpose of suffering death (and so making
salvation possible for sinful mankind), NOW crowned with GLORY
and HONOR!!
The Father had pre-determined to have MANY sons born to Him,
in the plan of salvation. Jesus, was the CAPTAIN, or LEADER, the
one to guide the way to the Father, was now made FULLY PERFECT,
in glory, and all that is perfection as God, and it was all done
through Him, Christ, suffering the life of being a human, knowing
all about what it is like to be flesh and blood.
As Jesus had said in the real "Lord's prayer" of John 17,
that the Father, and Him, and all those who would belong to
Christ, were ONE. Jesus prayed to the Father that they would all
be ONE. Paul re-affirms here that it is so, and is the will of
the Father that Christ, and humans through salvation in Christ,
would be ALL ONE. Hence Jesus, is NOT ashamed to call His
followers BROTHERS! Here the Greek word does indeed mean
"brothers" - just as we think of brothers that come from the same
parents - very kin, very family. So, as the NT teaches over and
over again, God is a FAMILY, there is God the Father, and God the
Son, and all who are Christ's ARE HIS BROTHERS - they are part of
the VERY FAMILY CALLED GOD!
It is like the Father and Christ working a work whereby they
have between themselves PRODUCED "children" - of THEIR KIND, not
angel kind, or any other kind, but the very KIND that is God
KIND!
So, as children of parents partake of flesh and blood, so
Jesus partook of flesh and blood, in order to redeem and make a
way of salvation possible for the Father to have more children
born of Him. Jesus, through His death on the cross, was able to
destroy the works of Satan, and the power of death that the Devil
held over mankind. Jesus, was by living a perfect human life, not
sinning even once, deliver us from the fear and bondage of
eternal death because of sins we had done.
All that wonderful truth Paul had fully examined in his
epistle to the Romans.
Jesus, did not step down to the angel level, like some
"superman" that was not really quite human, but He came as from
the seed of Abraham, very flesh and blood. He needed to be like
His BROTHERS, Paul states, so He could then be a MERCIFUL and
FAITHFUL High Priest in all things pertaining to God, and to be
able to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. In that
He went through the trials, tests, and faced all the same kinds
of temptations, we humans face, He is able to kindly help and
understand us who are tempted by sin and by the Devil.
The work of Christ TODAY, sitting on the right hand of the
Majesty on High, as our High Priest, is often overlooked by far
too many ministers and people of the Christian religion and
faith. Paul will, in other chapters, amplify in this epistle to
the Hebrews, the OFFICE and function of Jesus as High Priest.
Such a function by Christ in heaven, is absolutely essential for
OUR salvation. Paul made it very clear in writing to the Romans,
that we are SAVED not only by the DEATH of Christ, but also by
His LIFE! Both the death and life, resurrected life, of Jesus are
paramount and vital to our salvation, and entering into the
eternal family of God (verses 5-18).
The great truth of the DESTINY of Christians is given in a
full study of the subject on this Website, called "A Christian's
Destiny."
CHAPTER THREE
Introducing Jesus as our High Priest, Paul says, we indeed
need to consider Him. It is He that is THE High Priest and THE
Apostle, not some human man. He was faithful to God the Father
who appointed Him to the work needed for our salvation, just as
Moses was faithful to his house, family of Israelites, and his
calling.
Jesus, was counted with more glory than Moses, as the
builder of the house has more glory than the house itself. Paul
is showing that Jesus surpasses the man Moses. Showing to the
Hebrews that Moses, while a fine man, was inferior to the one who
became Jesus the Christ.
Jesus has a house-hold, being us Christians, if we hold fast
to the end, rejoicing in the hope of our salvation. We are to
LISTEN to Him, to listen and obey God. We are not to be like the
Israelites of old, who did not listen, and who most of the time,
did NOT obey and follow the way of God. After a while the Lord
said that those rebellious Israelites would not enter into the
promised land of rest.
We are to TAKE HEED, lest their be in us an evil heart of
unbelief, which leads to departing from the living God. Is it
possible then for Christians to "depart from God"? Are Christians
"once saved always saved"? From this verse and many other verses
in the NT, it IS possible to fall from grace and depart from God.
The words of the NT teach no such doctrine as once saved always
saved. Jesus plainly said in the Gospels, "He that endures to the
end, shall be saved."
We are to exhort each other, encourage each other, so there
will NOT be a heart in us that becomes hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin. We are made partakers of Christ, IF we HOLD
the beginning of our Christian confidence STEADFAST TO THE END!!
(verses 1-14).
The example of the Israelites coming out of Egypt is given
to us. The generation of those 20 and older were all disobedient,
except a few. All had a wrong heart, all would die in the
wilderness over a forty year period, and they would not enter
into God's rest. They could not enter because of their unbelief,
which in plain language means, unfaithfulness, a departing from
the Lord's heart, a mind-set that would not believe in God, which
translated into an attitude of mind that would NOT OBEY God
(verses 15-19).
CHAPTER FOUR
Paul now ties into TYPOLOGY, with God's salvation rest, the
rest of the promised land to Israelites of old, and the SEVENTH
DAY rest of the fourth commandment of the great Ten Commandments.
We are to take heed and fear lest the promise of eternal
rest for us, many of us should fall short of entering into it.
The goods news was preached to us as it was to the Israelites of
old. They did not profit from it because of their disobedient
heart. We today which have the good news are entering into God's
rest. The Greek is in the present continuous tense. We are God's
children now, hence we are now on the road to eternal rest, as
Paul has said, IF we remain steadfast to the end. The works of
God were finished as we see in the first chapter of Genesis,
which included sanctifying the SEVENTH day of the week. Yet, in
God's plan, not all was fully competed, the rest of eternal life,
was to be entered into by His children, who would obey His will
and who would remain faithful to the end. God did rest on that
seventh day of creation week, but that rest was a type of the
rest of the promised land to the Israelites under Moses, and it
was a type of the eternal rest of salvation to those who are
God's children in the spiritual salvation plan.
God is still calling people to hear His voice, to listen to
Him, to OBEY Him, to enter His rest. The Old and New Testaments
prove that the rest of the promised land of Palestine, the
seventh day rest, and the eternal rest of salvation are ALL tied
together in perfect typology. The child of God will inherit not
only the promised land of Palestine in the future, but the whole
earth, and indeed the whole universe, together with the eternal
rest of perfection and glory, as being a part of the very family
of God.
Joshua, in bringing the Israelites into the Holy Land of
Palestine, did not fully fill up the complete rest of God.
Neither did David exhaust the fullness of this rest in its
completeness when he talked about "Today, if you will hear His
voice, harden not your heart."
There is MORE to this REST than in Joshua's day or David's
day, more than just the promised land or the seventh day of the
week. There is an eternal aspect of God's rest.
Yet, with all that said, Paul goes on to state that "There
REMAINETH (present continuous tense in the Greek) a keeping of a
sabbath (margin KJV) to the people of God. Paul uses here a once
in all the NT word - Sabbatismos - which literally means, a
keeping of the Sabbath. And he who has entered God's rest, now in
the spiritual sense, will cease from his own works, AS God did
from His. Sure there is the spiritual side to all this "works"
talk - believing God, obeying, following His will. But there is
the literal work of God resting on that literal seventh day of
creation week. So also the child of God will do - stop his own
work on the seventh day, keep the Sabbath of the fourth
commandment.
The typology all fits like hand and glove. Seventh day from
creation, God rested, the promised land of Palestine, promised to
the Israelites who would believe (trust) and obey, a rest of
peace for them, and the rest of eternal glory in the family of
God. Palestine still exists today, and will during the 1,000 year
reign of Christ on earth. The Sabbath is still here, the seventh
day of the week still exists, and will exist during the 1,000
year Kingdom of God on earth (Isaiah 66).
So TODAY, we are to NOT follow the unbelieving hearts of the
old Israelites. We are to OBEY God; do His will; His Ten
Commandments still are for today, still need to be obeyed by
God's children, hence the fourth commandment of keeping holy the
seventh day, the Sabbath day, is STILL for the people of God to
obey. As God's children, we will stop our own carnal works of
sin, when we become a child of the Majesty on High, and we shall,
as He did, stop OUR works on the Sabbath day, or seventh day of
the week. We shall labour therefore to enter into the rest, of
all that the typology claims is God's rest, LEST any person FALL
after the same example (of the Israelites) of DIS-obedience
(margin KJV).
Dr.Samuele Bacchiocchi has in his books on the Sabbath,
given full and indepth examination to Hebrews chapter four. The
reader is pointed to his books as well as many other fine books
on the Sabbath keeping topic (verses 1-11).
We next have one of those often quoted and so somewhat
famous verses of the Bible, especially when it was used by the
old powerful speaking Evangelists of the 18th and 19th centuries.
"For the word of God is QUICK, and POWERFUL, and SHARPER
than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart" (verse 12).
The next verses is to be expected after a verse like the
above. There is no creature that is not open in all ways before
His sight, so for us also, we are pretty naked to Him, if He
desires to strip us down and wants to see us for what we really
are. This is the God and our Father that we deal with, so we need
to walk accordingly.
Paul, then returns to the thought that in all of the truth
of the previous two verses, we still have a High Priest in
heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, so we can be encouraged to HOLD
FAST our profession of Christianity. For this High Priest is not
an aloof person, never knowing what it is like to be human, but
was flesh and blood for a while, and knows very well what human
temptations are all about. He was tempted Himself (remember in
the Gospels those famous temptations by the Devil after Jesus had
fasted for forty days), but never gave in to those temptations,
He remained sinless all His days as a human being.
We can, with such a High Priest on our side, come BOLDLY to
the throne of grace, and obtain mercy, and find grace to help us
in the time of need.
What wonderful re-assuring words to end a passage that is a
grave warning for us to not neglect the grace and salvation of
God. Comforting words indeed, that serve to encourage us to keep
walking in the ways of the Majesty on High, to remain faithful
and so inherit the eternal rest of God.
................
TO BE CONTINUED Written November 2006
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment