Study no. 5 'Resting in Jesus' Hebrews 4
In the last study we talked about hanging on to our confidence.
The writer of Hebrews is using the experience of Israel's deliverance from bondage … to the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey … as an allegory, a parable, a 'symbolization' to illustrate our present Christian experience, beginning with
We might say that a sniffle is a type of cold. Or … a sniffle is a 'kind' of cold. Just one type among several. That is not how commentators use the word 'type'. They actually take it from a Greek word – antitypos . In this usage it means that - one thing … is a pattern or picture ... of some other thing.
The Israelites' deliverance from Egypt and subsequent offer of a physical promised land is a pattern or picture of the deliverance from sin which a believer experiences … all the way to a heavenly promised land. Their experience was a 'type'.
Let's try to 'get the picture' that God intended for us to get.
Remember the Passover? The whole nation of Israel had become slaves in Egypt. After some 400 plus years, God, according to His own plan, delivered them. Moses, who had escaped death as a baby, was raised by the Pharoah's daughter, educated in the schools of Egypt, was 'in line' for being Prime Minister, ruined it all by killing an Egyptian ... ran for his life out to the desert and after being there some 40 years, was sent back to Egypt by God to deliver his people, taking them to a promised land.
The Pharoah ( a new one since Moses was last here ) had no intentions of letting go of the Israelites. Moses tried to persuade the Pharoah by threatening ... and actually bringing some terrible plagues upon the Egyptian people. Ten plagues to be exact. Pharoah was almost persuaded several times, but when it came right down to releasing the people ... he changed his mind, repeatedly. Nine plagues. The tenth one would be different. Up to now the plagues only affected Egyptians. The tenth one was going to affect everybody ... that is, anybody who would fail to prepare properly for it.
In this tenth plague the angel of death was going to be released and given permission to kill one child per family. That child would be the first-born male. In some households there would be two killed. The first-born male child would be one, the other would be the dad if he happened to be a first-born in his generation. That means there would be a few grandpas killed as well.
This plague, as I mentioned, would affect even Israelite families. To avoid this plague the people were instructed to kill a first-born male lamb (one without any blemish or defect). Then they were to take some of the blood and paint it outside on the house ... on both sides of the door frame and across the top. The death angel would come through the land sometime after midnight ... and if he saw the blood ... he would pass over that house ... and no one would be killed.
Were there any households where the people were good enough to not need the blood? Perhaps the angel would just pass by because they were that good? Not a chance. All had sinned . None were good enough.
So the lambs were killed. Blood was applied. By Israelites and by numbers of Egyptians as well.
The picture so far? Just as the Israelites were slaves to Egypt ... so we were slaves to sin and Satan. We needed delivering. The death angel will come through one day for each person who has not applied the blood. This pictures Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, whose innocent blood was shed to free us from the death angel.
Next in the story of the deliverance of Israel ... They were told to be ready to make a clean break, right after midnight ... right after the death angel has gone through the land. They had an exit plan in place which included following Moses .... wherever he would lead them.
He took them straight to the Red Sea. There was no bridge and no 'low tide'. To make matters worse, Pharoah changed his mind and was quickly in pursuit with a huge army. (By the way ... how many Israelites to picture as being in the escape plan? Estimates are a million plus.)
Why did Moses head to the sea? Because that is where he was lead. A pillar of fire went ahead. All they had to do was follow. When the next day dawned ... the fire became a pillar of cloud. And so on for many days and years to come.
Here is a wonderful section of scripture that could not make the analogy any more clear:
1Co 10:1 ¶ For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3 They all ate the same spiritual food
4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
6 ¶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
In this chapter we have are given a vivid picture of the majority of Israelites forfeiting their future in the promised land. Forfeiting because of unbelief. They did not believe the good report of the two spies.
The bottom line was this. There is a future hope of a wonderful life in the land of promise … if you are willing to face difficulties head on, trusting that God will bring you through.
We must through much tribulation inherit the kingdom of God, said Paul1.
Jesus said … you leave father and mother and country, you take up your cross (the potential of suffering and martyrdom) and move forward2.
Joshua and Caleb had a job to do when they got back from spying out the land. Their job was to convince the Israelites that “It's worth it all”. “The fight is worth it.”
After wandering in the desert for forty years, all the men that were age 20 and older had died, and then Joshua and Caleb (not Moses) had the privilege of leading Israel into the promised land. On a side note, it is interesting to read about the upcoming take over and the 'dividing' of the promised land: Caleb comes up to Joshua and says something to this effect; “Remember the part that had all the giants? I want that for mine. Give me this mountain! I am pushing 80 and I'm not one bit weaker that I was at 20. I can do this!”3
We are in a battle as well. Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”.4
The picture is this. There is a 'walled' kingdom called Hell. We were once in that kingdom, but somehow we got delivered out of it. We are now on the outside … but we are inside the kingdom of God. Our job is to go back to the kingdom of Hell and rescue people. But as we approach it we begin to see just how securely it is fortified. The walls are unscaleable. The gates are massive. But the promise of Jesus is…. “March to the gate. Don't stop. As impossible as it looks the gates cannot prevent you.”
Back to our chapter:
The writer is discussing the word 'rest'. He has said that Israel … through unbelief … did not enter the 'rest' (Even though it would take some tremendous battles to acquire this rest) . Paul wants the readers to understand what he means by rest and he now points out that the word had more than one meaning in scripture. He informs us that (in verses 3-9)
|Verse 11 says, Make every effort to enter that rest. Doesn't this sound like a bit of contradiction? It would be easier to understand if this command were being made to an unbeliever. We then would understand that he or she must diligently seek the Lord, and once having found Him, they rest in His grace.
But such is not the case. The warning is to the Hebrews, people who are already believers. They were in danger of slipping away. They are counselled to 'hold fast their confidence unto the end' (3:4).
So we can summarize this way. We believe by faith (not by good works) that Jesus is our God and Saviour. We live the Christian life ... in a state of rest, as far as having trusted in Jesus as our Saviour is concerned. But then we live in such a way as to 'not let these things slip away' to the point where we would no longer believe, or even care whether we believed or not. This requires the phrase Make every effort.(NIV 4:11)
Does God know whether we are making every effort ... or not?
Can we 'sneak in'? Can we fool people (and God) and pretend to be Christian … and holy? No. The word of God, (usually thought of as scripture, but in this case may refer to Jesus Whose name is 'the Word'), is like an x-ray machine (verse 12-13) and 'sees all' .
So, are we all sunk? Is it useless to even try? How can we make it? How can we “ be diligent to enter that rest? (Heb 4:11).
Well, it's obvious that we are going to need help.
Verse 12 said that the Word of God is living, powerful etc. We noted that Jesus is called the Word of God. But we must also note that the Bible is God's word. As we read and study, among other things we begin to see ourselves. We discover our shortcomings. The scripture 'lays us bare'. We see where we need help. And in it we actually do find help.
Let's read verses 14-16.
15 – Let's talk about Jesus' being tempted in all points as we are.
The Word, Jesus, is our high priest, tested in every point as we are. This permits Him to sympathize with our situation. And the fact that He sees right inside of us … tells us that he not only sympathizes because he faced similar tests … but He knows exactly what we are going through … because He sees us on the inside.
As our high priest He stands between God the judge … and ourselves. He pleads our cause.
Knowing that he is standing in for us … gives us great confidence … helps us to retain our original confidence.
We are in a battle. Sometimes we may want to quit. Just give up. And we would if we forget Jesus and what he is doing for us.
Hold on … to our confidence … keep believing that Jesus is our substitute, our Savior who is alive in heaven as we soldier on in the cause of Christ.
Our rest is this:
We know He understands us, cares about us and stands up for us to the Father. Because of this … we can come to the throne boldly … for two things to help us with the battle: mercy and grace.
Mercy: As we come to Him and confess we hear these words from Jesus (from the Father) … “I forgive you”. That's mercy.
Grace: We also find grace at the throne. What is that? It is favor. It is His arm around our shoulders, saying I understand what you are going through. I am with you through it all. I care about you. I like you. I love you. You are my child. Do not let our relationship slide ...into nothing … and I will bring you through it all … to the promised land.
1Ac 14:22 (Paul went through the area) strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."
2Lu 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
3Joshua 14:12 "Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said."
4Matthew 16:18
52Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
6Psalm 95:7-11
The writer of Hebrews is using the experience of Israel's deliverance from bondage … to the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey … as an allegory, a parable, a 'symbolization' to illustrate our present Christian experience, beginning with
- deliverance from the bondage of our sin … ('condemned already' as Jesus put it … )
- our Christian walk after salvation,
- to our ultimate entering our eternal state with Christ forever.
We might say that a sniffle is a type of cold. Or … a sniffle is a 'kind' of cold. Just one type among several. That is not how commentators use the word 'type'. They actually take it from a Greek word – antitypos . In this usage it means that - one thing … is a pattern or picture ... of some other thing.
The Israelites' deliverance from Egypt and subsequent offer of a physical promised land is a pattern or picture of the deliverance from sin which a believer experiences … all the way to a heavenly promised land. Their experience was a 'type'.
Let's try to 'get the picture' that God intended for us to get.
Remember the Passover? The whole nation of Israel had become slaves in Egypt. After some 400 plus years, God, according to His own plan, delivered them. Moses, who had escaped death as a baby, was raised by the Pharoah's daughter, educated in the schools of Egypt, was 'in line' for being Prime Minister, ruined it all by killing an Egyptian ... ran for his life out to the desert and after being there some 40 years, was sent back to Egypt by God to deliver his people, taking them to a promised land.
The Pharoah ( a new one since Moses was last here ) had no intentions of letting go of the Israelites. Moses tried to persuade the Pharoah by threatening ... and actually bringing some terrible plagues upon the Egyptian people. Ten plagues to be exact. Pharoah was almost persuaded several times, but when it came right down to releasing the people ... he changed his mind, repeatedly. Nine plagues. The tenth one would be different. Up to now the plagues only affected Egyptians. The tenth one was going to affect everybody ... that is, anybody who would fail to prepare properly for it.
In this tenth plague the angel of death was going to be released and given permission to kill one child per family. That child would be the first-born male. In some households there would be two killed. The first-born male child would be one, the other would be the dad if he happened to be a first-born in his generation. That means there would be a few grandpas killed as well.
This plague, as I mentioned, would affect even Israelite families. To avoid this plague the people were instructed to kill a first-born male lamb (one without any blemish or defect). Then they were to take some of the blood and paint it outside on the house ... on both sides of the door frame and across the top. The death angel would come through the land sometime after midnight ... and if he saw the blood ... he would pass over that house ... and no one would be killed.
Were there any households where the people were good enough to not need the blood? Perhaps the angel would just pass by because they were that good? Not a chance. All had sinned . None were good enough.
So the lambs were killed. Blood was applied. By Israelites and by numbers of Egyptians as well.
The picture so far? Just as the Israelites were slaves to Egypt ... so we were slaves to sin and Satan. We needed delivering. The death angel will come through one day for each person who has not applied the blood. This pictures Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, whose innocent blood was shed to free us from the death angel.
Next in the story of the deliverance of Israel ... They were told to be ready to make a clean break, right after midnight ... right after the death angel has gone through the land. They had an exit plan in place which included following Moses .... wherever he would lead them.
He took them straight to the Red Sea. There was no bridge and no 'low tide'. To make matters worse, Pharoah changed his mind and was quickly in pursuit with a huge army. (By the way ... how many Israelites to picture as being in the escape plan? Estimates are a million plus.)
Why did Moses head to the sea? Because that is where he was lead. A pillar of fire went ahead. All they had to do was follow. When the next day dawned ... the fire became a pillar of cloud. And so on for many days and years to come.
Here is a wonderful section of scripture that could not make the analogy any more clear:
1Co 10:1 ¶ For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3 They all ate the same spiritual food
4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
6 ¶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
In this chapter we have are given a vivid picture of the majority of Israelites forfeiting their future in the promised land. Forfeiting because of unbelief. They did not believe the good report of the two spies.
The bottom line was this. There is a future hope of a wonderful life in the land of promise … if you are willing to face difficulties head on, trusting that God will bring you through.
We must through much tribulation inherit the kingdom of God, said Paul1.
Jesus said … you leave father and mother and country, you take up your cross (the potential of suffering and martyrdom) and move forward2.
Joshua and Caleb had a job to do when they got back from spying out the land. Their job was to convince the Israelites that “It's worth it all”. “The fight is worth it.”
After wandering in the desert for forty years, all the men that were age 20 and older had died, and then Joshua and Caleb (not Moses) had the privilege of leading Israel into the promised land. On a side note, it is interesting to read about the upcoming take over and the 'dividing' of the promised land: Caleb comes up to Joshua and says something to this effect; “Remember the part that had all the giants? I want that for mine. Give me this mountain! I am pushing 80 and I'm not one bit weaker that I was at 20. I can do this!”3
We are in a battle as well. Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”.4
The picture is this. There is a 'walled' kingdom called Hell. We were once in that kingdom, but somehow we got delivered out of it. We are now on the outside … but we are inside the kingdom of God. Our job is to go back to the kingdom of Hell and rescue people. But as we approach it we begin to see just how securely it is fortified. The walls are unscaleable. The gates are massive. But the promise of Jesus is…. “March to the gate. Don't stop. As impossible as it looks the gates cannot prevent you.”
Back to our chapter:
The writer is discussing the word 'rest'. He has said that Israel … through unbelief … did not enter the 'rest' (Even though it would take some tremendous battles to acquire this rest) . Paul wants the readers to understand what he means by rest and he now points out that the word had more than one meaning in scripture. He informs us that (in verses 3-9)
- the seventh day was called a rest. That is what the word Sabbath means. He says after creation God rested. Most evangelical Bible scholars and teachers believe that the seventh day of creation was a 'type'. The seventh day represents or symbolizes the millennial reign. After man's day … in a fallen and cursed world, God removes the curse for a thousand years. Peter tells us that with the Lord a thousand years is one day.5
- Taking over the promised land was called a rest.
- There is a future rest. Even David alluded to this in the old Testament. 6 In this Psalm David is still telling people not to let their hearts become hardened. If they continue to harden their hearts, they also would not enter the 'rest' just like those in Moses' day could not. Therefor David is talking about a future rest.
|Verse 11 says, Make every effort to enter that rest. Doesn't this sound like a bit of contradiction? It would be easier to understand if this command were being made to an unbeliever. We then would understand that he or she must diligently seek the Lord, and once having found Him, they rest in His grace.
But such is not the case. The warning is to the Hebrews, people who are already believers. They were in danger of slipping away. They are counselled to 'hold fast their confidence unto the end' (3:4).
So we can summarize this way. We believe by faith (not by good works) that Jesus is our God and Saviour. We live the Christian life ... in a state of rest, as far as having trusted in Jesus as our Saviour is concerned. But then we live in such a way as to 'not let these things slip away' to the point where we would no longer believe, or even care whether we believed or not. This requires the phrase Make every effort.(NIV 4:11)
Does God know whether we are making every effort ... or not?
Can we 'sneak in'? Can we fool people (and God) and pretend to be Christian … and holy? No. The word of God, (usually thought of as scripture, but in this case may refer to Jesus Whose name is 'the Word'), is like an x-ray machine (verse 12-13) and 'sees all' .
So, are we all sunk? Is it useless to even try? How can we make it? How can we “ be diligent to enter that rest? (Heb 4:11).
Well, it's obvious that we are going to need help.
Verse 12 said that the Word of God is living, powerful etc. We noted that Jesus is called the Word of God. But we must also note that the Bible is God's word. As we read and study, among other things we begin to see ourselves. We discover our shortcomings. The scripture 'lays us bare'. We see where we need help. And in it we actually do find help.
Let's read verses 14-16.
15 – Let's talk about Jesus' being tempted in all points as we are.
The Word, Jesus, is our high priest, tested in every point as we are. This permits Him to sympathize with our situation. And the fact that He sees right inside of us … tells us that he not only sympathizes because he faced similar tests … but He knows exactly what we are going through … because He sees us on the inside.
As our high priest He stands between God the judge … and ourselves. He pleads our cause.
Knowing that he is standing in for us … gives us great confidence … helps us to retain our original confidence.
We are in a battle. Sometimes we may want to quit. Just give up. And we would if we forget Jesus and what he is doing for us.
Hold on … to our confidence … keep believing that Jesus is our substitute, our Savior who is alive in heaven as we soldier on in the cause of Christ.
Our rest is this:
We know He understands us, cares about us and stands up for us to the Father. Because of this … we can come to the throne boldly … for two things to help us with the battle: mercy and grace.
Mercy: As we come to Him and confess we hear these words from Jesus (from the Father) … “I forgive you”. That's mercy.
Grace: We also find grace at the throne. What is that? It is favor. It is His arm around our shoulders, saying I understand what you are going through. I am with you through it all. I care about you. I like you. I love you. You are my child. Do not let our relationship slide ...into nothing … and I will bring you through it all … to the promised land.
1Ac 14:22 (Paul went through the area) strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."
2Lu 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
3Joshua 14:12 "Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said."
4Matthew 16:18
52Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
6Psalm 95:7-11