3 - Hebrews 4

3 - Hebrews 4 

Our review of Hebrews continues with Chapter 4. This chapter dwells on a very interesting idea--rest in the Lord—and an interesting expression—sabbath rest.

Hebrews 4: 1-2

Sabbath-Rest for the People of God:

“1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 

2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”

The thing I find interesting about this exhortation, is that it does not explicitly threaten the punishment of hellfire, but rather that the missing out of salvation is its own punishment. My mother always encouraged virtuous behavior because of the negative threat of punishment, rather than the intrinsic rewards of virtuous behavior.

The historical reference to the Jews who did not listen to the message that was brought them in ancient days, implies a parallel with the then present-day Jewish condition, and represents an implied shift from the law to grace. The letter to the Hebrews is addressed to a group of Jews whose faith is being tested by persecution in Jerusalem; thus, the message of this whole book is directed at strengthening faith. Of course the then-current state of persecution can only be improved by stepping outside the mundane level of consciousness into the state of grace, in which all things are given, and all broken laws are moot. The author asks the Jews to stay faithful to their traditional heritage, but translate some of their obeisance to the law to an obeisance to faith.

From GotQuestions.org we read:

“The key to understanding how Jesus is our Sabbath rest is the Hebrew word sabat, which means "to rest or stop or cease from work." The origin of the Sabbath goes back to Creation. After creating the heavens and the earth in six days, God "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made" (Genesis 2:2). This doesn’t mean that God was tired and needed a rest. We know that God is omnipotent, literally "all-powerful." He has all the power in the universe, He never tires, and His most arduous expenditure of energy does not diminish His power one bit. So, what does it mean that God rested on the seventh day? Simply that He stopped what He was doing. He ceased from His labors. This is important in understanding the establishment of the Sabbath day and the role of Christ as our Sabbath rest.”

Rest in the Lord is a somewhat pervasive theme elsewhere in the scriptures. The theme is taken up in a favorite aria from Mendelssohn’s Elijah: O Rest in the Lord. The idea of REST is expanded into a faithful prayer of devotion and acceptance of God’s peace. From the Saturday Chorale website we read:

“The alto solo 'O Rest in the Lord' is, to my mind, one of the most beautiful parts of the oratorio. The text are the words spoken to Elijah after he has fled into the wilderness for a day. In this scene Elijah lies dispirited and near to collapse from exhaustion. He asks God to kill him because he cannot bear the suffering he is enduring, worn out by grief and his exertions he falls asleep. An angel appears twice the first time to wake him and give him bread and water – following which Elijah falls asleep again. The angel then appears for a second time, wakes him again and both gives him enough food for Elijah to survive for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness and encourages him by telling him that he should not fret himself because of evil doers but rather that he should commit to God who will give him his 'heart's desires'.”

Notice how Elijah’s despair sounds just like the despair of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Clearly we are meant to relate the “evildoers” in the passage  to the persecutors of the Jews in Jerusalem. The large upshot of this chapter is that: by taking rest in the Lord, your consciousness state rises above that of the evildoers, the persecutors, and in this consciousness state the evildoers cannot touch you. Again, I have used the expression many times: rising above it. We all have persecutors. We all have difficult situations that drag us down into mundane consciousness levels, low consciousness levels from whose depravity we might escape, simply by raising our consciousness—rising above it— entering the peace of Christ and enjoying immunity from the toils and snares of earthly existence.

The text to the aria is as follows:

“O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him,

And He shall give thee thy heart’s desires.

Oh, rest in the Lord,

Wait patiently for Him, and

He shall give thee thy heart’s desires.”

These words are a very loose paraphrase of the Psalm 37

of David:

^“1 Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
    like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

The role of the angel in the story of Elijah, is significant; the singer of the song O Rest in the Lord, is an angel; it is an angel who invites Elijah to enter the higher consciousness level. Thus, we know that the angelic mode of energy, or information, transmission is a component of this complex experience, and that it should therefore not be ignored. In fact, it is not outrageous to suggest that the rest from our mundane labors, that we enjoy in the arms of the Savior,  may well be, in fact, received in the surrogate arms of the angels who represent and transmit the love of the Christ the Mediator to Man.

The remainder of this presentation will be concerned with a lengthy quote from the 2002 Grace Communion International article by Michael Morrison. The article gives a concise summary of the spirit and content of the Chapter, going through the chapter verse by verse, sometimes phrase by phrase. Throughout the article I have taken advantage of many opportunities to expand on Morrison’s insights:

“The letter to the Hebrews weaves theology and practical application. After each doctrinal section, it urges the readers to do something as a result. This often takes the form of "Therefore, let us do such and such."

As part of that pattern, chapter 4 begins with the word therefore, meaning that the exhortations we read in chapter 4 are built on a point made earlier. So our study of chapter 4 must begin with a review of chapter 3. Chapter 3 tells us to look to Jesus, because he is superior to the angels and to Moses.”

[Sidebar: this business of the “therefore”, helps make the Letter to the Hebrews more comprehensible; by revealing a coherent underlying structural design, it makes us better able to follow the subtle trains of logic that drive the document forward. As I have said several times, the book of Hebrews relies heavily on argument, historical precedent, and assumptions which would be understood by a Jewish community in Jerusalem. So the question of arguments leading to a conclusion therefore reveals the clarity of the train of logic which is contained in this very elegantly written letter.

Back to Morrison:]

To make the point, he quotes Psalm 95:7-11:

Heb. 3:7-11:

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, `Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, `They shall never enter my rest'"

Don't be like your disbelieving, disobedient ancestors, he says. They refused God so many times that he set them aside and shut them out. Don't test his patience, he seems to say. Listen to what God is saying now.

To develop this point, he elaborates on the last part of the quote from Psalm 95: "They shall never enter my rest." What is this rest, and what can we learn from it in connection with Jesus? This brings us to chapter 4.

Hebrews 4:1:

"Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it".

We can paraphrase the thought in this way: God makes it possible for us to enter his rest, so we need to make sure that we accept his offer. If we do not keep our faith in him (the main exhortation of this book), we will fail to enter.

How do we enter? Verse 2 tells us,

"For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith." 

The author urges us to be diligent, then he talks about the gospel. This implies that we enter God's rest by means of the gospel.

The ancient Israelites had the gospel in a veiled form, in symbols such as the bronze snake, the washings, the sacrifices and festivals. But despite the miracles, the people did not have faith in God and the message did not do them any good.

We do not have to make the same mistake.

(v. 3). "Now we who have believed enter that rest"

[Sidebar: “We do not have to make the same mistake.” It is interesting to me, that, many times, the miracles of Jesus are represented as the primary authority of his divinity, and yet the ancient Israelites, the pre-ancient Israelites, witnessed miracles in their own day and they still did not believe. It just goes to show that miracles don't always prove anything. Perhaps faith is its own one-and-only miracle? Those who believed possessed the key to entering the Rest of Christ.

Back to Morrison:]

Believed what? Believed the gospel. All who look to Jesus, who have faith in Jesus, are entering God's rest.

But wait! Didn't God rest thousands of years ago? How can it be possible for us to enter something that is long gone? The author deals with this by bringing up the objection:

(vs. 3-4):

"And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: `And on the seventh day God rested from all his work' "

Genesis tells us that God rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2). That is, he had finished the creation. (He continues to work in the sense of upholding all things.) But the author of Hebrews observes that God's work has been finished ever since, which means that God is still resting.”

[Sidebar: I find this a fascinating insight. We are so ingrained in our weekly cycles of Monday following Sunday that we never stop to think that God stopped working when He was finished. This state of completion has much to say about the condition of the universe as we find it—we are always changing, growing, evolving, while God is not. Of course we have to remember that God was ALWAYS finished, so the whole idea of rest on the seventh day becomes an allegory. So what is this Divine rest we may partake of through faith? for God the seventh day is not followed by the first day again, is followed by the eighth day. Or perhaps the seventh day has never ended?

Morrison continues:

“God is still in his rest, and it is open for humans to enter. It was available for the ancient Israelites; otherwise there would be no point in saying,

 (v. 5) "They shall never enter my rest".

Even though they refused to enter, God's rest was available to them.

God's rest is available to us, too: 

 (v. 6) "It still remains that some will enter that rest". 

The offer is still open, and it is made even more clear and compelling through Jesus Christ.

The Israelites at the time of Moses,

 (v. 6) "who formerly had the gospel preached to them, did not go in, because of their disobedience".

Their disobedience was evidence of their lack of faith. They did not believe that God would give them what he had promised.

 (v. 7) "Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: `Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts'".

[Sidebar: This is a most provocative expression, “a certain day, calling it Today.” I have often said, “Eternity on one side eternity on the other side, and you’re telling me it’s 2016?” The charming arbitrariness of God’s designation “Today” emphasizes the fixity of time in the face of the infinite flux of eternity. It is this timeless eternity that is the rest of God which we may enter Today or tomorrow, or whenever. whenever could we experience eternity other than today?

A valid objection Christians make to the idea of reincarnation is that, to Jesus, there is no tomorrow, no second chance—salvation is NOW or never. To me, no matter how many reincarnations we experience, the moment of transformation from physical to spirit is the eternal NOW. The author of Hebrews exhorts us to have faith NOW and enter into the Kingdom, the Kingdom of Rest, Peace, Bliss, NOW TODAY. How else could we possibly experience Eternity?

Back to Morrison:]

“Many years after Moses, God again spoke about rest, urging people to not harden their hearts and thereby fail to enter his rest. Hear him today, David urged. The offer was still good. People could enter God's rest, could be secure in his promise, if they listened with faith and willingness.

The author then eliminates another possibility: 

 (v. 8) "For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day". 

The "rest" that Psalm 95 was speaking of was not the promised land. It was something that the Israelites, with few exceptions, failed to enter. They did not respond to God with faith and willingness.

The author then concludes: 

 (v. 9) "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God". 

Is he bringing up a new subject? No — he is still on the same subject, using different words to develop it further. He is saying, Since people did not enter God's rest in Moses' day, nor in Joshua's day, and yet we are still exhorted in the Psalms about God's rest, the conclusion is that this rest still remains for the people of God today. It is still available.”

[Sidebar: The expression “using different words to develop it further” is of interest to me. Remember, from our first Hebrews sermon, the discussion the use of the word “house”; I commented that the metaphor “house” was used in three very different ways, and that the use of the same word to mean subtly different things, by virtue of context, represented a level of language flexibility that was one of the expressions of abandoning the law for something more intuitive, more resilient, more holistic. This flexibility of language may therefore be perceived as a consequence of the operation of faith on articles of law. Therefore the comment about the flexibility of language is another example of how the holy Scriptures not only state but realize spiritual realities and spiritual resonance.

Back to Morrison:]

“Why does he call this a Sabbath-rest? He is not slipping in a command for the seventh-day Sabbath. That would be totally out of context. His exhortation throughout this book is telling Jewish people to look to Jesus. He is not urging them to do a better job of keeping Jewish customs.

The ancient Israelites, who had the Sabbath, did not enter the rest he is talking about. God's rest is entered by faith — by believing the gospel. The author is not interested in a day of the week — he is concerned about how people respond to Jesus. A person who keeps the weekly Sabbath but rejects Christ has not entered God's rest. We enter God's rest only by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why then does he call this a Sabbath-rest? By using this word, he indicates that this is what the Sabbath pointed to. Just as the bronze snake pointed to Jesus' crucifixion, and the washings pointed to forgiveness, and the sacrifices pointed to Jesus, similarly, the weekly Sabbath pointed to something spiritual: our rest through faith in Christ.

It is available — we may enter God's rest. Don't put it off — do it today!

 (v. 10) "Anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his". 

God rested from his creative work, but what kind of work do we rest from? What do we quit doing when we come to have faith in Christ? The work of trying to earn our salvation, the work of trying to qualify for the kingdom. When we look to Jesus for our salvation, we quit looking to ourselves.”

[Sidebar: This is a wonderful thought: “When we look to Jesus for our salvation, we quit looking to ourselves.” This is a principle we have proclaimed repeatedly: merging your identity with the Father makes you more yourself, not less. When we look to ourselves, we are always disappointed by the constrictions, corruptions, and distortions of human activity. We strive, we struggle, we get involved in turmoil after turmoil in this madness called Earth—and yet relief from the hysterical effort of living is available through the Christ Consciousness. This rest is not the absence of activity, but the absence of petty ego’s vain efforts to affirm ITSELF, rather than the Divine Self; the vain effort of trying to qualify for something that cannot be earned—only given through Grace. Fighting the flow is the mistake Lucifer made when he decided to pit his will against the will of the Father. Life outside the rest of the Father is crammed with pointless busywork, busy busy busy. I’m sure Satan is a very busy dude. Poor guy.

Another interesting expression is: “The work of trying to earn our salvation”. What kind of effort does it take to enter the rest of God? It seems like a contradictory statement: To exert effort to achieve rest—why don’t we just rest? The answer is very simple: the effort in achieving The Rest of Christ involve the UNDOING of bad habits. We have scores of mental structures that dictate all sorts of negative behaviors, that imprison us in the constricted perspectives of material existence. The way to make ourselves free of these mental patterns is to simply stop thinking. This can be a tremendous effort; it may be compared to the effort of a janitor who is going through a building turning off all the lights, one at a time. So, it is only when the lights are all off that the peace of the dark overtakes us, and we are, indeed, at rest. Perhaps I'm saying the face of Jesus lives in the dark, and entering into that dark is the only true light.

Back to Morrison:]

The author again draws a practical conclusion: 

(v. 11) "Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience" . 

Since the rest is available to us, let's enter it with faith. Ironically this requires effort, not passivity. If we disobey God by refusing his Son, we will fall!

Why should we be so careful to respond? 

 (v. 12) "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart".

[Sidebar: The image of the sword that divides soul and spirit, implies a kind of connection to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, because it separates the spirit from the delusions of the material plane. It is very much like the effort it takes to free ourselves of negative thought patterns, so that we may enter into God's rest. The sword is sharp, like a serial logic train, sequences of abstractions, which lead to the abandonment of logic in favor of intuition/grace.

Back to Morrison:]

“Just as Psalm 95 said, we must hear God's message with faith and obedience. His word contains both promise and command. It calls for our response. And as Hebrews 4:13 says, 

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” 

He sees everything we do and knows our thoughts, and we must give account to him. That is why we must respond, while it is yet today, with faith in Jesus Christ.”

This expression “both promise and command”, states an important principle: I have always told my talented students that the gifts of God are given with a return receipt attached. The gifts of God must be returned to the source, or they fester and rot and and die. Knowledge brings release from mundane responsibilities, but it brings with it a whole host of new responsibilities, which minister to the mundane through the spirit.

Furthermore, Jesus sees everything. When I read, “He sees everything we do and knows our thoughts, and we must give account to him,” I immediately think of Aslan of the Narnia Chronicles; this is the way Aslan is often presented by C.S. Lewis as an all-knowing benevolent spirit who understands all our weaknesses, all our secrets, and He knows when we are blowing smoke.

This is my understanding of Jesus: he knows every corner of my heart, and calls me out when he hears me lie to myself.

Back to Morrison:]

“Then comes another practical application: 

(v. 14)"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess". 

Again, the exhortation is not to a day of the week, but to Jesus Christ, our Savior.”

[Sidebar: Fitting Jesus into the established system of Jewish priests allows the Jews to relate better to Jesus, as a natural next step in the evolution of their traditional religion. Rather a priest than a prophet.

Back to Morrison:]

“Here's the thought of the entire chapter: Since God's rest is available to us and God judges us on how we respond, we need to keep believing in Jesus, because he is the one we need. He became human, so he understands our weaknesses, but he lived without sin, so he can be our Savior.

Hebrews 2:16-18 tells us that Jesus became human so he could save us humans. 

"He had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

Since Jesus has done this, we can be sure that he will help us now. 

(4:15-16) "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. 

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” 

Jesus knows what it's like to suffer and to be tempted to quit. He can strengthen us, if we trust him.

We need rest, and Jesus offers us rest. Today, if you hear his word, believe it, and enter his rest.”

I love this elevated ending: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” It feels like a piece of music. The expression “approach the throne of confidence” reminds me of the dichotomous humble pride that we talked about before: Jesus came down to the human level as a humble servant humble, but, by doing, so he was affirming a superiority. So coming to the throne with confidence is a similar dichotomy: in approaching the throne we perform an act of humility; the confidence comes from the fact of our spiritual experience—it shows us that the throne is the fount of all grace, not the block of judgment.

Now, since we have examined every verse in Chapter 4 with a microscope,  I feel it is appropriate, now , to reprise the entire chapter, so we can re-experience the sweep of it.

A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God

1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 

2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 

3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' " And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 

4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." 

5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 

6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 

7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 

9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 

10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 

11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 

12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 

13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Jesus the Great High Priest

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. 

16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

I have had many conversations with atheists, and they always rely on second-hand information to bolster their materialist objections. My single argument proving the reality of spirituality has always been personal experience. Remember, in terms of Hebrews, that the author’s main purpose is to inspire the persecuted Jews in Jerusalem to withstand their oppression by rising above it to a higher plane of consciousness—the Rest of God. This portrait of Jesus as a benevolent high priest, who can sympathize with all our human frailties, is a most attractive, almost hypnotic invitation to the unbeliever to enter in. Above all, it seems to me that the author is telling us not to be afraid—to enter the Divine Presence with confidence. Would that we all could abandon our fears in favor of the Peace of Christ—Rest in the Lord.

This morning, in response to the message in Hebrews I wrote this poem:

Be ye swollen fat or otherwise deformed,

thy soul is like a wisp of cloud

laced around a mountain peak;

as light as any frilly decoration,

or doily on the arm of the judgment seat.

Patterned images leave a trace of shadow

on the otherwise virgin snow,

as if each thought carried with it

a sword, dropping slow to quick-cut

the path to pristine being.

How insubstantial are these lines,

all blown over from raging winds;

how fragile, how remote!

And yet thy face, in sculptured mist,

still raises its smile above—

Still sings its rage and rancor, (momentarily),

and contemplates the infinite air,

infinite snow.

How thy lyric strains shred the blue,

and leave a scar, peace forbidding,

While all below is stillness—quiet rest.

Let us pray: Jesus thank you for bringing the possibility of Divine Rest down to the mundane where we can get a crack at it. Amen

2 Hebrews 2-3

2 Hebrews 2-3

Today we continue our study of Hebrews with a survey of Chapters Two and Three, which are concerned with establishing Jesus as a superior prophet to Moses. These two chapters are especially interesting from the JEWISH point of view: that is to say, many of the arguments, assigning Jesus a higher place in the cosmic hierarchy than Moses, are made in the philosophical Jewish idiom, and make constant reference to an historical authority that only a Jew would understand or endorse. Remember that this letter is written from Rome to a group of Hebrews in Jerusalem, troubled by doubts about the divinity of Jesus; therefore, the letter’s first order of business is to give the Jews something to believe in that comes easily out the established Jewish culture.

The first section of the chapter implies a fairly threatening picture of a Karma-driven world—(“if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment”)— a picture which is brightened only by the promise of salvation through Jesus the Christ. The opening also contains a magnificent declaration of the new dispensation of Grace over the Law. But the very first thing it says is this: we need to be careful what we think and say, because in these last days the Truth of the Word has been translated from the Mind of God to the Heart of God. Also, a pertinent question to ask is “How do we listen carefully? Do we listen with ears conditioned by the law, the angelic intelligence, or do we listen with the ears of the heart, which hears past the rational sense of the angelic language to the mystery of its origins? We need to listen carefully with every ear we own, and not get it wrong, because inattention will cause us to drift away from the Truth—the New Truth.

Thus, we begin:

Hebrews 2: 1-3:

"1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 

2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 

3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.” 

[Sidebar: Notice the idea that, 

“if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape. . .?” 

The idea of JUST PUNISHMENT goes hand in hand with the law; (apparently, the LAW is spoken by the angels, as the intelligent voice of God); so, instead of our just punishment for Adam’s original sin, we have salvation, bought for us, and announced to us by Jesus the Christ. It is an elegant picture of SALVATION, because, by virtue of the laws of Karma, it implies, although it does not explicitly state, what doom we are being saved FROM.

From Grace Communion International we read:

“But "how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" (v. 3). If the message of angels was binding (and it was) and disobedient people were punished, surely we won’t escape if we ignore the message of Christ.

This is an argument from the lesser to the greater, a common Jewish method of teaching. If Jesus is better than the angels, his message is better than theirs. If the message delivered by servants was authoritative, then the message delivered by the Son is even more so.

The readers were attentive to the law of Moses, but they weren’t attentive enough to the message of Jesus. They believed in Jesus as the Christ, but they hadn’t thought about his significance. They were so busy with Moses that they were not hearing Jesus.

Rhetorical strategy

In this, Hebrews uses a clever rhetorical strategy. The author begins with concepts the readers agree with, and they go through chapter 1 agreeing with him. Then he takes that point of agreement and turns it into a point of correction. You believe Jesus is great, he says, but you are not acting like it. You are paying too much attention to the old message and not enough to the new.”

We are in agreement with all of this, especially the part about listening to the NEW. We have become so indoctrinated in the essence of Christianity, as a cultural commonplace, that it is hard for us to imagine how NEW this new salvation must have seemed to the people of the first millenium. We need constant reminding that Jesus set cosmic waves in motion that, even now, have not yet crested.

Back to Hebrews 2:4:

“4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” 

I love how it says Jesus spread his fame through works and miracles. Here, by mentioning the works and miracles of Jesus, the author does not ignore the congregation’s materialist need to justify the authority of Jesus by virtue His miraculous good works. Now, you have heard me say, many times, that Jesus’ miracles mean no more or less to me than my own little miracles, miracles I witness every day; every day Heaven comes down and glory fills my soul, so I don’t need water to wine, or even resurrection from the dead, to justify my faith in the Divine Mediator. Nevertheless, Jesus’ miracles are part of the historical record, and cannot, therefore, be reasonably dismissed or contradicted. 

Of even deeper significance is the phrase: “gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” These gifts partake of the same miraculous character as the more physical miracles, water into wine, etc., but, to me, they are somehow more real because they are personal, and because they raise our consciousness to higher levels. It's too bad that so many people don't believe that those miracles are happening and continue to happen today, even though it's not Bible times anymore.

In John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, on this subject, we read: 

“both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles;
such as taking up serpents without hurt, healing the sick, causing the lame to walk, and raising the dead, and casting out devils, and the like; all which were for the confirmation of the Gospel preached by them: a sign, wonder, or miracle, for these signify the same thing, is a marvellous work done before men, by the power of God, to confirm a divine truth; God is the sole author of miracles; and they were done in the first ages of Christianity, when they were necessary, to give evidence of the truth of it, and to establish men in it; and these were various, as before observed: and gifts of the Holy Ghost; such as besides gifts of healing and working miracles, gifts of foretelling things to come, discerning of spirits, speaking with divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues, according to his own will; either according to the will of God, who bore testimony by these miracles and gifts; or according to the will of the Holy Spirit, who distributed them to men severally as he pleased.”

As you can imagine, this sentence really pisses me off: 

“God is the sole author of miracles; and they were done in the first ages of Christianity, when they were necessary, to give evidence of the truth of it, and to establish men in it.”

The implication of the phrase, “they were done in the first ages of Christianity” is that they are not done anymore. This a pissoff for two reasons:

1. It implies that miracles no longer happen, or, worse, they are no longer authored by God. In these latter days miracles have been as often attributed to the Devil as to God because supernatural events smack of witchcraft or infernal magic.

2.It implies that it was the miracles alone that that gave evidence of the truth of Jesus’ divinity.

Both of these implications expunge the possibility of the miraculous from our daily experience, and consign the miraculous to the domain of the occult, which, to many, means of the devil. Oh pshaw.

Back to Hebrews 2:5:

“5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.” 

This sentence refers, once again, not only to the superiority of the Christ to angels, but to the ultimate superiority of MAN to the angels—indeed, it was the idea of this glorious kinship of Man to the Christ, and the promised birthright of Man to a higher place in the cosmic hierarchy, that was the final straw that turned Lucifer against the Will of the Father.

Back to Hebrews 2:6-9:

“6 But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 

7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor 

8 and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.” 

9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

Note: “God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.”

BUT WE SEE JESUS. Jesus the mediator is the most and best of the infinite God that our finite minds can appreciate, made visible to us through His humiliation in the flesh. We must think, we must ponder, we must PAY ATTENTION, but, in the final analysis we must let the Divine Christ Consciousness become our passion and our vision.

One of the other important things about this first section is its very Jewish method of establishing a heavenly hierarchy by way of argument and historical precedent. There's lots of stuff about being higher and lower than the angels. The doctrinal principle here is that Jesus is the head man, and that is a principle that I can wholeheartedly endorse. Again:

“We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

The expression, “tasted death for everyone” is such a tantalizing expression, in its miraculous impossibility—we cannot get our minds around the idea that one Man could redeem the sins of all. Although, when you think about it, it only makes sense— because if we are all psychically connected to each other, spiritually connected to each other, having sprung from a common source, it only makes sense that some large being should be able to reach out into all those levels of consciousness below Him, and act in our best interest and for our general benefit, by sending messages and blessings down the same pipeline— the same cosmic highway.

The following is from Matthew Henry's Commentary – Verses 1–9: 

"God declares of Christ the perfect equity of his administration, and of the execution of his power, through all the parts of his government: A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom, Heb. 1:8. He came righteously to the sceptre, and he uses it in perfect righteousness; the righteousness of his government proceeds from the righteousness of his person, from an essential eternal love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity, not merely from considerations of prudence or interest, but from an inward and immovable principle: Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity, Heb. 1:9. Christ came to fulfil all righteousness, to bring in an everlasting righteousness; and he was righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. He has recommended righteousness to men, and restored it among them, as a most excellent and amiable thing. He came to finish transgression, and to make an end of sin as a hateful as well as hurtful thing. 

God declares of Christ how he was qualified for the office of Mediator, and how he was installed and confirmed in it (Heb. 1:9): Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 

1. Christ has the name Messiah from his being anointed. God’s anointing of Christ signifies both his qualifying him for the office of the Mediator with the Holy Spirit and all his graces, and likewise his inauguration of him into the office, as prophets, priests, and kings, were by anointing. God, even thy God, imports the confirmation of Christ in the office of Mediator by the covenant of redemption and peace, that was between the Father and the Son. God is the God of Christ, as Christ is man and Mediator. 

2. This anointing of Christ was with the oil of gladness, which signifies both the gladness and cheerfulness with which Christ undertook and went through the office of Mediator (finding himself so absolutely sufficient for it), and also that joy which was set before him as the reward of his service and sufferings, that crown of glory and gladness which he should wear for ever after the suffering of death.” 

Hebrews 2: 10:

“10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” 

[Sidebar: “Perfect through suffering” is an expression that cries out for amplification. We have heard, many times, that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger; (this is not always true—some things can make you weaker); but, in general, perfection through suffering seems to be the process to which we must all submit: every single one of us has a cross to bear into old age. And this cross, which we have borne our whole lives, and which was given to us, each of us, individually by God, ESPECIALLY FOR US by God— this suffering is the purifying fire that must ultimately make us free.

Of course, for notes on suffering we must turn to the C.S. Lewis book, A Grief Observed, that details so many levels of suffering, while attempting to reveal its purpose. 

“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn't. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.” 

You have heard me say that: at the Last Judgement, it is we who will judge ourselves. When we occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once, the self-knowledge acquired in these last days will reveal the truth to the most self-blinded; and true self-knowledge will result in the one and only possible flow of nature into the infinite. C. S. Lewis has always upheld that suffering leads to self-knowledge, if for no other reason than the HONESTY it invokes.

One of my favorite suffering quotes is from Aeschylus, who writes:

“Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”

The second chapter of Hebrews ends with an affirmation of Jesus’ authority over mankind, because He Himself became human; it was this humanity that qualified Him to be the mediator between Man and God which He has become.

Hebrews 2: 11-18:

“11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 

12 He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." 

13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again he says, "Here am I, and the children God has given me." 

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- 

15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 

16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 

17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” 

There is much here to sort through. The main motif of this section is the idea of “brothers”. We are brothers genetically, descended form Abraham, we are brothers in service, and brothers in that “those who are made holy are of the same family”; as such they are equal in God. The point is also made that Jesus and we are brothers because we have all, —ALL— shared our humanity, and been tempted by the desires of the flesh. Again:

“he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

On the subject of defeating the devil, and overcoming the fear of death, I am reminded of the “Armor of God” sermons which I gave a while back. In 1st John we read about Satan’s weakness in the presence of Jesus:

1 John 4:2-6 

“2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 

6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." 

This passage reveals the fatal weakness of Satan: he cannot bear the name of Jesus. He may twist and squirm around it, but Jesus' name is filled with the power of the armor of God, and can defeat every trick of the devil to confound us.

The third chapter of Hebrews continues the previous discussion of cosmic hierarchy, comparing the rank of Moses to the rank of Jesus:

Hebrews 3:1-2: Jesus Greater Than Moses

“1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 

2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house.” 

The David Guzik Commentary on the Bible, zeroes in on some nuanced terms, like “apostle” and “consider”:

“Consider (fix your thoughts on) the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,

a. Consider the Apostle: We don't often apply this word to Jesus, but He is our Apostle. The ancient Greek word translated apostle really means something like ambassador. In this sense, Jesus is the Father's ultimate ambassador. God the Father had to send a message of love that was so important, He sent it through Christ Jesus.

i. The ancient Greek word translated consider is katanoein: "It does not mean simply to look at or to notice a thing. Anyone can look at a thing or even notice it without really seeing it. The word means to fix the attention on something in such a way that its inner meaning, the lesson it is designed to teach, may be learned." (Barclay) The same word is used in Luke 12:24 (Consider the ravens). It is an earnest appeal to look, to learn, and to understand.

ii. The message is plain: consider this. Consider that God loves you so much He sent the ultimate Messenger, Christ Jesus. Consider also how important it is for you to pay attention to God's ultimate Apostle, who is Christ Jesus.

iii. God also chose His original, authoritative "ambassadors" for the church. These are what we think of as the original twelve apostles. God still chooses ambassadors in a less authoritative sense, and there is a sense in which we are all ambassadors for God. Yet surely, Jesus was and is the Father's ultimate ambassador.”

[Sidebar: Another interesting literary construction is the idiomatic use of the word “house”. In this opening section, the metaphor of the “HOUSE” is used three slightly different ways: 

1. there is reference, above, to the “God’s House” of Moses, which can only mean the established cultural order of the Jews, 

2. there is reference, below, to God as the “Builder of the House”, which can only mean the Spiritual edifice of God’s all-inclusive Kingdom, and

3. there follows the statement, “we are his house”, meaning the brotherhood of Christians is an organism of spiritual beings, aligned by faith in Jesus the Christ.”

Aside from the literary elegance of this construction, its very linguistic flexibility intrinsically implies that the LANGUAGE of truth admits of a variety of interpretations; that even though the same word can mean several things that may be true, the deeper truth of our identity in the Christ Consciousness is eternally the same.

Back to Hebrews 3: 3-6:]

“3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 

4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 

5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 

6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.”

Here, the author would forbid any doubt that Jesus is superior to Moses, that the heart is superior to the law; but he would also have us see Jesus as a kind of natural NEXT STEP in the history of the Jews. We are meant not only to see that Moses qualifies as an appropriate predecessor of Jesus, but also to see that Jesus is indeed the appropriate successor of Moses—and that a few laws may have to be broken in order to get at a higher truth.

Next, the character of an “exhortation” is continued as we are again warned against unbelief; just as in the opening of the Second Chapter we are warned that if life were fair, none of us would escape whipping: 

As we read in Hebrews 2:2-3.

“For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape?” 

Hebrews 3: 7-13 

Warning Against Unbelief

“7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, 

8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 

9 where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. 

10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' 

11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' " 

12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 

13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.” 

[Sidebar: One of the delightful features of Hebrews is how REASONABLE it is—it makes most of its claims by rationally justifiable argument, listing historical precedents; the Jews of the past were punished by God for disobedience—therefore beware of unbelief lest you too suffer the punishments of God!

The next few verses continue the comparison of Jesus to Moses. I cannot help but feel that the question of the Law vs. Grace is playing an underlying role in this section. There is a lot of talk about the HEART. We read the expression “harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion”, and the statement, “Their hearts are always going astray,” and reference to “a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God”.

Hebrews 3:14-19:

“14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 

15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." 

16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 

17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed ? 

19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”

Two more commentaries on this scripture should about wind us up; from Mathew Henry’s Concise Commentary we read:

“3:14-19 The saints' privilege is, they are made partakers of Christ, that is, of the Spirit, the nature, graces, righteousness, and life of Christ; they are interested in all Christ is, in all he has done, or will do. The same spirit with which Christians set out in the ways of God, they should maintain unto the end. Perseverance in faith is the best evidence of the sincerity of our faith. Hearing the word often is a means of salvation, yet, if not hearkened to, it will expose more to the Divine wrath. The happiness of being partakers of Christ and his complete salvation, and the fear of God's wrath and eternal misery, should stir us up to persevere in the life of obedient faith. Let us beware of trusting to outward privileges or professions, and pray to be numbered with the true believers who enter heaven, when all others fail because of unbelief. As our obedience follows according to the power of our faith, so our sins and want of care are according to the prevailing of unbelief in us.”

From Barnes’ Notes on the Bible we read:

“For we are made partakers of Christ - We are spiritually united to the Saviour. We become one with him. We partake of his spirit and his allotments. The sacred writers are accustomed to describe the Christian as being closely united to the Saviour, and as being one with him see the John 15:1-7; John 17:21, John 17:23 notes; Ephesians 5:30 note; 1 Corinthians 12:27 note. The idea is, that we participate in all that pertains to him. It is a union of feeling and affection; a union of principle and of congeniality; a union of dependence as well as love; a union where nothing is to be imparted by us, but everything gained; and a union, therefore, on the part of the Redeemer of great condescension. It is the union of the branch to the vine, where the branch is supported and nourished by the vine, and not the union of the ivy and the oak, where the ivy has its own roots, and merely clings around the oak and climbs up upon it. What else can be said so honorable of man as that he is a "partaker of Christ;" that he shares his feelings here, and that he is to share his honors in a brighter world? Compared with this, what is it to participate with the rich and the frivolous in their pleasures; what would it be to share in the honors of conquerors and kings?”

Thus is ended the exhortation against unbelief. I think I need to substitute “faith” for “unbelief”. I feel that the true partaker in Christ allows himself to transcend the limits of mundane reality by placing trust in an intangible. The experience of the intangible creates belief not the other way round. I hope that pure faith can suck the life out of the vine, and connect us to the mighty oak.

Let us pray: Jesus thank you for the clarity which your path provides; we stumble in verbal paradoxes, seeking sense, when all we really have to do is lend our minds to You, and let You provide all the missing links. Amen,