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The historical reference to the Jews who did not listen to the message that was brought them in ancient days, implies a parallel with the then present-day Jewish condition, and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