Since therefore it remains for some to enter [His rest], and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. Hebrews 4:6–11, ESV “There remains a Sabbath for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.” This is a summary of the gospel. We can know rest for our souls, rest from the labor of trying and failing to please God, by entering into God’s rest through faith in Jesus Christ who accomplished salvation by His labor. He died, rose again, and sat down at the right hand of the Father. He rested. Only as we rest in Him can we know rest. That sounds pretty easy for us. But then the author proceeds to tell us that we need to “strive to enter that rest” so none of us falls like Israel fell. Are we to be a resting people who are confident in the work of Jesus or a striving people trying to gain a place in that finished work? What we have in this passage is an already-not-yet view of our rest. We can rest from our labors of trying to please God by our good works. These were futile labors that never brought rest. We can rest by faith in Christ, trusting that His labor accomplished what ours never could. Even so, we live in a world that is not at rest. And we in our souls are not yet at rest in this fallen world. We wait for our ultimate rest at Christ’s coming and our glorification. While already resting in what Jesus has done, we strive to enter into our final rest. We pursue what is not yet, serving the Lord with the end in mind. We won’t fall short of this promised eternal rest (Christ takes us all the way there), but we continue to strive for it because we have not yet reached it. Being in Christ motivates us to pursue what will surely be ours. These pandemic days are a good setting in which to consider his passage. Much about these days serves to remind us that we have not yet reached our eternal rest. We are resting in Jesus and His finished work, but we are not fools. This is not glory. The battle rages on. So we strive toward the goal of eternal rest. Take courage! Someday this struggle will be over: faith will be made sight and we will rest. Until that day, I am praying for you. Pastor Don Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
“As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Hebrews 4:1-5, ESV In Hebrews 4:1-5, we are encouraged to examine our faith in light of the good news that we have received. In doing so, the author uses a word that makes many readers extremely uncomfortable. To understand this command, “let us fear,” we will consider several points of context. This is not a fear that God may have in some way failed in His work of salvation. Christ’s saving work, decreed from eternity past, is accomplished perfectly in His sacrifice and resurrection. He has now rested from that completed work and is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is instead a fear that the Israelites would have been wise to entertain. Had they adequately feared the loss of their promised rest more than the giants in the land and trusted in the God who made the promise, they would have had their rest. Instead, they did not believe, and the wrath of God stood against them. The Israelites presumed upon God. They were certain that, as Israelites, the promises were theirs, faith or no faith. We should fear falling into that same presumption. We are not to wake up each day presuming that a prayer we prayed long ago, our baptism, our family connection to the church, or our participation in church life means that God owes us the blessings of eternal rest. We are called instead to awaken each day and examine our faith. This does not mean that you start each day in doubt. It means that we begin our day with Jesus in such a way that we are reminded of our need and Christ’s successful work of grace and love and we are drawn to Him again in faith. Is it not the perfect beginning to each day to come to the Lord, knowing that the perfect love of Christ as shown to you on the cross stands ready to deal with today’s fear? Is it not encouraging to let the Spirit of God cast away any fear of failure each day as you are drawn to adore the enthroned Savior? Would it not also bring you more literal rest if you also ended each day in the same way? Fear. Bring that fear to Jesus in faith. Know the joy and assurance of God’s promised rest. I am praying for you. Pastor Don Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:7-19, ESV God judged Israel severely when she rejected the word of Moses: forty years in the wilderness and an entire generation dying out without entering the Promised Land, the place of rest. With Moses and Israel, the rebellion was complete. With a couple of notable exceptions (Caleb and Joshua), all of the people rejected God’s rest because they did not trust that God could overcome the obstacles and give them the land as He promised. Their unbelief cost them the promised rest. The author of Hebrews has much more to say about our promised rest, as we shall see. Even so, his initial point should not be ignored. When God spoke through Moses and the people failed to believe Him, they lost out on their promised rest. If that is the penalty for rejecting the lesser word of Moses, how do you think the penalty will be if you reject the greater word of Jesus? It is presumptuous to assume a claim on God’s eternal rest if we do not believe, day-in and day-out, God’s words as spoken in His Son. To be assured of God’s rest, we need help. We need help to safeguard our way. We do not want to follow in Israel’s footsteps. We need brothers and sisters in the family of God to come alongside us every day and exhort us to pay attention to Christ. The assurance we long for is a gift of God and, according to the author of Hebrews, it is a gift given in community. Why, in days when we are separated by government guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of disease, do we need to remain diligent in reaching out to one another in the body of Christ? There are many good answers to that question! The one emphasized in Hebrews 3 is this: our faith is a fragile thing and we need loving encouragement from our brothers and sisters to keep on in that faith. So, today, don’t live in social isolation even if you must live in physical isolation. Reach out and help your borther or sister stay strong in their faith. They need you and you need them. I am praying for you. Pastor Don … consider Jesus … who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Hebrews 3:2-6, ESV.
Now and then you come across a product in the grocery store or an item on a restaurant menu that claims it is “just like mom used to make, only better!” This is quite a sales hook. It praises mom’s cooking by making it the standard of excellence (always a good idea). It appeals to nostalgia, implying that your mom is not still cooking this for you. Then, it offers you something new and “better.” Who can resist? Writing to a church made up of converts from Judaism, the author of Hebrews uses a similar approach. He compares Jesus to their great old hero, Moses. The main problem this author is dealing with is that some of them long for the “good old days” of Moses. To them, he declares, “Jesus is better!” Moses is the Old Testament deliverer and lawgiver. He led God’s people from slavery in Egypt to the border of the Promised Land. He received and delivered God’s law, telling Israel how they could live and worship and find joy in the land God gave them. Jesus is like Moses in one way. They were both faithful to God the Father. They were both given something to do and did it. Yet, there is something greater about Jesus. Like the builder deserves more praise than the house he built, Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses. In this illustration, “God’s house” is the people of God. Moses dwelt with God’s people as a faithful servant, telling them what God gave him to say. Jesus reigns over God’s people as the faithful Son who built the house and cares for it as the owner. Therefore, it only makes sense to look to Jesus for assurance that you belong in the house; not to Moses. We need this word about Jesus and Moses today. There is something in us, even as Christians, that makes us want to believe that we need a law-giving servant more than a housebuilding Son. As we search for confidence in our standing as God’s people, we start doubting the grace relationship we have with the Son and turn to the servant for a list of rules to make us feel at home. We need to be reminded daily that Jesus is better than Moses. The law will never bring us confidence and comfort because we will repeatedly fail to keep it. A broken law only brings condemnation. In fact, even keeping a law does not bring true confidence or comfort, because there is no time to celebrate before another law confronts us. Jesus is better because Jesus does not demand that the house build itself. He is the grace-builder. I pray that you will have confidence and comfort as you trust in Him and enjoy life as God’s house today. Pastor Don Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him . . . Hebrews 3:1-2, ESV.
Road signs are important. When we are driving, we need to know the rules of the road (without stop signs, things might get messy at intersections). We need to know which exit leads to our destination (miss the Thompsontown exit on 322 West and you are stuck on the highway until Port Royal). Road signs are important, but how many of us can say we actually read and consider every one of them? How can we when we are singing so exuberantly with the radio, deep in thought about what awaits us at our destination, or involved in a deep conversation with the person in the passenger seat? In the study of Hebrews, the first two verses of Hebrews 3 are often passed over like a familiar road sign. We jump so quickly from the chapter 2 theme of “Jesus is greater than angels” theme to the chapter 3 theme of “Jesus is greater than Moses” that we miss the content in these verses altogether. That is a shame. There is something here for us. These verses remind us of who we are: We are “holy brothers who share in a heavenly calling.” There is a plural here that we dare not miss. This is not just a word to me, but a word to us. We are the family set apart to God based on the fact that God has called us from heaven and to heaven. We are God’s children by God’s grace. These verses fix our eyes upon Jesus. We are to “consider Jesus.” We are to settle our thoughts on Him. How easy it is for us to fail in this command! We are often distracted by the things of daily living, even when we are required to stay home. We are also distracted by the traditions of our religion. Sometimes we even get directed in our desire to do good. But we are called heavenward and we need to set our eyes on the man of Heaven, Jesus. We need to settle our minds on Him. These verses remind us once more of who Jesus is. He is our apostle. Calling us back to 1:1-2, we need to remember that Jesus is the last days word spoken by God. He is also the high priest of our confession. The content of our faith is defined by the fact that Jesus is the source of our atonement, the one who sacrificed that we might be forgiven of our sin. He is also God’s faithful Son. The Son of God was obedient to His Father as He humbled Himself to take on the nature of man. He obeyed His Father as He resisted every temptation to Sin. He obeyed His Father as He taught the Word. He obeyed His Father as He suffered and died for sinners. He obeyed His Father as He defeated death and the grave. This is the Jesus we are to fix our minds upon. Find some time to stop and consider Jesus today! Do it alone or in a group. Do it inside or outside. Do it quietly or while singing loudly. Do it with your Bible open or on your knees in prayer. May God bless you with a mind set on Jesus today. Pastor Don |
From Pastor DonWriting about the Bible and praying that it will be of some good for someone. Archives
June 2021
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