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Tag: rest

  • Hebrews – 3 – Jesus, our Apostle & High Priest

    Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.

    Hebrews 3:1 CSB

    Why a Priest?

    What do you think of when someone mentions a priest or a high priest?

    • GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)
      Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem

    • Alexander I – Bishop of Jerusalem c. AD 107-225
    https://davidfowlerpreacher.com/2014/06/08/pictures-of-the-holy-spirit/
    Exodus 21:5-7

    A religious ceremony? A regal religious robed man in charge?

    As mentioned previously in Hebrews 2, an anointing or separation of a priest from common impurity symbolizes holiness, a perfection by which he may approach the Lord.

    וְכִפֶּר הַכֹּהֵן אֲשֶׁר־יִמְשַׁח אֹתֹו וַאֲשֶׁר יְמַלֵּא אֶת־יָדֹו לְכַהֵן תַּחַת אָבִיו וְלָבַשׁ אֶת־בִּגְדֵי הַבָּד בִּגְדֵי הַקֹּֽדֶשׁ׃

    Leviticus 16:32

    Again, returning to a Jewish understanding of the Priesthood, the writer of Hebrews points to Jesus the Messiah as a High Priest. G_d the Father appointed Jesus, just as Moses and Aaron were anointed by the LORD.

    5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future.

    but Messiah is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.

    Hebrews 3:6 Hebrew Names Version

    Moses was… but the Messiah is. The author will make this point again later in his letter to the Hebrews concerning Abraham.

    Jesus is priest of God Most High, a Priest everlasting and perfect Sacrifice before the LORD.

    Jesus is our Apostle sent from God the Father as our High Priest of perfection.

    Do you believe Scripture?

    Once again the author points back to Hebrew scripture in his ‘therefore, watch out’ conclusion of this section of his letter (Hebrews 3).

    7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

    Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

    קָשָׁה qashah לֵבָב lebab

    Psalm 95:

    “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness,” a direct quote (KJV) from Psalm 95:8 reiterated for emphasis also in Hebrews 3:15.

    Do you claim Scripture – the very Word of the LORD?

    Listen up! so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

    Was God angry for forty years? The bodies of those who sinned – those who did not believe – fell in the wilderness. Who will not enter God’s rest?

    κατάπαυσις – the heavenly blessedness in which God dwells

    Will you, my fellow Hebrews, enter into rest? This, through Scripture, is what the author asks his readers.

    So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

    Hebrews 3:11 KJV

    And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

    Hebrews 3:18 KJV

    19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

    Do you believe the scriptural evidence that Jesus is the Messiah?

    Will you enter into God’s perfect rest? Or do you persist to rebel in the wilderness of sin in these last days?

    To be continued...

  • Another Sabbath: No Rest

    Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy:

    Exodus 20:8

    Sabbath? So what?

    We were making plans for Sunday shopping after church, but then we missed church. Some Sundays we hurry out of time-extended gatherings at our church to join the crowds in local restaurants. This week we had no Sabbath and no rest.

    As Christians we were raised to know that actually Saturday is the Sabbath – שַׁבָּת – shabbath, the seventh day of the week; however Christians call Sunday, our ‘day of rest.’ Yet when was the last time you felt like you had ‘a day of rest?’

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

    So what’s this “rest day” all about?

    And what does the Sabbath have to do with God?

    After all, when we attended church last week for more than three hours, it seemed alright to slip out early (before the music and worship mercifully concluded).

    Lot’s of rules, but little holiness

    You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.

    You must not do any work ​— ​

    Exodus 20:10


    —you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.

    So who’s working?

    We are shopping… and we have to eat. It’s all those kitchen and superstore slaves who are working, not us.

    Isn’t a day off a sort of ‘Sabbath?’

    The Bible seems to have a lot of old rules that don’t apply to Sunday.

    Rest from Above

    “Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off from his people. – Exodus 31:13

    Imagine anyone, even devout Christians and most Jews, calling for capital punishment for someone profaning the Sabbath. Yet the Lord established this holiness of routine for a set-aside culture to make us different.

    שָׁבַת shabath: Rest, when no one else rests; worship, when no one else acknowledges the LORD.

    Holiness and rest require separation.  These are more than a command, but a gift from the Lord to set us apart from the world.

    “Observe the Sabbath because it is holy to you… 

    LORD, who is like you among the gods?
    Who is like you, glorious in holiness,
    revered with praises, performing wonders?

    Exodus 15:11 CSB

    The One True God is unlike any other god!

    He is not like the angels nor is the LORD like a man. We were created in His Image from the dust of the earth and the Lord breathed spirit into our lowly being. GOD is above all, separated by the glory of His holiness, and He commands us to rest, making the Sabbath holy.

    An archaic common understanding was that the LORD is like a King, therefore man is a common subject of this heavenly King or Kings. Mankind is separated from the Eternal Highest by His own holiness.

    We are commoners, yet made in His Image.

    Chaos reigns in the life of man, while in the creation of God righteousness will reign, providing rest in our purpose and meaning.

    Rest requires our holy separation from the chaotic fallen daily drudgery of this selfish failing flesh.

    Jesus and Sabbath Controversies

    Mark 2:

    23 On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

    25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry — 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence —which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests —and also gave some to his companions?” 

    27 Then he told them,


    “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

    Mark 2:27

    A Sabbath for mankind

    Dear sojourner through this difficult life,

    Are you not famished for the bread of heaven?

    Jesus journeyed from town to town with good news for all and as he does so, even on the Sabbath, the Lord and His disciples snack on the grain of the fields.

    (You eat on the Sabbath, right?) It is no sin, according to Jesus.

    In fact, the Lord refers to a time when David, anointed King of Israel, fled Saul and was fed by a priest, who replaced the Bread of the Presence set aside for worship with warm bread.

    John 6:51

    “The Sabbath was made for man,” Jesus assures us; but rest a little.

    It is the Lord’s will that we separate this day of rest from our week, dedicating our Sabbath-rest to Him.

    Lord of the Sabbath

    Jesus also assures us that “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

    In another place in scripture Jesus refers to Himself as the manna – the bread of heaven. Jesus IS the bread and wine, the body and blood Present on the altar of Sacrifice. He IS the manna of life sent down from heaven, that we might have eternal life.

    The Son of God IS the Son of Man, He who commanded us to rest on the Sabbath. He IS Lord of the Sabbath and the rest of your week.

    Will you set aside a time of holiness to worship the Lord?

    Consider the Lord of שָׁבַת  [the Sabbath] this Sabbath. Set aside a time of rest.

    To be continued...
  • Rest for the wicked; hope for the weary

    Rest for the wicked; hope for the weary

    It so happens as the Lord had planned it that the launch of http://talkofJesus.com -+- CHRISTIAN SOCIAL WITNESS coincides with the American holiday: Labor Day.  We will have picnics, parades and some much-needed family time.  No school.  Post offices, banks and many not-so-greedy businesses closed to give their employees a rest from their labor – something all of us need at times.

    A prior post began with this same thought. It is about Sabbath rest – a related, but different reference to the word of God in the Bible.  We’ve likely heard the expression:

    ‘NO rest for the wicked and the good don’t need any.’

    NOT true; NOT Biblical.

    We ALL need rest and we all need work.

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    American’s inherited this Labor Day idea of rest though the long-standing culture of the King James Bibles so much apart of our Christian heritage.  The original call for rest comes from Jesus.

    “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28

    At one time Americans realized the importance to honor God through our labor and to honor labors as God’s own workers.  Sadly, in a 21st c. America (or Europe, Asia or any other place) we don’t get that, do we?  (Jesus tells us why – which I will reveal in a moment.) The world has two approaches to labor:

    Work hard for your SELF. (More work, more reward: right?) God doesn’t really need that “offering AND tithe” to honor Him — after all, the Government gets plenty of our required monetary support.  Our Country will take care of us.

    OR

    I don’t need to labor because Uncle Sam* takes care of me and will always help me.

    *  ‘Americanized’ personalization of our impersonal ‘representative’ Government.

    God never intended for ANY to have a rest from the work they will NOT do.  (We won’t go there today. That’s a different scripture.)

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    Getting back to talk of Jesus:

    The crowds had flocked to hear Jesus on the hillsides of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.  Jesus traveled from city to city on His northern tour.  Everywhere Jesus traveled, He was expected.

    Matthew 11: When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

    Imagine the excitement of the promised Messiah of God coming to your city.  Jesus was predicted by the Prophets.  Jesus was proclaimed by the greatest prophet their contemporary, John the Baptist.

    John was a ‘hell-fire and damnation’ kind of preacher: popular with the people, but imprisoned by the religious establishment.

    REPENT! And be baptized (changed permanently). Cleanse your sins before you must stand before the HOLY ONE.

    Yet our Lord is also calling the people of the cities to hear Him and obey.

    20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

    Jesus? … Preaching ‘hell-fire and damnation’ like John?

    Read what He said comparing the disobedient to the people of Sodom.

    Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

    25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will…

    28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

    What is Jesus saying about our labor?

    Jesus is illustrating a picture of manual labor.  He doesn’t say to just give it all to Him and He will take care of it.  (I’m not saying this about prayer.  We are talking ‘labor’ here.)

    • Take my yoke upon you a picture of the collar of two doing the work of one.
    • learn from me – a direct reference to learning from the example of His life.
    • I am gentle and lowly in heart [Jesus is kind and humble. Have you learned this from His Perfect Example?]

    and [IF you will do this, according to our Lord]

    • you will find rest for your souls. 

    30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

    Jesus didn’t say ‘Take a break and I will do it all for you.”

    Jesus actually called out the people who refuse to repent and listen to Him for their wickedness.

    Our Lord knows how weary we become in this world.

    Do we remember: disobedience was punished in Eden.  Unpleasant work became part of our sinful heritage for having knowledge of good and evil.

    Jesus offers to share in our work in this world.

    Will you work with Him on that?

    Though we are wicked sinners

    Because of the Cross of Jesus 

    Weary laborers have hope.

    Come unto Him.