Shaking Heaven and Earth

In Hebrews 12:25 Paul begins by warning his readers: “See that you refuse not him that speaks…” The verb is in the present tense, showing, whoever is speaking, that one was speaking to the first century AD readers of Paul’s epistle, even as they read it. Who was speaking? The preceding verse tells us that Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, is speaking, and he is doing so through his blood (Hebrews 12:24). He offers mercy and forgiveness, rather than seeking vengeance, which is an allegory of the two covenants. The Old Covenant sought vengeance against sinners, but the New Covenant offers the sinner clemency and forgiveness.

 

Christ – The Way to Holiness

In Hebrews 12:12 Paul quotes from Isaiah 35:3 where it says: “Strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.” But, what is Paul’s point here? Is it to pull oneself up by one’s own bootstraps? I don’t think so. Isaiah 35 is a prophecy about vindication, about the Lord coming to save his people. The prophet begins by saying the wilderness and the desert places shall spring up with new life, blossoming like a rose (Isaiah 35:1-2). In other words, Paul is speaking about resurrection, which has already begun in the lives of his readers (cp. Ephesians 2:1-6). Therefore, don’t be afraid; strengthen yourselves or take heart (verse-3), because the Lord your God will come with vengeance to vindicate and save you out of your trouble  (Isaiah 35:4).

 

Bearing the Reproach of Christ

Moses, after he had come of age (Acts 7:23), chose not to be identified as an Egyptian, even the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and heir to the honor that such a position held (Hebrews 11:24). The word translated ‘Christ’ (G5547) always refers to Jesus in the New Covenant Scriptures. However, it is always translated anointed in the Septuagint and refers to the anointed (G5547) priest (Leviticus 4:5, 16), the anointed (G5547) oil (Leviticus 21:10, 12), the anointed (G5547) one, meaning Samuel the prophet of the Lord (1Samuel 12:3, 5), and the Lord’s anointed (G5547), meaning the king (1Samuel 26:9, 11). Since the text tells us that Moses was fully aware of his destiny (Acts 7:25), he knew full well that he had been anointed by God for the purpose of delivering his people Israel out of the bondage of Egypt (Acts 7:23-29; Exodus 2:11-15). Therefore, Paul’ s use of the phrase: the approach of Christ (Hebrews 11:26) has to do with Moses choosing to be identified with his oppressed brethren, who were slaves in Egypt, rather than as the son of Pharaoh and a member of the royal court of Egypt.

 

The City with Foundations

According to Hebrews 11:8 God called Abraham to leave the place where he lived and go to another place, which he would inherit later. Specifically, Abraham was called by the Lord to leave his father’s house to go to a country that the Lord would show him (Genesis 12:1-4). In other words, it doesn’t appear that Abraham knew what land that would be. Abraham obeyed God (Hebrews 11:8) and left the land where he dwelt, and his father’s house, just as the Lord had commanded. The Lord also promised a reward for Abraham’s obedience. Abraham would become a great nation, would be a blessing to all nations, and the Lord would protect him (Hebrews 11:8; Genesis 12:1-4). However, it wasn’t until Abraham actually arrived in the land of Canaan that God specifically promised to give that particular land to his descendants (Genesis 12:7).

 

Our Hope Beyond the Veil

In the context of Paul’s epistle the two absolutely unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to do is to lie, are when he gives a promise (Genesis 17:2) and when he takes his oath (Genesis 22:16-17). In either case his integrity compels him to be true (Hebrews 6:18). Therefore, God took an oath and swore to Abraham for the sake of Abraham and his descendants, that they might have strong encouragement or comfort (G3874) in the thing the Lord had promised to do.

 

Whose End Is to Be Burned

It seems that there was a question in the Jews mindset of the value of the priesthood of Christ (Hebrews 3:1, 5:5). The priesthood of Aaron was visible and full of meaning. It was there, present every day for those who were at Jerusalem. It might not have been easy for Jews, who had an exalted view of the Aaronic priesthood all their lives, in which they had a direct part, to lay that aside and embrace the spiritual priesthood of Christ (1Peter 2:5, 9). Such a priesthood, being spiritual in nature, wasn’t visible and didn’t stroke the human senses, as the priesthood of Aaron did. Therefore, being more inclined to view the Aaronic priesthood as greater than that of Christ, they had become dull of hearing, because they didn’t properly appreciate the sacrifice of Christ (Hebrews 5:11-14; cf. 6:20; Romans 8:24).

 

Impossible to Be Renewed to Repentance

Paul intended to unveil a more mature understanding of the Christ, for whom the Jews looked in the Old Covenant, if the Lord willed for that to occur (Hebrews 6:3).[1] The issue is not a theological problem, because God wills for all to be saved (1Timothy 2:4). Rather, the issue has to do with whether or not Paul’s readers believe him and trust him enough to cooperate with the will of God. God will certainly not remove man’s free moral agency by forcing folks to believe. Therefore, he wouldn’t bring them to a mature understanding of their Messiah, if they insisted on embracing the fundamental doctrines of the Old Covenant, which pointed to God’s promise, but refused to receive the fulfillment of that promise in the Reality of Christ.

 

Eternal Judgment

In the past few studies, I’ve been discussing what Paul meant by the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ (Hebrews 6:1-2). The first study defined what Paul meant by repentance from dead works[1] In the second study I defined what Paul meant as that applies to the next four principles,[2] and in this study I hope to show what Paul meant by eternal judgment? First of all and concerning the word eternal, the Greek word aionios (G166) cannot be forced to mean everlasting or eternal, because it is used to describe the Old Covenant in terms of how long it would last. Who among us, today, would try to say the Old Covenant never ended.

 

Four Principles of the Doctrine of Christ

Paul concludes chapter five of his epistle by telling his readers that, by this late date, they ought to be teachers of the Gospel, but instead they really need someone to teach them the facts about their own religion, which embraces the first principles of the oracles of God (Hebrews 5:12). The Greek word for first in this verse is the same word Paul uses in Hebrews 6:1 for principles (G746 – arche). The word Paul uses for principles in Hebrews 5:12 is stoicheion (G4747), which he describes in Galatians 4:9 as beggarly elements, which he further describes as: “observing days, and months and times and years” (Galatians 4:10). Later, in his epistle to the Colossians, Paul uses the same word again (G4747) to say: “if you are dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances” (Colossians 2:20), which he describes in the next verse as: “touch not, taste no, handle not.” In other words, these first principles of the oracles of God have to do with observing the Law, not Christ!

 

Resting in Christ, Our High Priest

Paul tells his readers to be sure to or give diligence to enter that rest (Hebrews 4:11), which many scholars believe to be our heavenly rest, which takes place after the death of the believer. However, this understanding doesn’t fit the context. The context seems to be that the rest of God is that rest God took just after creating mankind. He rests in that he has placed authority over his whole creation in the hands of mankind. God, then, is able to rest in and appreciate all he has done by participating in what man does with what the Lord had done (Genesis 2:1-3). The problem is that man rebelled (Genesis 3:6), wanting to decide for themselves what was good and what was evil. That is, they refused to believe or trust God. Through unbelief (disobedience) they could no longer rest in him, i.e. in his rest. As a result, their labor increased, and creation would no longer automatically submit them. Rather, through the sweat of their flesh, they would draw out their living. So, mankind’s rest was lost through unbelief.

 

Why Seek the Living One Among the Dead?

from Google Images

The women who waited on Jesus during his lifetime (Luke 8:2-3) came to clean his body, to anoint him and to dress his corpse for burial. All the burial preparations on the day of his death were done quickly. Even the tomb where he had been laid was used because it was close by (John 19:41-42). When they arrived at the grave site, the appearance of the tomb was not what they had expected. The stone had been removed from the opening of the tomb, and when they looked into the sepulcher the body of Jesus was no longer there (Luke 24:3)! As the women wondered over these things, two angels stood with them and asked, “Why do you seek the Living among the dead” (Luke 24:4-5)? They reminded the women of what Jesus told them earlier in Galilee concerning his death and resurrection (Luke 24:6-8). Then they remembered his words and ran to tell the disciples and everyone else!

 

The Marriage Supper

In Luke 12:35-40 Jesus spoke of his coming, and this coming was in the context of a wedding or the marriage supper. I think we might be able to understand what Jesus was saying to his disciples better, if we knew more about what a wedding looked like in the first century AD. First of all, unlike most marriages today, the wedding was usually arranged by the heads of two families, and falling in love had little, if anything, to do with such an arranged marriage. Love would come later. In fact, in most cases the couple hadn’t met prior to the arrangement ceremony. Indeed, if the case of Isaac wasn’t a singularity (Genesis 24:64-65), they may not have met until after all the arrangements had been made. Moreover, our modern wedding ceremonies, including Jewish ones, are very unlike that of the ancients, so to truly understand the metaphors hidden in them we must acquaint ourselves with how those things were done in the Bible.

 

The Mission of the Seventy

from Google Images

Lots of folks seem to miss the point of sending out the Seventy; at least as it appears so to me. Some wonder which was more important: the sending out of the Twelve (Luke 9:1-10) or sending out the Seventy (Luke 10:1-16). Others liken the event to an evangelistic outreach, upon which our own ministries should be based. Still others get caught up in their having power over demons and exactly when Satan was cast out of heaven, and when Jesus actually did see his fall. Some of these things, of course, are mentioned in Luke 10, but the real point of it all seems to be far more significant than answering these questions.

 

Peter’s Great Confession

from Google Images

In Luke 9:20 we find that Peter claimed that Jesus was the “Christ of God!” This is the first time anyone has ever made that confession. Earlier the nameless multitudes claimed Jesus was the Prophet who should come (John 6:14), and earlier still even some of the disciples said Jesus was the Messiah (Christ). Peter’s brother, Andrew, told Peter he had found the Christ (John 1:41). About the same time Philip went to Nathanael to say he had found the one Moses said would come (John 1:45), and when Nathanael found Jesus he agreed (John 1:49). Yet, none of these were like Peter’s confession. Andrew repeated what John the Baptist had told him, and he, together with Philip and Nathanael were merely impressed with what Jesus said to them. They reacted to circumstance, but didn’t really think it all through in their hearts like Peter did.

 

Jesus’ Knowledge and the New Creation

from Google Images

As Jesus moved through the thronging crowd of people on his way to the home of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum, a woman who had a menstrual problem for twelve years came up behind him, touched him, was healed and disappeared back into the thronging crowd. Jesus turned around and asked: “Who touched me?” The question I wish to pose is: did Jesus know who touched him, and if not, how could the woman be healed without Jesus’ prior knowledge? Every healing Jesus had done up to this point was a purposeful healing. Jesus knew what he was doing, and he did it. If Jesus knew he was about to heal the woman, why did he phrase his question as he did? Some scholarship wants to questions Jesus’ knowledge, while others seem to want to give Jesus omniscience as a man. What can we say about these things?