Hebrews 4-5: A Better Hope Access
HEBREWS 4:14 – 5:14
Application: The student will recognize that prayer through the intercession of Jesus is greater than through earthly priests.
EARLY IN OUR STUDY JOURNEY WE MADE MENTION OF THE FACT THAT ONE BY ONE, OUR WRITER IS PROVING THAT JESUS IS SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHERS, BOTH DIVINE AND HUMAN, BOTH IN HIS BEING AND HIS WORK.
IN OUR STUDY STOP TODAY WE VIEW THE WAY IN WHICH JESUS IS SUPERIOR TO JOSHUA.
HERE WE SEE AN INTERESTING FACTOR IN THAT JOSHUA IS NOT NAMED, HIS CONTRAST IS MADE CLEAR.
WE RECALL THAT AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF HEBREWS HAD HEARD THE GOOD NEWS OF DELIVERANCE BUT FAILED TO REACH GOOD REST IN THE PROMISED LAND BECAUSE THEY HARDENED THEIR HEARTS AND DISOBEYED GOD. (HEBREWS 4:1-10)
NOW OUR WRITER CHANGES HIS TUNE AND FOCUS.
HE CONSIDERS THE GREAT HIGH PRIESTLY FUNCTION OF JESUS FROM A BELIEVERS POINT OF VIEW.
FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF AN UNBELIEVER THIS POSITION IS FEARFUL BECAUSE JESUS WILL JUDGE MANKIND.
BUT THE BELIEVER IN THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST HAS PEACE & JOY IN HIS HEART BECAUSE, AS PAUL MADE SO VERY CLEAR IN ROMANS 8:1, THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE IN CHRIST JESUS.
UNDER THE LAW THERE WERE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC DUTIES OF THE PRIESTS AND THE HIGH PRIEST. THEY WERE DEFINED WITHOUT RESERVATION.
SOME PRIESTS AND HELPERS FAILED THIS FUNCTION AND LOST THEIR ABILITY TO INTERCEDE WITH GOD FOR THE PEOPLE.
SOME OF THOSE EVEN LOST THEIR LIVES IN THAT MATTER, SUCH AS THE SONS OF AARON, WHO BROUGHT UNWORTHY FIRE TO THE TABERNACLE.
WE ALSO KNOW THAT THE HIGH PRIEST COULD ONLY APPROACH GOD ONCE A YEAR AT THE ARK, THE HOLY OF HOLIES, AND PERFORM HIS DUTIES THERE, WHICH WERE TO BE REPEATED EVERY YEAR AS LONG AS THAT PRIEST SERVED.
JESUS HOWEVER PERFORMED HIS PRIESTLY FUNCTION ONCE AND THEN SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER.
STEPHEN SO TESTIFIED AT HIS STONING.
THEREFORE NO LONGER IS THE BELIEVERS TRUST IN A HUMAN WHO IS FLAWED BUT IN THE SON OF GOD WHO IS NOT.
BECAUSE OF THAT FACT OUR WRITER EXHORTS HIS READERS TO DRAW NEAR TO GOD’S THRONE OF GRACE THROUGH PRAYER WITH CONFIDENCE.
BECAUSE THE TEMPLE VEIL WAS SPLIT ALL BELIEVERS CAN NOW COME BOLDLY THEMSELVES TO THE THRONE OF GOD WITH OUR PRAYERFUL HEARTS.
JESUS IN HIS OBEDIENCE STEPPED OBEDIENTLY INTO THE ROLE OF GREAT HIGH PRIEST & IS FOREVER OUR INTERCESSOR ABOVE.
IN THIS PARTICULAR PORTION OF OUR STUDY JOURNEY WE HAVE A NEED TO DIG DEEPLY INTO OUR SCRIPTURAL LESSON TO GAIN OUR NEEDED VIEW.
IN NUMEROUS TIMES, WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT CONCERNING THE SINFUL MISTRUST OF THE OLDER GENERATION OF HEBREWS THAT THE PENANCE FOR THAT SIN WAS DEATH IN THE WILDERNESS FOR THOSE OVER 20 YEARS OF AGE.
IN THOSE OCCASIONS, WE ARE TOLD THAT THESE STIFF NECKED SINNERS WOULD NOT ENTER GOD’S REST.
THIS FACT CAME TRUE AND IT WAS THE NEXT YOUNGER GENERATION THAT WERE ALLOWED INTO THE LAND.
THE LEADERSHIP ACROSS THE JORDAN RIVER INTO CANAAN WAS PROVIDED BY GOD’S APPOINTED ONE AFTER MOSES, JOSHUA.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE RECALL THAT GOD PROMISED TO BRING THE HEBREWS INTO THE LAND BUT HE DID NOT PROMISE TO BRING THEM IN WHETHER THEY BELIEVED AND OBEYED OR NOT.
NUMBERS 14:22 COVERS THIS MATTER CLEARLY.
THOSE WHO TEMPTED GOD AND DID NOT HARKEN TO HIS VOICE SHALL NOT SEE THE LAND.
BUT THEIR UNBELIEF DID NOT OVERCOME THE PROMISE OF GOD.
JOSHUA 21:43 TEACHES THAT THE PROMISE WAS ACCOMPLISHED TO ANOTHER GENERATION.
JOSHUA HIMSELF APPEALED TO THE HEBREWS FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE PROMISE IN JOSHUA 23:14 AND THE HEBREWS DID IN FACT LISTEN AND WENT FORWARD UNDER JOSHUA.
THEY TOOK THE LAND UNDER THE PROTECTION OF GOD AND THE LEADERSHIP OF JOSHUA.
THIS WORK WAS DIFFICULT BUT WAS SPONSORED BY GOD AND THE LAND WAS TAKEN AS GOD WENT BEFORE THE PEOPLE.
THIS POSITION GRANTED TO THE NEXT GENERATION WAS ONE OF PRESENT PHYSICAL REST AFTER THE LAND WAS CONQUERED.
HOWEVER, LATER OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF THE LORD WAS NOT SETTLED BY THE HEBREWS IN THEIR HEARTS.
MOSES HAD WARNED IN HIS LAST SERMON THAT ONCE THE LAND WAS TAKEN AND THE PEOPLE BEGAN TO PROSPER, THEY MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO FORGET WHO BLESSED THEM WITH THEIR LAND.
THE WARNING OF MOSES CAME TRUE.
IN JUDGES 2:1-3 WE SEE THE PROOF.
“And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you go up out of the land of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of the land: ye shall throw down their altars, but ye have not obeyed My voice: Why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be a thorn in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.”
WE REMEMBER WELL THAT THE COVENANT WITH GOD AND THE HEBREWS WAS CONDITIONAL. THE CONDITION FOR THE HEBREWS WAS OBEDIENCE AND TRUST AND GOD WAS CLEAR AS TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF DISOBEDIENCE AND THE ANGEL CAME TO REMIND THEM OF THEIR FAILURES.
TO RIGHTLY DIVIDE THESE WORDS, WE MUST ALSO RECALL THAT JESUS PROVIDED ALL HIS GOSPEL TEACHING ON THE MATTER OF FAITH, A GIFT OF GOD’S THROUGH HIS GRACE.
THE REST THAT JESUS PROVIDES TO THE HEBREWS AND TO ALL WHO CAME TO HIM AFTERWARD IS A FAR BETTER REST.
IT IS AN ETERNAL REST AND ONCE FAITH SETTLES INTO THE HUMAN HEART AFTER THE CALLING OF THE HEAVENLY FATHER THIS ETERNAL REST SETTLES UPON THE BELIEVER.
VERSE 4:3 ALLOWS THAT FACT FOR US AS IT TEACHES THAT WE WHICH HAVE BELIEVED DO ENTER INTO REST.
THIS REST IS NOT A PRESENT REST NOR IS IT POSSIBLE ONCE WE ARE A CHILD OF GOD TO LOSE THAT ETERNAL REST PROMISED BY CHRIST.
DID NOT JESUS SAY COME TO ME ALL WHO ARE WEARY AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST?
THERE IS A QUALITATIVE DIFFERENCE IN THESE FORMS OF REST AND BECAUSE OF THAT DIFFERENCE JESUS IS FAR SUPERIOR TO JOSHUA.
JOSHUA DID NOT FAIL HIS PEOPLE. HIS PEOPLE FAILED BOTH HIM AND THE LORD.
HIS WORK ASSIGNED WAS TO LEAD THE HEBREWS INTO THE LAND AND TO FIGHT THE BATTLES NECESSARY TO CAPTURE THE LAND PROMISED. HE COMPLETED THAT WORK BUT HIS COMPLETION DID NOT CHANGE THE CHARACTER OF THE HEBREWS.
IN JOSHUA 24, THE ENDING OF HIS BOOK, HE ONCE MORE HAD TO REMIND THE PEOPLE WHAT HAD BEEN DONE FOR THEM AND HAD TO CHALLENGE THEM AGAIN TO CHOOSE THE LORD TO SERVE.
THE REST DESCRIBED HERE IS THE REST THAT IS BLESSED AND MORE IMPORTANT TO ANY EARTHLY REST AND FAR MORE THAT ANY REST JEWS HAD EVER KNOWN, FAR HIGHER THAN ANY REST FOUND IN THIS WORLD.
IT IS SOMEWHAT LIKENED TO THE SABBATH REST OF GOD AFTER CREATION WAS FINISHED, FORESHADOWING ETERNAL HEAVENLY REST.
VERSE 8 HELPS US TO UNDERSTAND THAT JOSHUA DID NOT LEAD INTO THE PERFECT REST OF GOD AND THE WRITER AFFIRMS THAT CHRIST HAS ENTERED THAT HIGHER REST AND HIS ENTRANCE IS THE PLEDGE AND PROOF THAT HIS SAVED PEOPLE SHALL ENTER ALSO.
HEBREWS 6:20 WILL LATER TEACH US THAT WE SHALL GO WHERE THE FORERUNNER HAS ENTERED.
AND VERSE 14 GOES EVEN FURTHER:
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our profession.”
WE SHOULD ALSO TAKE A BIT OF WISDOM FROM A VERY UNLIKELY PLACE TO SMOOTH EVEN FURTHER OUR UNDERSTANDING.
4:3 SAYS THAT HIS WORK HAS BEEN FINISHED SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
THE RABBIS OF THE TIME OF JESUS OFTENED ARGUED ABOUT THE REST OF GOD WITH ANOTHER VIEW.
IN GENESIS 2: 2-3 THERE IS NO MENTION OF AN EVENING ON THE SEVENTH DAY, THE DAY OF THE REST OF GOD.
EVENINGS WERE CLEARLY MENTIONED IN DAYS ONE THROUGH SIX.
FROM THIS SCRIPTURAL FACT THE RABBIS ARGUED THAT WHILE THE OTHER DAYS CAME TO AN END, THE DAY OF GOD’S REST DID NOT THEREFORE THE REST OF GOD WAS FOREVER.
THIS MEANT THAT THOUGH HIS WORKS WERE FINISHED AT THE CREATION OF THE WORLD, HIS REST REMAINS OPEN FOR OTHERS TO ENTER IT BY FAITH.
OUR STUDY SCRIPTURE TODAY THEREFORE IS TELLING US THAT WHILE JOSHUA EVENTUALLY LED THE PEOPLE INTO THE PROMISED LAND, PSALM 95, WRITTEN LONG AFTER JOSHUA LIVED, STILL SPEAKS OF A PROMISED REST, THEREFORE IT MUST POINT TO SOMETHING MORE, SOMETHING JOSHUA DID NOT, AND COULD NOT GIVE THE PEOPLE.
WHAT IS MEANT HERE IS THE REST OF BEING A PART OF GOD’S KINGDOM, WHICH CAN ONLY BE BROUGHT BY JESUS CHRIST.
THEREBY JESUS IS SUPERIOR TO JOSHUA.