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  • Hebrews -4- Rest Promised or Pursued?

    But the message they heard did not benefit them…

    Hebrews 4:2a CSB

    Previously I asked, “Will you enter into God’s perfect rest?” The author of Hebrews traces our Hebrew heritage and history back to Moses and then states, “So we see that they were unable to enter [rest] because of unbelief.” It is significant warning to those who only pursue righteousness, rather than obtaining its rest.

    What is rest?

    Perhaps ‘rest from your work,’ as in Sabbath rest, a vacation or retirement?

    Do we think ‘rest in peace,’ when in fact it is rest in life we seek? Vanity. (Or futility, as Solomon suggests in Ecclesiastes.)

    Life convinces me of the elusiveness of rest more each day.

    closed on sunday
    Closed on Sunday – Rest in the Lord (it’s a Commandment).

    We begin with the application of these scriptures about the promised rest in our own lives, but first a look at definitions.

    Hebrews 4:

    Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands – NIV

    Note some subtle differences of approach from verse 1.

    A promise to enter, a promise remains, a promise still open, a promise stands – all promises made, but not yet fulfilled. Surely the Lord will keep His promise.

    The warning of Hebrews 4:1 is that we ‘have fallen short, therefore take heed to our own obligation to the promise of the Lord. In fact, the previous warning to God’s chosen was, “So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.” KJV

    So what role do we have in completing the promises between the Lord and His faithful?

    The followers of Moses and many generations since did not receive the promise. Some continue to pursue the promise, others have abandoned God’s word. What is left to us is an inheritance; a promise not yet received, but a rest to be received – a rest only in the promised Messiah of God.

    “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

    Words of the Messiah Jesus, Matthew 11:28 CSB

    Rest defined

    • ἀναπαύω anapauō – One rest of which Jesus speaks is quiet, calm, an earthly collecting of strength. God can give us rest.
    • נָחַם nacham – in Hebrew is rest. In the sense of being comforted it means that God has compassion on us. In a most curious application from Moses’ story of creation he says,

    Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

    Genesis 5:29 NASB

    The LORD cursed creation, regretted man for our evil on the earth; yet in the LORD’s compassion He called נֹחַ Noah, which means ‘rest’ as a savior of creation.

    Instructions for the priesthood speak of a complete Sabbath, an increased rest in addition to our weekly worship of the LORD.

    שַׁבַּ֨ת שַׁבָּתֹ֥ון הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם וְעִנִּיתֶ֖ם אֶת־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑ם בְּתִשְׁעָ֤ה לַחֹ֨דֶשׁ֙ בָּעֶ֔רֶב מֵעֶ֣רֶב עַד־עֶ֔רֶב תִּשְׁבְּת֖וּ שַׁבַּתְּכֶֽם׃ פ

    “It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls…

    Leviticus 23:32 NASB

    Again, I remind us that first century Jews who practiced regular worship of the LORD with sacrifice knew scripture better than most modern Jews and Christians. The application of a promised rest, a rest pursued by the faithful, had more meaning in completion of the promise.

    • κατάπαυσις  katapausis in the common Greek of the day –
      • a putting to rest or a calming of the winds.
      • resting place; נוּחַ; metaphor for the heavenly blessedness in which God dwells, and of which he has promised to make persevering believers in Christ partakers after the toils and trials of life on earth are ended

    When the author of Hebrews, Paul and other Jews speak of perfection, it is this complete rest in the Lord of which they speak metaphorically.

    εὐαγγελίζω – Good News / Bad News

    We’ve all heard it told: I have good news and bad news. (Which do you want to hear first?) Once again the writer of Hebrews supports his gospel with scripture.

    2 For we also have received the good news just as they did…

    Hebrews 4:2a CSB

    Again he quotes scripture from Psalm 95 and Genesis, applying a warning to us.

    Psalm 95:

    Worship and Warning

    1 Come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord,
    shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation!
    2 Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us shout triumphantly to him in song.

    8 אַל־תַּקְשׁ֣וּ לְ֭בַבְכֶם כִּמְרִיבָ֑ה כְּי֥וֹם מַ֝סָּ֗ה בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃

    9 אֲשֶׁ֣ר נִ֭סּוּנִי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֑ם בְּ֝חָנ֗וּנִי גַּם־רָא֥וּ פָעֳלִֽי׃

    10 אַרְבָּ֘עִ֤ים שָׁנָ֨ה׀ אָ֘ק֤וּט בְּד֗וֹר וָאֹמַ֗ר עַ֤ם תֹּעֵ֣י לֵבָ֣ב הֵ֑ם וְ֝הֵ֗ם לֹא־יָדְע֥וּ דְרָכָֽי׃

    11 אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּ֥עְתִּי בְאַפִּ֑י אִם־יְ֝בֹא֗וּן אֶל־מְנוּחָתִֽי׃

    So I swore in my anger,
    “They will not enter my rest.”

    Psalm 95:11 CSB

    A bad news warning

    … and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, 7 he again specifies a certain day—today.

    The writer of Hebrews warns that Joshua did not give them rest.

    9 Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. 

    11 Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.

    Make every effort.

    He pleads with the readers and listeners of scripture to σπουδάζω – be diligent or eager to hear the gospel of our promised rest in Christ Jesus, the Messiah.

    Again, the common first century Greek logic to think toward what the LORD God meant in giving rest to us through the Messiah. (And this time don’t ignore His warnings spoken in scripture.)

    Then, as if speaking to those who feared the very Voice of G_d spoken from Sinai,

    11 Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.

    And the author of Hebrews then follows with perhaps scripture’s best reason for all to read, hear and obey scripture.

    The Word of God

    12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

    Hebrews 4:12 NASB

    The word of God, λόγος logos θεός theos is living and active.

    In the Greek does this have a familiar ring to it, beloved Christian or Messianic Jewish brother or sister?

    ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

    Gospel of John 1:1

    Could the writer of Hebrews possibly be referring to Yeshua the Messiah, witnessed by many as risen from the dead?

    He is living and active! ‘and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

    Who can divide the soul and the spirit? Who holds power over our heart and every breath of life?

    Only the LORD God! This sounds like the True Judge, who is ‘able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

    Nothing hidden from God’s sight

    The writer of Hebrews then continues appropriate warning to those who hear this word of scripture, all those who seek our promised rest.

    13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight…

    Not you, not his first century Hebrew audience, and certainly not me.

    … but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

    So imagine the Perfect Judge who can separate joints and marrow, discerning our thoughts and looking upon the nakedness of the intents of our hearts.

    How will we ever rest, when we have not laid down our sin before the Perfect Sacrifice of the Lord, slain for us – the Son of God Who IS and will judge our sin?

    Our Compassionate High Priest

    מֹשֶׁה Mosheh פָּלַל palal עַם `am

    And Moses interceded for the people.

    Numbers 21:7 NASB

    Moses interceded, then Aaron interceded as High Priest. Later anointed descendants of Levi stood in the Holy of Holies between the people and the Lord. But these godly men were all imperfect.

    Yet all priests, pastors and rabbis sin. Their sacrifices have been imperfect.

    The Messiah, however, is our perfect intercessor, a Son of man like us. He became our sinless Lamb whose Body and Blood were broken and shed for us.

    14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

    A promise fulfilled – rest in the Messiah Jesus. Confidence that the Lord has chosen us through Him. Yet have we pursued our rest in Christ, or presumed the promise as those who perished in the wilderness?

    Draw near to the Throne of grace, for we have confidence in Christ.

    Receive His compassionate mercy and grace, which is favor with God. For we are chosen if we believe in our compassionate High Priest, Christ Jesus.

    Is this your time of need?

    Do you desire God’s help?

    Pray – pray through our loving intercessor who has descended to His own and ascended to the Throne of heaven.

     To be continued...

  • God’s Love Through John – Sign of a Raised Serpent

    God’s Love Through John – Sign of a Raised Serpent

    He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

    Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 20:2 CSB

    A Sign for followers of Moses

    The Apostle John mentions the serpent in Revelation and also as a sign to the Jews in the Gospel of John. Jesus knew well the symbolism presented to Nicodemus associated with Moses, but He presents a connection to the Cross and what the Lord will teach to all as the purpose of His Incarnation.

    And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

    John 3:14 KJV

     

    You may have missed the familiar symbolism of the serpent in some translations using ‘snake’ or ‘bronze snake on a pole,’ so we will explore this from the Book of Numbers. But first, let’s return to the context of this conversation in John’s Gospel.

    “Are you a teacher of Israel…?

    We began our look at a theological debate between Nicodemus and Christ Jesus which the Apostle John records in God’s Love Through John: Of water and the Spirit. We associate Nicodemus mostly with Jesus’ clear answer to the initial question of the Israelite leader.

    John 3:4 KJV Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

    Nicodemus is already old by measure of lifespans of his day. He is a ruler of the council and the most prominent Pharisee of the Temple, who must come to Jesus at night to have this conversation.

    He receives reports from others, including Pharisees and other Temple officials sent to John the Baptist, who testified that Jesus IS the Messiah, the Promised One. And Jesus’ bold actions have already made this Messiah even more controversial than John the Baptist.

    Most certainly, Nicodemus was either present at the Temple as witness to the earlier destruction by Jesus in the Temple courtyard, either as it happened or immediately after the disruption of the order of ritual sacrifices.

    John 2:

    15 After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

    Do you suppose Nicodemus and other officials of the Temple council had a few questions for Jesus about this incident during the profitable Passover pilgrimage festival? Of course they did.

    John records (perhaps from a later memory after the Resurrection), 17 And his disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

    He quotes the scriptural songbook of Israel of the day.

    from Psalm 69

    • 4 They that hate me without a cause…
    • 7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
    • 8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.
    • 9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
    • 12 They that sit in the gate speak against me…
    • 19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.
    • 21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
    • 32 The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

    Zeal for the Temple; and reproaches of those who disgrace the LORD will shame the Son of Man, the Son of God to be lifted on a Cross!

    Jesus is well-known to many witnesses. Nicodemus, no doubt, has both seen and heard the evidence of the Messiah, the Son of Man.


    So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?”

    John 2:18

     

    19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”

    23 While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing…

    The Sign of the Serpent

    Numbers 21: CSB

    4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey.

    5 The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

    6 Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes [fiery serpents – KJV] among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.

    7 The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes [serpents] away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

    8 Then the Lord said to Moses,

    “Make a snake image [a fiery serpent] and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”

    9 So Moses made a bronze snake [a serpent of brass] and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.

    A Sign of Healing

    Moses lifts up the brazen serpent in the wilderness

    The great symbolism of the snake raised in the wilderness connects

    to the very power of the Lord and Creator as well as the intercessor for the people; in the wilderness, Moses, and in the presence of Nicodemus, the miraculous intercessor healer, Christ Jesus.

    שָׂרָף saraph described as a poisonous serpent (fiery from burning effect of poison) is also the description found of a seraph or seraphim – majestic beings with six wings, human hands or voices in attendance upon God.

    … and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

    Numbers 21:9b KJV

    Are you a Teacher of Israel…?

    John 3:

    9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

    10 “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.

    Every teacher of Israel knows that the LORD requires sacrifice as substitution for sin. And all Pharisees knew the significance of the ‘Lamb of God,’ as the Prophet John had witnessed of Christ Jesus.

    Teachers of the Law and the Prophets recognized the challenge of the analogy of Jesus. Jesus next addresses the association of the healing of the Cross and the Resurrection to Nicodemus.

    John 3:

    13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man.

    14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

    15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

    To be continued…

  • A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Joseph

    Joseph Unlike Moses

    “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?” … Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh and no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt without your permission.” Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah… – Genesis 41

    None can dispute that Joseph and Moses were both redeemers of the Hebrews, but they were very different men. The Lord called Moses to bring Israel from Egypt, but used Joseph to save both Egypt and Israel. Joseph, or Zaphenath-paneah as he was known in all of Egypt, preceded Moses by some generations. You will encounter two very different men by comparing the beginnings of their contrasting lives.

    Moses

    We read in Number 12: Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth. The Lord, speaking to Aaron & Miriam said:

    “Listen to what I say:
    If there is a prophet among you from the Lord,
    I make myself known to him in a vision;
    I speak with him in a dream.
    7 Not so with my servant Moses;
    he is faithful in[a] all my household.
    8 I speak with him directly,
    openly, and not in riddles;
    he sees the form of the Lord.

    What could be more humbling than standing before the form of the Lord, hearing the words of the Almighty directly?

    Moses was born into humble circumstances, raised in knowledge of both power and lowliness and willingly obeyed the Lord’s commands. Though brought up as a prince of Egypt for two decades, his mother sewed humility into Moses’ heart, as his servant nursemaid.

    Because he was a prince, Moses could easily escape to Midian for twenty more years to live a humble life in freedom. His choice to defend Hebrew slaves would have been self-indictment of disobedience to the King’s commands and conviction resulting in his own death. A return to Egypt at age eighty in obedience to the Lord showed only humility in the face of certain powerful opposition from Pharaoh.

    Moses is raised, educated and served by slaves in an Egyptian palace of perhaps the most powerful man on earth in his time. Joseph, by contrast, comes to Egypt by birth, but as a seventeen-year-old slave.

    Joseph

    Unlike Moses, Joseph was by no means a humble young man. He was blessed with good intellect and great favor, but learned humility later in life. He lived in the land of Canaan and tended sheep with his brothers. 

    (Do you recall from our previous post what Pharaoh thought of shepherds?) Joseph would not only enter Egypt as a shepherd, but as a captive slave.

    Genesis 37:

    3 Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.

    Trouble waiting to happen. This teenager, Joseph, is favorite of his father (his mother, deceased) who makes him look like an administrator over his adult working brothers. Joseph is anything but humble and in fact appears to his brothers to be full of himself, even arrogant.

    5 Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”

    8 “Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

    We know God’s purpose for Joseph and that the outcome would finally prove Joseph’s dream to be true. In fact, Joseph would become a redeemer of Egypt because of his dreams from the Lord.

    … So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

    18 They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert! 20 So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits…

    … his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.

    Joseph, betrayed by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, becomes a slave in Egypt.

    The Lord was with Joseph

    How can you say that the Lord is with someone betrayed, taken into the hands of God’s enemies and condemned to exile? The evil hand of his own brothers perhaps betrayed him to eventual death. Why does God allow it?

    As Joseph’s story unfolds we learn the answer of the Lord from the very words of Joseph to his brothers.

    Genesis 39:

    2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful, 4 Joseph found favor with his master and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority…

    … the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The Lord’s blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields. 6 He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority…

    But Joseph again suffers unexpected consequence due to false accusation by his master’s wife.  His master then obligingly sends Joseph to prison.

    21 But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor with the prison warden. 22 The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there. 23 The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.

    Although Joseph must remain in Pharaoh’s prison, in fact by the Lord’s purpose he is given authority.

    Dreams and Prophesy

    Prior to this and before betrayal by his own brothers Joseph had had another dream, which turns out to be prophesy.

    Genesis 37: “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

    10 He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him.

    Now in prison Joseph has another prophetic dream. Remember, he is in charge of and this time no doubt respected by his fellow prisoners.

    Genesis 40:

    5 The king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. Both had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning…

    9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph… 16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream.

    18 “This is its interpretation,” Joseph replied. “The three baskets are three days. 19 In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from off you—and hang you on a tree.

    And so it happened that not only was the baker hanged, but the cupbearer was released, forgetting about Joseph. 

    Genesis 41:

    At the end of two years Pharaoh had a dream… 9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I remember my faults… 

    12 Now a young Hebrew, a slave of the captain of the guards, was with us there. We told him our dreams, he interpreted our dreams for us, and each had its own interpretation. 13 It turned out just the way he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.”

    14 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph…

    This brings us to the historical scenario where the Lord shows a coming famine, seven years into the future. The King of Egypt trusts Joseph to help them prepare. The severity of the middle east famine will eventually bring Israel to send his other sons from Canaan to Egypt for grain.

    A Prophet of Two Lands

    The Lord’s purpose in Joseph’s captivity and rise to power in Egypt is to save two lands from famine and prepare Israel for the promised land. As you know, he is brought before Pharaoh and interprets dreams of prophesy.

    15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it.”

    16 “I am not able to,” Joseph answered Pharaoh. “It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

    It is always God who brings true prophesy. The truth of Joseph’s predictions make Pharaoh a believer in the Lord God!

    “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?”

    39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. 40 You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only I, as king, will be greater than you.”

    Contrary to Culture

    “Only I, as king, will be greater than you,” Pharaoh states. He is not a god, but a most-powerful man dependent upon God and his true Prophet. 

    Note that the changes ahead for Egypt will take fourteen years. Israel’s sons will enter the land as immigrants in need, bowing humbly to this leader, second in command to the King.

    So he placed him over all the land of Egypt. 44 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh and no one will be able to raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt without your permission.”

    45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On.  And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.

    Joseph’s Administration
    46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

    To be continued…