Hebrews - Lesson 3
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Hebrews 4:1-5:10
Hebrews 4:1-5:10
God’s Rest & Jesus as High Priest
God’s Rest & Jesus as High Priest
What happens to you if you do not rest?
How do you feel when you are well-rested?
We left off last time briefly touching on God’s Rest - specifically how the ancient Israelites who rebelled in the wilderness did not enter God’s rest.
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.
God had delivered them out of Egyptian slavery through mighty signs and wonders - and yet every-time they came across an obstacle - they complained and rebelled. The people’s ingrained behavior, their stubbornness, created an ongoing cycle of encountering hardship, complaining about the unfairness of it all, desiring to return to their old life, and Moses intervening on their behalf.
One such instance occurred when God instructed Moses to send spies into the land that God had promised them - the land of Canaan. The spies returned after 40 days and gave their report. They found a land flowing with “milk and honey.” The reference to “milk” suggests that many livestock could find pasture there; the mention of “honey” suggests the vast farmland available—the bees had plenty of plants to draw nectar from. They even brought back fruit for all to see. Sounds awesome - but then the spies reported that the people occupying the land were strong and there were giants of men among them. Their cities were heavily fortified.
Another crossroads for the Israelites. Would they trust God and believe His Word - or would they allow their fear to dictate their actions.
Do you see this same test happen to Christians today?
At least two spies, Caleb and Joshua, believed that victory was already theirs to claim.
But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
The other spies did not agree. Comparing themselves to the inhabitants of Canaan - they replied that they seemed to themselves to be like grasshoppers - and that is how the people of that land saw them as well. Small and weak.
Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
They were up all night fretting - the opposite of getting rest.
God promised the Israelites His rest in the land of Canaan. He says go, enter in, I am giving this to you. The fields are ripe with food, the land is flowing with milk and honey, here you will find rest. I will fight for you, I will provide all you need, I will protect you. All you have to do is believe I will do this and obey my commands.
Unfortunately, they failed the test. As a result, that generation wandered in the wilderness for 40 restless years until they died off. Joshua, the young spy who tried to get the people to trust and move forward, would be the one who lead the next generation across the Jordan River.
Read Hebrews 4:1-10.
“Using the Israelites as an example of those who were not resting in God’s promises, the writer of Hebrews goes on in chapter 4 to make the application personal, both to the Hebrew Christians and to us:
Hebrews 4:1
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.
What is the writer referring to when he says “the promise of entering his rest”? (v1)
The promise that still stands is the promise of salvation through God’s provision—Jesus Christ. He alone can provide the eternal rest of salvation through His blood shed on the cross for the remission of sins. God’s rest, then, is in the spiritual realm, the rest of salvation. Faith is the key to entering God’s rest. The Hebrews being addressed in this book had had the gospel preached to them, just as the Israelites knew the truth about God, but for some, the messages were of “no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith” (Hebrews 4:2).
Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (Chapter 6: Don’t Follow the Example of God’s Faithless Household in the Wilderness (Hebrews 3:7–4:11))
At least some of them had begun to wonder if faith in Christ was really worth the struggle. They were tempted to become slack in their Christian commitment.
Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition 1. Don’t Harden Your Hearts as They Did 3:7–19
The readers of Hebrews have clearly heard the word of God (see Hebrews 2:1–4) and experienced God’s power (see 6:1–6). The preacher does not want them to doubt God’s power to help them and thus turn from Him in disobedience.
Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition 1. Don’t Harden Your Hearts as They Did 3:7–19
We can never know the rest of deep fellowship with Him unless we trust His love and His power
Did the children of the wilderness generation inherit God’s rest when they entered His promised land?
No - the author is showing that God’s rest is not a physical Promised Land, but of a spiritual nature. Canaan was a sign pointing toward a supernatural rest.
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
The preacher points again back at the Creation story - God worked 6 days, on the Seventh day He rested (Sabbath). Therefore, God established rest at Creation and it is still available for us “today”
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.”
(referencing Psalm 95)
God’s rest was established at creation, but it is not a part of his creation. In otherwords, it is not a physical place here on earth we can go.
According to Genesis 2:2 (cited in Heb. 4:4), this is the rest that God himself entered into on the seventh day after He had completed His creation. Since this seventh day is the great Sabbath on which the earthly Sabbath is patterned, the preacher calls this rest a Sabbath-rest in 4:9. This rest is beyond creation. It is God’s own rest, the “kingdom that cannot be shaken” (12:28) when creation itself comes to an end (see 12:25–29). Yet believers are already “receiving” (12:28) this kingdom. God offers us this rest of blissful fellowship with himself.
Within the Old Testament the earthly Promised Land of Canaan was called rest because it was the place where God’s people would be at rest from the oppression of their enemies and from other hardships (see Deuteronomy 12:9–10). They would live in the rest of intimate fellowship with Him. Thus the earthly Promised Land was an appropriate type or picture of the eternal rest that God has for His people.
According to Gareth Cockerill, “this eternal rest is the ultimate goal for God’s people both before and after Christ. Both groups make up the household of God and are heirs of God’s promise to Abraham. Both have had the gospel, God’s good news, preached to them (4:2). The wilderness generation received the gospel or the good news of deliverance from oppression and entrance into the Promised Land of fellowship with God. The preacher’s hearers received the gospel of deliverance from sin, and entrance into intimate fellowship with God made available through Christ, God’s Son and our High Priest. The gospel the wilderness generation received pointed forward to the gospel that we and the readers of Hebrews have received. If the unfaithful wilderness generation had been faithful, they would ultimately have entered into the blessings that are ours through faith. Thus, the most fundamental difference between the wilderness generation and Christians today is not a difference in the gospel preached to each group. The most fundamental difference is the difference between unbelief and faith. They did not believe and it is we who have believed who enter that rest (3:3).”
Now look at Hebrews 4:10
for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (2. Enter the Rest that They Forfeited 4:1–11)
Hebrews 4:10 gives further explanation of the faith and obedience necessary to enter God’s rest: for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his…When God established this rest He rested from the work of creation because it was perfect, completed just as He wanted it. When we enter His rest, however, we cease from the work of doing things our own way. We participate in deep fellowship with God and in His own blessedness by yielding to Him in faith and obedience.
What are examples of people “working instead of resting” is the sense of v10?
The preacher provides a strong exhortation here:
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
How do we strive to enter rest?
Read Hebrews 4:12-13
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
What is the writer telling us about God’s Word and what does this have to do with the preceding passages on God’s rest?
Listen to how Raymond Brown describes this passage:
The Message of Hebrews (a. The Word of God (4:12))
If God has spoken so clearly to his people, then it is a mistake to suppose that man can trifle with such a word. It is alive. It does not simply record the great events of the past. The ‘yesterday’ element is certainly not missing, especially in this letter, but God’s word is something more than a mere historical record. ‘Today’ is a key term here. God is speaking to us through his living word in this very day (3:7, 15). God ‘sets a certain day, “Today” ’ (4:7) as he renews his appeal, and extends his promises, and repeats his warnings. The word not only lives; it works. It is an effective as well as a perpetually relevant word. Its activity is such that it cannot return void; it must accomplish his sovereign purposes. The word is energetic. It is like a sharp sword cutting its way through this substance or that without any kind of difficulty. This sword of the word can penetrate deeply into the human heart and mind. It can scrutinize the unspoken thoughts and hidden conceptions of the heart of man. It can reach deep down where, because of earth’s bewildering and preoccupying noises, no other voice can easily be heard. This word probes more deeply than the mere voice of man however interesting or eloquent. It goes to ‘the inmost recesses of our spiritual being and brings the subconscious motives to light’.
No one can fake it into God’s rest. You either trust and obey God because you believe, or you do not because you possess unbelief.
God uses his word to penetrate man’s stubborn and rebellious heart, for he knows how much we need it; he sees what is really there. He looks right below the extremely thin veneer of merely outward piety to the true thoughts of man. He can test man’s sincerity. Nothing whatever is hidden from his searching gaze. Everything is exposed to his sight. In view of this, how ridiculous is our pretense and how nauseating our hypocrisy…Whether he likes it or not, man is moving to his destiny.
The message of one who has gone before as pioneer and priest is a word of immediate relevance. Christ’s essential work for man has been effectively accomplished. Our part is to hear, believe, obey and share this word of abundant life.
If you believe, you have access to God’s rest because Jesus is our High Priest.
Read Hebrews 4:14-16
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The Role of the High Priest from GotQuestions.org
The high priest was the supreme religious leader of the Israelites. The office of the high priest was hereditary and was traced from Aaron, the brother of Moses, of the Levite tribe (Exodus 28:1; Numbers 18:7). The high priest had to be “whole” physically (without any physical defects) and holy in his conduct (Leviticus 21:6-8).
Because the high priest held the leadership position, one of his roles was overseeing the responsibilities of all the subordinate priests (2 Chronicles 19:11). Though the high priest could participate in ordinary priestly ministries, only certain functions were given to him. Only the high priest could wear the Urim and the Thummin (engraved dice-like stones used to determine truth or falsity). For this reason, the Hebrew people would go to the high priest in order to know the will of God (Numbers 27:21). An example of this is when Joshua was commissioned by Eleazar, the high priest, to assume some of Moses’ responsibilities (Numbers 27:21). In the New Testament, we find a reference to the high priest having the gift of prophecy (John 11:49-52).
The high priest had to offer a sin offering not only for the sins of the whole congregation, but also for himself (Leviticus 4:3-21). When a high priest died, all those confined to the cities of refuge for accidently causing the death of another person were granted freedom (Numbers 35:28).
The most important duty of the high priest was to conduct the service on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month of every year. Only he was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place behind the veil to stand before God. Having made a sacrifice for himself and for the people, he then brought the blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, God’s “throne” (Leviticus 16:14-15). He did this to make atonement for himself and the people for all their sins committed during the year just ended (Exodus 30:10). It is this particular service that is compared to the ministry of Jesus as our High Priest (Hebrews 9:1-28).
In understanding the role of the high priest, we can better comprehend the significance of Christ offering Himself for our sins once for all (Hebrews 9:26; 10:10, 12). Through Christ’s sacrifice for us, we are sanctified and set apart for Him. By entering God’s presence on our behalf, Christ has secured for us an “eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12). As Paul has written, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Why is it a comfort knowing the Jesus is our High Priest? (see 4:15-16)
Read Hebrews 5:1-4
For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
Every High Priest is selected and appointed to high priesthood by God. No one takes it upon themselves - he is called.
Are people still called today?
Read Hebrews 5:5-10
So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
We will cover Melchizedek next week. Just know that he was not an Aaronic priest, but another mentioned in Genesis 14. The writer of Hebrews references Jesus’ fulfillment of Psalm 110:4.
Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition Chapter 9: The New High Priest and the Old (Hebrews 5:1–10)
Christ did not take the high priesthood upon himself but was called by God according to the order of Melchizedek. He received His call through the words of Psalm 110:4 quoted in Hebrews 5:5–6. He is designated by God as high priest of Melchizedek’s order in 5:10.
Jesus, by his obedience to His Father, His full dependence and trust in God, his willingness to suffer in place of His brothers and sisters, His intercession on behalf - with prayers and tears - his complete holiness, made him the perfect High Priest.
We are able to enter God’s rest under Christ’ priesthood.
Next week we will study chapters 5:11-7:28.