Hebrews Chapter Four
1. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Therefore, may we be afraid lest, a promise being open to enter into His rest, any one of you might seem to be excluded (literal).1
Once again, the word therefore causes us to reflect on what we have just learned because it forms the basis for what follows. The refusal of Israel to enter into the Promised Land when the Lord said that the time had come, led to the Lord’s anger against them for their rebellion, and His judgement was that Israel’s men of war would die in the wilderness over a forty year period (Numbers 1:2-3; 14:29; Deuteronomy 2:14). The children of the condemned watched as their fathers bore the surety of God’s condemnation for their rebellion. It should have left a profound impression of their need to obey the Lord in all things; alas, the history of the children of Israel indicates that either no such impression was made, or it was very quickly forgotten. The writer used this time in Israel’s history to warn us that if we permit an evil heart of unbelief to enter into us (as brethren in the Lord) then we will, like Israel, become apostate from the Lord and become subject to His condemnation (Hebrews 3:12). However, there is also the lesson that if we remain faithful to Him, even in the midst of rebellion, then we will receive His approval – Caleb and Joshua being the shining examples.
Fear (be afraid) is always in the passive voice in the NT, and we must pause to give this a moment’s attention. The Greek root word phobeo literally means to put to flight by terrifying; the fear is caused by (hence the passive voice) either someone or a situation – in essence, it is our response to an outside stimulant. In this case, the writer is about to present a situation that he hopes will generate fear within us: that we, unlike that generation of Israelites of whom we have just heard, should not be disqualified from entering into the rest that God has prepared for us.
Being left (being open; Greek kataleipomenes) speaks of something that is incomplete, or unfinished.2 In other words, God’s promise of rest is not yet complete – it remains open, or continues to exist;3 therefore, since His rest is open to us as well as to Israel of old, it should cause us to be afraid that we may somehow fail to qualify for His rest. This is the subject of the writer’s next exhortation.
2. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
For we are also those who have heard the Good News, even as they, but the Word of preaching did not benefit them, not being united with faith [in] those who did hear (literal).4
Let’s consider a timeline for the children of Israel as they left Egypt. In the third month, they arrived at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1) where they received the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic Law, and the instructions to build a tabernacle for the Lord. As the second year began, the tabernacle was raised (Exodus 40:17), which means that the priests were in place, and the sacrifices for sin had begun. Within two months of this, the children of Israel left the wilderness of Sinai for Paran – still in a wilderness territory but moving toward the Promised Land (Numbers 10:11-12). Therefore, by the time the children of Israel came to Kadesh (where they sent spies to assess the Promised Land), they were at least somewhat familiar with God’s daily requirements, and their need to shed the blood of animals in order to bring a temporary cleansing from sin. The concept of obedience to the Lord in order to receive His approval should have been strongly impressed upon them by this time: not only because of the Law of Moses, but also from their experiences of leaving Egypt and throughout the previous two years. Yet, despite all of this being fresh in their minds, when they came to Kadesh, they rebelled against the Lord!
What was the gospel, or Good News, that the children of Israel heard? Up to the time that the Lord spoke to Abraham, He worked through individuals like Noah, who found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). However, as the Lord spoke to Abraham, He said: “… in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3), and so the Lord chose Abraham’s family line through whom to fulfill His promise to bring about the destruction of the power of Satan (Genesis 3:15). This family promise was reiterated to Isaac (Genesis 26:4), and Jacob (Genesis 28:14), who is the father of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. As Israel left Egypt, they were a mighty people, and the Lord, at Sinai, provided them with His Law and the statutes by which they were to live. These statutes included the tabernacle (the dwelling place of God), the sacrificial system and the Levitical priesthood that made cleansing from sin readily available to everyone (including those who were not of Israel, Exodus 12:49). The required repetition of the animal sacrifices clearly illustrated that they only brought a temporary cleansing from sin, and then only if the one who brought the sacrifice identified with the animal that was killed: “And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him” (Leviticus 1:4). The illustration is significant: the animal dies in the place of the one who brought it as a sin offering. By placing his hand upon the head of the animal, the one making the offering was acknowledging his sin, but, more importantly, was actively believing that the shed blood of the sacrifice would bring cleansing from the sin committed. This is the Gospel!
The children of Israel lived the message of the Good News of God’s forgiveness, and the sacrifice for cleansing was still very fresh in their minds when they arrived at Kadesh. However, in their rebellion against the Lord, they also learned that despite the Lord’s mercy and grace expressed to them through the sacrificial provisions, the Lord shall not always strive with man (Genesis 6:3a) – the rebellious men of war were condemned to die in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 2:14-15). By this time, they had spent over two years in the wilderness witnessing the Lord’s protection and provision, and now had continual access to the Lord through the priesthood, yet they refused to believe Him for any of this when it came to the Promised Land. They had the Gospel, but because they did not combine it with faith in the Lord, it was of no benefit to them: they rebelled against the Lord!
The writer states that the Gospel was not only there for the children of Israel – we have also heard its message, which has not changed. Cleansing from sin is possible through the sacrifice that has been made for us, if we have faith in God Who made this provision available to us. For the Israelite, his sacrifices had to be made continually, but it was his faith in God’s provision that brought cleansing from sin (albeit temporarily); today, Christ’s sacrifice was made once (fulfilling all of the OT sacrifices) and He is our High Priest (Hebrews 3:1) if our faith remains in Him as God’s Provision. We have heard the Gospel (just like Israel of old), yet we must be careful lest an evil heart of unbelief enter into us and we follow Israel’s example into apostasy.
There is a rest that God has available to us (verse one); however, we must hold an active faith in the Lord in order to experience His rest that comes through the Gospel. An active faith centers on obedience to the Lord’s commands; this was Israel’s failure at Kadesh, and we must fear lest we follow their example. Jesus said that the one who is loving Him (something that can only come through an active faith) must be living in obedience to His commandments (John 14:15). Faith and obedience are forever inseparably linked.
3. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For we, who do believe, are entering into rest, even as He said: So I did swear in My wrath, they will certainly not enter into My rest even though the works were done from the beginning of the world (literal).5
As the writer launches into a lengthy lesson on the rest of God that was offered to Israel of old, and is still available to us, he begins by qualifying the we to whom this applies: it is to those who do believe. We must keep two things in mind: 1) to believe involves a preliminary, careful examination leading to a subsequent conviction of the truth of a matter; in this case, we are still holding an active belief in God’s provision for our sins – as we have seen, an active belief includes obedience to the Lord’s commands; 2) it is possible to believe and then to permit it to be replaced by unbelief (Hebrews 3:12). Therefore, we, who do believe identifies those who are still believing, and are living in obedience to the Lord; anything less is unbelief, which is apostasy. We are those who are the faithful – the overcomers who will inherit all things in God (Revelation 21:7). Jesus said that it is the one who is remaining faithful to Him unto the end who will be saved (Matthew 24:13).
The KJV do enter does not catch the essence of this Greek verb; enter is fine, but the word is in the present tense, which shows this as being a continuous entering, rather than a one-time action.6 It is the one who is actively believing (faithfully obeying the Lord) who is entering into God’s rest; the indicative mood makes this a statement of fact.7 Therefore, the fact is that the faithful child of God is entering into His rest, and full entrance will not take place until the end – the same time when he will be saved (Matthew 24:13). In essence, there is a tight correlation between God’s rest and His salvation. Isaiah 30:15 includes the phrase: In returning and rest shall ye be saved, or in conversion and quietness you will be saved (literal).8 The context for Isaiah recording this phrase is that Israel refused to turn to the Lord (conversion) and rest in Him, even though this is the way to salvation! The Hebrew word translated as returning, or conversion (shuba) is from the verb shub, which includes turning from evil and turning to good; therefore, the Lord is saying that in turning to Him (and away from evil) and remaining there, comes salvation.9 Jesus said, ye must remain in Me and I in you (John 15:4a, literal);10 remain carries with it the concepts of rest, quietness and permanence – our conversion brings us into Christ, remaining there ensures our salvation one day. We must understand what is required in order to remain in Christ.
The writer then quotes from Psalm 95:11 – “Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.” Should not does not adequately translate the Hebrew thought; when the Hebrew ’im, which normally means if, is used within an oath, it becomes an emphatic negative: will not, or will never would be a more appropriate translation of the Hebrew.11 Indeed, of all of the men of war whom Moses had just numbered in Israel (603,550, Numbers 2:32) only two (Caleb and Joshua) entered the rest that God had prepared for them (the Promised Land) – that is a very small remnant!
The writer then goes on to note something that makes Israel’s failure clearly a matter of unbelief: the rest that the Lord had promised them in the Land that flowed with milk and honey was established with creation; this leads right into what the writer will now explain.
4. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
For He spoke in a certain place concerning the seventh [day] in this manner: “and God did rest on the seventh day from all of His works” (literal).12
The certain place is this: “And on the seventh day God ended [finished] his work which he had made [done]; and he rested [ceased; shabath] on the seventh day from all his work which he had made [done]” (Genesis 2:2).13 For six days God did the work of creating (including each of the six days, thereby expressing the passage of time, which He also created); however, with the arrival of the seventh day, time continued (it was the seventh day) but His creating work ceased (He rested).
The writer has drawn two seemingly diverse subjects together: 1) Israel’s failure to enter into the rest that God had promised in the Land that flowed with milk and honey, and 2) the example that the Lord set for that first seventh day by practicing shabath (rest from work). It’s an interesting comparison that we will watch unfold as he continues.
5. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Once again, the writer brings in a portion of Psalm 95:11 – the same part that he had just quoted, which should actually read: they will certainly not enter into My rest.
6. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Since, then, it is remaining [for] some to enter into it [rest], and those who formerly had the Good News preached to them did not enter because of disobedience, (literal).14
This draws on his earlier note that the rest was a completed provision that harkens from the beginning of the world (verse 3). For the majority of Israel and virtually all of their men of war, the Promised Land of rest was never seen; yet, Caleb and Joshua did enter. Even though it had been closed for most, it remained open for others. The fact that most of Israel did not enter into the rest that God had promised to them had nothing to do with the rest not being ready – it had been ready from the beginning of the world; it was entirely their disobedience that kept them out. Moreover, the rest that God had available for Israel long before they were called to enter into the Land, continues to exist. Remaining (remaineth) is in the present tense (it is continuous) and passive voice (it is God Who makes it available to those who qualify).
Israel failed because of unbelief, or disobedience. The Greek word is from apeitheia that means disobedience, which, in turn, is a result of unbelief.15 Although unbelief can be easily hidden, disobedience is much more evident and is a sign of unbelief. The writer emphasizes the fact that the saving Gospel (the Good News) was presented to Israel: the priesthood and the sacrificial system were in place – they understood the need for cleansing from sin, and had all that was necessary to be cleansed before God (albeit, temporarily). Nothing has changed: Evangelicals have heard the Word, yet most live in disobedience to God’s Message! The thread of Ecumenical fervor that binds so many Evangelicals together is that which holds them hostage to unbelief and disobedience. They hold the Word of God in their hands, yet heed the flawed teaching from their favored preachers. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1John 4:1). A prophet is someone who proclaims the truth of God (not necessarily new revelation), and, therefore, a false prophet is someone who declares a message that is not true to God’s Word. It is necessary to try them because they might appear to be true, or even make the claim that they are true to God’s Word. We must have a studied grasp of God’s truths so that we are able to discern that which does not align itself completely with His Word; our responsibility is to follow the Lord, not a preacher or a well-honed theology.
7. Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Again, a certain day He is determining, Today, in David He is saying (after so long a time), even as He said: “Today if of His voice you hear, do not harden your hearts” (literal).16
The writer, once again, quotes from Psalm 95:7b-8a. David penned these words many years after the children of Israel faced the Promised Land. God’s message to us is simple: He has given us this day, if we hear His voice through the pages of Scripture, then we must not refuse to give heed to Him! Israel heard the voice of God but refused to follow His directive to enter the Land.
8. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
For if Joshua had brought them to rest, He would not have spoken of another day after these things (literal).17
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua; the KJV translators opted for the Greek name (in keeping with the Bishops’ Bible) when the Hebrew name would have provided instant clarity.
The essence of the writer’s point is that if Joshua had brought the children of Israel to that place of rest, then the Lord would not have used David to speak of a rest that is still open. However, if we consider Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land, it very quickly becomes evident that their possession of the Land did not follow the Lord’s design. “And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua … and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim” (Judges 2:7, 10-11). Their pattern became: follow the Lord when a godly judge ruled, then depart from the Lord when that judge died (Judges 2:18-19). What never took place was a time when the people followed the Lord with a whole heart; they would follow a godly judge, but never learned to follow the Lord – they never found the rest that God had prepared for them.
9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Therefore, there continues to exist a Sabbath-rest to the people of God (literal).18
The indicative mood for remaineth (continues to exist) makes this a statement of fact. The writer declared it to be a matter for fear that we might not qualify for this rest (verse 1). Who will not qualify? Everyone who is not numbered among the people who belong to God. Through Christ’s sacrifice, everyone who places his faith in Christ becomes a child of God: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26). Therefore, everyone who is in Christ qualifies for the rest that God has prepared for His own. However, becoming in Christ is not a one-time event, but a life-time of faithfulness (obedience) to Him. The writer of Hebrews issued the warning that we must guard against an evil heart of unbelief that will lead us into apostasy from God. Yes, unlike Evangelicals today, the Scriptures teach that someone who is believing in the Lord can turn away and become eternally lost. Therefore, the people of God are those who are living with an active faith in the Lord, which, as we have noted before, must include obedience to Him. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15); the condition is to be loving the Lord (present tense; continuously); if this condition is met, then His command is to obey Him.19
The writer used the term Sabbath-rest (sabbatismos), and this is the only place in the NT where this word is found. For those who are in Christ (the people of God), this Sabbath-rest is available (it is still remaining); we have also noted that the indicative mood makes this a fact. The passive voice for remaineth tells us that this Sabbath-rest comes from God – He is the One Who makes it possible for those who are His. What the writer has done is link the rest that is being discussed (the one that the children of Israel missed) to the Sabbath that the Lord established on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2-3). This is an uncomfortable truth for many, and so they opt for declaring this rest to be “spiritual, not physical.”20 The subtlety of such is this: if we are able to justify spiritualizing God’s commands, then no one will be able to determine if we are keeping them or not. What a grand scheme!
Allow me to take a moment to deal with this. There is no doubt that God created the seventh day as a day of rest – He created it, and He set the example! The question comes down to this: do we keep the Ten Commandments as outlined in Exodus 20, or not? Many today believe that the Ten Commandments were fulfilled by Christ and removed along with the Mosaic Law. Here’s why I think that this is a very significant error. When God gave His Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, He wrote them upon two tables of stone (Exodus 31:18); when He gave them the multitude of laws and regulations, He gave them through the medium of angels to Moses (Galatians 3:19). Can these possibly be regarded as the same thing? Furthermore, the stone tables bearing God’s “handwriting” were kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, while the Mosaic Laws were not. Therefore, it is evident that there is a marked difference from God’s perspective.
When Jesus was asked what good should be done in order to have everlasting life, He said: “… if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Jewish tradition says that there are some 613 commands within their Law,21 and so the response of the man was, “Which ones?” Jesus went on to list five of the Ten Commandments that deal with our fellowman, along with the summary for him to love his neighbor as himself (Matthew 19:18-19). On another occasion, when Jesus was queried by a religious lawyer as to the great command (singular), He provided a concise summary of the Ten Commandments: love the Lord with all of your heart, soul and mind (our relationship with the Lord, Commands 1-4; Deuteronomy 6:5), and love your neighbor as yourself (our relationship with those about us, Commands 6-10; Leviticus 19:18); then He went on to make this observation: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). These two commandments, which are a succinct summary of the Ten Commandments, form the structure that supports all of the Jewish law and the words of the OT prophets. The Mosaic Law, with its foundation in God’s Ten Commandments, provided detailed instructions on how Israel was to live, and included the very specific guidelines regarding the priesthood and sacrificial system. Clearly, the Ten Commandments were separate from the Mosaic Law – they are God’s requirements of humanity, while the Mosaic Law was directed specifically to the children of Israel, for they were the chosen family-line through whom the promised Messiah, Prophet and Savior would come. Through His writing on the tables of stone, the Lord made known (in writing) His standard for all people; the Mosaic Law was meant to point its adherents to their fulfillment in the Promised One. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” (Galatians 3:24-25).
As we understand the important difference between God’s Law and the Mosaic Law, we are also able to see that it was the Mosaic Law that was fulfilled in Christ and brought to an end. Consequently, the Law of God remains as applicable today as it was when Moses first received the tables of stone. We then face the question: are the Ten Commandments to be only understood within a spiritual context, or are they to be kept physically as well? It seems evident that the last six Commands (honor your father and mother, do not murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or lust after what is your neighbor’s) must be worked out within the physical realm, else there is no evidence of compliance or violation. Yes, Jesus drew these into the imaginings of the mind, and, thereby, equated hatred with murder and lust with adultery (Matthew 5:21-28), but such mental activities are only sin for the person involved, and then only before God. There is a spiritual aspect to keeping the Ten Commandments, for, before God, we are guilty for what we have thought that is in violation of His Commands; however, that in no way replaces physically keeping God’s Laws. Although MacArthur limits his stated evaluation of “spiritual, not physical” to the Sabbath-rest, he has no basis for only assessing the Fourth Commandment in this manner. In fact, if this is to be applied to one of God’s Commands, then it must follow that the same application be made to all of His Commands. MacArthur’s comment sounds somewhat like the ancient philosophy that made the spiritual to be all important (the good), and the physical to be of little consequence (the evil). It is more likely that MacArthur has made this evaluation in order to preserve his theology; if he acknowledged that this Sabbath-rest was anything more than spiritual, he would have to re-evaluate much of his well-honed theology.
Therefore, what of sabbatismos – Sabbath-rest? Let’s very briefly consider God’s teaching regarding the seventh-day Sabbath.22
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it [qadash, set apart as sacred]: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:2-3).23 God established that first seventh-day as sacred, but did it just apply to that first day, or does it continue to be a sacred day today? Sanctified (qadash), as it is used here, is an imperfect Hebrew verb, which simply means that it is an incomplete action; the application, within this context, means that not only did God bless (also imperfect) and sanctify that first seventh-day, but that it holds true for every subsequent seventh-day.
As the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they did so as emancipated slaves who had served the Egyptians for generations. As the Lord provided them with manna in the wilderness, we read this: “And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily” (Exodus 16:5). Despite being enslaved for years, they knew when it was the sixth day, and since they knew the sixth day, it is very certain that they also knew the seventh day. However, because they had been enslaved, they had lost the sacredness of the seventh day, and so the provision of manna became an object lesson to remind them that it was a holy day. This was about two weeks, or so, before they arrived at Mt. Sinai; God was teaching them His requirements before they heard the Ten Commandments. Of the father of the Israelites, Abraham, God said that he “obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26:5). This is proof that the Lord did not hide His requirements from those who knew Him; even though His commandments had not yet been received in written form, they were known, understood and obeyed.
It was at Mt. Sinai that the Lord’s Ten Commandments were received by Moses, written by God upon two tables of stone (Deuteronomy 4:13). Included was this: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy [qadash]. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11). Remember is from a Hebrew infinitive absolute (zakar), which can represent a command, as it does in this case;24 the command is to recall the Sabbath day (the seventh-day) for the purpose of observing its holiness. The Lord elaborated on the reason for this distinction by reviewing the establishment of this unique day at the time of creation. From Adam to Moses, the fact of God’s blessing and sanctifying the seventh-day had not changed! “For I am the LORD, I change not …” (Malachi 3:6).
So what happened to the Sabbath in our Evangelical and Protestant traditions? Keep in mind that the Ten Commandments, of which we have just considered the Fourth, were written in stone by God! Even today we understand what the phrase written in stone means: “Permanently fixed or firmly established; incapable of being changed.”25 Nevertheless, within today’s Christian tradition (within its broadest application) we find that Sunday is accepted as the day of rest (even though no one really keeps it as such). How did this happen?
The short answer to this departure from God’s written in stone Commandment is that Satan has always been very active in distorting and denying God’s Word. What is very characteristic of Paul’s letters in our NT, is the correction of error, or the warnings against error. Even before the canon of Scripture was closed, error could be found everywhere – sometimes creeping into the assemblies of Christians subtly, and other times expressing itself with great boldness. Jesus’ messages for the elders (messengers, angels) of the seven assemblies in Asia (Revelation 2-3) tells us that all was not well among those who claimed the name of Christ. The observance of the Sabbath as a day set-apart for rest, as God had designed it, was also a target of Satan in the early centuries AD. Although the neglect of the seventh-day Sabbath in favor of the first day of the week became common among some early church leaders, it sprang from a growing anti-Semitism among Gentile “Christians.” It became more a matter of separating from anything that might appear to be even remotely Jewish, than following the teachings of the Lord Jesus. For these leaders, the Sabbath was a weekly reminder of Judaism, and their hatred of all things Jewish caused them to turn away from the Sabbath. What they should have known is that the Sabbath rest was not Jewish at all, it was God’s order from creation. Their justification for this departure? We must celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, which took place on the first day of the week; it sounds so spiritually astute and logical that it easily took root within the fledgling Roman Catholic Church.
Consider what Matthew G. Easton wrote on this matter: “The Sabbath, originally instituted for man at his creation, is of permanent and universal obligation … Originally at creation the seventh day of the week was set apart and consecrated as the Sabbath. The first day of the week is now observed as the Sabbath. Has God authorized this change … If any change of the day has been made, it must have been by Christ or by his authority … It was originally a memorial of creation. A work vastly greater than that of creation has now been accomplished by him, the work of redemption. We would naturally expect just such a change as would make the Sabbath a memorial of that greater work. True, we can give no text authorizing the change in so many words. We have no express law declaring the change. But there are evidences of another kind. We know for a fact that the first day of the week has been observed from apostolic times …” (bold added).26 There are two serious problems with his evaluation: 1) naturally expect must not hold weight in matters pertaining to the Commands of God – our nature is not a good judge of what God requires; 2) those early church leaders who endeavored to shift the Sabbath to the first day, were heretics on so many fronts that they would naturally not be acceptable as authorities for changing what God had instituted. Easton does admit that there is no text authorizing the change, but, unfortunately, he goes on to justify his departure from God’s Word by appealing to others who, likewise, had broken His Word.
Another item of interest is the 1937 edition of The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (all of what follows has been obscured in their modern catechism):
“Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (AD. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. …
Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her.”27
Suffice it to say that man has justified contravening God’s Word, and Catholic tradition has infiltrated virtually every corner of Christendom – even fundamental Baptists, who pride themselves on historically never having been under the Catholic Church’s authority, follow the Catholic tradition in this matter. Nevertheless, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that God has a Sabbath-rest open for those who are His. Yes, this speaks of a spiritual rest that we find only by being in Christ – a rest in the sense that we can do nothing to earn the salvation that He purchased for us; but, beyond that, the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) still holds us to keep the Sabbath as a day of physical rest, as well. Israel failed to enter God’s rest, but it is still available to His children to this day.
10. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
For he who has entered into His rest, he also rested from his works, just as God [did] from His own (literal).28
The religions of the world place the responsibility on the individual to do the right things in order to obtain their concept of salvation.
Hinduism – salvation is described as liberating the soul from the body, thereby freeing the soul from the birth-death cycle (reincarnation); yoga (meaning yoked) is the means of accomplishing a unity with Brahman (the basis for everything) through selfless work (Karma Yoga), self-dissolving love (Bhakti Yoga) and an absolute knowledge of Self (Jnana Yoga).29 This involves a perpetual labor, through innumerable lifetimes.
Islam – there is no salvation from an inherited sin, because they believe that everyone is born sinless. Therefore, salvation is simply a path that is defined only within the Quran, which guides in spiritual development and coming to god (their Allah is the Arabic word for god, not another name for Jehovah – it is certainly not the God of the Bible).30 Muslims must learn to know what is right (according to the Quran), and then it is up to them to choose and do the defined righteous deeds – they are on their own. Although Muslims do accept some parts of the Bible (after all, Abraham is also the father of the Arabs), they generally consider it to have been corrupted over time, and that the Quran, their god’s latest revelation, supplants the Christian Bible.
Buddhism – salvation is experiencing our true nature as human beings. They define the human being as being “perfect, complete, infinite, and absolute existence.”31 For them, the paradox is that, although we appear to be limited, mortal and fallible, it is because we are not aware of our true nature. All of our struggles and suffering are the perfect, infinite true nature endeavoring to show itself. This is not just an intellectual understanding; we must encounter True Self in actual experience in order for it to bring us to a state of peace.32 That’s a tall order for sinful creatures!
Catholicism – salvation is only available through the Roman Catholic Church, and the door to such is opened by baptism and entered into fully through the ministration of all of the sacraments as defined by the RCC.33 They acknowledge that salvation is through Jesus, but they have placed their church between the sinner and Jesus – with the requirement that the sacraments are to be kept faithfully. The RCC holds the sole right to extend salvation to its faithful. The three pillars of the Catholic Church are Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium; “Sacred Scripture refers to the Bible … the inspired word of God … [as it is] read and interpreted within the context of the Church’s Tradition and teaching authority [the Magisterium].”34 Within this religion, the Scriptures are subject to their Traditions and the whim of the Magisterium (the teaching office of the Church: the pope and bishops); therefore, the faithful are those who live according to the dictates of the Church – again, a religion that is focused on works.
Unlike the religions of the world, the writer tells us that, for the one who has entered into God’s rest (when He ceased creating), he has also rested from his own work – he has ceased trying to achieve any spiritual goals through his own efforts. Every religion (I do not consider a personal relationship with the Lord, through faith in Christ, to be a religion) includes some form of self-effort that must be carried out in order to achieve eternal life, or whatever that final state of bliss is supposed to be. Yet Paul’s words to the Philippians are: So that, my beloved, ye always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, with fear and trembling, ye must be working out your salvation (Philippians 2:12, literal).35 In light of this, we must bear this in mind: For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works, which God did prepare beforehand so that in them we live (Ephesians 2:10, literal).36 What is very evident is that we are to be working, but this is not in an effort to gain favor with God. These are works of righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24) that God has prepared for us; as we so work, we are living in obedience to what the Lord has prepared for us so that we might abide in His presence one day – these are not our works, but His! Understand this: legalism says that I must do certain things in order to merit God’s favor; by contrast, obedience flows from a heart of love for what God has done for me. The former is my work for my benefit, whereas with the latter, I am merely doing what God has asked of me, His servant (for He bought me) and child.
Is this rest, then, merely spiritual as John MacArthur has said? It is spiritual, but it is not just spiritual. God has given us His handwritten Commandments, and one of the four that guides our relationship with Him is the Fourth: Remember the Sabbath day…. Therefore, if it is our desire to be pleasing to the Lord, then we must, at the very least, begin with the observation of the Ten Commandments. Command Four makes it very clear that we are to keep the seventh-day Sabbath as God created it: set apart from the rest of the week, and holy! However, keeping the Sabbath as God intended, is not our work, but an act of obedience to Him – it is one of those things that He has prepared for us to do. As we understand that God’s Law (the Ten Commandments) remains in effect today, we find in it a starting place for how we are to live. His Spirit, Whom He has given to every one of His children, will be our guide as we live for Him (John 16:13).
11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
May we give diligence, then, to enter into that rest, in order that no one, by the same example of disobedience, will go astray (literal).37
We are called upon to make every effort with great care to enter into the rest that God has prepared for us. The KJV shows this as labour, which focuses on the energy expended rather than on the care that must be taken in order to qualify to enter into His rest. It is not that we now do our own works, rather we must exercise caution that we do the works that God has prepared for us, so that we are living in obedience to Him. The writer has indicated that this rest is for the people of God (verse 9); therefore, our diligence must be focused on ensuring that we understand what it means to be His child: exercising both faith in His Provision and obedience to Him! It is the one who is in Christ (the faithful and obedient) who is among the people of God, and, therefore, we see that this rest is found only by being in Christ.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). As the Vine, He provides life to the branches so that they are able to bear fruit, but He includes a condition that the individual branch must meet in order to bring forth that fruit. He that abideth in Me (literally: the one who is remaining in Me):38 the condition is that I must be remaining in Him in order to bear His fruit, like a branch connected to the Vine. Abideth (remaining) is in the present tense and active voice: it is a present and ongoing situation, and I do the remaining (active voice). Interestingly, Jesus places this condition first, and, if it is met, then He says, and I in thee (literal);39 the reality is that if we do not remain in Him, then He is not in us! What many professing Christians struggle with today is that being in Christ is not a single act of faith, but, rather, a continuous life of obedience to Him. Carefully consider the analogy that Jesus is making: He begins with, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he [the Father] taketh away [is cutting off] …” (John 15:2), then He says that the one who is remaining in Him is bringing forth much fruit (the Father will not be cutting this one off; verse 5), and finally He says, “if anyone does not remain in Me [the context suggests that this is someone who is not bearing fruit and is being cut off by the Father], he is cast outside as a branch and becomes withered, and angels are gathering them and into the fire casting [them], and it is burned” (John 15:6, literal).40 Therefore, remaining in Christ is dependent upon a life of continuous faith and obedience to the Lord; for the one who does not remain in Him, their destiny is to be burned.
It is no wonder that the writer counsels us to take great diligence in order to ensure that we enter into His rest, for if we accept His life (being in the Vine) and then turn away from Him, we become apostate and are destined for eternal fire (Hebrews 3:12). Within the context of Israel’s example, who failed to enter into the rest that God had promised them because of their disobedience, the warning issued is that we not fall away from God through our failure in obeying Him. The warning issued earlier (Hebrews 3:12) was against permitting an evil heart of unbelief (apistia); here it is against following the example of Israel’s disobedience (apeitheia, shown in the KJV as unbelief).41 The two words are related: apistia – a, no, pistia, belief; apeitheia – a, no, peitho, to persuade; the former is literally no belief (and could also apply to someone who has never placed their faith in Christ), and the latter is unable to be persuaded, hence a stubborn rejection of the will of God (disobedience).42 Belief involves being persuaded of the truth of a matter; disobedience comes when that persuasion fails, and unbelief is lurking in the shadows.
We must exercise great care that we are in Christ, and an equal diligence that we understand what we must do (obedience) to remain in Him.
12. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
For the Word of God is living, and effective, and sharp above every two-edged sword, even to piercing as far as the separation of the soul and spirit, of the joints and the marrow, and [He is] able to judge the reflections and thoughts of the heart (literal).43
The writer now provides the reason that we must be diligent in ensuring that we are remaining in the Lord and have entered into His rest.
The focus of the reason is the Word of God; the Greek phrase, ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ translates as: the Word of the God.44 We find exactly the same Greek phrase in Revelation 19:13, where it is the name of the conquering Lord Jesus Christ as He descends to establish His Millennial reign. Therefore, it is very possible that the writer is referring to the Lord Jesus, as well as to the written Word (the Bible); let’s keep this in mind as we proceed.
The Word of God is living; yes, the Scriptures are alive because they are God’s words to us, but, even more significantly, the Lord Jesus is living! In this letter that is directed to the Hebrews, it is very important that they understand that Christ is presently living. The religious Jews took the actions necessary that would bring Jesus to His crucifixion, but after He had paid for all of sin with His blood on the cross, He rose from the dead after three days! He then ascended to the Father so that He could intercede for us as our High Priest: He offered Himself as the sacrifice, shed His blood to bring cleansing from sin, and entered into the presence of God to intercede for those who place their faith in Him. To John, Jesus declared Himself as the One Who is, the One Who was, and the One Who is coming (Revelation 1:4, literal), thereby declaring His existence throughout all of time.45 John wrote: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), thereby establishing the eternal nature of the Lord Jesus – He is living!
He is effective, or powerful; the Greek word is energes (en-er-gace’), in which we can see our word energy.46 The Word of God is active, but more than that, He is capable of doing, or of working – after all, He is the Creator (John 1:3); the application of this descriptive seems to lean more to the Lord Jesus. Moreover, Jesus is the only Way to the Father, He is the Truth, and in Him alone is life (John 14:6); through His redeeming work, He is able to reconcile a lost sinner with God – His cleansing from sin is effective! Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Satan has inspired many to define numerous other ways to a utopia of their own imaginings. Yet it is the Word of God Who stands above all of these as the Redeemer of mankind – something that no other devised religion can do.
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). It is the Word Who became flesh in order to purchase deliverance from sin for all of mankind (John 1:14); salvation comes only through Him, and only according to His terms – we cannot modify His requirements to suit our desires. He said, if ye are loving Me, then ye must keep My commandments (John 14:15, literal).47 Obedience to His commands is one of His necessities; if we do not live in obedience to Him, we cannot say that we love Him. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4). He bought us out of sin, therefore, He owns us – first of all, we are His slaves, yet He is also a gracious Master Who is alongside of us to lighten our load: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30). He worked for us at the cross, and desires to work in us and with us every day.
The Word of God is sharp, and the writer goes on to describe this sharpness as being above every two-edged sword. The NT Scriptures use two words for sword: machaira (makh’-ahee-rah), which is a short sword, or dagger, that was typically used in close combat, and rhomphaia (hrom-fah’-yah), a large sword that is able to inflict much damage.48 The sword that rulers wield in order to maintain law and order is the short version (machaira, Romans 13:4), as is the sword of the Spirit, which is defined as being a word [rhema] from God (Ephesians 6:17, literal).49 Although this latter text in the KJV, reads the word of God, it is not the Greek phrasing that we find in our text in Hebrews. When we come to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we find passages that speak of a sharp twoedged sword, (Revelation 1:16; 2:12), a sword (Revelation 2:16; 19:21), or a sharp sword (Revelation 19:15) that projects out of the Lord’s mouth. In each of these, the Greek word for sword is rhomphaia, the large sword that is used in battle for inflicting decisive justice against the enemy.
Our text in Hebrews uses machaira, the short sword, and being two-edged means that it is capable of cutting in both directions. A sword metaphorically speaks of authority, power and judgment,50 all of which describe the one edge. As we see Jesus in Revelation (albeit with the larger sword), we see Him exuding authority and judgment: it is with the sword of His mouth that He will destroy the armies of the Antichrist and False Prophet (Revelation 19:21) – undoubtedly, this will be just a word from Him (Isaiah 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8). We can easily understand the judgment and condemnation edge of Jesus’ sword, but what about the other edge? The opposite of what we have just considered is being granted deliverance from condemnation, which is salvation. This is the second edge of the large sword that comes out of Jesus’ mouth (Revelation), as well as the short sword of our text. Both the Scriptures and Jesus (the Word of God) bring a Message of hope and deliverance from sin, but if that is not heeded, then they also bear, with clarity and certainty, a Message of judgment!
Our text now includes an illustration of the sharpness of this sword, and how it pierces. It can pierce to the separation of the soul and spirit, the psuche and the pneuma.51 The psuche is the immaterial part of a person, where the image of God is borne, and is the seat of intellect, emotion, reasoning, etc.; yet there are exceptions when it is used to refer to the whole person, or to the life of an individual (and twice even to creatures, Revelation 8:9; 16:3). Pneuma, on the other hand, speaks of air movement, and mostly applies to our breath that gives us life – without breath, the body is dead. What we begin to see is that together, psuche and pneuma make up the immaterial part of man, and although pneuma is most precisely the breath of life, its use as spirit is very broad (from the Holy Spirit to the evil spirits); it is also used interchangeably with what we might consider to be psuche. For example: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit [pneuma] indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41); it’s not our breath that is willing, it is our inner being (our psuche) that determines that we are willing. What is evident is that we have great difficulty separating psuche from pneuma, but the Word of God is able to draw a division between them without difficulty – not altogether surprising since He created us.
The thought of piercing continues now to the joints and marrow. We noted that the soul and spirit are the immaterial aspects of man, and consideration is now given to the material. Joints, the Greek word means the fastenings of a door (the hinges),52 are where bones come together in a flexible connection that permits movement. Marrow, on the other hand, is the soft inner part of our bones that is continuously making new red and white blood cells and platelets for our blood53 – the life of our bodies. The Word of God is able to penetrate, with understanding, to the very essence of our mobility, and to the basis of life itself – again, He is the Creator. “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made …” (Psalm 139:14a); modern scientists can only comprehend a small part of what God has built into our bodies to keep us alive and well.
Finally, the Word of God knows our deepest contemplations and our thinking. In the days of Noah, the Lord knew that the thoughts of man were continuously evil (Genesis 6:5), and on this basis, He destroyed the earth by water. The Psalmist declared: “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me” (Psalm 139:1), and subsequently says: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts [disquieting thoughts] … and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).54 Realizing that all things are known to the Lord, the Psalmist asks that the Lord would carry out this search with the goal of leading him in His way. Paul wrote: “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34b). The Word of God, Who knows our inmost thoughts, intercedes with God the Father on our behalf, not according to our finite imaginings, but according to the purpose that God has for us: to live out His righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24).
Although the Word of God is typically thought of as being the Scriptures, it is helpful, I believe, to consider this verse with the Lord Jesus being that Word of God. We are not hidden from Him; we might be tempted to think that we can hide from the commands of the written Scriptures, but they are from Him Who knows us thoroughly – there is no hiding!
13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
And no creature is hidden in His sight, but everything [is] exposed and it has been laid bare to the eyes of Him with Whom [is] the record for us (literal).55
Accepting that the Word of God, from the previous verse, can be the Lord Jesus Christ, what we have here flows perfectly from what we have just considered: nothing is hidden from the Lord Jesus; all is exposed. The Greek word used for has been laid bare (opened) is tetrachelismena: it is a term that is used for the conquered in battle, or of a sacrifice that is about to be made, i.e., the head is drawn back in order to expose the throat for the slaughter.56 Nothing about us is hidden from the Lord; we are as vulnerable as the lamb that is about to be killed as a sacrifice. It should be very obvious that we are unable to feign righteousness or holiness before Him; we might be able to fool everyone some of the time, many for some of the time, but we cannot fool the Lord at any time. “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy [corrupt]: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:2-3).57 We might present an appearance of being righteous, but the Lord’s evaluation of all of humanity is already in: no one seeks God, and everyone is corrupt! For our being still helpless, at the appointed time, Christ died for the sake of the godless … but God, showing to us His own love, because of our being yet sinners, Christ, for our sakes, did die (Romans 5:6, 8, literal).58 Christ died for sinners, not for those who are striving to appear to be righteous; Jesus said: “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13b). Before God, no one is righteous without the covering of Christ’s blood shed for our sins; under God’s evaluation, even those who might appear to be righteous, are corrupt – it is only in their own estimation that they are righteous.
The writer includes the reminder that our record (KJV, to do) is with Christ. Record (to do) is from the Greek word logos, which we typically, and most times correctly, understand to mean word, or speech; however, it is used here in a more legal sense, as in that for which we must give an account. When the unrighteous dead stand before God to be judged, we are told that “the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12b). This is a record of all that they have done during their lifetimes on earth; in essence, they are giving an account for their activities, which have all been recorded. What is evident, from the context, is that no one will be justified and declared righteous by anything within those records; the review of their records is carried out in order for them to understand exactly why their deserved judgment is the Lake of Fire. To the Colossians, Paul explained that Jesus nailed to the cross the record of offenses that was against us (Colossians 2:14); as we live in violation of God’s Law, we accumulate to ourselves a record that will bring condemnation. However, faith in the work of Christ sees that record nailed to the cross, as we move from the bondage of sin to life in Him. Nevertheless, we must carefully heed the warning against permitting an evil heart of unbelief to enter into us (Hebrews 3:12), lest we fall from the grace of God, only to have our record of offenses re-established. Jesus’ parable of the king and the ungrateful servant is a reminder that if we do not live according to God’s design, then our debt will be reinstated (Matthew 18:23-35). Again, obedience must accompany faith!
We need to be very aware that how we live impacts our standing before God, and our eternal destiny. Christ is keeping records for which we will give an account, or they will be blotted out by His shed blood. We must not be so presumptuous as to think that our sin, once cleansed by His blood, cannot be returned to our record. There are many warnings in Scripture against being deceived, or allowing our faith in the Lord to fail, and many other warnings to remain steadfast in our faith in Him. God does not warn us about things that are merely hypothetical; His warnings are real and are against real failures that are possible for those who are His children.
Our lives are an open book to the Lord Who knows us thoroughly. We must live carefully so that His shed blood will remain our covering and protection – remaining in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). There is only one place of refuge, and that is in Christ!
14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
We, having therefore, a great High Priest Who did pass through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us continue firmly in our confession (literal).59
Every year on the Day of Atonement, the Levitical high priest would go beyond the veil into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of the Lord. There he would first place two handfuls of incense upon a pan of hot coals in order to cover the mercy seat with a cloud of the incense, and then he would sprinkle the blood from the sin offerings once upon the mercy seat and seven times in front of it, first from a bullock for his own and his household’s sins, and then from a goat for the sins of the people, and all of this would provide a temporary cleansing from sin (Leviticus 16:11-15).60 Atonement was not only being made for sins, but the Tabernacle was also being cleansed through the sprinkled blood because of the uncleanness of the people (Leviticus 16:16-19); although atonement (kaphar) is generally applied to people being cleansed from sin, the same Hebrew word is used for inanimate objects to signify that they have been sanctified. Even though the Holy of Holies was a sacred place where the Lord said that He would dwell, it needed to be cleansed by blood in order to remain holy for the Lord; the Tabernacle was positioned in the midst of the unclean people of Israel, and it was served by sinful priests – the Lord made provision for its annual cleansing.
Jesus, as our High Priest, did not follow the order of the Levitical high priest in the temple; rather, He passed through the veil (of the heavens) into the very presence of the Father as the living sacrificial Lamb Who had shed His blood for the sins of humanity. The Levitical high priest brought a little of the blood of the sin offerings into the Holy of Holies, but Jesus entered the Holiest in heaven as the Final Offering for sin, yet His entrance came because of His shed blood – “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by [means of] his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12).61 The earthly high priest entered three times into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement to perform his duties: (first, to offer incense to make a cloud over the mercy seat, second, with the blood of the bullock that was killed for his sins and those of his household, and third, with the blood of the goat for the people’s sins), but Jesus, Who was without sin and being God, entered only once to bring deliverance from sin to all of humanity! He, as the Son of God, had fulfilled the Godhead’s plan for man’s redemption, and He then entered into the presence of the Father where He is now interceding for those who are living faithfully for Him (Romans 8:34).
With this understanding of our High Priest, the writer calls upon his readers to continue holding firmly to our confession. From the Greek homologeo (literally, to speak the same thing), confession is not a lightly given agreement, but is formed from deeply held convictions of the truth of a matter.62 The confession, in this case, is truth that has been settled after careful consideration, and it is completely aligned with the Truth of God. As we have noted before, the Greek pisteuo (believe) is a persuasion that is based upon a careful examination of the matter at hand; therefore, it is only fitting for our confession (of what we believe) to be based upon convictions that have been carefully thought through and are firmly held. However, we must not overlook the fact that this is a call to hold fast, and does not exclude the possibility of not doing so. Once again, the Word of God warns us against being draw away from faithfully following the Lord; such an invitation to faithfulness only amplifies the reality that we are very capable of choosing to become faithless (Hebrews 3:12). Considering Who our High Priest is, and what He has done for us, should be great incentive to remain faithfully in Him.
15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but Who has experienced all things according to [our] likeness, apart from sin (literal).63
Not only has Jesus entered beyond the veil into the presence of God the Father, but He also is fully able to have compassion for us as we struggle with life on this earth. During His time on earth, Jesus faced the same things that everyone faces in the routine of life, yet He was different in one aspect: He did not have an inherited sin nature! “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21); “[Christ] Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22); “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5).
Tempted is from the Greek word pepeiramenon, which most Biblical lexicons indicate as meaning to be tested, or tried; yet, translation software unanimously showed it as meaning experienced.64 Most lexicons take the root of this word to be either peirazo, or peirao, which both mean to try, or attempt to do something, or to put to the test.65 When the devil tempted Jesus (Luke 4:2), we understand that he was testing Him in an attempt to derail His mission on earth. However, that is not the context that we find in our verse; here we have Jesus being identified as a compassionate High Priest because He experienced life as we face it every day – He understands life because He lived it.
However, as already noted, Jesus experienced life without sin! We are born with a sin nature, and hence have a propensity to do what is wrong; in his cunning, the devil will take advantage of this as often as he can. Jesus was born of Mary (physically) and of the Holy Spirit (spiritually): He had a body of flesh, but did not have the inherited sin that comes through the man – He was God in the flesh. He experienced life among His fallen created beings who bear His Godly image, yet He did so without sin, and so He was the sinless Lamb of God Who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). We will probably never fully comprehend how a holy God lived in a body of flesh among people who were sinners, but He did, for the sole purpose of paying the price for sin for all of humanity. Because He lived on earth, He understands what we face in this life, and, as our High Priest, He is able to have compassion for us. However, that does not mean that He will gloss over our failures or condone our sin; the compassion that He has for us includes His ability to know what is best for us, something that our finite vision cannot always discern.
16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Therefore, let us come with freedom to the throne of grace, in order to receive mercy, and find favor in timely help (literal).66
Therefore ties what comes now to what has just come before: Jesus is our High Priest Who is compassionate toward us. He, Who is without sin, lived among sinful humanity: His holy character would have been assaulted at every turn by sin, yet He endured because He came to earth to pay the price for sin. He experienced the very worst of life on earth: He was misunderstood, maligned, and His own people sought His death! He came to earth on a mission that He helped to formulate: to pay, in full, the price of sin, and to reconcile man with his Creator. He is now with His heavenly Father interceding for His faithful followers, regardless of their physical heritage (Ephesians 2:18; Romans 8:34).
We are to come with freedom (boldly) to the throne of grace. Freedom is from the Greek parrhesia, which is a combination of pas (all) and rhesis (speech), and primarily means to have the freedom to speak.67 The throne of grace is God’s throne: He is the source of all good things (James 1:17). Our freedom to come before God has been purchased for us by Christ, and it comes only through Him. When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn by God from top to bottom, signifying that the way into His presence (symbolized by the Holy of Holies) had been opened. If we are in Christ, then we can have confidence that we can lay our petitions before our Father in heaven; we have that freedom! However, this is not a name-it-claim-it situation like the prosperity gospel promoters would like to believe; rather, when we are in Christ, our utmost desire is to please Him and to live in obedience to His commands (John 14:15). And ye, set free from sin, have been enslaved to righteousness (Romans 6:18, literal);68 this is the essence of being in Christ. Another word picture: we have put the old man off, and have donned the new man, created by God in Christ for the purpose of living in His righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
We are finite beings with a sin nature, living in a world that is contrary to the Lord, yet we are in Christ, having a desire to live out His righteousness. We have the freedom to come to God, but it is understandable that we will not always (perhaps, seldom) know what is best in our situation. In His grace, the Lord has provided for this as well. And likewise also, the Spirit is helping our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray [for] as one ought, but the same Spirit is interceding for us with sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26, literal).69 The Spirit of God, given to us to guide us into all truth (John 16:13), is not only strengthening us, but also interceding with the Father for our good. If this isn’t enough, our Redeemer is also in the presence of the Father entreating for us (Romans 8:34) – we have the attention of the Spirit of God and the Son of God as we bring our requests to the Father.
“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15). Again, this is not name-it-claim-it; rather, we will receive what we request when what we have asked for is in keeping with His will for us. The Spirit, and Jesus, hear our prayers; moreover, They weigh our requests in the light of our eternal benefit, and, because we do not know what we should pray for, there are time when we do not recognize the answer. Jesus said, “In the world ye are having tribulation, but be encouraged – I have conquered the world” (John 16:33b, literal).70 So many today believe that they can be free of all disease and pain, that God has designed our bodies to heal everything that comes along if we simply provide the required nutrients; granted, many of our physical difficulties may be unwittingly self-inflicted and a change of plan may bring improved health. Yet Jesus promised us tribulation (thlipsis), which is oppression, affliction, distress, trouble, etc.,71 and we must recognize that such can come from both outside of or within our bodies – it is something over which we do not have control, and which the Lord can use to His glory. Paul healed many people during his ministry, yet “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick” (2 Timothy 4:20), Epaphroditus was “sick nigh unto death” (Philippians 2:27), he encouraged Timothy to “use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities” (1 Timothy 5:23), and concerning his own “thorn in the flesh,” the Lord advised, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We live in a fallen world that is under the curse of sin, and our bodies are mortal and subject to decay and death, we are not to live carelessly, but neither can we expect to live without any illnesses or pain. It is after we have lived faithfully through this life that we will enter the glories of heaven: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). It is after we have been changed from mortal to immortal at the coming of the Lord for His own that we will leave all of our tribulations behind (1 Corinthians 15:52).
What is clear from our text is that we have freedom to present our petitions to the Lord, and we will receive His mercy and grace. Mercy and grace are related in that both express a compassion and benevolence for the recipient. It is through God’s great mercy that sinful humanity has not been completely destroyed; mercy withholds what is justly deserved – even as those who are in Christ, we are still beneficiaries of God’s mercy when we fail Him. On the other hand, it is through His grace that He “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45); grace provides that which is undeserved. As we bring our requests to the Lord in the freedom that Christ won for us, we will experience God’s mercy and grace: His mercy will protect us in the midst of affliction, while His grace will provide us with what we need to endure a troublesome time. We must never assume that the Lord will afford us a trouble-free time on this earth; as a matter of fact, we should anticipate the opposite, but we can be assured of His plenteous mercy and timely grace to see us through our tribulations!
Therefore, may we be afraid lest, a promise being open to enter into His rest, any one of you might seem to be excluded (literal).1
Once again, the word therefore causes us to reflect on what we have just learned because it forms the basis for what follows. The refusal of Israel to enter into the Promised Land when the Lord said that the time had come, led to the Lord’s anger against them for their rebellion, and His judgement was that Israel’s men of war would die in the wilderness over a forty year period (Numbers 1:2-3; 14:29; Deuteronomy 2:14). The children of the condemned watched as their fathers bore the surety of God’s condemnation for their rebellion. It should have left a profound impression of their need to obey the Lord in all things; alas, the history of the children of Israel indicates that either no such impression was made, or it was very quickly forgotten. The writer used this time in Israel’s history to warn us that if we permit an evil heart of unbelief to enter into us (as brethren in the Lord) then we will, like Israel, become apostate from the Lord and become subject to His condemnation (Hebrews 3:12). However, there is also the lesson that if we remain faithful to Him, even in the midst of rebellion, then we will receive His approval – Caleb and Joshua being the shining examples.
Fear (be afraid) is always in the passive voice in the NT, and we must pause to give this a moment’s attention. The Greek root word phobeo literally means to put to flight by terrifying; the fear is caused by (hence the passive voice) either someone or a situation – in essence, it is our response to an outside stimulant. In this case, the writer is about to present a situation that he hopes will generate fear within us: that we, unlike that generation of Israelites of whom we have just heard, should not be disqualified from entering into the rest that God has prepared for us.
Being left (being open; Greek kataleipomenes) speaks of something that is incomplete, or unfinished.2 In other words, God’s promise of rest is not yet complete – it remains open, or continues to exist;3 therefore, since His rest is open to us as well as to Israel of old, it should cause us to be afraid that we may somehow fail to qualify for His rest. This is the subject of the writer’s next exhortation.
2. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
For we are also those who have heard the Good News, even as they, but the Word of preaching did not benefit them, not being united with faith [in] those who did hear (literal).4
Let’s consider a timeline for the children of Israel as they left Egypt. In the third month, they arrived at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1) where they received the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic Law, and the instructions to build a tabernacle for the Lord. As the second year began, the tabernacle was raised (Exodus 40:17), which means that the priests were in place, and the sacrifices for sin had begun. Within two months of this, the children of Israel left the wilderness of Sinai for Paran – still in a wilderness territory but moving toward the Promised Land (Numbers 10:11-12). Therefore, by the time the children of Israel came to Kadesh (where they sent spies to assess the Promised Land), they were at least somewhat familiar with God’s daily requirements, and their need to shed the blood of animals in order to bring a temporary cleansing from sin. The concept of obedience to the Lord in order to receive His approval should have been strongly impressed upon them by this time: not only because of the Law of Moses, but also from their experiences of leaving Egypt and throughout the previous two years. Yet, despite all of this being fresh in their minds, when they came to Kadesh, they rebelled against the Lord!
What was the gospel, or Good News, that the children of Israel heard? Up to the time that the Lord spoke to Abraham, He worked through individuals like Noah, who found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). However, as the Lord spoke to Abraham, He said: “… in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3), and so the Lord chose Abraham’s family line through whom to fulfill His promise to bring about the destruction of the power of Satan (Genesis 3:15). This family promise was reiterated to Isaac (Genesis 26:4), and Jacob (Genesis 28:14), who is the father of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. As Israel left Egypt, they were a mighty people, and the Lord, at Sinai, provided them with His Law and the statutes by which they were to live. These statutes included the tabernacle (the dwelling place of God), the sacrificial system and the Levitical priesthood that made cleansing from sin readily available to everyone (including those who were not of Israel, Exodus 12:49). The required repetition of the animal sacrifices clearly illustrated that they only brought a temporary cleansing from sin, and then only if the one who brought the sacrifice identified with the animal that was killed: “And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him” (Leviticus 1:4). The illustration is significant: the animal dies in the place of the one who brought it as a sin offering. By placing his hand upon the head of the animal, the one making the offering was acknowledging his sin, but, more importantly, was actively believing that the shed blood of the sacrifice would bring cleansing from the sin committed. This is the Gospel!
The children of Israel lived the message of the Good News of God’s forgiveness, and the sacrifice for cleansing was still very fresh in their minds when they arrived at Kadesh. However, in their rebellion against the Lord, they also learned that despite the Lord’s mercy and grace expressed to them through the sacrificial provisions, the Lord shall not always strive with man (Genesis 6:3a) – the rebellious men of war were condemned to die in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 2:14-15). By this time, they had spent over two years in the wilderness witnessing the Lord’s protection and provision, and now had continual access to the Lord through the priesthood, yet they refused to believe Him for any of this when it came to the Promised Land. They had the Gospel, but because they did not combine it with faith in the Lord, it was of no benefit to them: they rebelled against the Lord!
The writer states that the Gospel was not only there for the children of Israel – we have also heard its message, which has not changed. Cleansing from sin is possible through the sacrifice that has been made for us, if we have faith in God Who made this provision available to us. For the Israelite, his sacrifices had to be made continually, but it was his faith in God’s provision that brought cleansing from sin (albeit temporarily); today, Christ’s sacrifice was made once (fulfilling all of the OT sacrifices) and He is our High Priest (Hebrews 3:1) if our faith remains in Him as God’s Provision. We have heard the Gospel (just like Israel of old), yet we must be careful lest an evil heart of unbelief enter into us and we follow Israel’s example into apostasy.
There is a rest that God has available to us (verse one); however, we must hold an active faith in the Lord in order to experience His rest that comes through the Gospel. An active faith centers on obedience to the Lord’s commands; this was Israel’s failure at Kadesh, and we must fear lest we follow their example. Jesus said that the one who is loving Him (something that can only come through an active faith) must be living in obedience to His commandments (John 14:15). Faith and obedience are forever inseparably linked.
3. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For we, who do believe, are entering into rest, even as He said: So I did swear in My wrath, they will certainly not enter into My rest even though the works were done from the beginning of the world (literal).5
As the writer launches into a lengthy lesson on the rest of God that was offered to Israel of old, and is still available to us, he begins by qualifying the we to whom this applies: it is to those who do believe. We must keep two things in mind: 1) to believe involves a preliminary, careful examination leading to a subsequent conviction of the truth of a matter; in this case, we are still holding an active belief in God’s provision for our sins – as we have seen, an active belief includes obedience to the Lord’s commands; 2) it is possible to believe and then to permit it to be replaced by unbelief (Hebrews 3:12). Therefore, we, who do believe identifies those who are still believing, and are living in obedience to the Lord; anything less is unbelief, which is apostasy. We are those who are the faithful – the overcomers who will inherit all things in God (Revelation 21:7). Jesus said that it is the one who is remaining faithful to Him unto the end who will be saved (Matthew 24:13).
The KJV do enter does not catch the essence of this Greek verb; enter is fine, but the word is in the present tense, which shows this as being a continuous entering, rather than a one-time action.6 It is the one who is actively believing (faithfully obeying the Lord) who is entering into God’s rest; the indicative mood makes this a statement of fact.7 Therefore, the fact is that the faithful child of God is entering into His rest, and full entrance will not take place until the end – the same time when he will be saved (Matthew 24:13). In essence, there is a tight correlation between God’s rest and His salvation. Isaiah 30:15 includes the phrase: In returning and rest shall ye be saved, or in conversion and quietness you will be saved (literal).8 The context for Isaiah recording this phrase is that Israel refused to turn to the Lord (conversion) and rest in Him, even though this is the way to salvation! The Hebrew word translated as returning, or conversion (shuba) is from the verb shub, which includes turning from evil and turning to good; therefore, the Lord is saying that in turning to Him (and away from evil) and remaining there, comes salvation.9 Jesus said, ye must remain in Me and I in you (John 15:4a, literal);10 remain carries with it the concepts of rest, quietness and permanence – our conversion brings us into Christ, remaining there ensures our salvation one day. We must understand what is required in order to remain in Christ.
The writer then quotes from Psalm 95:11 – “Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.” Should not does not adequately translate the Hebrew thought; when the Hebrew ’im, which normally means if, is used within an oath, it becomes an emphatic negative: will not, or will never would be a more appropriate translation of the Hebrew.11 Indeed, of all of the men of war whom Moses had just numbered in Israel (603,550, Numbers 2:32) only two (Caleb and Joshua) entered the rest that God had prepared for them (the Promised Land) – that is a very small remnant!
The writer then goes on to note something that makes Israel’s failure clearly a matter of unbelief: the rest that the Lord had promised them in the Land that flowed with milk and honey was established with creation; this leads right into what the writer will now explain.
4. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
For He spoke in a certain place concerning the seventh [day] in this manner: “and God did rest on the seventh day from all of His works” (literal).12
The certain place is this: “And on the seventh day God ended [finished] his work which he had made [done]; and he rested [ceased; shabath] on the seventh day from all his work which he had made [done]” (Genesis 2:2).13 For six days God did the work of creating (including each of the six days, thereby expressing the passage of time, which He also created); however, with the arrival of the seventh day, time continued (it was the seventh day) but His creating work ceased (He rested).
The writer has drawn two seemingly diverse subjects together: 1) Israel’s failure to enter into the rest that God had promised in the Land that flowed with milk and honey, and 2) the example that the Lord set for that first seventh day by practicing shabath (rest from work). It’s an interesting comparison that we will watch unfold as he continues.
5. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Once again, the writer brings in a portion of Psalm 95:11 – the same part that he had just quoted, which should actually read: they will certainly not enter into My rest.
6. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Since, then, it is remaining [for] some to enter into it [rest], and those who formerly had the Good News preached to them did not enter because of disobedience, (literal).14
This draws on his earlier note that the rest was a completed provision that harkens from the beginning of the world (verse 3). For the majority of Israel and virtually all of their men of war, the Promised Land of rest was never seen; yet, Caleb and Joshua did enter. Even though it had been closed for most, it remained open for others. The fact that most of Israel did not enter into the rest that God had promised to them had nothing to do with the rest not being ready – it had been ready from the beginning of the world; it was entirely their disobedience that kept them out. Moreover, the rest that God had available for Israel long before they were called to enter into the Land, continues to exist. Remaining (remaineth) is in the present tense (it is continuous) and passive voice (it is God Who makes it available to those who qualify).
Israel failed because of unbelief, or disobedience. The Greek word is from apeitheia that means disobedience, which, in turn, is a result of unbelief.15 Although unbelief can be easily hidden, disobedience is much more evident and is a sign of unbelief. The writer emphasizes the fact that the saving Gospel (the Good News) was presented to Israel: the priesthood and the sacrificial system were in place – they understood the need for cleansing from sin, and had all that was necessary to be cleansed before God (albeit, temporarily). Nothing has changed: Evangelicals have heard the Word, yet most live in disobedience to God’s Message! The thread of Ecumenical fervor that binds so many Evangelicals together is that which holds them hostage to unbelief and disobedience. They hold the Word of God in their hands, yet heed the flawed teaching from their favored preachers. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1John 4:1). A prophet is someone who proclaims the truth of God (not necessarily new revelation), and, therefore, a false prophet is someone who declares a message that is not true to God’s Word. It is necessary to try them because they might appear to be true, or even make the claim that they are true to God’s Word. We must have a studied grasp of God’s truths so that we are able to discern that which does not align itself completely with His Word; our responsibility is to follow the Lord, not a preacher or a well-honed theology.
7. Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Again, a certain day He is determining, Today, in David He is saying (after so long a time), even as He said: “Today if of His voice you hear, do not harden your hearts” (literal).16
The writer, once again, quotes from Psalm 95:7b-8a. David penned these words many years after the children of Israel faced the Promised Land. God’s message to us is simple: He has given us this day, if we hear His voice through the pages of Scripture, then we must not refuse to give heed to Him! Israel heard the voice of God but refused to follow His directive to enter the Land.
8. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
For if Joshua had brought them to rest, He would not have spoken of another day after these things (literal).17
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua; the KJV translators opted for the Greek name (in keeping with the Bishops’ Bible) when the Hebrew name would have provided instant clarity.
The essence of the writer’s point is that if Joshua had brought the children of Israel to that place of rest, then the Lord would not have used David to speak of a rest that is still open. However, if we consider Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land, it very quickly becomes evident that their possession of the Land did not follow the Lord’s design. “And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua … and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim” (Judges 2:7, 10-11). Their pattern became: follow the Lord when a godly judge ruled, then depart from the Lord when that judge died (Judges 2:18-19). What never took place was a time when the people followed the Lord with a whole heart; they would follow a godly judge, but never learned to follow the Lord – they never found the rest that God had prepared for them.
9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Therefore, there continues to exist a Sabbath-rest to the people of God (literal).18
The indicative mood for remaineth (continues to exist) makes this a statement of fact. The writer declared it to be a matter for fear that we might not qualify for this rest (verse 1). Who will not qualify? Everyone who is not numbered among the people who belong to God. Through Christ’s sacrifice, everyone who places his faith in Christ becomes a child of God: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26). Therefore, everyone who is in Christ qualifies for the rest that God has prepared for His own. However, becoming in Christ is not a one-time event, but a life-time of faithfulness (obedience) to Him. The writer of Hebrews issued the warning that we must guard against an evil heart of unbelief that will lead us into apostasy from God. Yes, unlike Evangelicals today, the Scriptures teach that someone who is believing in the Lord can turn away and become eternally lost. Therefore, the people of God are those who are living with an active faith in the Lord, which, as we have noted before, must include obedience to Him. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15); the condition is to be loving the Lord (present tense; continuously); if this condition is met, then His command is to obey Him.19
The writer used the term Sabbath-rest (sabbatismos), and this is the only place in the NT where this word is found. For those who are in Christ (the people of God), this Sabbath-rest is available (it is still remaining); we have also noted that the indicative mood makes this a fact. The passive voice for remaineth tells us that this Sabbath-rest comes from God – He is the One Who makes it possible for those who are His. What the writer has done is link the rest that is being discussed (the one that the children of Israel missed) to the Sabbath that the Lord established on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2-3). This is an uncomfortable truth for many, and so they opt for declaring this rest to be “spiritual, not physical.”20 The subtlety of such is this: if we are able to justify spiritualizing God’s commands, then no one will be able to determine if we are keeping them or not. What a grand scheme!
Allow me to take a moment to deal with this. There is no doubt that God created the seventh day as a day of rest – He created it, and He set the example! The question comes down to this: do we keep the Ten Commandments as outlined in Exodus 20, or not? Many today believe that the Ten Commandments were fulfilled by Christ and removed along with the Mosaic Law. Here’s why I think that this is a very significant error. When God gave His Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, He wrote them upon two tables of stone (Exodus 31:18); when He gave them the multitude of laws and regulations, He gave them through the medium of angels to Moses (Galatians 3:19). Can these possibly be regarded as the same thing? Furthermore, the stone tables bearing God’s “handwriting” were kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, while the Mosaic Laws were not. Therefore, it is evident that there is a marked difference from God’s perspective.
When Jesus was asked what good should be done in order to have everlasting life, He said: “… if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Jewish tradition says that there are some 613 commands within their Law,21 and so the response of the man was, “Which ones?” Jesus went on to list five of the Ten Commandments that deal with our fellowman, along with the summary for him to love his neighbor as himself (Matthew 19:18-19). On another occasion, when Jesus was queried by a religious lawyer as to the great command (singular), He provided a concise summary of the Ten Commandments: love the Lord with all of your heart, soul and mind (our relationship with the Lord, Commands 1-4; Deuteronomy 6:5), and love your neighbor as yourself (our relationship with those about us, Commands 6-10; Leviticus 19:18); then He went on to make this observation: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). These two commandments, which are a succinct summary of the Ten Commandments, form the structure that supports all of the Jewish law and the words of the OT prophets. The Mosaic Law, with its foundation in God’s Ten Commandments, provided detailed instructions on how Israel was to live, and included the very specific guidelines regarding the priesthood and sacrificial system. Clearly, the Ten Commandments were separate from the Mosaic Law – they are God’s requirements of humanity, while the Mosaic Law was directed specifically to the children of Israel, for they were the chosen family-line through whom the promised Messiah, Prophet and Savior would come. Through His writing on the tables of stone, the Lord made known (in writing) His standard for all people; the Mosaic Law was meant to point its adherents to their fulfillment in the Promised One. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” (Galatians 3:24-25).
As we understand the important difference between God’s Law and the Mosaic Law, we are also able to see that it was the Mosaic Law that was fulfilled in Christ and brought to an end. Consequently, the Law of God remains as applicable today as it was when Moses first received the tables of stone. We then face the question: are the Ten Commandments to be only understood within a spiritual context, or are they to be kept physically as well? It seems evident that the last six Commands (honor your father and mother, do not murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or lust after what is your neighbor’s) must be worked out within the physical realm, else there is no evidence of compliance or violation. Yes, Jesus drew these into the imaginings of the mind, and, thereby, equated hatred with murder and lust with adultery (Matthew 5:21-28), but such mental activities are only sin for the person involved, and then only before God. There is a spiritual aspect to keeping the Ten Commandments, for, before God, we are guilty for what we have thought that is in violation of His Commands; however, that in no way replaces physically keeping God’s Laws. Although MacArthur limits his stated evaluation of “spiritual, not physical” to the Sabbath-rest, he has no basis for only assessing the Fourth Commandment in this manner. In fact, if this is to be applied to one of God’s Commands, then it must follow that the same application be made to all of His Commands. MacArthur’s comment sounds somewhat like the ancient philosophy that made the spiritual to be all important (the good), and the physical to be of little consequence (the evil). It is more likely that MacArthur has made this evaluation in order to preserve his theology; if he acknowledged that this Sabbath-rest was anything more than spiritual, he would have to re-evaluate much of his well-honed theology.
Therefore, what of sabbatismos – Sabbath-rest? Let’s very briefly consider God’s teaching regarding the seventh-day Sabbath.22
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it [qadash, set apart as sacred]: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:2-3).23 God established that first seventh-day as sacred, but did it just apply to that first day, or does it continue to be a sacred day today? Sanctified (qadash), as it is used here, is an imperfect Hebrew verb, which simply means that it is an incomplete action; the application, within this context, means that not only did God bless (also imperfect) and sanctify that first seventh-day, but that it holds true for every subsequent seventh-day.
As the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they did so as emancipated slaves who had served the Egyptians for generations. As the Lord provided them with manna in the wilderness, we read this: “And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily” (Exodus 16:5). Despite being enslaved for years, they knew when it was the sixth day, and since they knew the sixth day, it is very certain that they also knew the seventh day. However, because they had been enslaved, they had lost the sacredness of the seventh day, and so the provision of manna became an object lesson to remind them that it was a holy day. This was about two weeks, or so, before they arrived at Mt. Sinai; God was teaching them His requirements before they heard the Ten Commandments. Of the father of the Israelites, Abraham, God said that he “obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26:5). This is proof that the Lord did not hide His requirements from those who knew Him; even though His commandments had not yet been received in written form, they were known, understood and obeyed.
It was at Mt. Sinai that the Lord’s Ten Commandments were received by Moses, written by God upon two tables of stone (Deuteronomy 4:13). Included was this: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy [qadash]. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11). Remember is from a Hebrew infinitive absolute (zakar), which can represent a command, as it does in this case;24 the command is to recall the Sabbath day (the seventh-day) for the purpose of observing its holiness. The Lord elaborated on the reason for this distinction by reviewing the establishment of this unique day at the time of creation. From Adam to Moses, the fact of God’s blessing and sanctifying the seventh-day had not changed! “For I am the LORD, I change not …” (Malachi 3:6).
So what happened to the Sabbath in our Evangelical and Protestant traditions? Keep in mind that the Ten Commandments, of which we have just considered the Fourth, were written in stone by God! Even today we understand what the phrase written in stone means: “Permanently fixed or firmly established; incapable of being changed.”25 Nevertheless, within today’s Christian tradition (within its broadest application) we find that Sunday is accepted as the day of rest (even though no one really keeps it as such). How did this happen?
The short answer to this departure from God’s written in stone Commandment is that Satan has always been very active in distorting and denying God’s Word. What is very characteristic of Paul’s letters in our NT, is the correction of error, or the warnings against error. Even before the canon of Scripture was closed, error could be found everywhere – sometimes creeping into the assemblies of Christians subtly, and other times expressing itself with great boldness. Jesus’ messages for the elders (messengers, angels) of the seven assemblies in Asia (Revelation 2-3) tells us that all was not well among those who claimed the name of Christ. The observance of the Sabbath as a day set-apart for rest, as God had designed it, was also a target of Satan in the early centuries AD. Although the neglect of the seventh-day Sabbath in favor of the first day of the week became common among some early church leaders, it sprang from a growing anti-Semitism among Gentile “Christians.” It became more a matter of separating from anything that might appear to be even remotely Jewish, than following the teachings of the Lord Jesus. For these leaders, the Sabbath was a weekly reminder of Judaism, and their hatred of all things Jewish caused them to turn away from the Sabbath. What they should have known is that the Sabbath rest was not Jewish at all, it was God’s order from creation. Their justification for this departure? We must celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, which took place on the first day of the week; it sounds so spiritually astute and logical that it easily took root within the fledgling Roman Catholic Church.
Consider what Matthew G. Easton wrote on this matter: “The Sabbath, originally instituted for man at his creation, is of permanent and universal obligation … Originally at creation the seventh day of the week was set apart and consecrated as the Sabbath. The first day of the week is now observed as the Sabbath. Has God authorized this change … If any change of the day has been made, it must have been by Christ or by his authority … It was originally a memorial of creation. A work vastly greater than that of creation has now been accomplished by him, the work of redemption. We would naturally expect just such a change as would make the Sabbath a memorial of that greater work. True, we can give no text authorizing the change in so many words. We have no express law declaring the change. But there are evidences of another kind. We know for a fact that the first day of the week has been observed from apostolic times …” (bold added).26 There are two serious problems with his evaluation: 1) naturally expect must not hold weight in matters pertaining to the Commands of God – our nature is not a good judge of what God requires; 2) those early church leaders who endeavored to shift the Sabbath to the first day, were heretics on so many fronts that they would naturally not be acceptable as authorities for changing what God had instituted. Easton does admit that there is no text authorizing the change, but, unfortunately, he goes on to justify his departure from God’s Word by appealing to others who, likewise, had broken His Word.
Another item of interest is the 1937 edition of The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (all of what follows has been obscured in their modern catechism):
“Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (AD. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. …
Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her.”27
Suffice it to say that man has justified contravening God’s Word, and Catholic tradition has infiltrated virtually every corner of Christendom – even fundamental Baptists, who pride themselves on historically never having been under the Catholic Church’s authority, follow the Catholic tradition in this matter. Nevertheless, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that God has a Sabbath-rest open for those who are His. Yes, this speaks of a spiritual rest that we find only by being in Christ – a rest in the sense that we can do nothing to earn the salvation that He purchased for us; but, beyond that, the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) still holds us to keep the Sabbath as a day of physical rest, as well. Israel failed to enter God’s rest, but it is still available to His children to this day.
10. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
For he who has entered into His rest, he also rested from his works, just as God [did] from His own (literal).28
The religions of the world place the responsibility on the individual to do the right things in order to obtain their concept of salvation.
Hinduism – salvation is described as liberating the soul from the body, thereby freeing the soul from the birth-death cycle (reincarnation); yoga (meaning yoked) is the means of accomplishing a unity with Brahman (the basis for everything) through selfless work (Karma Yoga), self-dissolving love (Bhakti Yoga) and an absolute knowledge of Self (Jnana Yoga).29 This involves a perpetual labor, through innumerable lifetimes.
Islam – there is no salvation from an inherited sin, because they believe that everyone is born sinless. Therefore, salvation is simply a path that is defined only within the Quran, which guides in spiritual development and coming to god (their Allah is the Arabic word for god, not another name for Jehovah – it is certainly not the God of the Bible).30 Muslims must learn to know what is right (according to the Quran), and then it is up to them to choose and do the defined righteous deeds – they are on their own. Although Muslims do accept some parts of the Bible (after all, Abraham is also the father of the Arabs), they generally consider it to have been corrupted over time, and that the Quran, their god’s latest revelation, supplants the Christian Bible.
Buddhism – salvation is experiencing our true nature as human beings. They define the human being as being “perfect, complete, infinite, and absolute existence.”31 For them, the paradox is that, although we appear to be limited, mortal and fallible, it is because we are not aware of our true nature. All of our struggles and suffering are the perfect, infinite true nature endeavoring to show itself. This is not just an intellectual understanding; we must encounter True Self in actual experience in order for it to bring us to a state of peace.32 That’s a tall order for sinful creatures!
Catholicism – salvation is only available through the Roman Catholic Church, and the door to such is opened by baptism and entered into fully through the ministration of all of the sacraments as defined by the RCC.33 They acknowledge that salvation is through Jesus, but they have placed their church between the sinner and Jesus – with the requirement that the sacraments are to be kept faithfully. The RCC holds the sole right to extend salvation to its faithful. The three pillars of the Catholic Church are Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium; “Sacred Scripture refers to the Bible … the inspired word of God … [as it is] read and interpreted within the context of the Church’s Tradition and teaching authority [the Magisterium].”34 Within this religion, the Scriptures are subject to their Traditions and the whim of the Magisterium (the teaching office of the Church: the pope and bishops); therefore, the faithful are those who live according to the dictates of the Church – again, a religion that is focused on works.
Unlike the religions of the world, the writer tells us that, for the one who has entered into God’s rest (when He ceased creating), he has also rested from his own work – he has ceased trying to achieve any spiritual goals through his own efforts. Every religion (I do not consider a personal relationship with the Lord, through faith in Christ, to be a religion) includes some form of self-effort that must be carried out in order to achieve eternal life, or whatever that final state of bliss is supposed to be. Yet Paul’s words to the Philippians are: So that, my beloved, ye always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, with fear and trembling, ye must be working out your salvation (Philippians 2:12, literal).35 In light of this, we must bear this in mind: For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works, which God did prepare beforehand so that in them we live (Ephesians 2:10, literal).36 What is very evident is that we are to be working, but this is not in an effort to gain favor with God. These are works of righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24) that God has prepared for us; as we so work, we are living in obedience to what the Lord has prepared for us so that we might abide in His presence one day – these are not our works, but His! Understand this: legalism says that I must do certain things in order to merit God’s favor; by contrast, obedience flows from a heart of love for what God has done for me. The former is my work for my benefit, whereas with the latter, I am merely doing what God has asked of me, His servant (for He bought me) and child.
Is this rest, then, merely spiritual as John MacArthur has said? It is spiritual, but it is not just spiritual. God has given us His handwritten Commandments, and one of the four that guides our relationship with Him is the Fourth: Remember the Sabbath day…. Therefore, if it is our desire to be pleasing to the Lord, then we must, at the very least, begin with the observation of the Ten Commandments. Command Four makes it very clear that we are to keep the seventh-day Sabbath as God created it: set apart from the rest of the week, and holy! However, keeping the Sabbath as God intended, is not our work, but an act of obedience to Him – it is one of those things that He has prepared for us to do. As we understand that God’s Law (the Ten Commandments) remains in effect today, we find in it a starting place for how we are to live. His Spirit, Whom He has given to every one of His children, will be our guide as we live for Him (John 16:13).
11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
May we give diligence, then, to enter into that rest, in order that no one, by the same example of disobedience, will go astray (literal).37
We are called upon to make every effort with great care to enter into the rest that God has prepared for us. The KJV shows this as labour, which focuses on the energy expended rather than on the care that must be taken in order to qualify to enter into His rest. It is not that we now do our own works, rather we must exercise caution that we do the works that God has prepared for us, so that we are living in obedience to Him. The writer has indicated that this rest is for the people of God (verse 9); therefore, our diligence must be focused on ensuring that we understand what it means to be His child: exercising both faith in His Provision and obedience to Him! It is the one who is in Christ (the faithful and obedient) who is among the people of God, and, therefore, we see that this rest is found only by being in Christ.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). As the Vine, He provides life to the branches so that they are able to bear fruit, but He includes a condition that the individual branch must meet in order to bring forth that fruit. He that abideth in Me (literally: the one who is remaining in Me):38 the condition is that I must be remaining in Him in order to bear His fruit, like a branch connected to the Vine. Abideth (remaining) is in the present tense and active voice: it is a present and ongoing situation, and I do the remaining (active voice). Interestingly, Jesus places this condition first, and, if it is met, then He says, and I in thee (literal);39 the reality is that if we do not remain in Him, then He is not in us! What many professing Christians struggle with today is that being in Christ is not a single act of faith, but, rather, a continuous life of obedience to Him. Carefully consider the analogy that Jesus is making: He begins with, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he [the Father] taketh away [is cutting off] …” (John 15:2), then He says that the one who is remaining in Him is bringing forth much fruit (the Father will not be cutting this one off; verse 5), and finally He says, “if anyone does not remain in Me [the context suggests that this is someone who is not bearing fruit and is being cut off by the Father], he is cast outside as a branch and becomes withered, and angels are gathering them and into the fire casting [them], and it is burned” (John 15:6, literal).40 Therefore, remaining in Christ is dependent upon a life of continuous faith and obedience to the Lord; for the one who does not remain in Him, their destiny is to be burned.
It is no wonder that the writer counsels us to take great diligence in order to ensure that we enter into His rest, for if we accept His life (being in the Vine) and then turn away from Him, we become apostate and are destined for eternal fire (Hebrews 3:12). Within the context of Israel’s example, who failed to enter into the rest that God had promised them because of their disobedience, the warning issued is that we not fall away from God through our failure in obeying Him. The warning issued earlier (Hebrews 3:12) was against permitting an evil heart of unbelief (apistia); here it is against following the example of Israel’s disobedience (apeitheia, shown in the KJV as unbelief).41 The two words are related: apistia – a, no, pistia, belief; apeitheia – a, no, peitho, to persuade; the former is literally no belief (and could also apply to someone who has never placed their faith in Christ), and the latter is unable to be persuaded, hence a stubborn rejection of the will of God (disobedience).42 Belief involves being persuaded of the truth of a matter; disobedience comes when that persuasion fails, and unbelief is lurking in the shadows.
We must exercise great care that we are in Christ, and an equal diligence that we understand what we must do (obedience) to remain in Him.
12. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
For the Word of God is living, and effective, and sharp above every two-edged sword, even to piercing as far as the separation of the soul and spirit, of the joints and the marrow, and [He is] able to judge the reflections and thoughts of the heart (literal).43
The writer now provides the reason that we must be diligent in ensuring that we are remaining in the Lord and have entered into His rest.
The focus of the reason is the Word of God; the Greek phrase, ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ translates as: the Word of the God.44 We find exactly the same Greek phrase in Revelation 19:13, where it is the name of the conquering Lord Jesus Christ as He descends to establish His Millennial reign. Therefore, it is very possible that the writer is referring to the Lord Jesus, as well as to the written Word (the Bible); let’s keep this in mind as we proceed.
The Word of God is living; yes, the Scriptures are alive because they are God’s words to us, but, even more significantly, the Lord Jesus is living! In this letter that is directed to the Hebrews, it is very important that they understand that Christ is presently living. The religious Jews took the actions necessary that would bring Jesus to His crucifixion, but after He had paid for all of sin with His blood on the cross, He rose from the dead after three days! He then ascended to the Father so that He could intercede for us as our High Priest: He offered Himself as the sacrifice, shed His blood to bring cleansing from sin, and entered into the presence of God to intercede for those who place their faith in Him. To John, Jesus declared Himself as the One Who is, the One Who was, and the One Who is coming (Revelation 1:4, literal), thereby declaring His existence throughout all of time.45 John wrote: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), thereby establishing the eternal nature of the Lord Jesus – He is living!
He is effective, or powerful; the Greek word is energes (en-er-gace’), in which we can see our word energy.46 The Word of God is active, but more than that, He is capable of doing, or of working – after all, He is the Creator (John 1:3); the application of this descriptive seems to lean more to the Lord Jesus. Moreover, Jesus is the only Way to the Father, He is the Truth, and in Him alone is life (John 14:6); through His redeeming work, He is able to reconcile a lost sinner with God – His cleansing from sin is effective! Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Satan has inspired many to define numerous other ways to a utopia of their own imaginings. Yet it is the Word of God Who stands above all of these as the Redeemer of mankind – something that no other devised religion can do.
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). It is the Word Who became flesh in order to purchase deliverance from sin for all of mankind (John 1:14); salvation comes only through Him, and only according to His terms – we cannot modify His requirements to suit our desires. He said, if ye are loving Me, then ye must keep My commandments (John 14:15, literal).47 Obedience to His commands is one of His necessities; if we do not live in obedience to Him, we cannot say that we love Him. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4). He bought us out of sin, therefore, He owns us – first of all, we are His slaves, yet He is also a gracious Master Who is alongside of us to lighten our load: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30). He worked for us at the cross, and desires to work in us and with us every day.
The Word of God is sharp, and the writer goes on to describe this sharpness as being above every two-edged sword. The NT Scriptures use two words for sword: machaira (makh’-ahee-rah), which is a short sword, or dagger, that was typically used in close combat, and rhomphaia (hrom-fah’-yah), a large sword that is able to inflict much damage.48 The sword that rulers wield in order to maintain law and order is the short version (machaira, Romans 13:4), as is the sword of the Spirit, which is defined as being a word [rhema] from God (Ephesians 6:17, literal).49 Although this latter text in the KJV, reads the word of God, it is not the Greek phrasing that we find in our text in Hebrews. When we come to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we find passages that speak of a sharp twoedged sword, (Revelation 1:16; 2:12), a sword (Revelation 2:16; 19:21), or a sharp sword (Revelation 19:15) that projects out of the Lord’s mouth. In each of these, the Greek word for sword is rhomphaia, the large sword that is used in battle for inflicting decisive justice against the enemy.
Our text in Hebrews uses machaira, the short sword, and being two-edged means that it is capable of cutting in both directions. A sword metaphorically speaks of authority, power and judgment,50 all of which describe the one edge. As we see Jesus in Revelation (albeit with the larger sword), we see Him exuding authority and judgment: it is with the sword of His mouth that He will destroy the armies of the Antichrist and False Prophet (Revelation 19:21) – undoubtedly, this will be just a word from Him (Isaiah 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8). We can easily understand the judgment and condemnation edge of Jesus’ sword, but what about the other edge? The opposite of what we have just considered is being granted deliverance from condemnation, which is salvation. This is the second edge of the large sword that comes out of Jesus’ mouth (Revelation), as well as the short sword of our text. Both the Scriptures and Jesus (the Word of God) bring a Message of hope and deliverance from sin, but if that is not heeded, then they also bear, with clarity and certainty, a Message of judgment!
Our text now includes an illustration of the sharpness of this sword, and how it pierces. It can pierce to the separation of the soul and spirit, the psuche and the pneuma.51 The psuche is the immaterial part of a person, where the image of God is borne, and is the seat of intellect, emotion, reasoning, etc.; yet there are exceptions when it is used to refer to the whole person, or to the life of an individual (and twice even to creatures, Revelation 8:9; 16:3). Pneuma, on the other hand, speaks of air movement, and mostly applies to our breath that gives us life – without breath, the body is dead. What we begin to see is that together, psuche and pneuma make up the immaterial part of man, and although pneuma is most precisely the breath of life, its use as spirit is very broad (from the Holy Spirit to the evil spirits); it is also used interchangeably with what we might consider to be psuche. For example: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit [pneuma] indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41); it’s not our breath that is willing, it is our inner being (our psuche) that determines that we are willing. What is evident is that we have great difficulty separating psuche from pneuma, but the Word of God is able to draw a division between them without difficulty – not altogether surprising since He created us.
The thought of piercing continues now to the joints and marrow. We noted that the soul and spirit are the immaterial aspects of man, and consideration is now given to the material. Joints, the Greek word means the fastenings of a door (the hinges),52 are where bones come together in a flexible connection that permits movement. Marrow, on the other hand, is the soft inner part of our bones that is continuously making new red and white blood cells and platelets for our blood53 – the life of our bodies. The Word of God is able to penetrate, with understanding, to the very essence of our mobility, and to the basis of life itself – again, He is the Creator. “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made …” (Psalm 139:14a); modern scientists can only comprehend a small part of what God has built into our bodies to keep us alive and well.
Finally, the Word of God knows our deepest contemplations and our thinking. In the days of Noah, the Lord knew that the thoughts of man were continuously evil (Genesis 6:5), and on this basis, He destroyed the earth by water. The Psalmist declared: “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me” (Psalm 139:1), and subsequently says: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts [disquieting thoughts] … and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).54 Realizing that all things are known to the Lord, the Psalmist asks that the Lord would carry out this search with the goal of leading him in His way. Paul wrote: “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34b). The Word of God, Who knows our inmost thoughts, intercedes with God the Father on our behalf, not according to our finite imaginings, but according to the purpose that God has for us: to live out His righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24).
Although the Word of God is typically thought of as being the Scriptures, it is helpful, I believe, to consider this verse with the Lord Jesus being that Word of God. We are not hidden from Him; we might be tempted to think that we can hide from the commands of the written Scriptures, but they are from Him Who knows us thoroughly – there is no hiding!
13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
And no creature is hidden in His sight, but everything [is] exposed and it has been laid bare to the eyes of Him with Whom [is] the record for us (literal).55
Accepting that the Word of God, from the previous verse, can be the Lord Jesus Christ, what we have here flows perfectly from what we have just considered: nothing is hidden from the Lord Jesus; all is exposed. The Greek word used for has been laid bare (opened) is tetrachelismena: it is a term that is used for the conquered in battle, or of a sacrifice that is about to be made, i.e., the head is drawn back in order to expose the throat for the slaughter.56 Nothing about us is hidden from the Lord; we are as vulnerable as the lamb that is about to be killed as a sacrifice. It should be very obvious that we are unable to feign righteousness or holiness before Him; we might be able to fool everyone some of the time, many for some of the time, but we cannot fool the Lord at any time. “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy [corrupt]: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:2-3).57 We might present an appearance of being righteous, but the Lord’s evaluation of all of humanity is already in: no one seeks God, and everyone is corrupt! For our being still helpless, at the appointed time, Christ died for the sake of the godless … but God, showing to us His own love, because of our being yet sinners, Christ, for our sakes, did die (Romans 5:6, 8, literal).58 Christ died for sinners, not for those who are striving to appear to be righteous; Jesus said: “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13b). Before God, no one is righteous without the covering of Christ’s blood shed for our sins; under God’s evaluation, even those who might appear to be righteous, are corrupt – it is only in their own estimation that they are righteous.
The writer includes the reminder that our record (KJV, to do) is with Christ. Record (to do) is from the Greek word logos, which we typically, and most times correctly, understand to mean word, or speech; however, it is used here in a more legal sense, as in that for which we must give an account. When the unrighteous dead stand before God to be judged, we are told that “the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12b). This is a record of all that they have done during their lifetimes on earth; in essence, they are giving an account for their activities, which have all been recorded. What is evident, from the context, is that no one will be justified and declared righteous by anything within those records; the review of their records is carried out in order for them to understand exactly why their deserved judgment is the Lake of Fire. To the Colossians, Paul explained that Jesus nailed to the cross the record of offenses that was against us (Colossians 2:14); as we live in violation of God’s Law, we accumulate to ourselves a record that will bring condemnation. However, faith in the work of Christ sees that record nailed to the cross, as we move from the bondage of sin to life in Him. Nevertheless, we must carefully heed the warning against permitting an evil heart of unbelief to enter into us (Hebrews 3:12), lest we fall from the grace of God, only to have our record of offenses re-established. Jesus’ parable of the king and the ungrateful servant is a reminder that if we do not live according to God’s design, then our debt will be reinstated (Matthew 18:23-35). Again, obedience must accompany faith!
We need to be very aware that how we live impacts our standing before God, and our eternal destiny. Christ is keeping records for which we will give an account, or they will be blotted out by His shed blood. We must not be so presumptuous as to think that our sin, once cleansed by His blood, cannot be returned to our record. There are many warnings in Scripture against being deceived, or allowing our faith in the Lord to fail, and many other warnings to remain steadfast in our faith in Him. God does not warn us about things that are merely hypothetical; His warnings are real and are against real failures that are possible for those who are His children.
Our lives are an open book to the Lord Who knows us thoroughly. We must live carefully so that His shed blood will remain our covering and protection – remaining in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). There is only one place of refuge, and that is in Christ!
14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
We, having therefore, a great High Priest Who did pass through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us continue firmly in our confession (literal).59
Every year on the Day of Atonement, the Levitical high priest would go beyond the veil into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of the Lord. There he would first place two handfuls of incense upon a pan of hot coals in order to cover the mercy seat with a cloud of the incense, and then he would sprinkle the blood from the sin offerings once upon the mercy seat and seven times in front of it, first from a bullock for his own and his household’s sins, and then from a goat for the sins of the people, and all of this would provide a temporary cleansing from sin (Leviticus 16:11-15).60 Atonement was not only being made for sins, but the Tabernacle was also being cleansed through the sprinkled blood because of the uncleanness of the people (Leviticus 16:16-19); although atonement (kaphar) is generally applied to people being cleansed from sin, the same Hebrew word is used for inanimate objects to signify that they have been sanctified. Even though the Holy of Holies was a sacred place where the Lord said that He would dwell, it needed to be cleansed by blood in order to remain holy for the Lord; the Tabernacle was positioned in the midst of the unclean people of Israel, and it was served by sinful priests – the Lord made provision for its annual cleansing.
Jesus, as our High Priest, did not follow the order of the Levitical high priest in the temple; rather, He passed through the veil (of the heavens) into the very presence of the Father as the living sacrificial Lamb Who had shed His blood for the sins of humanity. The Levitical high priest brought a little of the blood of the sin offerings into the Holy of Holies, but Jesus entered the Holiest in heaven as the Final Offering for sin, yet His entrance came because of His shed blood – “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by [means of] his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12).61 The earthly high priest entered three times into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement to perform his duties: (first, to offer incense to make a cloud over the mercy seat, second, with the blood of the bullock that was killed for his sins and those of his household, and third, with the blood of the goat for the people’s sins), but Jesus, Who was without sin and being God, entered only once to bring deliverance from sin to all of humanity! He, as the Son of God, had fulfilled the Godhead’s plan for man’s redemption, and He then entered into the presence of the Father where He is now interceding for those who are living faithfully for Him (Romans 8:34).
With this understanding of our High Priest, the writer calls upon his readers to continue holding firmly to our confession. From the Greek homologeo (literally, to speak the same thing), confession is not a lightly given agreement, but is formed from deeply held convictions of the truth of a matter.62 The confession, in this case, is truth that has been settled after careful consideration, and it is completely aligned with the Truth of God. As we have noted before, the Greek pisteuo (believe) is a persuasion that is based upon a careful examination of the matter at hand; therefore, it is only fitting for our confession (of what we believe) to be based upon convictions that have been carefully thought through and are firmly held. However, we must not overlook the fact that this is a call to hold fast, and does not exclude the possibility of not doing so. Once again, the Word of God warns us against being draw away from faithfully following the Lord; such an invitation to faithfulness only amplifies the reality that we are very capable of choosing to become faithless (Hebrews 3:12). Considering Who our High Priest is, and what He has done for us, should be great incentive to remain faithfully in Him.
15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but Who has experienced all things according to [our] likeness, apart from sin (literal).63
Not only has Jesus entered beyond the veil into the presence of God the Father, but He also is fully able to have compassion for us as we struggle with life on this earth. During His time on earth, Jesus faced the same things that everyone faces in the routine of life, yet He was different in one aspect: He did not have an inherited sin nature! “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21); “[Christ] Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22); “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5).
Tempted is from the Greek word pepeiramenon, which most Biblical lexicons indicate as meaning to be tested, or tried; yet, translation software unanimously showed it as meaning experienced.64 Most lexicons take the root of this word to be either peirazo, or peirao, which both mean to try, or attempt to do something, or to put to the test.65 When the devil tempted Jesus (Luke 4:2), we understand that he was testing Him in an attempt to derail His mission on earth. However, that is not the context that we find in our verse; here we have Jesus being identified as a compassionate High Priest because He experienced life as we face it every day – He understands life because He lived it.
However, as already noted, Jesus experienced life without sin! We are born with a sin nature, and hence have a propensity to do what is wrong; in his cunning, the devil will take advantage of this as often as he can. Jesus was born of Mary (physically) and of the Holy Spirit (spiritually): He had a body of flesh, but did not have the inherited sin that comes through the man – He was God in the flesh. He experienced life among His fallen created beings who bear His Godly image, yet He did so without sin, and so He was the sinless Lamb of God Who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). We will probably never fully comprehend how a holy God lived in a body of flesh among people who were sinners, but He did, for the sole purpose of paying the price for sin for all of humanity. Because He lived on earth, He understands what we face in this life, and, as our High Priest, He is able to have compassion for us. However, that does not mean that He will gloss over our failures or condone our sin; the compassion that He has for us includes His ability to know what is best for us, something that our finite vision cannot always discern.
16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Therefore, let us come with freedom to the throne of grace, in order to receive mercy, and find favor in timely help (literal).66
Therefore ties what comes now to what has just come before: Jesus is our High Priest Who is compassionate toward us. He, Who is without sin, lived among sinful humanity: His holy character would have been assaulted at every turn by sin, yet He endured because He came to earth to pay the price for sin. He experienced the very worst of life on earth: He was misunderstood, maligned, and His own people sought His death! He came to earth on a mission that He helped to formulate: to pay, in full, the price of sin, and to reconcile man with his Creator. He is now with His heavenly Father interceding for His faithful followers, regardless of their physical heritage (Ephesians 2:18; Romans 8:34).
We are to come with freedom (boldly) to the throne of grace. Freedom is from the Greek parrhesia, which is a combination of pas (all) and rhesis (speech), and primarily means to have the freedom to speak.67 The throne of grace is God’s throne: He is the source of all good things (James 1:17). Our freedom to come before God has been purchased for us by Christ, and it comes only through Him. When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn by God from top to bottom, signifying that the way into His presence (symbolized by the Holy of Holies) had been opened. If we are in Christ, then we can have confidence that we can lay our petitions before our Father in heaven; we have that freedom! However, this is not a name-it-claim-it situation like the prosperity gospel promoters would like to believe; rather, when we are in Christ, our utmost desire is to please Him and to live in obedience to His commands (John 14:15). And ye, set free from sin, have been enslaved to righteousness (Romans 6:18, literal);68 this is the essence of being in Christ. Another word picture: we have put the old man off, and have donned the new man, created by God in Christ for the purpose of living in His righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
We are finite beings with a sin nature, living in a world that is contrary to the Lord, yet we are in Christ, having a desire to live out His righteousness. We have the freedom to come to God, but it is understandable that we will not always (perhaps, seldom) know what is best in our situation. In His grace, the Lord has provided for this as well. And likewise also, the Spirit is helping our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray [for] as one ought, but the same Spirit is interceding for us with sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26, literal).69 The Spirit of God, given to us to guide us into all truth (John 16:13), is not only strengthening us, but also interceding with the Father for our good. If this isn’t enough, our Redeemer is also in the presence of the Father entreating for us (Romans 8:34) – we have the attention of the Spirit of God and the Son of God as we bring our requests to the Father.
“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15). Again, this is not name-it-claim-it; rather, we will receive what we request when what we have asked for is in keeping with His will for us. The Spirit, and Jesus, hear our prayers; moreover, They weigh our requests in the light of our eternal benefit, and, because we do not know what we should pray for, there are time when we do not recognize the answer. Jesus said, “In the world ye are having tribulation, but be encouraged – I have conquered the world” (John 16:33b, literal).70 So many today believe that they can be free of all disease and pain, that God has designed our bodies to heal everything that comes along if we simply provide the required nutrients; granted, many of our physical difficulties may be unwittingly self-inflicted and a change of plan may bring improved health. Yet Jesus promised us tribulation (thlipsis), which is oppression, affliction, distress, trouble, etc.,71 and we must recognize that such can come from both outside of or within our bodies – it is something over which we do not have control, and which the Lord can use to His glory. Paul healed many people during his ministry, yet “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick” (2 Timothy 4:20), Epaphroditus was “sick nigh unto death” (Philippians 2:27), he encouraged Timothy to “use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities” (1 Timothy 5:23), and concerning his own “thorn in the flesh,” the Lord advised, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We live in a fallen world that is under the curse of sin, and our bodies are mortal and subject to decay and death, we are not to live carelessly, but neither can we expect to live without any illnesses or pain. It is after we have lived faithfully through this life that we will enter the glories of heaven: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). It is after we have been changed from mortal to immortal at the coming of the Lord for His own that we will leave all of our tribulations behind (1 Corinthians 15:52).
What is clear from our text is that we have freedom to present our petitions to the Lord, and we will receive His mercy and grace. Mercy and grace are related in that both express a compassion and benevolence for the recipient. It is through God’s great mercy that sinful humanity has not been completely destroyed; mercy withholds what is justly deserved – even as those who are in Christ, we are still beneficiaries of God’s mercy when we fail Him. On the other hand, it is through His grace that He “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45); grace provides that which is undeserved. As we bring our requests to the Lord in the freedom that Christ won for us, we will experience God’s mercy and grace: His mercy will protect us in the midst of affliction, while His grace will provide us with what we need to endure a troublesome time. We must never assume that the Lord will afford us a trouble-free time on this earth; as a matter of fact, we should anticipate the opposite, but we can be assured of His plenteous mercy and timely grace to see us through our tribulations!
END NOTES:
1 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
2 Stephanus 1550 NT; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
3 Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
4 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
5 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
6 Strong’s Online.
7 Ibid.
8 Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon; BDB.
9 Theological Wordbook of the OT (TWOT) #2340.
10 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
11 TWOT #111; BDB.
12 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
13 BDB; Strong’s Online.
14 Stephanus 1550 NT; Gingrich Lexicon.
15 Friberg Lexicon.
16 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
17 Ibid.
18 Stephanus 1550 NT; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
19 Strong’s Online.
20 John MacArthur, Hebrews, p. 104.
21 https://www.jewfaq.org/613_commandments.
22 I have a full study of this matter: https://www.thenarrowtruth.com/what-of-the-sabbath.html.
23 BDB.
24 https://hebrew.billmounce.com/BasicsBiblicalHebrew-21.pdf.
25 https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/written+in+stone.
26 Easton’s Bible Dictionary, “Sabbath.”
27 The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50 (https://www.preparingforeternity.com/converts-catechism1937.pdf).
28 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
29 https://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/szic/pdf_files/1-%20tahira%20bashart.pdf; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jnana_yoga.
30 https://salamislam.com/articles/lifestyle/what-does-salvation-islam-meaning; https://biblereasons.com/allah-vs-god/.
31 https://www.lionsroar.com/what-is-buddhist-salvation/.
32 Ibid.
33 https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20180222_placuit-deo_en.html.
34 https://biblereflection.org/three-pillars/.
35 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
36 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
37 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Vine’s, “diligence”; https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
38 Stephanus 1550 NT.
39 Ibid.
40 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
41 Strong’s Online.
42 Vine’s, “belief,” “disobedience.”
43 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
44 Stephanus 1550 NT.
45 Ibid.
46 Strong’s Online.
47 Stephanus 1550 NT.
48 Friberg Lexicon; Strong’s Online.
49 Stephanus 1550 NT; Strong’s Online; https://ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/classify-genitive.htm.
50 https://biblicaldefinitions.com/sword/.
51 Strong’s Online.
52 Liddell-Scott Lexicon.
53 https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22818-bone-marrow.
54 BDB.
55 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
56 Friberg Lexicon.
57 BDB.
58 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
59 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
60 BDB; https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9335-kippurim-yom-ha.
61 Friberg Lexicon.
62 Vine’s, “confess.”
63 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Vine’s, “tempt”; https://studybible.info/IGNT/Hebrews 4:15 .
64 Gingrich Lexicon; all of the translating sites that I tried agreed on experienced; it is rare to have them all agree.
65 Friberg Lexicon; Strong’s Online.
66 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
67 Vine’s, “boldly.”
68 Stephanus 1550 NT.
69 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
70 Stephanus 1550 NT.
71 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon.
1 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
2 Stephanus 1550 NT; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
3 Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
4 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
5 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
6 Strong’s Online.
7 Ibid.
8 Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon; BDB.
9 Theological Wordbook of the OT (TWOT) #2340.
10 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
11 TWOT #111; BDB.
12 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
13 BDB; Strong’s Online.
14 Stephanus 1550 NT; Gingrich Lexicon.
15 Friberg Lexicon.
16 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
17 Ibid.
18 Stephanus 1550 NT; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
19 Strong’s Online.
20 John MacArthur, Hebrews, p. 104.
21 https://www.jewfaq.org/613_commandments.
22 I have a full study of this matter: https://www.thenarrowtruth.com/what-of-the-sabbath.html.
23 BDB.
24 https://hebrew.billmounce.com/BasicsBiblicalHebrew-21.pdf.
25 https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/written+in+stone.
26 Easton’s Bible Dictionary, “Sabbath.”
27 The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50 (https://www.preparingforeternity.com/converts-catechism1937.pdf).
28 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
29 https://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/szic/pdf_files/1-%20tahira%20bashart.pdf; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jnana_yoga.
30 https://salamislam.com/articles/lifestyle/what-does-salvation-islam-meaning; https://biblereasons.com/allah-vs-god/.
31 https://www.lionsroar.com/what-is-buddhist-salvation/.
32 Ibid.
33 https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20180222_placuit-deo_en.html.
34 https://biblereflection.org/three-pillars/.
35 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
36 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
37 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Vine’s, “diligence”; https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-purpose.htm.
38 Stephanus 1550 NT.
39 Ibid.
40 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
41 Strong’s Online.
42 Vine’s, “belief,” “disobedience.”
43 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
44 Stephanus 1550 NT.
45 Ibid.
46 Strong’s Online.
47 Stephanus 1550 NT.
48 Friberg Lexicon; Strong’s Online.
49 Stephanus 1550 NT; Strong’s Online; https://ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/classify-genitive.htm.
50 https://biblicaldefinitions.com/sword/.
51 Strong’s Online.
52 Liddell-Scott Lexicon.
53 https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22818-bone-marrow.
54 BDB.
55 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
56 Friberg Lexicon.
57 BDB.
58 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon.
59 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon.
60 BDB; https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9335-kippurim-yom-ha.
61 Friberg Lexicon.
62 Vine’s, “confess.”
63 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Vine’s, “tempt”; https://studybible.info/IGNT/Hebrews 4:15 .
64 Gingrich Lexicon; all of the translating sites that I tried agreed on experienced; it is rare to have them all agree.
65 Friberg Lexicon; Strong’s Online.
66 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
67 Vine’s, “boldly.”
68 Stephanus 1550 NT.
69 Stephanus 1550 NT; Friberg Lexicon; Gingrich Lexicon; Bauer Greek-English Lexicon.
70 Stephanus 1550 NT.
71 Strong’s Online; Friberg Lexicon.