Bible, NT-25, Hebrews
Part 1
LESSON 25
BOOK OF HEBREWS
Part 1
By Rev. G. Evan Newmyer
INTRODUCTION TO LESSON 25
This lesson will look at the Book of Hebrews, accordingly if Jesus has called us to be priests and kings, wouldn’t it be nice to know what our priestly functions are? Yes, the Book of Hebrews is to the Christian what the Book of Leviticus is to the Jewish priest. Not all Jews are priests, only those born in the tribe of Levi, yet all Born Again Christians are called priests unto God (Rev 1:6). Jesus is our High Priest, He forever makes intercession, so what does it entail? What is our role in the function? Where do we function as priests? In the Courtyard? Holy Place? Or the Holy of Holies? What Order do we follow? Or of Levi? Or of some other Order talked about in the Bible? What does the saying, “which is first, is last, and which is last is first” have to do with our priestly duties, if anything? All good questions, all addressed in the Book of Hebrews.
The Book of Hebrews is very interesting, if one assumes it is written to the Hebrews they will miss a great importance. The Book of Hebrews is written about the Hebrews, there are many references to holding belief, then moving from the rudiments of the Doctrine of Christ, indicating the person knows the Rudiments. The comparison between the Old Covenant and the New show the Old is good, but the New Better. There were the Judaizers who were attempting to get the Gentile believers to enter the Law, based on the false assumption one must come from the Law in order to have the New. Paul explained the Jew came out of the Law by faith, the Gentile around the Law through faith, thus faith was still the means.
The first person to be called a Hebrew in the Bible is Abraham, yet neither the nation of Israel, or the Law of Moses was around at the time. The term Hebrew means a Sojourner, but Biblically it applies to one who is subject to a Covenant promise from God, but has yet to possess the promise. Circumcision was Token for the Covenant cut with Abraham, thus this book relates to “Covenant”.The Book of Hebrews also gives us insight to the strength of the newly converted Christian, as encouragement to move on to perfection. The Rudiments of the Doctrine of Christ are opened for us in this book, there are doctrines many, but there is only one Doctrine of Christ. If we are Christian, wouldn’t it be nice to know the foundation of our Doctrine? Yes, how many of us were taught the Rudiments when we were converts? Milk allows us to Grow thereby, the Rudiments are basic foundational elements for each person who accepts the Cross of Jesus.
Hebrews will also point out, “If you haven’t accepted the entire purpose of the Cross of Jesus, you caused it”. We will find the result of those who “taste” of the things of God, yet continually consume the things of the world. The thin line between Belief and Faith will also be explored, and opened further for us. All in all Hebrews can be a letter of freedom, or bondage, depending on ones desire to be free, but to the legalist it becomes a place of exposure.
LESSON 25- THE BOOK OF HEBREWS – WRITTEN PRIOR TO 70 AD
The Author of the Book of Hebrews is the Holy Ghost, who the scribe was has been debated. or questioned over the years. Martin Luther suggested Apollos may have penned Hebrews, based on Acts 18:24-28, where Apollos was referred to as a well-read, Hellenistic Jew from Alexandria; the problem is the scribe to this book had religious training in the temple, thus had to have a working knowledge in the order, rather than knowledge alone. Tertullian said the book was a letter of Barnabas, but again Barnabas had no Jewish religious training to the caliber required by the scribe for this endeavor. Adolf Harnack and J. Rendel Harris speculated it might have been Priscilla (or Prisca), but again the problem is the knowledge of the Jewish temple rites; not simply a witness to the rites, but doing them. Many felt Paul may have penned the work based on some Pauline words, knowledge, coupled with Paul’s past of being a Pharisee of Pharisees. This book was not written merely by someone who did the deeds of the old Law, but someone who was versed in the performance of the duties of a priest. Someone with profound knowledge of the Tabernacle, the children in the wilderness, the Tithe under the Law, and many other areas demanding a working knowledge of Jewish religious rites and history. Eusebius believed Paul was the scribe, as did Clement of Alexandria, who suggested Paul first penned it in the Hebrew language, then Luke translated it into Greek. Nonetheless it appears from certain Pauline phrases, along with the reference to Timothy (Heb 13:23) the scale points more to Paul as the scribe; nonetheless we find this is the only Book we could term the Priesthood Manual for the Christian. The concept of this letter being written to converted Jews who were still dong the Law lacks in light of 6:2 in reference to “dead works” and “faith toward God” both of which the writer shows the reader knows, the Law is not of faith, it’s based on dead works of self-righteousness. Those two elements tend to show the letter is written to encourage Gentiles who were being tempted by Judaizers to go back to the Law, by showing the Law of the Spirit is Better.
This book is so fitting, it was written before the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, since we find it makes references to the Temple still standing, thus the comparison between the Temple and Tabernacle, as well as the duties of the priests under the Old, and the duties under the New were presented in a visual fashion to the reader of the day (Heb 10:11 & 13:10-11). The obvious truth is how the Temple was standing, but those in charge were not. Having a building doesn’t mean we have God. The other obvious points regarding the temple still standing is the timeline, we know Paul went to the temple in Acts, which ensued in his arrest, thus he had knowledge of the rites. The time element would be perfect for Paul as the scribe of this book, as well as his background and other characteristics seen in this document relating to other writings of Paul. There is no written proof of Paul being the scribe, but there is none saying he wasn’t’ either. Although the Holy Ghost is the Author, we find there are some things regarding the scribes personality which seem to come through in the words written.
This Book also reaches back to the Tabernacle giving us a comparison of how both structures were built as “houses of God”, but one was in the hands of man, the other in the hand of God. When Aaron’s sons tossed strange fire into the Tabernacle, they died on the spot, but those who sold the Dove in the temple continued on, even after Jesus rebuked them. As a point of review, we know the Temple was permanent, it came at the request of David, but God granted approval through the prophet Nathan during the night. The one who desired the temple, was never able to build it, rather Solomon, David’s son did. God also granted Solomon wisdom in dealing with God’s people, but Solomon also had a lust for women, which led him to idol worship. The wisdom of Solomon was nothing like the Wisdom of God we are privy to. Solomon lacked wisdom in the affairs of his own life, even though he was able to deal with the people of God, clearly the temple and tabernacle are not the same.
First John tells us the first step to having fellowship with God, is to treat the people of God, as God does. The second step is found in this Book, being Godly priests unto the Lord, and unto His people. James tells us God’s Wisdom is an attribute of Faith, as our faith is an assurance in God working with us unto perfection. God’s Wisdom allows us to deal with people, and events in a Godly manner, as well as deal with ourselves in a Godly manner by the Spirit.
The soul left to its own invention will destroy itself, pure and simple. Solomon made a great temple, placed it on Zion, but it was still a place of Judgment. The Tabernacle was a place of rescue and deliverance. The Tabernacle was a sign of God’s Mercy toward the children, although in the making of the Tabernacle God gave them special talents, the fact remains they only made one Tabernacle, it was never rebuilt. Those talents were for the specific purpose of building the one Tabernacle, none of them ventured out to sale their services to other countries. Our talents are Tabernacle related, each talent is designed for the saving of the soul, whether it’s our souls, or the assisting another, our talents are not for sale. Like the Tabernacle there be a time when one day we are, the next second we can’t be found, vanished in a twinkling of an eye. The Temple was destroyed, the Tabernacle was, then was not.
The Tabernacle was a story in and of itself, God wanted a place to meet with the people, thus it was God’s desire to have it built. Moses the servant of God had his people erect the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. The Tabernacle was portable, it moved with the people, as the people moved with it. The Tabernacle held both Judgment and Deliverance, Judgment in the courtyard, but Deliverance in the Holy Place, with the atonement in the Holy of Holies. The Holy Place used the menorah for light, but the Holy of Holies was illuminated by God’s Light. The Tabernacle is a Wilderness refuge, a place of rest, our Tabernacle is Jesus.
The Holy Place was the ministering area, the place where the priests cared for the Light, Bread, and the Golden Incense. In the Book of Revelation John sees Jesus in the midst of the Golden Candlestick, thus Jesus is in the Holy Place, but John sees the feet of Jesus as if they were burned in a fire, pointing to the courtyard of Judgment, so where is the Head of Jesus? In the Holy of Holies, thus we grow up from the holy place to the Head (authority) of Christ, the place where our light does shine.
From Abraham the Hebrew came Isaac, the son of promise: from the son of promise came Jacob, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel; then from Jacob came the twelve sons, from the twelve sons came the twelve tribes. One of those sons was Levi, from Levi came Moses, thus the Law of Moses is named after the man Moses. It was a long way down the line from Abraham the Hebrew to Moses the law giver, in our case it was the Cross, Grave and Resurrection of Jesus, three days and nights.
The Law of Moses was based on the Ten Commandments, as the Commandments were designed for a people who lacked a Godly conscience. A far cry from being Born Again, yet we find the Old had a Priesthood, a Circumcision, a Law, and a Tithe. The New also has a Priesthood, a Law, a Circumcision, and Tithes, yet they are vastly different in definition and purpose. Simply because we find the word, “Priest” in the old, it doesn’t mean the Priest in the New operates under the same principles. As we will see the New Law has a New Priesthood which is are far different from the Old Law and Priesthood.
We shouldn’t need a Billboard to tell us not to steal, but the wild nature of man does. Even with laws the natural nature of man will seek the loophole; “Let’s see, it doesn’t really say this is stealing, so it isn’t”; the demonic art of self-justification is one of the main tools of the enemy. “Go ahead, there is no Law saying you shouldn’t”. The Pharisees complained to Jesus telling Him not to heal on the Sabbath, but Jesus answered by asking them, “Where in the Law does it say I can’t?”. Did Jesus find the loophole? No, the purpose of the Law was Mercy, Jesus came as the personification of the Father’s Mercy. It’s the same premise we see in some arguments regarding this letter, “well there is no written proof Paul did write it”, on the same note there is no written proof he didn’t. One has to look at the way the document was written, it’s purpose and goal. In this case the Book of Hebrews warns us of the danger of unbelief, although God is greater than our unbelief, it remains unbelief stops us from entering into God’s Rest. We also find the Rudiments of the Doctrine of Christ, plus the warnings of falling away, thus one has to be in position before they can fall away, before there is a danger.
The Law of Moses didn’t grant the Promised Land, rather it gave guidelines regarding the type of life one had to walk in order to possess the land. In order to give incentive to the people, the two elements of stimulus for natural man were added (blessing and cursing). Man will work to obtain, or work to avoid danger, neither of which require a Love for God. If someone wanted money, they knew by paying their tithe, the principle of the tithe would grant them a return. If they wanted to remain free of sickness, they knew sacrifices would grant them health. They also knew the dark cloud of the curse was hanging overhead waiting for the violation. In our case we find Faith as the answer, Faith never looks at God as the “Great Punisher”, rather it sees God as the “Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. The Law of the Spirit is also for those who have the Seal of the Holy Spirit, indicating their promise is in hand.
The Jews sought a Promised Land on this earth, it had similar elements in name to some elements we find in the Kingdom. Connected to the Promised Land was another mountain, Zion, the mount upon which Jerusalem of the earth is built. Jesus said He would build His Church (New Jerusalem) on the Rock, which shows us the Rock is like unto Zion, the Church like unto Jerusalem, thus we are called New Jerusalem, relating to the New Covenant. God made Zion of the earth, since it’s a mountain, but man built the city of Jerusalem; however, in the Kingdom it’s different, we build the Rock (Body), Jesus builds the Church from the Rock. In order to be “of the Church”, one must first be of “the Rock”. Jesus is not going to build the Church from the earth, or the sea, or the Fig Tree, His building material is limited to those of the Rock. Just as Baptism is limited to those of the Rock, we find being Born Again is also limited to those of the Rock.
The Book of Revelation shows us Jerusalem of the earth is the place of Judgment, but New Jerusalem of heaven is the place of Salvation. Zion of the earth is the place where the 144,000 are marked, Zion of heaven is where the priests and kings of the Lord remain. Two elements with like names, but with different attributes.
From our studies we found how Moses commanded the children regarding what they were to do when they entered the Promised Land, their first duty was to go directly to two mountains within the land, then speak the Blessing from one, and the Cursing from the other. Jesus went to a mount in the same land, yet spoke only of Blessing based in the Mercy of God. A change not only in Law, but something more powerful appeared, the ability to leave the “mentality of cursing” as one enters the “mentality of being a blessing in order to bless”. The change would bring a law designed for a free people, not a people of bondage under the darkness.
The Law of Moses was designed for a people who wanted a man to stand between them and God, thus it wasn’t the “Law of God”, since the concept shows God gave the Law to Moses, who then gave it to the people, which Law separated the people from God. The Law of Moses is a Principality within a dominion, thus it has an established power to either bless or curse. The Ten Commandments are a Power, not a Principality, they stand before any person who claims “God”, yet is not Born Again, regardless of what religious order they are affiliated with. The Cross is the only place where one can gain freedom from the Power and Principality of the Old which are against us.
Before the Law of the Spirit could take effect the opportunity for us to be Born
Again had to be presented. Perhaps the biggest evidence showing no one could have been Born Again before the Resurrection of Jesus is the how the Law of the Spirit didn’t come into existence until after Jesus was Resurrected (Jn 7:38-39). We know Jesus went to the Cross as the “Son of Man”, but here in Hebrews we find a reference to the “Son of God” associated with the Cross (Heb 6:6). How is it? Hebrews 6:6 points to a person who has once accepted the Cross, yet denied the purpose then attempts to crucify Jesus afresh, thus since they have received the Son of man on the Cross, any attempt to “re-crucify” Jesus, would be attempting to crucify the Son of God, it can’t be done.The added feature regarding the change in laws was based on the change in priesthood, thus the change caused the introduction of a New law for those who fit the new priesthood. No one under the Old could legally be king and priest, they could be prophet and priest, or prophet and king, but not legally priest and king, thus in order for us to be both kings and priests there had to be a New Law permitting it. God separated the Tribe of Levi from the Government order, then demanded for it remain so, although we know one small sect violated the principle, we also know their folly caused the nation to end under rule of a heathen nation (Rome).
Jesus was not from the Tribe of Levi, He was from the Tribe of Judah, yet He brought a Priestly Order standing forever and ever. On the same note we find the “kingdom” is much different from the Old kingdom as well. In the Old a king was over a territory, but in the New the Kingdom of God is found within the person. The purpose for a kingdom is to carry out the will of the king, if our will is conducive to the will of the Lord, our kingdom principles will line up with His, but if we insert our natural agendas into the kingdom, the day will come when we must answer to the King of kings. However, Hebrews is not about kingdom principles, it’s about priestly orders.
In order to enter this New Priesthood established by the Lion from the tribe Judah one had to be of the Spirit of God by having the Spirit that is of God, yet to be a priest under the Old one merely had to be born of Levi. Ahh, the difference, the letter to the Romans tells us Jesus was declared the Son of God by the Resurrection, it doesn’t mean He wasn’t prior, rather it was the Declaration proving Him to be the Son of God. The Resurrection Power is the very Token of the Spirit indicating we are a “son of God”, thus the Spirit of God bears witness to our Spirit that is of God, we are sons of God, the same Spirit who raised Jesus will raise us.
However, there is a Beginning place, in order for any of us to be Born Again, we must receive the death of Jesus by imputing the old nature dead on the Cross. We cannot be Born Again while we are yet Born of the flesh. A conflict God took care of when He introduced the concept of Imputing. From the death of the Cross to the Power of the Resurrection evidenced by the Spirit granting us the position of being Born Again into a different nature, no longer fleshly, but Spiritual. If we are Born Again then we have a New Nature, with a New conscience, New thinking, New visions, a Newness based in the nature of God. The obvious conclusion is we are a special people, born in a special time, but to whom much is given, much is required.
Jesus and the Law of the Spirit didn’t do away with the Law of Moses, rather the Law of Moses is Judgment based, it remains for those who are earthly in nature, or natural in thinking. If one comes into the Kingdom and remains carnal in thinking, they are still subject to the Law of Moses, as were the Corinthians, but like the Corinthians they have the opportunity to be spiritual in nature by having the Spirit. Adam proved a Godly conscience is something not granted to the natural mind of man, only the threat of punishment keeps natural man in line, yet we know the Fall proved man can transgress against the Commandment even in the Garden of God.
The Ten Commandments had many “thou shall not”, elements, but there was no Punishment for violating them, just as there was no violation for violating, “Be fruitful, and multiply”. The violation or punishment was found in the Law of Moses, as it regulated the Commandments; therefore, the Law of Moses granted one long life on the earth, but not Life by the Spirit. Since the Law of Moses was flesh based, it could not be by faith. The division and purpose between the Law of Moses and the Law of the Spirit are so great they take different Priesthoods.
Whether flesh minded or carnal minded the fact remains, natural mankind are still under the Law of Moses, not the Law of the Spirit. Regardless of the culture there are laws, one will be punished if they kill, but how did society know killing was wrong? The Commandments, yet we also find one can have the Spirit, yet be carnal, as the Corinthians proved. We must move from having the Spirit to being Spiritual in nature. We can’t remain in the “world of the carnal”, attempting to perform the duties of the Spiritual Priesthood. We can’t remain in the “world of the flesh”, yet conduct ourselves as kings of the Kingdom.
Are we now “judged”? No, not at all, we are the proclaimed Just who Walk by faith while Following in the Faith of Jesus. Progression is the name of this warfare, we never stop to smell the roses, they appear nice, but carry thorns. The Law of the Spirit cannot Judge us in the same regard as the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses identifies sin, then applies death as the punishment. The Law of the Spirit is designed to examine us, expose sin, but rather than apply death, it applies Life to free us. Sin has a power based in the lustful desires of natural man, if not, no one would do it, but the Law of Spirit removes the power of sin, whereas the Law of Moses merely points out sin, thus the Law of the Spirit is unto life, the Law of Moses unto death.
There is no curse in the Law of the Spirit, it was not designed to do anything else but Teach, Bless and Save. Of course we know the Law of Moses and the Prophets remain as the Two Witnesses who stand next to the Lord, but Lord was the only one Transfigured, as the Father said, “Hear ye Him”, not “hear ye them”, neither did the Father say, “You know what, Hear ye Him once in awhile, and hear ye them if you want”, nor did He say, “mix it up a little, if you want to hear ye Him, okay, but if you want to hear ye them, it’s okay too”. No, it was to the point, “Hear ye Him”. If we hear too many voices we can no longer function as priests, finding ourselves playing with strange fire. Can a priest of the New Testament cast strange fire? Yes, Judas did. Strange fire holds two deadly elements, it’s the misuse of the Fire of another, or using Fire designed for one thing, in a place it should not be. Example? Using the deeds of the Law of Moses to gain favor from God while in the Kingdom, another is usurping the authority of another.
Jesus is also the Bishop and Shepherd of our souls, as well as our High Priest, but He is also the Prince (Beginner) of Peace (with God). The Law of Moses didn’t bring man Peace with God, it merely stayed the wrath of God for the moment. Peace with God is the removal from God’s wrath and Judgment by placing us in the position of God’s favor. Belief and faith are the means God gave us to remain in God’s favor until we reach the Hope set before us. This is evident in the Book of Revelation, wherein we find the Law and Prophets are seen dead in the street, then comes the wrath of God, yet at the same time we are in heaven wearing our white robes.
The Book of Hebrews doesn’t discount the Law of Moses, but it does show something Better. To the Jew the Abrahamic Covenant was better than anything man had before, which would have included the Noah Covenant, thus they understood the concept of God bringing something Better. The Noah Covenant promised us God would not destroy the earth with water again, it didn’t promise the earth would not be destroyed, only not with water. Noah also had permission to eat anything he wanted, as long as he didn’t eat raw meat, or other humans. Noah wasn’t required to keep the sabbath day, Noah’s only “law” pertained to eating, yet Noah knew to take “clean” animals for sacrifices. The Law of Moses incorporated many things, but it never called for, or granted anyone the New Birth. The Token for the Noah Covenant was given by God as the rainbow. Abraham was not required to keep the sabbath, thus the token of his covenant was circumcision of the flesh. In Abraham’s case he was the one who cut the token of his Covenant with God, but God was the one who produced the Token in Noah’s Covenant. The token of the Law of Moses was the person keeping the sabbath day according to the Fifth Commandment. However, the Token for the Body is two fold, we give our Token of water baptism, but Jesus gives His Token of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, in our case it’s the cutting away of the old heart (nature of spirit) by giving us a New Heart called the New Man.
The Proceeding word came to those in the Old, but when Jesus brought the New Proceeding Word, yet they rejected it for the Old. We know the Jews who entered the wilderness were vegetarians, as they didn’t eat red meat, thus the Law of Moses really granted them more freedom, yet at the same time the purpose was to gain Obedience. The children were forced to obey in Egypt, but when they entered the wilderness the call was voluntary obedience so they could possess the Promised Land. The Law of Moses doesn’t force obedience, it rewards it. The Law of the Spirit also rewards, but the doer obeys by Love, not threat.
They had cattle and sheep and other animals to sacrifice, but they wanted “meat”, thus God sent them quail, showing “meat” to them was fowl, or fish, not red meat. Adam was also a vegetarian, thus he only ate herbs. Therefore, the eating restrictions can’t make us holy, just as the freedom to eat whatever we want can’t make us holy, food for the flesh is not a means to holiness. Adam was a vegetarian and fell, the children were vegetarians yet they failed to believe. Of course Ham, the son of Noah could eat red meat, yet he brought a curse. Jesus said it wasn’t what went into a person’s mouth defiling them, but what came out of their mouth, this defiled them.
From this we can see how the Jew doesn’t hold to the requirements of the Noah Covenant, since Noah was told to eat all sorts of meat, as long as he cooked it, but the Law of Moses changed the premise. They understand God changes not, but there is a progression of God calling for the Proceeding Word. The Pharisees missed the one lesson when Jesus came, thus the Pharisees kept doing what God told them, but they kept doing it too long. It was time for a Progression, a time to step up the ladder. In our own lives we find the same example, God is Progressive, from the Seed, to the Root, and so on. The Corinthians failed to Progress, they remained carnal, yet had the opportunity to gain by becoming Spiritual. We are a Progressive people, growth upon growth. Our priestly duties demand for us to make room for the growth in ourselves, and others. On the same note we are narrow minded, our focus is on Jesus. People with broad minds tend to allow anything into their thinking, producing confusion.
The Old and the New have like terms, but separated by definition, both have circumcision, one of the flesh, another not made with hands of the heart. Both have the sabbath, one a day, the other the Rest of God. Both have tithes, one the tithe of Jacob, where their priests were commanded to take tithes, the other tithes without Commandment by the cheerful giver, wherein the priests receive tithes. These areas and more are discussed in the this book; therefore, we begin to see how this book relates to our priestly duties. We can be a “nice” person, quote Scripture, have the concepts down, yet miss being a priest. All priests have an order, all have a high priest, even the heathen cultist orders, or heathen idol worshipers have an order. We have something much better, much better indeed.
This book will bring clarity to some areas regarding the Resurrection of Jesus, perhaps areas some of us never thought of. Simple verses which contain much Victory, areas stopping us from barking at the moon, or kicking the family cat out of frustration, or blaming everyone, including the family dog when things don’t go our way. This book will go into detail regarding the Order of our priesthood, it will cover the foundation each and every new convert should be taught. It points to the rudiments of the Doctrine of Christ, the six basic points of knowledge which keep us from chasing every wind of doctrine, the knowledge of the Rudiments protect us from the cunning words of the wicked, keep us from being enticed by serpents tongue.
If man had “life” either in himself, or through the Law of Moses, then Jesus was wrong when He said He came so we might have Life, to have it More Abundantly. Life in the physical body is “life” to natural man, but it’s really just another step of death on the road of death. Life begins in God’s Mercy, wherein we are forgiven by the Father. Life More Abundantly begins with we are Born Again, continuing past physical life to Life Eternal. It will become the revelation in this letter, the difference between immortal and eternal.
One point of the Doctrine of Christ is Eternal Judgment, if there is Eternal Judgment, then there must an eternal soul to suffer it. Immortal means without beginning or end, or free of corruption (death), eternal means without end. Man’s soul has a beginning, but no end, thus the soul of man will either be in a state of eternal death, or eternal life. Death can’t be a complete end to consciousness, since the rich man in hell called out to Abraham, we know Lazarus was raised from the dead, as he was seen by many, not as a zombie, but as a person. Jesus said hell was a place where the worm dies not, yet hell is the place for the dead. Go figure? The Book of Revelation says Jesus has the keys to hell and death, in the end hell is cast into the lake of fire, as the lake of fire is without end. Hell is a location, it doesn’t matter if we call it “hell”, the “pit”, the “grave”, or something else, names will not change its existence. If there is no hell, how can Jesus have the key to it? How can it be tossed into the lake of fire? “Well, gee, if there is a hell, yet I’m in heaven then I will forever be tormented knowing my friends are there”. No, there is no remembrance of the dead (Ps 6:5, et al), thus those in heaven will have no memory of anyone who misses it, they will only know their “family” of the Kingdom.
Why even consider this? The basic tenet of Eternal Judgment supports our hope in Eternal Salvation, since you can’t have one without the other, it’s the same Greek word for Eternal used in both areas. Knowing there is a Life in Christ, one which is Eternal removes us from fear, bringing us to a place where our hearts speak with confidence, “So we may boldly say, The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb 13:6). The New Man is Immortal because the New Man is fashioned after God’s true Holiness and Righteousness, thus we have the Seed of the Immortal Spirit of God in us as the Holy Spirit. We as Born Again Christians have the very unique opportunity to join to the New Man so our souls can remain “incorruptible” (Immortal). How? Behold all has passed away, all things are now New in the New Man as the proof we are in the New Covenant. What about the uses of the word Eternal?
The word Eternal is the Greek Aionios (Strong’s 166), the best way to define it is by the uses:
By Paul – Eternal Power of God – Rom 1:20
Eternal Life – Rom 2:7, 5:21, 6:23, I Tim 6:12, 6:19, Titus 1:2,
Eternal Building of God – II Cor 5:1
Eternal Purpose of God – Eph 3:11
Eternal God – I Tim 1:17
Eternal Salvation – Heb 5:9
Eternal Redemption – Heb 9:12
Eternal Spirit – Heb 9:14
Eternal Inheritance – Heb 9:15
Eternal Judgment – Heb 6:2
By John – Eternal Life – I Jn 1:2. 2:25, 3:15, 5:13, 5:20
By Jude – Eternal Life – Jude 1:7, 1:21
By Jesus – Eternal Life – Matt 19:16, 25:46, Mark 10:17, 10:30
Eternal Damnation – Mark 3:29
The uses give us two or more witnesses, just as there is Eternal Life, there is Eternal damnation (judgment). What about the rich man and Lazarus? Lazarus was in Abraham’s Bosom, an area where those taken captive by Jesus were then placed under the altar of God. There is no mention from under the altar of God of being able to see hell or even the earth (Rev 6:9-10). We have the Gospel of Peace, but there is an Everlasting Gospel. The Everlasting Gospel doesn’t speak of Salvation, Grace, the Cross, Resurrection or Jesus, but it does speak of the wrath of God and judgment (Rev 11:6-7). The Book of Hebrews gives us the six basic tenets of the Doctrine of Christ, if we can’t accept the Doctrine of Christ, how then can we accept Christ?
There are many words in the Greek helping to explain the context of this letter. Clement of Alexandria assumed the Book was first written in Hebrew, then translated into Greek by Luke, yet by the use of certain Greek words tends to show the letter was written in Greek to Greek speaking people regarding the Hebrews, showing how God moved from one point in time to another, to bring a purpose. Simply, it shows the Proceeding Word of God is found in Jesus who is Perfection. When we entered the Body a new order was established in a priesthood not associated to the Law of Moses, we are also given a kingly order not granted to Israel, yet both were in the Plan well before the Law. The context of this Letter clearly points to elements relating to being Hebrew, which we found means a sojourner, but it also holds the concept of one who has a future promise based on a present covenant.
When Abraham was called “Hebrew” he was in the land, but he hardly possessed it; yet we know from Genesis the land was really promised to the offspring of Abraham. Then we find the first time the title Hebrew was used it related to Deliverance, as Abraham was going to deliver Lot from the hand of the enemy. The basic meaning of the word Hebrew is One from beyond, or one from another place, or simply a Sojourner. Abraham was the first person recorded in the Bible as a Hebrew, but who was the second person known as a Hebrew? Joseph, it was Potiphar’s wife who used the title when she accused Joseph of mocking (raping) her. The first time was a point of honor, the second by a false accuser. Esther was the first woman known as a Hebrew, she was a Jew in a land not hers. Basically this Letter shows we are kings in a kingdom not seen by the physical eye. If we are all kings, who then are our subjects? Surely I’m not a subject if I’m a king, you’re not a subject if you’re a king. Who then are the subjects? Things, mercy, grace, peace, belief, and faith; however there are other subjects known as rulers of darkness such as anger, unbelief, self, arrogance, or bitterness. We as kings can grant permission to things to reside in our kingdom, we have the authority and power to vacate, disallow, or accept things into our kingdom.
Heb 1:1-3
This letter begins with a division outlined between verses 1 and 2, between what was, and what is. Denoting a form of Belief, which was is the basis for entering faith. In verse 1 we find three phrases, “sundry times”, “divers manners”, “in time past”. The two phrases, “sundry times”, and “divers manners” are connected in the Greek language, but they are also separated. The phrase “sundry times” is the Greek Polumeros meaning many variables, or fragmentary, or as little as possible. The phrase “divers manners” is the Greek Polutropos, comparing the two Greek words we see they are linked, they have nearly the same meanings, but Polutropos means in fragmenting terms, or even less than Paul could divulge to the Corinthians. Man being natural, even a man like Adam was unable to understand the things of God, thus God spoke to man in a manner conducive to natural man. When Jesus was confronted about Moses giving a bill of divorcement, He said God allowed it because of the hardness of man’s heart. It’s how God spoke “then”, but verse 2 shows a change taking place, a very important change; one wherein mankind was given the opportunity to have the Spirit that is of God to understand the things of the Spirit of God (I Cor 2:11-12).
The word Speak or Spoke in verses 1 and 2 is the same Greek word, it means to utter or convey words, thoughts or ideas, thus the “speaking” is the same, only the content and “manners” become different. It’s interesting how it’s “by His Son”, and not “through His Son”, but why? In the Greek the phrase “by His Son” reads “In the Son”, both are correct, referring to the manner of speaking. In the past it was indirect, now it’s direct by the Spirit. Prophecy may be in part now, but Jesus by the Spirit speaks to His own, as His own hear His Voice. Now, let’s consider the statement, if the Son is the only means God will use to communicate with man, then all communication is done in the Body. No other form of religious concept hears from God, in this Season it’s strictly by the Son, meaning “hear ye Him” carries profound conclusions. How do we hear? The New Man, Christ in us the Hope of Glory, the Spirit in us hearing from the Holy Ghost, thus we are in the position where ABBA, Father means something very special. The Holy Ghost teaches the masses, the Holy Spirit in us teaches us as individuals.
Does this mean all Jesus has to say, is said? What is the voice we hear? When someone says God spoke to them, are they lying? No, Paul said the Lord appeared to him, which time was well after the Ascension. It means the only way anyone hears God in this Season is by the Son connecting this to Mark 16:16-18, if we are in the Body, we hear Jesus by the Spirit, if we continue to believe we shall be saved.
This also connects to James, even the devils believe in one God, but they are not Born Again, they are not in the Body, thus if one Believes in One God, they will seek His Son, in order to have the Word in them of a truth, which Word is able to save their souls (James 2:19 & 1:21).
There are those who assume this verse means all Jesus has said is all Jesus will say, or better, what Jesus said in the Bible completes and fulfills this verse, but the premise negates the Proceeding Word, it also negates Paul’s comments regarding Prophecy, as well as the Spirit bearing Witness to our Spirit. If Paul wished for all to give prophecy, what then would be the source of prophesy? Or what would be the prophecy? This verse shows the Spirit of God speaks to the Spirit that is of God, thus Jesus told us we would be Told, we are also told to Hear what the Spirit Says to the churches. This verse is just another way of saying Jesus continues to speak to us, the Spirit of Truth will “speak” (Jn 16:13). John also tells us Jesus in us is the Spirit of Truth (I Jn 4:1-4). The word for “speak” in John 16:13 is the Greek Laleo, giving us the connection between these verses showing Jesus is speaking to us by the New Man.
This also relates to conscience, the New Man is our conscience, the only element in us really knowing what is right and wrong. The Law of Moses was the written conscience for those under the authority of the old nature, but there are other things regarding the Christ nature not covered in the Law of Moses. The New Man is our guide, and personal teacher. The Law of the Spirit is for those who have the Spirit, instead of seeking the loophole, the New Man seeks to remove what would destroy us, by bringing something of God into the picture to save us.
The Holy Ghost speaks to the New Man, the New Man guides us into all Truth. It’s important to see the Speaking is something the New Man does, it doesn’t take away from the Bible, rather we find the New Man takes Scripture then applies life, not only for us, but for others as well. The New Man takes the same Bible someone else uses to beat others with, to impart the knowledge of Life, Peace and Freedom. Same Bible, two different intents, two different sources. The point here shows two different types of transmitting information, but much different when it comes to the information delivered. Paul put it this way, “But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit” (I Cor 2:9-10). The New Man is not subject to, nor does He use the Law of Moses as a guide.
Neither the fathers or the prophets were “appointed heir”, this series of verses will show us Jesus is the Son of man, the Son of God, and God the Son. As the Son of man He stood for mankind at the Cross, He also returns for the Judgment, but the Resurrection declared Him the Son of God, just as the same Spirit bears witness to the New Man in us showing we are sons of God by the power of the Resurrection. As God the Son He maintains the Kingdom by having all power and authority both on earth, and heaven. The phrase “has appointed” is the Greek Tithemi meaning To set in place, which means the “place” was reserved for Jesus, not an angel, man, or man-angel. The worlds (ages) were not made for Michael, they were made for Jesus.
The phrase “Last Days” is found in many of the New Testament letters, thus the Last Days, or the Hour of Temptation began with Pentecost, but in the very latter times of the Last Days we find as Jacob’s Trouble, a Trouble centered on the House of Jacob, which Trouble we can avoid. Jacob’s Trouble isn’t the entire Night, it’s the short time after the sixth seal is opened, a time when the seven angels come forth with the plagues. Later in this letter we will find it will be impossible for someone to crucify Jesus in the Night. Today, while it is yet today is the time of Salvation.
What about the Night? Are not the two witnesses of the Law and Prophets the speakers then? Yes, they have say all to be said, but here in verse 2 we find the division again in the word “us”. Prior God spoke to mankind in small bits and pieces, because man was natural, now He speaks to us in Jesus, yet in the Night it will be the Two Witnesses of the Law and Prophets as they testify of God’s Mercy.
However, we all know we may hear things from God wherein we have no verse to support or deny what we are told. Perhaps God says, “go to the store”, yet we know there is no Commandment, “thou shall not go to the store”, nor one saying, “thou shall go to the store”. However, we will never get a word from the Lord directly opposed to the Bible, especially opposed to the New Testament. If we hear, “tell them off, they need to know they made you mad”, it’s of God. If we hear, “love them, forgive them, as I have forgiven you”, we know it’s of God. How do we know if we are hearing God? The word will be centered in the nature and character of Jesus, if its self-based we know it’s not of God. Unbelief is a strange animal, it will presume other people are not doing what God told them, while we think we’re doing all God told us. Unbelief assumes others can’t hear, while all we do is hear, unbelief is based in pride, the words we think are coming from the Lord will be coming from pride, thus we have our check and balance, is it conducive to the old nature, or the New?
There are things done today in the “name of the Lord” Jesus never did, yet because those things allow us a way to vent our anger, we do them. Barking at the devil, will not make him a dog. We will learn something in this chapter about the effectiveness of faith, we can use it accordingly gaining the Godly benefit, or misuse it causing us to miss Reward of God. The tone of the character is always a clue, “tell them you are the anointed”, where did Jesus say that? No wisdom, but tons of pride. If on one side we feel like we should tell them off, yet on the other we feel like we should show Mercy, which of those two do you think is Jesus? Which is the old man? Clarity, by the Spirit is something the fathers or the prophets didn’t have. However, after we hear “love them”, we also hear, “you will be so superior and holy if you do”, we know the old nature just added the finishing touches to trap us. We do right, reject the wrong, as proof of being of Full Age.
The nature of man is not conducive to submission, or to showing mercy while taking the blows of theological abuse. The nature of man is to lash out, or defend itself in some manner in the face of adversity. Knowing the methods of the old nature helps us divide the voices, soon the old voice becomes the voice of a stranger, one we will never follow again.
The word Worlds is the Greek Aion, it’s the same word found in Hebrews 11:3, thus the “worlds” refer to times and seasons on the earth, rather than a bunch of planets out in space, thus each Season is metaphorically known as a “world”. In contrast to the Greek Aion is the Greek Kosmos which means To take care of the world, with a primary meaning of Order. The Greek Aion used in this verse clears up much about Adam. The sundry times would be the time before the Fall, the time from the Fall to Noah, the time from Noah to Abraham, the time from Abraham to David, then the time from David to Jesus. In our Time we are privy to the Season of the Day, thus Jesus speaks directly to us by the Spirit. The Proceeding Word is in full force and effect until the Rapture, then the Night has its “time”, a “time” for the Law and Prophets to be Witnesses.
The prophets didn’t have the Brightness of Glory, they merely reported it, yet we have the glory in us (Rom 8:18). “Amen, we’re kings”. Right, but how did the King of Jews rule the Jews? Some of us think being a king means we can dictate what the world can and cannot do; however, it’s the way the world rules, not the way a king in the Kingdom of God rules. A king has authority, but how they use the authority determines what type of king they are.
We find Jesus was the purpose for the worlds being “made”. The word “made” in verse 2 is the Greek Poleo meaning To make, or To appoint, bringing the thought once the bringing forth of the thing is done, it has an independent existence. This becomes important later when we find our faith knows God has formed the “worlds” (ages). If these ages are already formed, then no man can stop their course, but man can leave the course of the “world” by entering the Kingdom.
We know All Things are of God, but there are various things, appointed to various “worlds”. One can use the phrase “all things are of God” to fill some lust, yet they would be using the wrong concept in the wrong Age. Doing the wrong thing at the right time is still wrong. Jesus brought a New World (Season) for those who desired to enter the Will of God, as they “hear ye Him”, but there are things God has reserved for those who reject the call as well. There is a thought process saying God created all things in the beginning, then allowed man to run this on his own. One of the basic tenets in the Doctrine of Christ is “faith toward God”, if we have faith toward God, then the Proceeding word is still in effect. If all things run their course, then there is no need for faith, but if there are various things running various courses, then faith is essential. We pray for God to keep us on the true path, for Him to instruct and protect us, as we obey the Proceeding Word, the same one we found “in these last days spoken unto us by His Son”.
There was a thing within the Age for Korah in the Old, a thing for Judas in the New, certainly we don’t want to be caught in those “things”. We know there are temporal “things”, and heavenly “things”, our faith is based on “things” not seen, thus the word “things” is important, as it defines the source. We can do all things through Christ which strengthens us, but is “all things” inclusive? If so, then we can sin by the strength of Christ. Doesn’t sound right, the term “all things” is exclusive to the Things of Christ. We can do all the Things Christ has set before us by the Strength of Christ in us.
The main argument the Jew would use in opposing all this is found in Proverbs 30:5-6, which reads, “Every word of God is pure (purified): He is a shield unto them who put their trust in Him. Add you not unto His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar”. How does this relate? The Jew considered the Law the supreme order from God, the Christian was merely adding to it, but Paul shows it’s not the case at all. The verse doesn’t say “Law”, it says “Every Word”, the same thing Jesus said: Man does not live by Bread alone, but by Every Word proceeding from the mouth of God. It’s also the same thing John said in Revelation 22:19, only there it’s “Prophecy”, but as Peter points out the entire Bible is “Prophecy” (Words from God – II Pet 1:20-21). The Jewish premise of God has spoken, yet will speak no more, is the same mistake we find with those who hold the Bible as the “only Word of God”. It’s strange how anyone would hold the Bible out as the “only word of God”, yet the Bible itself never defines itself as the Word of God, it defines itself as the Holy Scriptures, it also defines the Word of God as Jesus. Restricting the phrase Word of God to the Bible alone takes away from Jesus. One might be offended if we extend the phrase to include Jesus, they may even say, “What? Are you saying the Bible is not the Word of God?”. It’s not what is being said, but if we place the rule book above the Ruler we might find ourselves in serious trouble. The Jews made the mistake of placing the Law of Moses above God, making the Law their Supreme guide and source, causing them to reject the Proceeding Word of God. The purpose often seems obvious, if we limit the Only Word of God to the written words, we can change the words as we see fit, making us god over God. However, if we see the New Man as the Proceeding Word of God, the very essence of Jesus in us, the hope of Glory, then we have the Proceeding Word to show us what the Written Word means to us personally.
Here in verse 3 the context is the Proceeding Word of God. None of us are adding to the Law of Moses, as Jesus said He wasn’t, rather He presented a New Law for a New type of person. The new type of person would have the ability to walk on this earth with the Spirit of Christ in them. The Law of Moses never made an allowance for any person to accept the death of Moses in their place. It never declared, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the Faith of the Son of God, who loves me, and gave Himself for me (Gal 2:20). It would be a proceeding word bringing the New, not an additional word to the Old. No one added to the Old, attempting to do the Old and the New would be a violation of the warning in Proverbs. To the Jew the New was merely “the Old plus One”, but to the Christian it was so New it was never before.
Verse 3 has many words explaining Jesus as God the Son; the word Brightness is the Greek Apaugasma which means To emit Light, it’s only found here in Hebrews 1:3. The context shows the Light is Jesus, rather than Jesus being a reflection of the Light, thus the Greater Light and Lesser Lights are reflections of the Light. God is Light, but God is Spirit, God is love, yet these are God. Jesus is The Light, not one of the lights, but it doesn’t mean Jesus is a result of Light, it means the Light is a result of Jesus, just as Love is a result of God. Jesus as the Self-existent Light showing Him as God the Son, for God’s Name (I Am That I Am) means Self-existent One.
This also shows us why it’s important to “divide the word”, we don’t cut Jesus into halves, rather we divide the Seasons into the two purposes for the Son of man. There is the Greater Light for Salvation, but there is also the Lesser Light for the Judgment, both are subject to The Light. Dividing the Word keeps the Day and Night in their rightful “worlds” (ages). Our faith knows God formed the Ages for purposes, all things are of God, whether those things are temporal or heavenly, but we also know we are purposed for the heavenly, not the temporal. Faith has to be the key, although we know there were Ages prior, it’s not the Ages prior faith looks at, it’s the Ages future becoming at issue. Our faith knows there is a Night, thus we work while it is yet Day, knowing the Night approaches quickly.
The phrase, “Express Image” is the Greek Charakter meaning The impression itself, not merely a likeness, rather it’s the object making the likeness. The Greek word Charakter is like the stamp making the impression, it does not mean the impression made by the stamp, thus Jesus is not the impression of God, but the Object, we are the products of the Stamp. The TR reads this phrase as “the Express Image of the Essence”, explaining Jesus saying, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father”. Jesus was not the exact “physical appearance” of the Father, since the physical really tells us nothing, rather Jesus came to show us Who the Father is, removing misconceptions about the Character and Attributes of God. Therefore, if we have Seen (perceived) Jesus, by understanding His Character, then we know who God is. Many religious figures talked about God, but Jesus showed us the Nature of the Father. In the Greek the phrase “express image” would read “charakter tes hupostaseos autou“, or The essence He, or better The divine essence He is. The word “person” is the Greek Hupostasis meaning To place or A set order, pointing to the very essence or “substance” of something. This word does not mean “person” as a human, but Person as in nature and character. Looking for Jesus to be the visual likeness of the Father misses the point by miles, when Jesus said, “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father”, the word “seen” means To perceive the essence, or character, not the physical likeness. It’s the same mistake as thinking we will all be look like Jesus if we are Born Again. Even if we all looked like the physical Jesus, it still doesn’t mean we have His nature or character. The Book of Revelation shows our new resurrected bodies as “white robes”, not “masks”. None of us know what Jesus in the flesh looked like, also one can look like the physical Jesus, yet hold the nature of Judas.
Later we will read, “now faith is the substance”, the word “substance” is the same Greek word used here for Express Image, thus all this is giving us many of the “things” not seen pointing to the Image of Christ in us, which we know as the New Man. Faith has to have a source, thus we can tell a person’s source by the manner in which they use their faith. If their faith is self-based, they are using the measure of faith by the spirit of man. If they seek the Hope of God, their source is the New Man.
Our faith must conclude every event we enter has a Godly purpose, if not, we will turn on the event failing to gain from it. We may not like the event, but it has a Precious element designed to bring us into the purpose of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.
At times the very exposure of a lust is the purpose of the event, we grew too “self-confident” in our ability, or we confused pride as “confidence”, yet the day came when God allowed it to surface, we then discovered the deception of the lust. The nature of the old man would have taken more pride in the pride, but the Nature of the New sees pride as an enemy. Thank God for exposure, the purifying fire of God bringing us closer to Perfection.
The context of this Letter, especially in chapter six is to help us to maintain, while it is yet Today. The famed “falling away” is based on a faulty foundation, rather than Christ, it’s the self wearing a mask of holiness. This Letter will make a division and separation bringing us to the clarity of Truth.
However, even if we do fall, we have repentance unto Restoration, but if we neglect so great a salvation, we will abuse Grace, rather than allow it to save us. Neglecting so great a Salvation, and falling are different. Here it’s the context is being unworthy, thus the falling happens when someone treats Grace as some toy given for our pleasure, rather than the greatest gift of all time unto Salvation.
Here in verse 2 we find Jesus, as the Brightness of His Glory, the Express Image of His Person, formed in the flesh to die for us who are flesh, so we can change from flesh to Spirit. Okay, does it mean we just sin? No, it means the change in nature places our minds in a place where we don’t think on sin, rather we focus on the Brightness of Jesus in us, the Hope of Glory. Our mind change is the renewing Process based on the Spirit forming us into a son of God. It was once said if there were 700 people in a room, then the preacher said “all but one of you will be healed tonight”, all 700 would think they were the one to miss it. The nature change is the greatest reward of being Born Again. We gained the Spirit, but our souls must be Born into the Spirit for us to think Spiritually. We are being formed into sons of God, yet we entered this by receiving the forgiveness of the Father, making us sons of men. Jesus did it all, He made it possible for us to be sons of men to become sons of God. However, these verses not only show Jesus is the Son of man, but display He is the Son of God, but more, thus as the Express Image He is also God the Son, meaning He is fully able to bring to pass what He promised us.
The context shows the Glory comes from the Brightness, not the other way around. Looking for the Glory without having the Brightness is a waste of time, seek the Brightness (Light) to be the Glory.
The misconception between these verses and the word Enlightened in chapter six could mess us up, but if we understand Jesus is The Light, and from The Light comes the Greater Light and the Lesser Light, then we can understand how one can “taste” of the Light by being enlightened, but still reject being of the Greater Light, thus falling from Grace. A taste is a little of something, usually referring to someone who is “testing” something to see if they will accept it or not. Faith is not a dress code, we try on clothes, we do faith.
The Express Image or Greek Hupostasis also shows it wasn’t the flesh of Jesus making Jesus who He is, rather the flesh was a tent to give the Word of God a chance to experience the things of mankind, in order for the Son of man to be a proper and just judge. God is just, His integrity demanded for His Word to feel as a human, in order to Judge humans, thus Jesus will judge as the Son of man, not the Son of God.
The word Power in verse 3 is the Greek Dunamis meaning To be able, regardless of the circumstance. It depends on the circumstance, Dunamis can be limited to a particular circumstance, or realm. The false prophet has Dunamis, but it’s restricted to the realm of darkness, centered on destruction. Like the Waster, the only thing the false prophet can do is destroy. However, the New Man has Dunamis both in the supernatural and spiritual designed unto Salvation, far greater in power and scope.
The progression also shows the Testimony came through the prophets and fathers alone, but then Jesus came in the flesh as the Logos, with the Power to purge our sins as He speaks to us directly. True the prophets still speak, but we as Paul said in Romans, the Spirit of God bears witness to our Spirit that is of God, declaring us as children of God.
After our sins were purged Jesus sat down on the Right Hand side of Majesty on High, until the Night begins, then He stands. The right hand side of any majesty is a place of equal power and authority, yet God will not share His Glory with anyone. In order to have God’s Glory one must have God, which is accomplished by the New Birth. Therefore, we didn’t steal the Glory, it came with the New Man. God still isn’t sharing it, rather He is still the Glory, only the Glory is in us by the Spirit that is of God (New Man).
Paul told us there is a glory of the Sun (Israel) and a glory of the Moon (Zion), but there is a different Glory for the Stars, the first two are earthly, the last heavenly. It’s not simply having the Glory, but which one we have making the difference (I Cor 15:40-41). One can have the glory of a bird, yet think they are a fish, but they are still a bird. We have the Glory of God within (Rom 8:18), thus it’s not a matter of running from mountain top to mountain top looking for the Glory to fall, it’s a matter of allowing the Glory to work.
The word Purge is the Greek Katharismos meaning Purification, or the Sacrifice bringing Purification. Giving us two things; one is the Process, although Jesus completed the work, the Process within us is on going. Second, if it was done, why didn’t it take effect then, rather than when we receive it? Covenant, it still takes two to make a Covenant. More important it shows everything we need to win this has been granted in the New Birth. It’s the same as God resting from His works in the Beginning, only in this case Jesus sat down, the work is done, it’s now a matter of the Process working itself out by the Witness.
The warning is found in chapter six, but the wonderful thing about this Good News is the “failure clause”, failure in the Kingdom is a matter of choice, It takes a great deal of work to fail, thus they are called “workers of iniquity”, not “fallers into iniquity”. One has to work harder to fail, then to succeed in the Kingdom. What about those who draw back to perdition? They had to work at making Just, Unjust, which is a work in and of itself.
Water baptism didn’t Bring the Purification, it became a sign (token) of our willingness to enter the Purification. Our water baptism was our token accepting the principles of the grave and resurrection, as well as our acceptance of the Mercy of the Father. When we accepted the Cross, we gave our souls to Jesus. We were then granted positions, one is a king, another is a priest. It’s the priestly duties separating us from the Law of Moses.
The Word of God in us is the Purifying agent, thus the Word of God, the Word of His Power, and His Express Image are all working in us as the Word of God. This will be made plain to us when we get to Hebrews 4:12. Here it’s the Rhema, in Hebrews 4:12 it’s the Logos, but we will see the connection in a couple of verses.
The Purification is the Justification, the Justification is for the Just, as the Just still live by faith. Faith entails many things, here we see our belief foundation is knowing the work is done, the Process then calls for our faith to reach to the end of the process, even the salvation of our souls. With Godly assurance we enter our Rest, must of us need to enter the Rest of God: there does remain a rest for the people of God.
Heb 1:4-14
We started with Jesus as God the Son coming as the Son of man, now we move into an area showing angels are more than winged beings flying around heaven, yet no angel is Jesus, and Jesus is not an angel. The word “made” is the Greek Ginomai, it’s doesn’t mean “create”, or “created”, it means coming into a place, or a time coming into existence, or someone coming into their existence, as a king to the throne. We are going to see some interesting things about angels, but we want to keep in mind specifics of chores appointed by God, must remain within the specifics. Angels are fellow servants just as we are (Rev 22:9), they are equal in duty and course (fellow servant), but they are not physically like us. At times angels can do things we can’t, but rather than demand, we make requests.
The phrase, “has by inheritance obtained”, is one Greek word, showing the term angels actually means a messenger, the prophets would fit the classification (Rev 22:9), thus we are taken back to the prophets and fathers, where we find God spoke to them in divers manners, at times it included sending angels as representatives. Here we are also looking at appointment and authority, yet the inheritance was set for those who could receive the Son. Angels have an authority within the calling of their duties, but Jesus has an authority (name) more excellent than they.
The angels do not operate outside of what they are commanded to do, thus they speak on behalf of God, they often spoke as if they were God. How can it be? They weren’t God, they weren’t playing like they were God, rather they delivered the message from God as it was delivered to them. If God said, “tell them, So saith the Lord….”, the angel would begin by telling us, “So saith the Lord”. But if God said, “tell them I the Lord will…”, the angel would begin by telling us, “I the Lord will…”. In essence they read it as it’s written.
In Romans we find the Spirit speaks Through us, but here we find the same Spirit is the product of Jesus speaking to us in this present day. The New Man makes us Heirs of God, thus we don’t fit the premise of “shall be heirs”, we fit the premise of being angels. The Greek word for angels is Kleronomeo, it’s only used in reference to the friends of God, thus Jesus said, I no longer call you servants, but friends. The statement relates to this area, since it’s the same Greek word. As an example, Paul was an angel sent to the heirs in Galatia, they received him as such (Gal 4:14).
Jesus moved His disciples (including us) to a higher position based on the Cross and Resurrection, thus we find two elements linked together, angels and messengers. In times past God spoke to the prophets and fathers in one way, but to us God is now speaking by His Son, which means we have the Word of the Lord, a responsibility, but an extreme honor as well. We as the angels and ministers of the Lord now speak to those who shall be heirs. To those in times past He spoke of the Salvation which was to come, to us He speaks by the Grace unto Salvation. In the Old Testament it was possessing the promised land, yet it was still on earth. For us, it’s holding to the Kingdom of God. In order to possess the Kingdom of God one has to be enjoined in God by God through the New Man. Our soul is not the connection to God, the New Man is, but our soul is the treasure in all this, the two (New Man and soul) shall be one as our soul becomes Spiritual in nature.
The angels in heaven are creations for heaven, none of them are “Born Again”, none of them were created or formed on the earth. The devil had a tree to assist him in his dealings with man, yet he used the tree outside of the granted authority, turning a good thing, into an tool of rebellion. The devil has a nature, a realm (principality), a seat, authority, and a power, all of which can do nothing but waste and destroy. We buy a car, then get mad because it won’t fly. We buy a boat, then get mad because it can’t fly. Neither the car or the boat were designed to fly, the car can be driven, it was designed for the function. The boat goes on water, it was designed to do so. The waster destroys, it is his design and function. The devil’s deception may tell us he can save, but he can’t. The devil’s deception may tell us he can grant us the mysteries of heaven, but he can’t. The devil is based in disobedience, thus disobedience has a realm or principality known as disobedience which has subjects, known as the children of disobedience, of which we once belonged. The realm has an authority, called “the self”, a power called mind power, or will power, the prince of the power (authority) of the air uses the natural air to send suggestions of destruction (fear) into the principality of disobedience. On the other hand we have Jesus the Prince of Peace, making Peace as a dominion in the Kingdom. The Authority of Jesus is far greater than the devil’s, more excellent than the angles of God. The angels are not equal to Jesus, Jesus was not one of them, His authority has always been “more excellent”.
The question then comes, unto which of the angels “at anytime” did God say, “Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten You”?. Verse 5 asks a question as it relates to “anytime”, which would include times before the Beginning. It contains several truths to dispel any heretical thinking of Jesus and the devil being “brothers” in times past. Or any foolish notion of Jesus as Michael. Since the angels are created in and for heaven, yet Adam was earthly, created on and for the earth, but Jesus is not “created”, rather all things are created by and for Him. Since there are creations in heaven and earth it would also dispel the notion of Adam being Michael. This one verse puts to rest the foolishness, bringing us to the one point, What angel did God at Anytime say, “You are My Son”, Jesus never took on the nature of angels, the fallen angels cannot be saved (Heb 2:9). We can see how these rudiments would keep a convert from getting involved in cult systems, which may have “nice people”, but are nonetheless engaged in heretical activities.
The term Firstborn, and the term First Begotten are different, the term First Begotten is the Greek Protokos meaning To bring forth the first time. In human terms it refers to the first born to a particular family, but in reference to God it means the First before all things. When it relates to God’s activity it doesn’t mean “born” as a human is born, rather it means First brought forth unto mankind. Adam was not “born” as we know it, but he did come forth from the earth, yet Jesus came forth from the Bosom of the Father, much different.
Adam’s flesh was formed of the earth, then God breathed into him, as Adam became a living soul. Jesus on the other hand came from the Father as a Quickening Spirit to take on flesh, it was Jesus who breathed on the disciples. In essence this verse shows, “Brought forth unto appearance”, thus in human terms it means the child is brought forth unto appearance, but the same child was a fetus hid from sight. The same premise is seen with Jesus, who took on flesh to make the Appearance to man, yet prior to the same Jesus was in the Form (Equal to) of God (Ph’l 2:6-8).
None of this means Jesus is, or was an angel, since no angel has flesh, nor can they take on flesh. Even demonic possession is a devil invading the flesh, not taking on flesh of their own. Their First Estate didn’t provide them flesh, any angel who leaves their First Estate has fallen. We have two estates, one was here on earth based on being born of the flesh. The other is heaven based on being Born Again to have the Spirit. The angels had an estate, the fallen angels rejected their first estate, they are now bound in chains in darkness (Jude 6).
There is another point being made here, one we can miss it if we’re not careful. The context of what God says determines the method of how God delivers it, thus we found to the prophets and fathers He spoke one way, here we find to the angels He spoke another, but to those who are heirs of salvation He speaks by His Son as the Holy Ghost teaches spiritual to spiritual. This first chapter is about the various ways God speaks, and why.
This would seem like a Beginning, it is. Back in Genesis 2:1-2 we found God rested from His works, but then we know there is a Proceeding Word leading to the New Birth. If there is New Birth like never before, how then could the works be finished? The works for the Judgment are done, we know God worked on those elements during the Night, for the Night. The work of Salvation started with Jesus being revealed by the Resurrection. The ministry of Jesus on the earth was centered on being a Son of man, which means He was teaching as He displayed the Mercy of the Father.
There is a work of the Day, the Father worked until the Day, now Jesus works. The Father spoke, but now He speaks by Jesus. Don’t forget the phrase “Greater is He is me, than he in the world” refers to Jesus in us. This would also connect to, “all power is given unto Me, go in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost”; it’s still One Name (Authority), showing the only voice of God on the earth today is Jesus.
The word Begotten is the Greek Gennano (v. 5) meaning Direct Offspring, thus not all are classed in the term “Direct offspring” of God. Adam was known as a “son of God”, as was Seth, but they were not Direct Offspring. Adam was formed of the earth, God was not formed of the earth, so how could Adam be a “son of God”? A “son of God” in those terms refers to someone who is either a product of God’s forming hand, or in the case of Seth, someone who praised the Lord. Neither Adam or Seth were “Born Again”, neither were they Jesus. Adam was more a shadow than anything else, God begin with Adam, but the purpose was “to make man in our Image”. The prophecy came to pass by the New Man in us forming us into the Image of Jesus, but it didn’t mean Adam was God-man, for if it’s the case, then God fell as well; it would also mean there is no hope for anyone, including God. Hardly the case, we have the fulfillment of the prophecy in the New Man. Adam was the beginning, yet he lacked something, the something was the product of the creation of the Day, the Spirit of Christ. Instead of God taking our help meet from us, He put one in us.
The term Firstbegotten also refers to the Resurrection from the dead, thus Jesus is the Firstbegotten from death to life, yet He held Light, Grace, Life, Truth and Power from the beginning. The Law of Moses defines the law of sin and death, as it applies the punishment to sin, thus it’s based on dead works. On the other hand through death Jesus brought us Life. Jesus didn’t lose His flesh, He gave it up. Through the Cross we had the actual premise to impute our flesh dead, thus we also “give up” the old, to obtain the New. Without the Cross the same imputing would be a mind game, there must be a basis in order to impute; with Abraham it was his continual belief.
The angels from heaven operated in the name of Jehovah, the fathers stood in the name Jehovah, yet here we find Jesus obtained a “more excellent name than they” (v. 4). Wow, a more excellent name, does it mean the name of Jehovah isn’t excellent? No, the verse says it’s a More Excellent Authority, thus it’s not a form of identification. The problem with viewing the Name as a form of identification is we think if we pronounce it correctly we are superior over others in the Body, when the issue is really Authority. Jesus obtained a More Excellent Authority, one based on Salvation. The key is where those appointed to salvation are located, which is the Body of Christ, which means they have the Name of Jesus as their authority, yet the Power from on high is given by the Holy Ghost. The Authority of the Father, Holy Ghost and Son is contained in the Authority of Jesus; since the Son is included in the premise of “Father, Son and Holy Ghost”, is shows God speaks to mankind through Jesus, or those who have Jesus in them of a truth. It doesn’t mean if someone baptized us in the “Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost” we are not baptized, it means the combined authority of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are in the Authority of Jesus, meaning if the person who baptized us was in the Body, then it worked. The division shows Salvation is more excellent than judgment, just as the Greater Light is more excellent than the Lesser. In God’s eyes Salvation is always Greater than Judgment, it’s only in the mind of the fallen nature where judgment or revenge are greater than mercy. Real power is having the ability to do something, yet not doing it because it’s not beneficial to the overall plan. We have power to do many things, but we must consider if our acts are within the confines of the overall plan.
The phrase More Excellent is the Greek Diaphoros meaning Superior as in Different, not Superior making the other void, thus the angels and the fathers used the name Jehovah, but they were not the Name. It’s one thing to use a Name, another to be the Name. We are commanded to Believe in the Name of Jesus, thus we not only use the Name, we are also suppose to walk in what the Name stands for. There is only One Jesus, He has obtained the Highest Place and Name, He has allowed us to use His Name, but we are to use it within the granted limits of what it stands for. The Name (Authority) is coupled with a Power, the Power conducts Acts, but our Belief in the Name entails our desire to walk in God’s Love, display God’s Light, by having a Christ like character. We presume a Belief in the Name means we have the mental concept of the power behind the Name, but it’s not the meaning of Belief, rather Belief means if know what the Authority of Jesus stands for, then we walk in the Authority, we don’t abuse it, or misuse it. All this shows why we don’t write the Name of Jesus as “Jsus” as the Jews wrote JAH. They were not in the Name of Jehovah, they lacked the authority and position to use the Name of Jehovah. We on the other hand are told to use the Name of Jesus, thus for the Christian we call ABBA Father, not “JAH”. It doesn’t take away from Jehovah, but it does show our position with God is More Excellent.The word Angels is used five times in verses 5, 6, 7 (twice) and 13. The Greek word for Angels is Aggelos meaning One sent to announce or proclaim, thus it’s not limited to the angels in heaven, rather it entails us as well. We know the Law and Prophets testify of Jesus, but in a study of the prophets we can’t find them doing the Law as a requirement to be a prophet. The only prophets we find associated to the Law, are Moses and Aaron, as Aaron was the prophet unto Moses, not unto God, yet Moses didn’t do the Law, he presented it. Angels have been classed as higher than man, but here we find they are not, they have direct access to God, but so do we. Are angels important? Yes, we find them ministering to Peter when he was in jail (Acts 12:7), as well as to Paul when the ship was wrecked by the storm (Acts 27:23), but it’s how they minister becoming important, something we will see in a few verses.
Man seems to have this desire to worship things, including angels, but worshipping angels is error, even the archangel who talked to John, “See you do it not: I am your fellow servant” (Rev 19:10). The angel didn’t say, “I serve you”, nor did he say, “You serve me”, it was a “fellow servant”, thus both could be classed as “angels”.
Verse 5 has a quote from Psalm 2:7 which reads “I will declare the decree: The Lord (Jehovah) has said (past tense) unto Me, You are My Son; this Day have I begotten You”. Psalm 2:8 continues with “Ask of Me, and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession”. Paul said the Spirit of Holiness Declared Jesus the Son of God by the Resurrection (Rom 1:4). This verse came to pass by the Resurrection, we were all heathens making us the inheritance of the Lord. Later we will see how we gave our souls to Jesus when we accepted the Cross, or at least we were suppose to.
Verse 6 shows Jesus after the Cross, not before. The phrase, “and again when He brings in”, is a past tense phrase showing another entry, but it’s not Judgment. This explains the Sacrifice in heaven, the time when heaven and earth were connected for those with the keys. This is after the Kingdom and House were established on earth, the effort came from heaven through Jesus, performed on earth first, secured in heaven, yet without the latter part we have no part in the inheritance. This area speaks of the seven days between the time Jesus told Mary, “touch Me not”, until He told Thomas, “Touch Me and see”. This area has direct reference to the Sacrifice, again we see the word “angels” is all inclusive, referring to the citizens of heaven.
It’s interesting how it’s a permissive call, the Father did not say, “Thou must worship Him”, rather it was, “Let all the angels worship Him”. Jesus came a little lower than the angels, for those at the time who were lower than the angels, but then by His efforts at the Cross and through the Resurrection He raised them to be “fellow servants” with the angels.
If the Father told the angels it was permissible for them to worship Jesus, then the worship of Jesus is permissible. God would never give anyone permission to worship an idol, or another creation, thus we find Jesus as God the Son sitting at the right hand of Majesty on High, meaning the Father has made the Son equal.
The Law of Moses was an extension of Moses for the people to have contact with God by deeds, it became the intercessor, but now God speaks to us by Jesus. It’s far better to have someone who is familiar with our weaknesses, then a “law” it’s not. The Law of Moses has power, what it saw, it judged, if a deed, the deed was blessed, if something fell into the realm of cursing it was cursed, thus the Law of Moses never looks at the heart, it could less about faith, it saw the actions of mankind, pronounced the verdict of death, based on dead works. However, Jesus is touched by our weaknesses, His compassion reaches out to us, His love touches us, He sees our hearts, by His stripes we were healed.
The Son was obedient, even obedient to the death of the Cross. Did the Son know the plan would work? Yes, by faith. Even the separation at the Cross between the Father and Son caused Jesus to cry out, “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me?”. How then can we say our measure of faith can produce the same result? Our faith is in God, by the New Man we follow the path the Faith of Jesus left for us. The prophecy of Psalm 22 was invoked, but we also know Jesus faced death on His own, by His faith and obedience plus His sinless life He defeated death, even with the sins of times past, times present, and times future upon Him. The Father was pleased, but you can only please God by faith, thus the Faith of Jesus did for us what the measure of faith could never do, obtain the Promise (Heb 11:39).
Because of His obedience the Father gave the Son a Name (Authority) above all names (Authorities), thus Jesus told us “in My Name”, it’s by His Name we teach, baptize others, disciple, or operate within the realm of the ministry of reconciliation. By His Faith we can join our measure of faith in Him, giving us access to come boldly to the throne of Grace. However, having a Name above all names would also mean a Name higher than Jehovah. Why? What the Son did was More Excellent than what the Law of Moses could do, More Excellent than what the Abrahamic Covenant could do. Why would we do deeds of a Law sent to a people who lacked faith? If we have the Spirit we are assigned a Law pertaining to Spiritual matters, not matters of the flesh unto dead works.
The nation Israel was called to proclaim God to the world, in the role they were angels, or representatives of God. This is made clearer in Psalm 97:7 where we find those who worship idols will be confounded, but the gods shall worship Him. In Psalm 82 the gods are seen as extensions of God, here we find the terms angel and gods are equated in the same framework. It also explains the temptation to Eve, who was flesh and bone, she was not privy to being like unto the angels; whereas, God has called us to Declare His Name to the world. With Eve it was transgression because she wanted to be a “god” (angel), but attempted to use a means not granted by God, yet for us God has declared it, meaning it would iniquity not to receive it. The difference is how Eve sought a position not granted to those who were natural flesh and blood; she not only did it on our own, but she was attempting to use the wrong source. In our case Jesus did the work, granted us the Spirit to be in a position to have the proper Authority and Power as the Father declared.
We move from Firstbegotten to “Make” (v. 7), there is a difference; the word Make (maketh in KJV) in verse 7 is the Greek Poieo meaning To form, Bring about, or To cause, whereas, Firstbegotten is an exactness directly from the Source. Poieo is often used to explain an external act unto the manifestation, but Firstbegotten is an internal act. Poieo is also used to show the act came from the inward thought process, but manifested by an external event. The context shows the angels noted here were not created as spirits, thus the term angels goes much further than the angels in heaven who are created spirits. By the use of Poieo we see the New Man brings us into position by Forming our souls, rather than recreating them.
The Greek word for Ministers is Leitourgos meaning a Public Servant, or Administer, it’s spoken of in reference to a priest, it applied to Paul as a “minister of the Gospel” (Rom 15:16). This word doesn’t mean a slave, it means one Is a bondservant, or a servant by choice. It also refers to one who ministers to the wants of another (Ph’l 2:25). The quote comes from Psalm 104:4, but in 104:2 we find, “who covers Thyself with Light”, making a direct reference to Jesus coming from the Father as The Light. Psalm 104:15 gives us the Wine and the Oil to make the Face shine as the Light, as the Bread brings Strength to our hearts. The various times and Seasons are seen as the Moon appointed for Seasons (plural), but as Sun moves aside, the Darkness enters as the Night when no man can work (Ps 104:19-20).
Jesus didn’t come to identify with the Law of Moses, He came to identify with man. He didn’t come to make a religious show, He came to make an impression, one causing man to stop, look and consider the Salvation of the Lord. Jesus didn’t hate the religious rulers, nor did He come to make them look foolish, rather He came for them, just as He as the Son of Man for any of those who were Jewish.
The Cross and Resurrection open the call to “the utter most ends of the world”, but the earthly ministry was specifically for the Jews. When the disciples went out they were told to keep their efforts within the confines of the Jewish community, thus Jesus came as a common Jewish man for the Jews. If one is against the Jews, they are against Jesus. A Christian is not an extension of the Law of Moses, there is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ, but it doesn’t take away from the Lord first coming for the Jews. Did they accept Him? We know 120 did, then 3,000 more on Pentecost, as well as many more after until the door to the Gentile was opened. Did some reject Him? Yes, which shows God grants choice, the greatest power of all is when someone has the power to grant moral choice, yet allows the choice to made, then honors it. The false prophet attempts to remove choice, God permits it.
Verse 7 is a question, not a statement. The point being God never grants anyone permission to worship anything created or formed, worship is only permissible when it’s directed at the Creator. Here in verse 7 the question is, “Who makes?” who did? God, the scribe just said, “by Whom also He made the worlds” (v. 2). Who did make the angels spirits? Could He have made them flesh and blood? Yes, but He didn’t. Who made the “ministers” a flame of fire? God, could He have made them a bowl of water? Yes, but He didn’t. This is like the phrase, “shall the clay say to the Potter, why have you made me this way?”. This verse asks us all, flesh and blood, angel, saint, or sinner, Who made you? You can only worship the Creator, any other form of worship is false: here the Father is telling us to direct our worship at Jesus, the Word made flesh for us.
Verse 8 directs itself to the Son and Father only, but verse 9 expands the concept showing the Inheritance, showing verses 10 and 11 point to the worship. Jesus told us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, here we find the Kingdom and the Righteousness belong to Jesus. It would almost sound as if Jesus was boasting in Himself, which we know could not be the case, rather we find Jesus speaking as the Son of man in reference to God the Son.
Moses was lower than the angels, he was not a fellow servant as was John, desiring to be like Moses misses the mark, since Moses was, “a god to Pharaoh”, but he was not spiritual, nor Born Again. In the Book of Revelation we find John standing on the “sand of the sea”, which means he was made higher than the nation of Israel. The man was a Jew, he came from the nation, so what makes him so excellent? Jesus. John was raised above the sand of the sea by Christ in him, he didn’t raise himself.
The Seed of God is created after God’s Holiness and Righteousness, thus we find the Father (Holiness) and the Son (Righteousness) giving us the Law of the Spirit, or the Law of God’s Righteousness. The Holy Ghost is not a creation, Jesus is not a creation, yet we are by the New Man in us. Ahh, we have the Image, the Essence of Jesus in the New Man, the Expressed Image is found in the New Man, who was granted to us based on the result of the Victory Jesus obtained, thus Victory is built into the New Man. The Seed of God is the expressed image of God in us, the Seed having the Righteousness of Jesus grants us the scepter to the Kingdom. The Seed having the True Holiness of the Father grants us the ability to apply Mercy as the Father granted it to us.
The Righteousness of Jesus put an end to self-righteousness, thus before the Righteousness of Jesus came, all man had was self-righteousness, but it changed. Self-righteousness was the basis of the Law of Moses, but the Righteousness of Jesus is More Excellent. It’s one thing to have right standing on earth, another to have Right Standing in heaven. How long is the reign of Jesus? Forever and ever, not just forever, not just ever, but ages upon ages, which is a Jewish idiom for time without end. The same premise is found in the word “bottomless”, showing a time without end.
The word Scepter in verse 8 is the Greek Rhabdou meaning A Rod, or Staff, it’s used for chastising, but it also refers to a walking staff, or a staff to lean upon, thus it depends on the usage. Here it means all three, we walk by Faith, we Lean on Jesus, if not, we are chastened. A Scepter is often the sign of the person who rules, here it’s based in the Righteousness of Jesus. One cannot be of the Kingdom yet use, or lean on their self-righteousness.
First John tells us the Blood of Jesus is cleaning us from all unrighteousness, but how? By the application of the Righteousness of Jesus, the same Righteousness which came with the New Man. Righteousness is a power and authority, if the Righteousness of Jesus grants Him a position next to the Father, the same Righteousness grants us a Position with Jesus, indicating it is a more Excellent position then standing before the Law of Moses.
Our Kingdom is for the spiritual sons of God, Born Again to have the Spirit of Christ in us. The quote comes from Psalm 45:6, known as “A Psalm of Love”. Psalm 45:3-4 tells us Jesus put His Sword on His thigh, with His Glory and Majesty He brought Truth, Meekness and Righteousness. We think the Sword is for killing, but here we find the Sword was put away, it’s the Scepter of Righteousness becoming the mark of our King. Psalm 45:10 tells us to forget the former and seek the New, for the King is our Lord, we are to worship Him (Ps 45:11). Psalm 45:13-14 tells us we are the Daughter of the King, we shall be Brought (caught up) to Him, then after the Night the Remnant will be our companions. Jesus appointed to us as the Greater Flock, the Remnant as the Little Flock. We are ten thousand times ten thousand, but the Remnant are taken from the tribes, making them less.
Verse 9 is directed at us, showing how we maintain; yet the order is just as important as the desire. We have Loved Righteousness, Jesus is our Righteousness, but we also hate iniquity, thus if we hate it enough, we won’t do it. However, the order is important, Love must rule, hate must not rule. If hate becomes the motivation we will forget the Righteousness, ending as a watch dog set to bite and devour. Our love for the Righteousness of Jesus keeps us seeking the Righteousness, if iniquity in us is seen, we hate it. We don’t hate the workers of iniquity, just the iniquity. This also shows the weapon we use against iniquity is the Righteousness of Jesus.
With the Righteousness of Jesus as the Scepter, it means the Kingdom is only maintained by the Righteousness from on High, not by self-righteousness, or the Law of Moses. Once we receive the Sacrifice of Christ, we then receive the Oil of gladness, for Jesus is our Righteousness, we Love Him above all fellows. Righteousness is the position of Right Standing, if we are told to Stand, we better stand in the proper Righteousness.
The foundations are principalities, they shall all perish (v. 10-11), the time will come when they shall be changed (to make different). However, who made them? The Lord, again we can ask the principalities, who made you? The Lord. We can ask the earth, who made you? The Lord. These things are not over the Lord, they are not equal, we were not given permission to worship them. This is another area where we find any of us can fall into the trap of worshiping the things of God, rather than God. The Gospel is important, but we don’t worship it, we preach it. The anointing is important, but we don’t worship it. Things are under the feet of Jesus, we are of the Body, we worship the Lord, not the tools He has given us.
This shows the error in seeking our own self-righteousness, since it insults the Righteousness of Jesus. Faith is not the Scepter, it’s the Righteousness of Jesus, the same Righteousness we gained in the New Man. We must move on to the Righteousness of Jesus, the earth will change into the lake of fire, those who fail to hear “Come up hither”, will be lost. It is better to hear, “Come up hither”, than face the Prince. What Prince? The prince of the power of the air? Hardly, we faced him while we were in the world, no, this points to the Prince of Peace.
Verse 12 tells us there will be a new heaven and a new earth, they will be changed, but for some reason we think “change” is always glorious. Here the change is from the outside of the earth being plants, water and the such, to becoming the lake of fire, a place without end. The sun will someday burn itself out, thus there will be an end to the sun, but the lake of fire has no end. There are some who oppose the concept of “eternal judgment”, but as we will see, if there is no Eternal Judgment, there is no Eternal Life.
Verse 13 takes us back to the angels, we began with How God said, for the last few verses we saw some of the things God said, among them were some very pointed questions. Here we find the Father never said to any angel, whether a prophet, or angel in heaven, “Sit at My Right Hand”, which is the same as saying, “You are equal to Me in all regards”. Wait, didn’t we find in Philippians Jesus was in “the form of God – thought it not robbery”, then Jesus took on the “form of man”? (Ph’l 2:6-7). Yes, it’s the point, Jesus put aside one position, to take a much lower one, to defeat the enemy, in order to bring mankind to a higher position. It was the reward given God, producing the reward for Jesus. The Intent of the Son was not to endure just to obtain the throne, rather it was to endure to please the Father, by giving mankind the route of Salvation.
Jesus could have remained in the Bosom of the Father, or commanded all to come to the Father, but He didn’t. Was it possible? With God all things are, but not all are profitable, nor are all “lawful”.
When Jesus ascended the Lucifer nature was rebuked for all time, we recall how the evil nature says in its heart, “I will ascend into heaven” (Isa 14:13). Lucifer says many things “in his heart”, but he lacks the ability to carry them out, thus he lies. Like the old nature Lucifer is based in, he uses mind games, tricks, deception, until he becomes self-deceived thinking he is much more than he is (Isa 14:12). If we didn’t know better we would think Lucifer is using “faith statements”, after all he is saying many things relative to heaven. The five I wills lack faith, since they are “I will”, which lacks a belief in “God Is”. The devil could be standing in the middle of hell saying, “there is no hell, there is no hell”, but it doesn’t change the fact, hell exists. In order to make a “faith statement”, three things must be evident, we must have a promise or premise expressly for us, we must Hear, since faith comes by hearing, then we must focus our faith on pleasing God, whether we’re pleased or not.
All five of the I Wills of Lucifer are based in self-righteousness, each denotes the Lucifer complex assumes it’s special among the special, not having something More Excellent, but being More Excellent in and of himself. The mindset of Lucifer is to be the more special, the one with all the news, the one who is far greater than the total, the leader of the band, the most important of the important. Those who have the “revelation” the rest of us are not ready for hold the Lucifer mindset. Those who have a truth, none of the rest of us are privy to, exalt themselves above the Mount of God. The Signs and Ways of a person tell us much.
Is our faith in God based on God’s ability to deliver us from this earth, so we can get us into heaven? Yes, but the first I will is, “I will ascend into heaven”. Same? No, it’s “I will”. We are made kings and priests, we didn’t make ourselves kings and priests. Do we have a throne? Yes, we come boldly to the Throne of Grace, but the second I will is, “I will exalt my throne about the stars of God”. Same? No, the “I will” is there, showing the self-promotion of being above the stars. Do we have a Zion of heaven? Yes, are not the 144,000 marked on Zion of the earth? Yes, but the third I will is, “I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north”. Same? No, not at all. It’s still I will, this is the danger in assuming our measure of faith is the same, or greater than the Faith of Jesus. Hebrews will set us straight, the measure of faith is earth related, although it can do many things, it cannot gain us the Promise (Heb 11:39). Lucifer never counts on the ability of Christ, it’s always by his own ability, words tell us much.
What is the function of the New Man? To make us the Image of God’s dear Son, meaning we are heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, but the fifth I will says, “I will be like the most High” (Isa 14:13-14). The wording “will be like” is the Hebrew Damah, it doesn’t mean Lucifer will be the Most High, rather it means he will resemble the Most High, or be the Image of God by natural endeavors. What did the Father say about Jesus? Sit at My Right Hand? Yes, is it the Same? No, the “I will” again, it shows the motivation of Lucifer is to be Anti-Christ in nature, rather than the Faith of Jesus, Lucifer thinks his abilities equal those of Jesus. The five “I will” areas all denote the self, the very heart of Judas. Lucifer is making these mental aspersions for himself, not for God, not for mankind, not for the Lord, rather they are completely based on his own doing without Jesus. The Lucifer mindset is lurking in the darkness, looking for the Judas heart to give it place, we hate iniquity, the Lucifer complex is the product of iniquity. Wait, I thought Iniquity was unequal, or the failure to do something we’re suppose to do. Exactly, all five areas are “goals”, even goals we seek, but the introduction of the “I Will”, is the failure to have the Spirit of Christ, meaning Lucifer uses the he of the world as his source.
Here in verse 13 the Father says, He will make the enemies of Jesus His footstool, there must be a warning before the time takes place. Wait, Sit until? Then what? Ahh, Stand, when Jesus stands the first thing to happen is we are caught up to Him, then He begins to come to the earth as “a thief in the Night”, not a “thief in the Day”. Until the time when He stands, we Stand, yet when He stands, we will be sitting in high places.
Could the Father making the enemies of Jesus His footstool, relate to Acts 1:7? Yes, the division of Seasons, we are to be Witnesses, in the Night the Father has set the course for the enemies to be made the footstool of Jesus. Now wait, don’t we come to worship at His Footstool? No, the Jew does, we find Heaven is God’s throne, but His Footstool is Earth. Ahh, the Beast of the Earth, those who remained in the Principality of the dragon, yet claimed to be “sons of God”. Right, we all began at the Foot of Jesus, then we move in growth until we meet Him face to face. The footstool is not an extension of the feet of Jesus, it’s the place where His feet rest. The enemy will bruise the “heel” of Jesus, showing they are His footstool.
Who are those enemies? Those who loved Iniquity, but hated the Righteousness. They joined to Judas by holding the five “I will” tenets of Lucifer. Therefore, we Love Righteousness, but hate iniquity. Jesus has the keys to death and hell, in the end hell is cast into the lake of fire. You can call it anything you want, “a place”, “it”, “hell”, the “grave”, whatever, it’s still a place we don’t want to be found in. Someone sees a “car”, another calls it a “vehicle”, another “transportation”, another an “auto”, another “it”, but it’s still the same element, thus whatever one wants to call hell doesn’t matter, it’s still a place referred to by Jesus as a real element without end. “Wait it gets cast into the lake of fire, so it will end”. No, it will continue in the lake of fire, the lake of fire is without end. Here we find Jesus by death, overcame death, so we who are appointed to death, hell and the grave can avoid the second death. The physical body of Jesus died on the Cross, but the soul of Jesus faced the second death, overcame it, gaining us the victory so we won’t have to face the second death (Rev 2:11, 20:6, 20:14 & 21:9).
Verse 14 doesn’t give us permission to make slaves out of angels, nor does it mean we have power over angels. The word “ministering” is connected to the same Greek word we found in verse 7, but the Greek word Minister in this verse is not the same. This word Minister is the Greek Diakonia it was used in reference to Moses, and in reference to the Apostles, Evangelists, and others who are “made” by Jesus to fit offices as they minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. This is another area where Jesus asks us, “who has made you a leader?”. Jesus, thus whether angels, prophets, or saint, Jesus put us in position, where we are to Serve.
Exodus 23:20 is a preview of this verse, where we find an Angel was sent before the children to show them the way to the Promise Land, we are sent to show the Way unto others, as we teach them how they can enter the Kingdom of God by faith. Oops, by faith, so if we are not walking in faith, how can we show others The Faith? The exact point of this letter, we will see the “attitude” of the children in the wilderness to find the answer to the age old question, “Isn’t God greater than your unbelief?”. God is greater than our unbelief, He will upbraid us with it, or leave us with it, which makes Him Greater. However, will our unbelief make the faith of God to no avail? Hardly, so He is Greater, but it doesn’t mean He will ignore our unbelief. Our unbelief hinders us, it doesn’t stop God.
We often quote verse 14 as, “sent to them who shall be”, when it reads “sent For them who shall be”, thus it refers to those being sent For those who are not yet heirs. We were those who Are heirs, instead of depending on angels, we have the Spirit, we become the “ministering spirits” who are sent to those who shall be. This connects to “how shall they preach, except they be sent” (Rom 10:15). This also connects to Romans 8:16-17, which tells us we have received the Spirit by Adoption, then comes the three steps of “heirs, heirs of God, and Joint-heirs with Christ”, but we don’t find “shall be heirs” listed in Romans. If we assume we can use angels based on verse 14, we are also saying we are not an Heir, not smart. Angels will do things for us we can’t, yet they are fellow servants, not slaves.
Chapter one laid out the course, no man, not Moses, Adam, David or Abraham was able to secure the Kingdom for us, no man was able to present Righteousness as a Scepter for the kingdom. It took the Word of God in the flesh of man to combat something none of us were able to combat, He then presented a Sacrifice none of us were able to give. Jesus as the Sacrifice, presented the Sacrifice as our High Priest, making it possible for us to present ourselves as Living Sacrifices.
Heb 2:1-4
Hebrews is our priestly order, but if a priest has allowed their foundation to slip, yet they venture into the Holy of Holies, they die. If a priest of one Order, uses the essence of another, they are casting strange fire into the Holy Place. Ever priesthood has an Order, a set of functions and duties laid out for them to follow. We are no different, but what came first the Law or the Priesthood? In our case we find Jesus was acting as our High Priest before the Law of the Spirit came, thus the Law of the Spirit is a product of the Resurrection, but Jesus as our High Priest was presenting the Sacrifice before the Resurrection (Heb 7:12). Therefore, we are not going to partake of the heavenly Sacrifice unless we are part of the Order of our Priesthood. Are we priests? Yes, Jesus has made us both kings and priests (Rev 1:6). We talk much about our Kingdom, but little about our Priesthood, we are both, we need to know about both.
God spoke in times past to the angels, God speaks to us by Jesus, now we find we are to give “more earnest” heed to the things which we “have heard”. Faith comes by hearing, so this part must be based on the Hearing. Simply saying “I spoke faith, thus it came”, isn’t the entire story, faith must hear something from God before it can act, the hearing must come by the Rhema. Back in 1:3 we saw how the Rhema was the Word of His power, but what is the Power for? Destruction? No, Salvation. Rhema ears are looking for Grace, they are seeking the Righteousness found in Grace, the ability of Grace, above all they know the answer to “Who has made you?”. Why is it so important? It keeps us from reversing the premise, or using Lucifer means, then calling it “faith”. One purpose for this letter is found in Hebrews 2:1, as it tells us to keep ourselves from falling into a self-complacent thought process, thinking we are so saved we can’t slip. The wording “let them slip” in the Greek gives the idea of a leaking vessel, one who thinks its full, but has small cracks allowing the water to flow out. What could cause those cracks? Unbelief, or perhaps a failure to ask, “who has made you?”.
We must also recall from Whom we heard, if from the New Man it was from Jesus. The Holy Ghost will bring things to our remembrance which Jesus has told us, He will bear witness to our Spirit with the Proceeding Word of God, teaching us by comparing spiritual with spiritual. However, we can fall for the illusion thinking we are the so special we can say, “Not so Lord”, and get away with it.
The word “Heard” used in verse 1 denotes Hearing with attention, as in the phrase “ears to hear” (Acts 28:26 et al), it also means to Receive to Understand what we heard. This explains “ears who hear”, showing we must not only hear, but we must have what it takes to understand what is being said. Without the New Man we will assume we can use natural reasoning to define spiritual intent, yet loss in the end.
The wording, “More Earnest” could also read More Abundantly, it comes from the Greek word Perissoteros meaning More than before, thus the Old Testament saints heard in bits and pieces, but the Holy Ghost reveals unto us the hidden things of God, those mysteries for those who are heirs of salvation. In order to hear the Spirit of God, we must have the Spirit that is of God (I Cor 2:11-12).
Verse 2 shows the Logos spoken by the angels was steadfast, then made manifest in Jesus, then all transgressions and disobedience were exposed, which produced a reward for disobedience not found in the Crown of Life. It’s the other side of Salvation, which is known as Judgment. The lesson is clear, have ears to hear.
This also shows the Law of Moses is not designed to save man, it’s designed to point out sin, then judge mankind. Just as the Ten Commandments pointed out the failure of man, the Law makes the transgressions clear. The Law of Moses was based on the Mercy of God, the Law of the Spirit on the Grace of God. While it is yet Today we hear the voice of the Lord calling us deeper into His Grace which gives our Mercy more ability.
The word Disobedience means Unbelief, the Transgressions were defined in the Law of Moses, thus the angels of old testified of Jesus as they spoke of a Salvation yet to come, but they didn’t obtain the Promise, although they did speak of it. Numbers 15:30 says, “But the soul who does aught presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproaches the Lord; that soul shall be cut off from among His people”. This also helps us understand the word Angel, this angel was Moses, a speaker of the Law. God exposed the problem, then gave man years to attempt to set it right, the evidence of man’s failure is the evidence only in Jesus can man have Peace, Salvation, and the Things of God. The purpose of the Old is clear, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, all need a Savior.
Verse 3 does not say, “so great a gift of salvation” rather it’s very careful to point out Salvation is not the Gift, it’s the purpose. Some of us read this as, “so great a gift”, but the word “gift” isn’t there. “Well, maybe it reads different in the old texts”. You’re right, it reads, “how we shall escape by neglecting great salvation”. The word “gift” still isn’t there, it’s not even suggested by the Greek. Strongholds form when we add words to the text, causing us to take away attributes of Jesus, or make up fables. This verse is clear, it’s laying the ground work to show us chapter six isn’t talking about one who has “salvation”, but who “shall be an heir”. They are in the kingdom of heaven, but they are rejecting the call to “give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard”, the result is “letting them slip” away, which causes a falling away. If we let the “things” of Grace slip, we will also slip. When the day comes when we treat the members of the Body of Christ as our slaves, we have allowed both Mercy and Grace to slip.
Here in 2:3 we find Salvation was First spoken of by Jesus, thus it’s the context, as the prophets spoke of many things, including judgment, they even spoke of salvation yet to come, but Jesus is the only one who produced the product and means to obtain salvation. This will be made clearer when we get to Chapters 10 and 11 in reference to all those who held faith, yet were not able to obtain the promise, the Promise is the Holy Spirit.
We went from the prophets, to the Law of Moses, to Jesus, to those who heard Him. It’s one thing to reject a supposed conclusion, another to reject a proven truth. The evidence of the truth came with signs, wonders, different types of miracles, and “gifts” of the Holy Ghost, “according to His own Will”. Again it wasn’t the will or man, it wasn’t man’s great faith producing the signs and wonders, it was the result of the Holy Ghost using the available people who want to be used of God.
Signs are a result of the wonders, signs are on earth, wonders in heaven (Acts 2:19). The connection between the two show heaven is opened unto the saints of the Lord. Ahh, here we find “gifts”, so this must connect to Salvation as a gift, right? Wrong, the word Gifts here is not the Greek Charis, nor is it Doma, nor is it any of the other Greek words translated as “gifts”. This is the Greek word Merismos, it’s only found twice, here, and in Hebrews 4:12. In Hebrews 4:12 it’s translated as “dividing asunder”, thus this is not the granting of “the Gift”, but how the Gift of the Spirit in us will divide by signs and wonders. In this case the signs and wonders divided the people into the believers and unbelievers, or between those who paid earnest heed, and those who didn’t. This goes to the last verses in Mark, where we found we can preach even if we don’t believe, but the signs will only follow those who believe.
The phrase, “spoken unto us by His Son” (Heb 1.2) is defined in verse 3 as we find “spoken by the Lord”, showing Jesus not only came from the Bosom of the Father, but He is the Logos, who spoke both the Rhema (Jn 6:63). The prophets spoke of Jesus, Jesus spoke, those who followed Jesus by the Spirit spoke of Jesus by the Spirit, their words were confirmed by the Holy Ghost, how can we neglect so great a salvation?
Up to verse 4 everything was “hear” or “speak”, then came the Mersimos, the dividing asunder, the separation of the Word from the words by signs, wonders, and miracles proving the point. God didn’t bear witness with a union card, or a band of angels, but with signs, wonders and miracles of the dividing asunder by the Holy Ghost, the separation, or justification process called Grace. Were there divisions? Yes, the people saw, believed, the religious rulers also saw, but failed to believe.
Heb 2:5-18
Verse 5 points changes the context more, but still connecting to the prior verses. Prior it was what God said, here it’s what God does. In 2:4 we saw how God was bearing witness, here we find the “world to come”, what world? The Night, the seven angels will bring the plagues, but the “angels” known as the 144,000 will be marked by Jesus on Zion of the earth, thus it’s still Jesus who causes the Synagogue of Satan to worship at their feet.
Now we jump to what is man? Is man the creator? No, was Adam the creator? No, was Adam the reason for creation? No, he was the start of the process, but not the reason. God picked one nation out of all the nations in the world, we know by their history they had times of obedience, yet they had times of disobedience. However, let us draw this down to one person. What greatness did we have to cause God to look upon us then grant us His Seed? Nothing, we were nothing, but God’s Love and Mercy didn’t see “nothing”, He saw “what could be”. We have the gift of the measure of faith, the element in the breath of God so we could please God. The measure did what it was suppose to do, draw our attention to the Cross. Gee, can we take credit for it? No, the measure was Given, thus it was a gift as well. “You mean all those good things I did in the world don’t count?”. You’re starting to get the idea, take away the question mark, make it a statement, then you will have the idea. Anything “good” is a direct result of God, thus we give God the glory, we don’t take credit for it.
The writer now makes another separation between man, the earthly son of man, as well as the heavenly Son of man. One in a certain place said? One what? Which man? One of the prophets who spoke as God moved them in those bits and pieces said in Psalm 144:3, “Lord, what is man, for You take knowledge of him! or the son of man, for You make account of him!”; we have two areas, man as Adam, and the Son of man, both will be addressed. Psalm 144 continues with a conclusion, “Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow passing away”, what possible connection could God, the Living God, the God of all the universe have with common man? Love, not just a Love for all the world, but a Love for the individual creation as something from God no other creation has. Even the whales were “living souls”, so why not “save the whales”? The breath of God, find a whale feeding the poor, if they are, preach the truth in love to them, get them “saved”. Oops, our measure of faith contains the Agapao love of God, plus what is called “creativity ability”, or the ability to see things not there, then form them to fit the image. However, it’s still based on God giving, not man inventing. What is man?
The prophet Ezekiel was termed a “son of man”, thus Ezekiel represented man before God, as he spoke for God to man. Jesus as the Son of man is far greater, He not only represented us in word, but in deed. Ezekiel spoke in reference to people of his time, yet he was unable to save his people. Jesus spoke on behalf of all mankind, past, present, and future, then produced the ability for man to be saved.
If God “visited” man, how did He do it? Take a train? Perhaps a heavenly bus? No, His Word came in the form of man, then we find Jesus was “made”, not created a little lower than the angels, then Jesus was Set over the works of God’s hands, what works? The fish? No, All of creation, All Power in heaven and earth was given unto Jesus, then Jesus looked at us and said, “therefore you go”. Does it mean we have all the power of universe? Can we create stars? Wow, we’re God. Not so, it was based on having the Authority based on Jesus giving us instructions, coupled with the Power from on High, but it still doesn’t grant us All God’s power. We do not have the power to judge man, or destroy the earth, but we do have power over the enemy, and all the works of the devil. By the granted Authority based in Grace and Mercy we have all it takes to reach Salvation, or preach Grace with effectiveness. We are a people of authority, but we are also under authority, understanding the premise is a key to great faith.
The word Made (madest in KJV) is the Greek Elattoo meaning To diminish or To take from a higher position then place in a lower. This adds to the concept, we find man has a glory with an honor as a crown, thus this wasn’t something Adam possessed, but something given over to him, something granted to him. Ezekiel 28 shows the prince of Tyrus as a man who assumes he is God, but then we see the king of Tyrus who was the “anointed cherub who covered” (Ezek 28:14). Adam had a type of earthly glory as a crown to show his authority, thus he named the animals, yet man still does. Man’s ability in certain areas did not change, the fall removed man from the source of Life, thus the Tree of Life for Adam was external, for us it’s internal.
The context shows, “what is man?”. Why would God take the time and effort to save man? The quote, again comes from Psalms, yet the Psalms are part of the Testimony of Jesus (Luke 24:44). Psalms for the most part are prophetic in nature, thus the writer is making the correlation between the bits and pieces spoken, and the mystery revealed in Jesus. The questions continue, to what angel did God say? To what man did God say? But unto the Son He did said. Psalms 8:5 reads, “For You have made Him a little lower than the angels (Elohim)…”. The same Hebrew word used for Angels is found in Psalm 82 translated as gods, this is not the devil speaking, but God Himself who called His appointed leaders “gods”, the word means the extensions of God as representatives, or as the ruling elders of Israel. It’s true the devil promised Eve she could be “as the gods”, but at the time the only “gods” were angels, also the devil had no authority to make or appoint gods, thus the transgression of Eve was illegally seeking a position through a source lacking the ability to grant it. Whereas the gods in Psalm 82 are appointed by God, much different, we shouldn’t confuse the two.
Jesus told the Pharisees, “Is it not written in your Law, I said You are gods?” (Jn 10:34). Why didn’t Jesus say, “our Law”? At the time the New Law was in the form of being established in the Mercy of the Father. The separation was in the making, yet Jesus didn’t say, “I am a god”, rather He said, “I and the Father are One” (Jn 10:30). Psalm 82 shows it was God who called the Jewish leaders gods (Elohim), thus the context points to God making them messengers or angels, it’s the same thought. We’re not only talking about the angel in the garden, but about the angels, or gods (Elohim) appointed by God, thus Adam was made lower than the angels, at the fall when Eve wanted to be, “like the angels (gods)” it transgressed her position, yet her husband was watching the entire matter unfold. Adam couldn’t regain his position, Adam was able to save his own soul, or regain his Life position. Why didn’t God simply kick the devil out, and let Adam back in the Garden? Because Adam would do the same thing over again, thus the ego of man looks back, sees the error, then assumes “If I had the same chance, I would win”. We would still miss it, perhaps in a different way, all have come short of the glory of God.
The time for any human to be “spiritual” was not yet, the prophecy went forth, but we found there was something missing from man to bring about the inward Godly ability. Eve attempted to gain a position not afforded to her, by a means she was warned to avoid. Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2:8 show all things in the realm of Adam were placed under the feet, his crown (authority) to his kingdom held the Glory and Honor of a living soul, but he was unable to hold to his kingdom. However, Jesus not only holds the Kingdom, His Scepter proves His Righteousness. The comparison keeps us from the false thought we could have a like start as Adam, and not fail. We would, and have, only Jesus is able to save us.
The devil is ineffective for anyone who enters the kingdom of heaven, even the Wicked who are the Tares of the field have power over the devil. Of course we know they use the authority of the Beast of the Sea, becoming workers of Iniquity, nonetheless, during the Day they still have authority over the devil. This is the very issue, if they have the opportunity over the devil, yet they use the authority of darkness, they are the enemies of Jesus. We are responsible for the authority Jesus granted us, therein lays the division, the Wicked want power, but refuse to be under Godly authority.
Often in our zeal to counter the teachings of cult systems, we toss out the Truth with the Fable. When a cult system tells us they are “gods”, we run to the Bible to find something the devil said to counter their claim. Yet, in so doing we also reject the premise of who calls who, what. In Psalm 82 it was God who appointed, we find they were still lower than those who are Born Again. The “gods” or extensions of God in Psalm 82 were not Born Again, they were people appointed to a position under the Law of Moses as Elders. If someone wants to fit the position, so be it, we have a More Excellent call and position. There is a vast difference between God calling us, and man calling us.
Verse 9 then takes us to Jesus, one must have eyes to see in order to See Jesus; therefore, we had the ears to hear, now it’s eyes to see. Wait, hold it, hang on there, if faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, yet we See Jesus, how can He be related to our faith? The context here is to see Jesus as one would perceive His nature by having the Spirit. Don’t look to angels to deliver us, don’t look to man to deliver us, don’t look for a “good word” from angels, or man, seek the Voice of the Lord, as we seek His Expressed Image in us, then we can See the Lord.
After considering “what is man”, we “see” Jesus, the purpose for Jesus taking on flesh was not to show God’s glory, it was not to expose the religious conceit of man, it was for the suffering of death to free mankind. Man holds unto to his flesh, yet seeks “life” by the flesh, Jesus took on flesh to taste of the pain of death, to free us from the flesh. It would be one thing if Jesus picked one person, then felt the pain of the one person, but we find He took on the suffering of all mankind, the sins of all mankind, yet in order for mankind to be free of sin, they must receive Jesus. Then we find “the gift” in the phrase, “He by the Grace of God should taste death for every man”. The key is Purpose, meaning Grace became the purpose. After Jesus tasted of death, He would no longer have to face death. It doesn’t mean we won’t have a physical death, it’s still appointed unto all men to die once, but it does mean the result of sin producing the second death cannot touch us, we are of Life, not death, because of what Jesus did for us.
Were all things created for man? No, how about the angels? No, but we find Jesus for Whom all things were created taking on the nature of man, to become the Captain of our Salvation, so we can be made Perfect and Complete through His sufferings. God being Spirit could never feel “sufferings”, or “death”, but if the very Word of God took on flesh, then the experience would draw God closer to man. In gaining the experience man would then be able to draw closer to God. What about the sin nature? Was Jesus born into a sin nature? The nature is in the flesh, His flesh is a reproduction from Mary, but the real Jesus was found in His Character, which He is the same as the Father’s, making them One. The virgin birth was special, the induction of the heavenly into the womb untouched means something, but it was still the flesh of Jesus. However, Jesus having flesh, and the flesh controlling Him are much different. We have the advantage by the Cross to impute the flesh dead, making it ineffective.
The word Captain in verse 10 is the Greek Archegos which is related to the Greek Arche (principalities or beginnings), the context of Archegos means the Source of the beginning, whenever the beginning may have been. Therefore, Jesus is the Beginning of Salvation, or the Source of Salvation, yet He is also the Finish of Salvation. Jesus is the Source of all things, all things are By Him, but He still suffered for us, so the Father may have many “sons” in Glory (v. 10). Without the Suffering Messiah there is no way any of us can have the Spirit, or be sons of God, or be Born Again, or walk by faith.
Then we find it’s God who sanctifies, when we who accept the Cross, yet we become sanctified in Christ by what Jesus did for us, not what we do for Him. Verse 12 gives us two areas, declaring the Name and Praise, each has a place, yet they are connected. The word Declare is the Greek Apaggello meaning to announce as an angel, indicating what an angel says. Apaggello is a compound word meaning Apo (from) and Aggello (to tell), the Greek word Aggello is the same word from which we get the English word Angel, thus it’s not only bringing a message, but Who sent the message. Jesus didn’t bring the Message, He is the Message, thus John the Baptist brought the Apaggello regarding Jesus when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God”. The word “preach” is connected to this word, thus anyone who speaks by the Spirit is an “angel”. The prophets of old spoke as they were “moved” by the Holy Ghost, we speak as we’re move by the Spirit in us in those one on one areas, but as the Holy Ghost moves us regarding the masses.
The key is the word “Church”, since the Church is being built by Jesus. Who then is doing the talking? Is it Jesus declaring His own name in the Church He is building? Or is the New Man declaring the victory of Jesus? Let’s see, Psalm 22:22 says “I will declare Your Name unto My brethren”, this is during the three days Jesus spent in the grave, thus the Name being declared is the Name of the Father, but then we find the Victory, as Psalm 22 doesn’t mention the Church, rather it’s the congregation, referring to the worshipping elders of Israel. Did the scribe miss it? No, not at all, we find the result, Jesus declared the name of the Father, the New Man declares the Name of Jesus, the Name above all Names is in the Midst of the Church Jesus is building. For the House of the Lord is an established house of prayer and worship for those who worship in Spirit in Truth by the Spirit of Truth.
During the three days and nights the Church was yet future tense, after the three days and nights Jesus appeared to the disciples, then He ascended to give The Sacrifice, then He descended seven days later, then He spent 40 days with the disciples, then He ascended, then the Church was birthed by the Holy Ghost bringing the Gift on Pentecost. Jesus declared the Name of the Father to those whom Jesus took captive, but the New Man in us declares Jesus. No one calls Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost granting them the Seed of God as the authority. Psalm 68:26 says “Bless ye God in the congregation, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel”. How can we bless God? Through the New Man. The greatest gift of all is Grace, but it took the suffering of Jesus to gain us the gift.
Again some of the bits and pieces came through the prophet Isaiah, Verse 13 is a quote from Isaiah 8:17-18 telling us to wait on the Lord, but Isaiah 9:2 shows us why. The people who walked in darkness have seen a Great Light; they who dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them has the Light shined. The “valley of the shadow of death” is a place considered the world as a result of the Law of sin and death. However, when Jesus came the True Light shined in a dark place, when the True Light shines there are no shadows of darkness. He came among His own, yet they received Him not, but as many as did receive Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God (Jn 1:1-14). Clearly one has to Receive Jesus in order to get the Power to be Born Again, one must be Born Again to be considered a son of God.
We know faith pleases God, but back in Psalm 147:10-11 we find the Lord takes Pleasure in them who Fear Him, in those who Hope in His mercy. This is not hoping for His mercy, but hoping while in His Mercy, thus Faith must entail a Fear of God, it must also the products of Mercy, meaning it’s a Faith working by Love. What has this to do with Praise? Psalm 147:12 tells us, “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion”. “Oh that’s for the Jew”, is it? We are New Jerusalem, we have a Heavenly Zion, thus if we are in the Faith we can’t help but Praise the Lord for “all things”, whether we understand them, or not.
The concepts of Waiting and Trust go hand in hand, it’s our lack of Trust in God producing Ishmaels. Why did God take on the flesh of man? As much as the children have flesh and blood, then He likewise “took part” of the same, so through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, who is the devil (v 14). The purpose of Jesus taking on flesh was Salvation, but in order to present Salvation death had to be defeated. How did Jesus defeat death? By the death on the Cross, which stands as our place to impute the old nature dead by the flesh imputed dead. Jesus destroyed the devil, the word destroyed means to be made ineffective. Once we accept the Cross the world, devil, demons, wiles of the devil are all made ineffective in our lives. The Process does not begin by “imputing” the devil ineffective, rather it begins when we impute our flesh (old nature) dead on the Cross of Jesus.
Verse 14 has a truth all of us need to consider, Jesus destroyed the devil through death, but wasn’t death the one thing the devil’s authority controlled? Ahh, Jesus proved His Authority of Life is greater. So, what does it do for us? Far too many of us think the devil still has the power to guide, instruct, or do to us as he will. Here we find the devil is “destroyed”, or ineffective by the Cross. The Process took us from the Cross to the Grave to the Power of the Resurrection. If we have the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, surely the devil is completely ineffective in our lives, unless we give him place (opportunity). If we did slip, or give the devil opportunity we can repent, gain the fruit of repentance by learning a lesson. However, if we ignore the lesson, or play in the devil’s sandbox, we’re going to get dirty.
The devil isn’t sitting over us running our lives, like Pharaoh he was ineffective by the “water” (mercy). The separation took place at the Cross, not the Resurrection, the Resurrection is the result; our identification with the Cross and death of Jesus is seen in our Token of water baptism. When we moved to the Cross, the devil couldn’t stop us, but he still entices as the voice of a stranger. On the other hand God is cleaning and removing, in the process there are times when God must allow exposure so we can see, what God sees. Rejoice when we fall into divers temptations, it means we don’t have to keep falling, there is hope in God’s restoration.
The deeds of the Law of Moses were based in a fear of death, but instead of removing death, Jesus removed us from the second death, we have been loosed (v. 15). Man works to rid the elements of death, sickness, disease, aging, but it’s still appointed unto all men to die once, then comes the judgment. Man wars against death, but uses the tools of death to do so. The same rulers of darkness who brought the fear of death, motivate man to fight death, in the end man dies the first death. However, we can know death of the flesh will come, but we don’t need to fear it, Jesus has won the battle, the victory is ours. Oh death where is thy sting?
Jesus faced death, but although His flesh died on the Cross, He didn’t, as He says, He is the one who was dead, yet lives, indicating death isn’t a time when the soul of man ceases to exist, if so how could Jesus defeat the devil through death? Through the defeat of death Jesus brought Life plus Freedom from the second death. It’s the second death wherein lays the horror, thus the Spirit being granted is our Seal of Hope, our Hope is in Jesus. The Faith of Jesus proves Jesus has overcome, giving us our foundation of belief. Yet, for us the Hope lays ahead, which is the premise for our faith. No one can be Resurrected unless they first die, Jesus proved it. However, by the death of Jesus we gain the ability to call death a was, making it possible for us to have the Power of the Resurrection now. Once death has been completed, the purpose of death is complete, giving us the ability to say, “death where is your sting? Oh grave where is your victory?” (I Cor 15:55-56).
Jesus is not an angel who took on flesh, nor was He an angel in some far distant time. Jesus didn’t take on the “nature” of angels, but as the Seed of Abraham He appeared as the Son of man. The process of elimination brings this done to the complexity God established, man fell, but no man could save man, yet God as a Spirit couldn’t save man, since God was not man, thus God had to be man, without being man, yet without being God. How could this be? Jesus as the Word made flesh, the purpose and answer.
Forasmuch as the children who were lost under darkness were “partakers” of flesh and blood, God also likewise took “part” of the same. Later in 3:1 we will see the word Partaker again, but they are different Greek words. Here in verse 14 the Greek word is Koinoneo meaning to participate, pointing to the nature of man being earth related. It would take someone of the family of earth to save man, yet the someone had to come from Abraham as a human who had the “righteousness” imputed to him, but at the same time the Person had to live a sinless life, show the Mercy of the Father in purity, reject any temptation either by the devil, or the workers of the devil, then die for mankind, yet have the faith to be Resurrected. Who? No one, but Jesus, thus the Faith of Jesus becomes more and more important.
Jesus has delivered us, is delivering us, will deliver us. He didn’t leave us in the same realm of darkness run by the prince of the power of the air, He moved us from there by the Cross to a place of safety, then since we imputed ourselves dead, we could then gain the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. We are then being raised daily, every day some more of the flesh dies, more darkness falls to the wayside, more worldly elements back to the Sea (world) where they came from, yet every day our souls gain more and more of the spiritual nature, until the day when we step form this corruptible flesh into the incorruptible body Jesus has for us. If we hold fast the profession Jesus has given us.
Verse 15 shows fear is associated with death, it’s the fear of death motivating natural man, yet he can’t stop death from coming. We are Delivered from the bondage of fear, then placed in the Light of Life. In verse 16 we see how Jesus became the Seed of Abraham, the very promise of Abraham. Abraham thought it was Isaac, but Isaac was just a shadow. The riches of Abraham was not the Promise of having a son, thus the shadow showed what was impossible for man is possible for God, Jesus as the Son of Promise appeared to set us free.
The purpose of the letter is then revealed in verse 17, in order for Jesus to be our High Priest He had to like unto us, He had to feel the pain we feel, if He was to be our Great High Priest, He would have to feel more pain than any of us could suffer. A high priest who has no feelings for the people they represent lacks Mercy. Jesus being a Merciful and Faithful High Priest in the things representing man before God is able to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Under the Old Covenant the high priest would enter the holy of holies with a small amount of the blood from the animals, but if the high priest wasn’t right before God, he would fall down dead before the sacrifice could be presented. The high priest had to make an offer for himself every time he entered, then he was able to present the sacrifice. After the presentation he would not say to the people, “Your sacrifice has been offered”. Jesus as our High Priest offered Himself, then He was able to say, “Your sins are forgiven”.
Verse 18 shows how Jesus suffered, yet was tempted, thus He is able to “succor” (help) those who are tempted. Jesus represents us, as the Spirit makes us holy. We may not feel it, at times we would even argue the point, but since Jesus stands for us as our High Priest, we must be holy. Our sacrifices are presented to God, we are holy because of Jesus; thus our High Priest makes His priests holy, if they follow the procedures and Order granted to them.
Heb 3:1-19
Wherefore, we are holy brethren, partakers of the holy calling, as priests we must consider the Apostle and High Priest of our “profession” Christ Jesus. This verse shows this is a manual for the priests under the New Order, everything written including the warnings about falling away pertains to the “brethren”. This becomes the center of this letter, every high priest has an Order, very priest has a high priest, let us consider our High Priest, and the Order He follows. If this pertains to priests under the Order Jesus established, it also means the letter is written to those in the Body of Christ.
Prior we found Jesus is the Captain of our salvation (2:10), now He is our Apostle, and High Priest. No one under the Old Covenant could legally be king and priest, they could be king and prophet, or priest and prophet, but not king and priest. God separated the religious order from the government order, but in the Kingdom of God it all changes. As our Apostle Jesus brought us New Commandments for the New Covenant, He also begin something in us which not begotten before. As our High Priest He continually makes intercession, yet we have duties as priests. The Bread and Wine are priestly duties, both the taking, and the offering. There are other duties as well, but each and every one of them must be done with joyfulness of heart. As priests we can toss strange fire into the Tabernacle, something none of us want to do. The Wicked toss strange fire, the fire of destruction based in their self-righteousness. We on the other hand minister the fire of the oil for the lamp of Light.
The word Partakers here is the Greek Metochos meaning someone who shares in a work, office or dignity. Since Jesus is our High Priest, as we are made priests and kings, it stands we are partakers of the office and sacrifice if we follow the Order. As priests we give sacrifices, one is to present ourselves as living sacrifices, then we offer the sacrifice of praise, yet there are other priestly duties as well. The priests under the old didn’t enter the Holy of Holies, it was for the high priest, then only once a year on the Day of Atonement, but our High Priest remains in the Holiest of All by His Blood, forever making intercession for us. The priests in our Order have the ability to come boldly to the Throne of Grace (Holiest of All) at anytime, a better Order then the one Aaron held.
The word Profession is the Greek Homologia meaning a Confession, yet a Confession is more than words, it entails a manner of living displayed by the nature and character of the person, which produces the words. Using words, but lacking the manner of life is a mind game. However, we can see how the word Profession relates, the duties of a priest under the New are not a labor of self-righteousness, rather they have ceased from their own works.
Jesus said He would build the Church, but we are His Body, thus Moses built the tabernacle after the plan God gave him, the Law of Moses was the house of Moses, but Moses didn’t build the house, rather God did, the Law of Moses became the house. On the other hand Jesus did build His House (Church), He is more faithful than Moses. Then the core of truth, Jesus is God the Son, for Jesus built His House, yet only God builds all things. Moses didn’t build his house, God did, God named it then gave it to Moses. Moses was still faithful to the House, but Jesus built His House, He is more faithful. This is important when we talk about priestly duties, the high priest under the Law of Moses held an important position, but Jesus as our High Priest holds a more excellent position.
We find Moses was a servant to the House of Moses, but Jesus as the Son is over the House of God (v. 5-6). Then we find we are the House, we begin as the Body of Christ, then we are built into the Church. Those under the Law of Moses are under the house of Moses; yet the face of Moses did shine, but not his house or body. On the other hand the Body of Jesus did shine, as did His face. The Glory of Moses was on Moses’ head, not his body, but the glory of Jesus is on His face and body. The word House is the Greek Oikos meaning place of dwelling, metonymically it means a household, as in the House of Jacob, or the House of David.
Then the requirements, or attitude of service, rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Not just holding on by our finger tips, but rejoicing of the hope set before us (v. 6). The word “end” here is the Greek Telos, meaning to reach the end of something, not the end of all things; pointing to the end of the Day at the time of the Rapture. This is confirmed in the next verse in the word “Today” which could also read “this Day”, or “Day”, it doesn’t mean today like Monday, or Tuesday, it’s speaking of a Season, since we don’t know the time this Season ends it points to the immediate time, or Now. This helps us make a most important separation in chapter six where we find the “falling away” taking place, as they discarded the procedures and policies Jesus has established.
Recalling how this letter started with the concept of God speaking at sundry times and in divers manners, we can see the Voice is now clearer, the more earnest time is in hand. Today, while it is yet Day, hear His voice. We are not to harden our hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness (v. 8). The children had the faith to cross the Sea, but left their faith on the shore, they began to question God, they were not pleased with the manner God was training them, they murmured and complained because they failed to appreciate what they had, all of which was based in unbelief. They were in a place of cleaning, and training, but they didn’t like the method, they refused to enter in, yet they kept the sabbath day. Unbelief like Belief is a choice, we can accept the presented evidence, or not. The children allowed the surroundings to dictate what they assumed God was doing, they missed the Words spoken to them, they failed to mix those words with Faith to please God, rather they sought to be pleased by God, causing them to make the choice to enter unbelief. Did God stop His work because of their unbelief? No, but He did destroy those who failed to believe, because unbelief is a weapon of the devil (Jude 5).
This is a direct warning to the “brethren” who are “partakers of the heavenly calling”. This has to connect to the last verses in Mark, it’s the same premise, once we are Identified (baptized) into the Body, it’s not a time to stop believing, rather the phrase, “shall be saved” is predicated on our continual belief. Things happen, some of us even get sand in our sandals, some, if not all of us face horrid adversity, but those are temporal, our call is eternal. A year from now, the event will be history, yet our Hope is in God. It would be an injustice not to teach these areas, they are conjoined to our priestly duties. If the priests decided to take a couple of months off, how would the menorah continue to burn? Steadfast in the faith, is a once a week activity.
We also find a paradox proving the point, these verses are telling us not to enter unbelief, by telling us how we can allow our belief to slip. Faith is vital, but so is our belief. To some it’s so impossible to their doctrine it rocks their foundation considerably. If one holds to a concept not found in the Doctrine of Christ, these verses will disrupt them, but in their intellectual endeavor to hold to their doctrine, while trying to explain away the obvious language provided here, they prove the very point of the Scriptures. Why do we think one of the six foundational elements to the Doctrine of Christ is Eternal Judgment? It’s the desire of the Lord for all be saved, but we also see the Cup of God’s wrath poured out, then the lake of fire. It would be Unequal for God to have Eternal Life, without Eternal Judgment.
When we should be teachers, we are in need of teaching, this is a teaching letter. Unbelief can be a firm belief in a false doctrine, which does sound strange, but we know it’s true. One can hold to a false doctrine, or a tradition of man they have made doctrine to the point where they refuse to listen to sound doctrine, yet they believe the unsound doctrine. Is it belief? Or unbelief? It’s unbelief, since is based in something not of Belief. They think their false doctrine is sound, but they lack a clear verse showing the soundness of their doctrine, they assume many things not supported by Scripture, yet when faced with phrases like, “fall away”, they begin with the intellectual excuses. We are priests, who are responsible to our High Priest; we better know what our High Priest believes before we can follow His Order and Doctrine.
It’s vital for us to understand these verses are written to “brethren”, they are not written to the world. The children in the wilderness were God’s children, rescued by God, given a Promise of a land of their own. The warning is not from the scribe, it’s from the Holy Ghost (v. 7). This same book will tell us the children crossed the Red Sea by faith (Heb 11:29), thus they had faith going into the wilderness, but “fell away” while in the wilderness. They didn’t fall away in Egypt, they were saved from Egypt. Jude would have us know, although we should never forget it, how the Lord having SAVED the children destroyed them who believed not (Jude 5). Why should we remember? The answer is here. Confidence in one thing, over-confidence another. We have confidence in the Truth, but some gain over-confidence in fables, it’s dangerous. They tend to excuse away the Scripture, showing the fable is more important than the Truth.
The quote in verses 7 through 11 is from Psalm 95:8-11, but there is a division between Psalm 95:1-7 and Psalm 95:7-11. Psalm 95:1 says, “O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation”. What, the Rock is the Body, do we praise the Body? No, it’s not Praise, it’s a Joyful Noise, or speaking kind, tenderhearted, respecting the members of the Body of Christ. However we also see the word Salvation, thus this Psalm relates to Grace, the purpose for being in the Body.
Next we read verse 2, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with Psalms”. Now it is coming before the Lord, adding to the Joyful noise is “thanksgiving”, the one thing the children lacked. James says a double-minded person will bless God while cursing man. The children blessed God, but cursed Moses, which of course caused the curse to fall on them.
In Ephesians 5:18-20 we found the Will of the Lord is for us to be filled with the Spirit to excess, if we are filled then we will make a joyful noise as we give Thanks for ALL THINGS unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot give thanks outside the Name (Authority) of Jesus, we can’t complain in the Name (Authority) of Jesus, there is no room in the Name for murmuring.
Psalm 95:3 confirms our prior concept of God making gods, for the Lord is a great God, and a great King, above all gods. Then we find, in His hand are the deep places of the earth (kingdom of heaven): the strength of the hills (nations) is His also. The Sea (Gentile world), He made it: His hands formed the dry land (Ps 95:4-5). Hold it, something is wrong here, go back to Genesis 1:9, God didn’t form the dry lands, He spoke to the waters and they gathered together unto one place, because the dry land appeared. So what is this in Psalm 95:5? Oh, wait if this is metaphoric, the earth metaphorically is the kingdom of heaven, the wildernesses we enter is formed of God just for us. This Psalm has to do with the wilderness, so it all relates to wilderness experiences. How do we find the path out of a wilderness? Praise God while facing the exposure, dealing with those things needing to be dealt with, keeping a joyful noise and remembering, “O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand”. Who is man, we are mindful of him? Who made the angels? Who made the ministers? Right in the middle of Psalm 95:7 we see, “Today if you will hear His voice”. Wait we were doing the talking, it was our voices were doing the praise and worship, we were making the joyful noise, where did this Voice come from? The writer shows how Joy brings the Word of the Lord, while murmuring brings frustration.
Clearly Psalm 95 begins with praise, thanksgiving and worship, but then the Lord speaks, it’s evident in Psalm 95:9. This correlates with the subject matter in Hebrews, again the Book of Hebrews is written to “brethren”, not “heathens”. The word Provocation means To provoke, they provoked God, they pushed and tempted Him. Oh now wait, James said you can’t tempt God, so what have we here? James is correct, you can’t tempt God to do evil, since God has no evil in Him from which to operate. The temptation went toward God, but God was not tempted, rather God sent a test back to answer the temptation. Jesus did the same thing with the Pharisees, they tempted Him, He tested them. Jesus was not tricked into doing evil when the devil tempted Him, the Father was not tempted into doing evil by the temptations of the children. A temptation unto evil must entice a lust, or deceive us, God was not deceived by the temptations sent to Him by the children, or anyone else. When they tempted God for “meat”, He sent the “abundance of quail”, so did they tempt God and win? No, they attempted to eat all the quail in one sitting, thus the test produced the exposure of their greed. They had quail meat coming out of their noses, did they need another sign exposing their greed? Perhaps, since they failed to gain one. If they had faith, then the conviction of their greed would have taken effect, meaning the exposure would then have been beneficial to them. However, if we have a hard heart we will think the quail is “the abundant life”.
Whenever we allow unbelief or disobedience to enter we will fail to see the “signs” God is presenting us. God will not force us to take the Gift, He will not force us to keep it, this is a Covenant, He presents, we accept. He will give us everything we need to maintain the gift, everything we need to be good witnesses, everything we need to make it to His throne, everything we need, yet if we make the choice not to accept the Gift, or any part thereof, it’s up to us. We can’t force God to take us, He won’t force us to accept Him. The evidence is the children, the Promised Land was promised to Abraham, the children were heirs, yet they had to fit the requirements of the will (covenant). Jesus is the true Heir, we are made heirs, there are requirements for us as well. The children entered by faith, but allowed unbelief to rule them. How strange, since they saw what happened to Pharaoh with his hard heart, yet they allowed the same thing to happen to them. They were once slaves, but they turned right around and attempted to make God their slave.
If we are in the Hand of the Lord, can we slip? If we just brush over John 10:25-30 we would assume if someone is in the hand of Jesus they are safe from falling; however, John 10:25-30 moves to the point, it doesn’t start there. It also shows we are individuals, no one has the power to take us from the hand of Jesus, if we fall, we fall, thus failure is a choice, when one has choice, it means at least two elements must be presented in order to make a choice. Why is it important here? Fables, those who hold fables regarding Mercy, Grace, Salvation, or even our priestly Order are about to fall. They see verses exposing their fable, yet claim them to be “hypothetical”, tell the children who died in the wilderness it was hypothetical. The Holy Ghost is spending a lot of time and study on a “hypothetical”, but if we can see this book supports the concept of the “broken Body” of Christ, as it defines the difference between the Wheat and Tares, the difference between the “holy brethren” and the “wicked”, then all this makes sense. We are called priests and kings, but we know there are good priests, and bad ones, there are good kings, and bad ones. This book is giving us the key we need to be a good priest, to maintain the duties of our priesthood in such a way as to please our High Priest.
Jesus said, If we can’t believe Him, believe the Works. However, He added we believe the works are from God, it seems when we can’t believe in Jesus, we can’t truly believe the works are from God. A belief in Jesus, and the belief in the works being God based seems to run hand in hand, it’s difficult to say, “oh I believe it’s from God, I just don’t; believe it’s from Jesus”. On one hand we claim to be in the Hand of Jesus, but every time an event comes it doesn’t please us, we assume we’re in the hand of the devil, if it isn’t double-minded, nothing is. We are going to see we must maintain a “God Is” thinking, but didn’t the children have a “God Is” thinking? Yes, but we have to add God is “a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”, the children had a “God Is going to kill us” thinking, hardly a faith statement.
When we follow Jesus, He remains our Lord regardless of the event, thus we are not talking about merely believing, but believing to the point of reaching a position where we stand and hold fast to the “end”. End? End of what? Back in verse 6 we find the word End, as it refers to a season coming to an end. The element is the Day, which helps us understand how the bits and pieces to those under the Old produced the word “Today”, thus to them Today meant the day they were hearing, but to us it means “The Day of Salvation”, our Season, the Day, which comes before the Night.
The context here is not merely to believe, it’s to Continue to believe. The children are used as an example of someone who will believe to escape the world, but fail to believe in God once they enter a safe place (wilderness). All of a sudden, they are no longer pleased with what they have, they want things beyond the norm, they want “miracles” to show how great they are, to show everyone they are special, they allow their ego to overpower their faith. It’s not wrong to desire, it’s wrong not to appreciate what God has given us. It is also wrong to sit with a mouth full of quail, yet claim we are starving. There is a difference, a very big difference. Greed is never satisfied with what it has, God gave, but it’s not good enough, they want more, but when they get more, it’s not good enough, and the wheel goes around and around. Learning to appreciate what we have, and still desire, is the key to all this. However, we all know we can enter the mind game of attempting to make God think we appreciate what we have, while inside greed is reaching out for more. Whether it’s machines, equipment, position, place, or mate, greed is never satisfied. However, in order not to blame God, we will blame the person who give us the benefit, we wanted the bigger better one, so they of course were not listening to God, or perhaps they were, the test of greed was upon us, if we recognize it. The “eye of greed” is blinded to the hole in the bottom of the bag, greed ruins what it desires, the things fall apart, or slip away, or no longer work, our greed has cursed them. The children were not sick, they never needed clothes, they obtained a Law, a Tabernacle, but they were not satisfied with God, thus God was not well pleased with many of them (Cor 10:5).
The concept of Temptation is still the subject matter, even with Moses, and those who were with Moses to the wilderness (v. 3:9). Moses was tempted by the children and he acted on it, but he paid the price for hitting the rock twice. Was Moses a great man? Yes, yet he fell to the temptation as he allowed his anger to act for him. Not like Jesus, who was tempted, but didn’t fall. Moses was angry, it didn’t take much for the anger to control him when he hit the Rock twice. What did he want to hit? The Rock? No, he took his anger out on the Rock, the Rock represented the people. Anger not dealt with will always find a target, in the case of Moses he would have been better off to deal with the anger while still in the presence of the Lord. Paul found going to the Lord during those times grants him the sufficiency of Grace.
These verses also dispel the false concept of Jesus being tempted meaning He couldn’t be God, since you can’t tempt God. Who then is talking in Hebrews 3:9 and 10? Moses? It’s God, verse 7 tells us the Holy Ghost is giving us this information. The evidence shows the devil came at Jesus with the three primary temptations, but they had no effect on Him. The devil even produced a false vision, but Jesus wasn’t buying it. Everything the devil threw at Jesus had to do with the purpose of Jesus coming, yet they all had a “trick of evil” attached. We are the Bread, the devil said, “turn these stones into bread”, hard hearts? Bread? Rock? Metaphorically we can see how the devil tempted Jesus to force the plan on man, after all, all things are created for Jesus, why not make the hearts of man soft, so all can be saved. Come on, it’s the will of the Lord for all to be saved and none lost, so what’s wrong with making people accept Him? What’s wrong with using deception, tricks, or games as long as they accept Jesus? Gaining converts by using the “ways” of the devil isn’t a wise thing to do.
Why not use wicked and evil lies to trap people into the kingdom? Why not indeed, using evil to reach what we presume is a Godly result is still using evil. For some reason a heretic will always give us the hint of their folly in their manipulation. They tell us if we don’t accept their words without question we are not humble, or we are not spiritual, or the biggest manipulation of all, “you don’t know the Bible”. They lay guilt on us, before they present their opinions. We must discern their ways, but we must not use them.
When the devil was done, he left for a season, but them came his “family” of religious tempters, did they tempt Jesus? Yes, did Jesus fall for their temptations? No, Jesus having tasted temptation made Him perfect as our High Priest, we have not a High Priest who lacks the compassion to deal with us, He knows what’s it like to come face to face with temptation. This in no way means let’s all run out and fall into temptation so Jesus can have compassion on us it would be using temptation, not falling into it. This is also a reminder to the priests, we were those led around by the prince of the power of the air, don’t forget if it were not for Jesus, we would all be lost. Have compassion on the fallen sheep, just as we would the new convert.
Verse 9 also shows the children saw the works, but the key is found in verse 10, they failed to know God’s Ways. Hebrews tells us to Hear the Voice of the Holy Ghost, thus Jesus said His Sheep Hear His Voice; the warning in Hebrews is failing at the Hearing. This then is giving us the condition of “hearing”, the fundamental premise to obtain faith. The children thought God was coming at them like a great steamroller, death was coming, death was coming. Even if it was, the past experience of the Passover showed they could be spared. They saw the works (acts), but they didn’t know the ways of God, there is a difference between God’s Ways, and His Acts.
The two words Provocation and Temptation show us it wasn’t God tempting the children, but the children tempting God to do evil. This gives us another aspect, if we send a lust toward God, will He ignore it? No, He turns it into a testing unto exposure. God is not going to ignore the temptation sent to Him, He will deal with it. On the same note we could take the same test coming from God, filter it through the lust enticing ourselves.
The children entered the wilderness with the Passover behind them, but since they didn’t please God, they were not in faith, they soon found the Ten Commandments, the Law of Moses, and the Sabbath day. They kept the day, but failed to enter His rest. So, does it mean the Ten Commandments, the Law of Moses, and the Sabbath day are all bad? No, it means God gave them what they could handle, they could only handle things outside of faith; however, Salvation and Grace are based in faith. The Law of Moses will not save us, the Ten Commandments will not save us, the sabbath day will not save us.
The word Temptation is the Greek Peirasmos it has two meanings depending on the context in which it’s used. James used it to show both sides, thus he points out “tempted with evil”, and “testing of our faith”, the latter being the Good, the testing of our faith is never to destroy us, it’s always to purposed to give us strength. It is so very important to understand in order for any evil temptation to have effect it must draw the person into the act of doing evil, thus the person must have some evil in them to be drawn. The devil may have tempted Jesus, but Jesus was not tempted.
Generally Peirasmos means to Try one’s Character, or try their heart, in our case it’s our New Heart trying our character. The word “try” means rubbing two things together to bring the inner parts forward. When our faith is tested, what comes forward? Faith, or fear? Words of Grace, or words of anger? Which do we love the more? Are we fighting God attempting to save our own souls? Are we holding parts of the old nature, or do we have the Character of Christ? If we have the Character of Christ working, then the New Man can’t be tempted. The testing engrafts the Word deeper into our souls, as our souls are being grafted into the New Man, therein lays the reason for the testing.
The word Proved in verse 9 of Hebrews 3 is the Greek Dokimazo meaning a Notion to prove a thing or person to determine if they are worthy or not; however, in this context it was not God Proving the children, it was the children proving God. God proves us to make us strong in the Faith, we prove Him from our unbelief. It’s the premise found in Malachi, if were a Jew, or if we understand how the children proved God, we can understand why God said to Prove Him on the Tithe under the Law. It wasn’t a “blessing”, but a promise in advance to get them to obey. A person of faith doesn’t Prove God in any way, shape or form. If God has to get us to do something based on giving us some reward, we are not of faith. Will God reward us for doing the Law? No, the Law will, but at the same time we are rejecting the Cross, since the Law points to the Cross, it doesn’t provide it.
Why even tell us about these children who were not Born Again, who didn’t have the Cross of Jesus or Grace? Because they are an example, they were delivered from Egypt, they had signs before them, they had faith entering into the wilderness, but they didn’t know the Ways of God. The testing of our faith produces a knowledge in the Ways of God, it doesn’t mean we won’t see Acts, it means if we know the Ways we won’t misuse our faith on self-based acts failing to please God.
Verse 10 uses the English word Grieved, but this is a different Greek word than the one used in Ephesians 4:30 in reference to grieving the Holy Spirit. Here in Hebrews the Greek word is Prosocthizo, in Ephesians it’s Lupeo. Prosocthizo means To be against, or To lay a burden on; whereas Lupeo means To make sorrowful. Our words will either cause a sadness, or a joy to the Spirit, depending on our words, but all unbelief comes against the Spirit. When they came against God they provoked Him, when they came against the servants of God, they invoked His wrath. When we grieve the Holy Spirit, He turns in sorrow, if we come against the people of God, the Spirit will turn and be our enemy.
The word Rest is the Greek Katapausis meaning A time of rest from above, referring to the Sabbath Day rest. The children in the wilderness were the first to hear of the Sabbath Day Rest, thus they were the first to keep the Sabbath Day, but they never entered the Rest of God. Merely keeping the day has nothing to do with entering the Rest of God, rather we must enter by Belief.
The sabbath day was the token for the Law of Moses, circumcision of the flesh the token for the Abrahamic Covenant, being sealed by the Spirit with the circumcision of the heart is the token for Grace, our water baptism is our token for entering the Body by the Mercies of God. All these are tokens, but none in and of themselves are the Rest of God. The Rest of God comes when we Believe in God, regardless of the event.
Verse 12 goes right to the Brethren, as a warning, “lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief”. The phrase “any of you”, coupled with “brethren” seems to be clear, this is written to Christians. Exposure is a test of faith, the time when we see what we have been using, which is not conducive to the New Covenant. God exposed the unbelief of the children, but they refused to see it. This part of the letter directs itself to the premise, we must be aware, open and ready to accept exposure, to gain the healing in order to find the Perfection of Christ.
When unbelief comes off our lips, instead of saying, “it was my mouth you gave me”, we say “Look Lord, did you hear me? I am exposed, thank you Jesus, now I can be free, clean me oh Lord, make me pure as You, I submit to You”. Two different conclusions from the same exposure, one wants to protect the old nature, the other wants to be free.
When anger comes to our minds like a corruption eruption, we know something, or someone pushed our button, something is exposed, instead of allowing anger to act or speak for us, we keep our mouths closed as we submit to the Spirit; thereby defeating the temptation. Paul went to the Lord three times when he was attacked by the brethren, each time he found Grace was sufficient. The Lord didn’t tell Paul, “Now son, it was sufficient before, but you used it all up”, nor did He say, “Paul, we have been through this before, I will not go through it a third time”, nor did He say, “Paul, Paul, look at you, I wonder why I picked you”. No, this is still the Day, Grace is still sufficient, it always is. Always take Joy in the exposure, it’s time for us to be rid of some hindering element.
The word Departing is the Greek Aphistemi meaning To remove oneself, it doesn’t mean removed by another, thus this isn’t God removing us, or someone else removing us, it’s still based on choice by the person. Jude confirmed they by saying there are those who, “separate themselves” (Jude 18-19). This explains no one can remove us from the hand of God, but we can remove ourselves, thus removal can never be by an outside element, it’s something the person makes the choice to do, just as belief is by choice. There are some who say, “well I gave it my best shot, but I knew I would fail”. They made the decision to fail before they started, in essence they Predestined their failure. If we can, we can also Predestine our success in Jesus by walking in the Spirit.
Verse 15 makes a direct correlation between the Provocation and anyone in the Wilderness, including us today. We can’t discount this lesson, we receive the Word, if it takes casting out fables we have held for years, so be it. Who do we love the most? The Lord or the fable? This also shows it’s not the world who will harden our hearts, it’s not the unbelieving brother or sister who mocks us, it’s not the relative quoting the Bible as if it was some personal tool of destruction, it’s we who have the power to believe, or not to.
The phrase reads, “harden not your hearts”, has to connect to the belief issue, thus a hardened heart is the result of unbelief. Paul told the Philippians “being confident of this very thing, He (God) which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ” (Ph’l 1:6), of course he also told them, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Ph’l 2:12b). How can it be? Faith says God is working out the good work, it’s not we, thus if Faith is our pillar then we don’t fit those who hold “unbelief”. Faith must have some evidence, our belief provides the basis for our knowledge, to empower our faith unto the Hope. People “believe” many things, but it’s not how God defines either Belief or Unbelief. If we believe something not supported by Scripture, it’s still unbelief. We can hold firm to our “belief” in some fable, but it’s still unbelief, the result is a hard heart. The Philippians were nothing like the Corinthians, yet Paul called them both “brethren”. However, he never told the Corinthians, “God will meet your need”, it was the Philippians who supported Paul when he was working with the carnal Corinthians (Ph’l 4:15).
The Philippians fit the confidence of the phrase “God will finish the good work”, because they were of faith. The same phrase could fit “them who believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb 10:39). We don’t want to assume anything, especially the false concept, if we slip, we’re lost, or the false concept of thinking once we’re saved by the Cross we have completed Grace. Both of those are fables, lacking sound Scriptural support.
On the other hand we find some did not provoke the Lord, there were some, few yes, but some who knew they were in the right place at the right time, with the wrong people. There were some who came out of Egypt who didn’t come out by Moses, rather we came out by the Calling of the measure of faith, just as we came to the Cross when the Holy Ghost called to the measure of faith in us, yet the lessons those who failed to believe extend to us (v. 16). It was the children called of God who caused the grieving, not Egypt, or Pharaoh. The only reason for their failure was unbelief, yet they had the works to prove God Is, they had a history showing there were others who believed in God. We heard, believed what we heart and moved to the Cross, all this letter is telling us is to continue to believe after we enter in order to keep our faith strong.
The Tabernacle from the inside was a place of safety, but when one was on the outside it was scary. They could see the Fire, the Judgment, the Smoke, even the curtain to the Holy Place, which curtain had the great examining eye of God on it. The eye was looking toward the entrance, it was viewing the person coming to the Tabernacle. What to do? Ahh, the sacrifice went before them, yet even it wasn’t “faith”. They knew the Law provided a formula, give a sacrifice, balance the sin by the sacrifice. In our case it’s not only atonement, but remission by the Blood of Jesus. Not by the sacrifice we bring, but by the one Jesus provided. When we came to Jesus we were looking over the curtain, we were seeking the holy place, but all of us have to pass the Entrance to the kingdom of heaven, past the brazen altar, then we enter the water of the brazen basin, then we can make entrance into the holy place where the Light, Bread and Prayers of the saints await.
Verse 19 tells the whole story, “they could not enter in because of unbelief”. Enter in the wilderness? No, they were there? Enter into keeping the sabbath day? No, they did it without fail. Enter into the Rest of God? Yes, they never considered “why did God rest?”. It’s also clear, if God rested because all was complete, why then did He speak in another place? If the work was all done from the beginning, then there is no more rest, no more words, surely no proceeding word. If there is a Rest for the people of God, where is it found? In the Spirit by being Born Again. The New Heart gives us a foundation based in belief and faith to keep us from unbelief. The issue here really isn’t faith, it’s belief. The very premise based on past evidences or proofs, most of which we find in the pages of our Bible. If we continue to change the Bible based on our theology, or what we think people should or should not know we are eroding the foundation of belief. Not wise, considering the result is unbelief. It’s one thing to hold unbelief, another to promote it.
Was their unbelief greater than God’s power for them? Yes, they died in the wilderness because of their unbelief. No one closed the border to the Promised Land, their own unbelief became a “gate of hell”. Was it God’s intent? Of course not, nonetheless God was able to write their unbelief in the plan for our benefit. Let us not forsake their lesson, let us not harden our hearts as they did in the Provocation.
This issue shows they had the prior evidence as a foundation of belief, but rejected it by choice, yet by choice they held to their unbelief. The signs God did in Egypt, plus the parting of the Red Sea held a foundation for belief. Yet the best example was three days into the wilderness when bitter water became sweet. Clearly God delivered them, if God wanted them dead, He would have left them in Egypt. The sweetness of God was being presented, but they rejected it. When they failed to believe, they failed at faith. God has delivered us, we must keep it in mind regardless of the event, or we too can fall into unbelief, losing the foundation of our faith.
Moses saw the Power of the Lord almost daily, thus the Power of the Lord was there, the children simply refused to receive it, they made the choice to hold to their unbelief. Unbelief is the refusal to enter in, doubt comes after we have entered, either will harden a heart. In this area we are learning how the children were delivered from the hands of Pharaoh, but refused to believe God in the wilderness. Where their belief stopped, so did they, but the “move of God” didn’t stop in the wilderness. The Ark of God crossed the Jordan, going before those who would believe, the bodies of the unbelievers remained in the sand.
Considering the wilderness wasn’t Egypt, neither was it the Promised Land, we can see why it’s used, it becomes the Rock, the kingdom of heaven, pointing to the Body. Once we entered we obtained all we needed to finish, whether we know it or not, whether we use it or not. The children had faith in order to cross the Red Sea, they even had a Joy of Deliverance for a short period of time, but when adversity came and rubbed them the wrong way, rather than cast off the feeling, they made the decision to enter unbelief. It’s easy to believe in God in the lap of prosperity, but faith is tested in the face of adversity. It’s not to say we shouldn’t have prosperity, only we should maintain our faith whether it’s prosperity of adversity. Paul said he learned to abound and to be abased, if he “learned” it was by experience.
Heb 4:1-16
Chapter four carries on with the same premise, showing the Rest of God is the Peace of God, which is found in the New Birth, keeping us on the path to reach the End of the Race. If we enter the Rest of God, we have not only heard the Gospel of Peace, we not only tasted it, we have consumed it by walking in the Spirit. Events come to us, just as they did to the children, how they handled the event told the story.
The phrase “let us therefore fear” has to be taken in conjunction with the context of “don’t fall into unbelief”; it’s not a fear of God coming down on us, but a fear of entering unbelief causing us to depart from God. This Rest of God cannot refer to the “works of Judgment” being done, but it does relate to the works being completed. When we are Born Again we didn’t get many various spirits, as one for the seed, one for the blade, one for the full ear. Just as being born of the flesh didn’t give us many physical bodies. As we grew in the flesh, so did the same physical body we were born with. The Seed of God is fully able as a Seed, but the growth brings more strength, clarity, abilities and possibilities. If a child is fifty years old, but still has the physical appearance of new born, we have to wonder. So it is with God, if we obtained the Seed years ago, yet it’s still the “seed”, both God and we have to wonder.
Would all this connect to in the Doctrine of Christ? Yes, it goes to Repentance from dead works, the turning from doing works to obtain, is ceasing from our own works. Dead works are works of self-righteousness, thus this letter can’t be written to those who were doing the Law, since the Law is based in Dead Works. We do works based on having obtained Life, meaning or works are life based. The Law defined sin and death, thus the Law is based on dead works.
The Gospel unto the children wasn’t, “Jesus”, rather it was the promise of God’s deliverance. It was good news, they were being set free of Egypt, but as we found, it was easier to get the children out of Egypt, then the EgyptEuaggelizo which is a compound Eu (Good) Aggello (To proclaim); whereas, the second word for Preached in the Greek Akoe meaning To Hear, thus Faith came, but they didn’t mix the words spoken with their faith, rather they heard, but rejected what they heard unless certain punishment was in hand. Therefore, what they “heard” was not what was preached, thus showing why there are two words for Preached. We can preach one message, yet we will find some took it this way, some another. The faith came, but there were all sorts of “hearers”. It’s not merely “hear His voice”, but looking at the word Hear we find it means receive in the manner the speaker intends, or to hear with the expected heart to enter some premise of God. out of the children. We also find two different Greek words for the word Preached (v. 2). The word Preached in verse 2 is the Greek
The various “beliefs” in the world all come from various people hearing in different manners, some want the super special feeling of being morally correct over the world. Some seek to be the special of special, some element they think makes them greater than the rest of the Body. Some hear, but refuse to submit, they seek another way, a way which they think is superior to Christ in them the Hope of Glory. Of course the Rhema ear hears the Lord’s voice, fitting the plan of Redemption.
This goes back to the “angels” in chapter one, the angels did proclaim the freedom, but the children rejected it. What does this tell us? They lacked faith because of their unbelief, meaning their unbelief manifested in attacks against Moses, their murmurings and bitterness, more important their unbelief was evidenced by testings. Did God test them to belittle them? No, He was exposing, but their own unbelief rejected the exposure, even the most obvious of exposures.
The murmuring, complaining, wanting to vote Moses out, not wanting to hear what God wanted to say, but wanting God to say what they wanted to hear, were all signs of their unbelief. So, what came first the hard heart, or the unbelief? The unbelief produced the hard heart. Some might miss the point and think a soft head is the same as a soft heart, not so. God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, but it began with Pharaoh hardening his own heart. The word Harden is the Greek Skleeruno used in Hebrews 3:8, 3:13, 3:15, 4:7, Acts 19:9 and Romans 9:18, it means To make hard, it was used to refer to Hard Wood, it’s the opposite of Right, or Just, yet the Just live by Faith, thus Faith must grow from a soft heart.
It becomes clear to our souls we are being chastened when we have quail coming out of our noses, it’s even clearer when we go over the line and provoked God when the ground opens and consumes us. Let us not wait until then, while it is Today, let us harden not our hearts. Let us not wait until the Serpent invades our house, or we hear our own voices of murmuring and complaining, while it is yet Today, let us hear His voice.
There is another division taking place in verse 3, like Romans we find the “them”, and the “we”. We don’t want to be the “them”, but we do want to be the “we”. Here it’s, “for we which have believed do enter into rest” (Heb 4:3). This is not “we who believe”, nor is it “we who will believe”, this points to continual belief. We will believe in the face of danger, because we have believed all along. Then the key to this, “As I have sworn in My wrath”, wait in His what? Wrath? Ah gee I thought God was love. He is, but we can go over the line, as the children did, but was the Promise cast aside? No, not at all, the Promise went on, because the plan goes on, ye the unbelief of the children removed them from the Plan.
The “works” were finished from the foundation of the world, so what works, what finished? We don’t have to go back to Genesis, although we will, but first let’s go back a few pages to Hebrews 1:11. Did God create and form the earth? Yes, how about the heavens? Yes, yet we read, “They shall perish; but You remain, and they all shall wax old, as does a garment”. The wording “shall perish” is the Greek Apollumi meaning to destroy, or perish, it’s the root word for the Greek Apolluon meaning Destroyer. This word also means destroyed without a means of repair, or destroyed forever.
Since Hebrews 4:3 used the word Finished we travel back to Genesis 2:1 where we find the word Finished is the Hebrew Kalah, meaning Ready to be consumed, destroyed, or to cease in it’s present state. The works preparing to be destroyed, then the destroying by the Destroyer. The children assuming God was going to destroy them was the same as the children calling God the Destroyer. The destruction was not determined for them, God doesn’t deliver to destroy, He delivers to save. They were to consider why the world was going to be destroyed, it’s the reason for the sabbath day, not a day of “joy” or “happiness”, but a day to reflect on why God rested. God rested from the plan of Destruction, but the work of deliverance was in process. Just as the work of Salvation is in Process now, while it is yet Today, for the Night comes when no one can work.
God finished the works of Judgment, it is set, it will be, it cannot be stopped, but it wasn’t the Work He was doing with these people. He was delivering them, just as Salvation is a deliverance from Judgment. They didn’t want to believe in the deliverance, so God gave them a day to rest, in order to reflect on why God rested. God told them He would set life and death before them, but they had to choose. If choice was before them, then the choice they made was by them. Thereby showing death is the result of unbelief, life the result of belief. However, the children kept the day, but failed to believe, thus anyone can keep the day, yet never really Believe in God. Just because someone keeps the day doesn’t mean they have faith, nor does it mean anything other than a Token for the Law of Moses. The children were the first to have the sabbath day, the Law or the Ten Commandments, yet they failed to enter the Rest of God.
Then we find there has to be yet a Rest for the people of God, for God also said, “if they shall” meaning something yet to happen. This promise cannot be for the children in the wilderness, so who is it for? If we did a word search for the phrase “shall enter into my rest” we found find it only appears twice, both times here in Hebrews. So, is this guy making stuff up as he goes? No, not at all. The mystery is found in Psalm 132, where we read some information building our confidence in the Lord. There are two Zion’s one of the earth, one in heaven, the one in heaven will be defined in Hebrews. In Psalm 132:13 we find the Lord has chosen Zion, He has desired it for His habitation. What? Is Zion in heaven? This refers directly to us, the Lord inhabits us by the New Birth. Then we read, “This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it” (Ps 132:14). Who is talking? Is it the Lord? Or is it the people who found the Rest of the Lord in Zion? Let’s continue, “I will abundantly Bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread” (Ps 132:15). Who is the Bread? We are the Bread (I Cor 10:17). Next comes, “I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy” (Ps 132:16). The word Salvation is the Hebrew Yesha it means Liberty, as in the Perfect law of liberty, it also means Freedom, Welfare, Prosperity, Help, Salvation, and Deliverance; meaning this word can only apply to those who have Grace. Here is the Rest, the children in the wilderness couldn’t enter it, sabbath day or not, Law of Moses or not, tabernacle or not, it was reserved for those who are Born Again.
Verse 6 sums it up, Seeing therefore it remains some must enter therein, and they to whom is was first preached entered not because of unbelief. Take this back to verse 3, “we which have believed do enter into rest”. We can be right in the middle of the Rest of God, and never know it. If we’re Born Again, we’re in the Rest, it’s here now, but if we have slipped into unbelief, we remove ourselves from the Rest. What form of unbelief? Failing to believe God is able. For some reason we enter a “belief” state presuming our sect will save us, or our works will, or we will, or our theology will, or we have to force the flesh to obey, or we have to put on the mask of righteousness, these are forms of unbelief. Any belief coupling to the self, is unbelief.
There are some evident matters, the Rest of God is entered into by belief, while it is yet Today we don’t allow a hard heart of unbelief to hinder us from entering in. There are two types of “enter” in these verses, we can enter into the Rest, or we can enter into unbelief, both take a choice to enter. Another part of this is the word Today, which is the Greek Semeron, a compound word with Ho (this) and Hemera (Day), it could read Today, or This Day, or The Day, the metaphoric use points directly to those of the Day. All this comes together in chapter 6 showing the “falling away” where no one can crucify Christ twice. Work while it is yet Today, for the Night comes when there is no Crucified Christ to accept.
To think for one second no backslider can ever come back to the Lord makes James a useless document, since the entire premise of James is “brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him: let him know, he which coverts a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20). The falling away is a result of retaining the spirit lusting to envy, rather than having the Word engrafted in us. If the falling away mentioned in chapter 6 of Hebrews means we slip, we’re done for, what good is repentance? However, if we know the Night is not for salvation, but judgment, it all makes sense.
God’s Mercy will remain through the Night, but God’s Grace goes in the Rapture, as does the Spirit. It doesn’t mean we can’t say, “Christ here”, or “Christ there” during the Day, but it will be error in the Night. The Seasons are guided by the Gospel of the time, in the Day it’s the Gospel of Peace, which includes God’s Rest. The Gospel for the Night is the Everlasting Gospel, which reads, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev 14:6-7). There is mention of the Cross, Jesus, Salvation, Grace, or Mercy, rather it’s centered on God’s wrath unto the Judgment. This does connect to Hebrews, who made the angels? The Same who made the sea. Who made man? The Same who made the fountains of waters. While it is yet Today, while it is yet today.
If God’s works were finished, why did He wait so long to have the children enter in? Why didn’t God tell Abraham to enter into the Rest? Or Noah, or Adam, or Joseph? Because the believed God, they acted on what God told them. Joseph faced many hardships, yet God was with him.
The children had no excuse, they had the faith to cross the Red Sea, so they had the opportunity to maintain their belief and faith. We have no excuse, we had the faith to come to the Cross because we believed. This explains how the children used panic faith to escape from Pharaoh, but allowed their belief to fade the first time they faced adversity. The Sabbath rule was a result of their unbelief in the wilderness, yet it was before the Law, it’s the same with us, we enter the Kingdom by the Spirit to receive rest for our souls. We believe in God’s ability to deliver us from the world into the kingdom of heaven, but we must continue to believe into the Kingdom of God. Repentance from dead works is mandatory, but repentance toward the Kingdom is just as important. We can repent from sin, yet never accept the Kingdom, or we can repent from sin and join a cult; we must repent toward the Kingdom or we will enter self-repentance.
The sabbath day was not an issue until several things took place, first it was part of the Ten Commandments, thus it took place in the wilderness after the testing of the bitter waters (Ex 15:22-24), after the manna (Ex 16:4), but it was associated with the manna (Ex 16:5), but as a result of God hearing the murmuring against Him (Ex 16:7). The sabbath was not for the believer, it was for the unbeliever, thus Abraham was not required to keep it, Noah was not required to keep it, nor was Joseph required to keep it. The day when the children in the wilderness allowed their hearts to get hard, they were given a day of rest, since they refused to enter The Rest. However, why couldn’t they enter the Rest of God? Belief, it wasn’t because they were not Born Again, anyone has the ability to belief.
Why even talk about the failure of the children in the wilderness? Because the issue was belief, it was not the Faith of Jesus, or a lack of signs. What caused their failure? Their own unbelief, thus belief is based on the presentation of evidence, whether a sign, wonder, or word given us. Faith on the other hand reaches to a hope, the problem the children had was allowing unbelief to enter, causing their faith to slip, never seeing the Hope God placed before them.
The point here is knowing a fear of tomorrow is a sure sign we forgot about the delivering power of God today. Why do we take Communion? To Remember, there at times we need to reflect on all God has done, in order to gain belief for the Now so our faith has a springboard to the Hope.
What happened at the bitter waters in Exodus? Fear, they were merely three days into the wilderness, which has to tell us something. The Resurrection came three days after the Cross, where were the disciples? Hiding. What happened to their belief? Gone, they raised the dead, did healings, heard the words of Jesus about the Resurrection, yet in the moment of panic it becomes a distant memory, thus Jesus upbraided them with their unbelief (Mark 16:16-18).
The children saw God turn water into blood, then part the waters, now they were looking at bitter water thinking it would remain bitter. Like most of us, they knew better than to blame God, so they murmured against Moses (Ex 15:24). However, God looked at their murmuring against His anointed leader as murmuring against Him, something to think about. The Lord guided Moses to a tree, which Moses cast into the water making the water sweet (drinkable – Ex 15:25). Then Moses said, “If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and will do what is right in His sight, and will give ear to His Commandments, and keep His statues, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord who heals you” (Ex 16:26). Based on what? Their murmuring? No, take a look at these things, bitter water is a metaphor for unbelief, the “Tree” was tossed into the unbelief and the water became Sweet (Belief).
This is an area of Rest for the children, but God knew they wouldn’t receive the Word spoken. This was a Good Word from God, yet they missed the Good News (Gospel), just as Paul warned the Corinthians. It was spoken to them, as to us, but they refused to accept it. They could have said, “Well brother Moses, you know many of those stories are not real, just methods to show us God is able, but really this water is gone, no good, there is nothing we can do, but hang you”. The minute we listen to the doubters and pouters who question or challenge the Bible, we will slip from belief, meaning the next step is a loss of faith in the Hope set before us.
Next the children came to the “wilderness of Sin”, it was the second month after leaving Egypt, which would have been about fifty days. It’s also fifty days from Passover to Pentecost, at the time they found nothing to eat, they again murmured against Moses (Ex 16:2). God brought them manna, they murmured, yet God blessed them. A case of greed on their part, God didn’t give them the element they wanted, but God did meet their need. Their greed produced the first indication of the sabbath. They were to gather the Manna six days, on the sixth day they were to gather twice as much, then rest on the seventh day (Ex 16:5). However, then we see why Moses said, “for He (the Lord) hears your murmuring against the Lord: and what are we, for you murmur against us?” (Ex 16:7). Then the Lord Himself spoke unto the children saying, “I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, At even you shall eat flesh (quail) and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know I am the Lord your God” (Ex 16:12). The know they had herds and flocks tells us they had “red meat”, but it was not “flesh” to them, they were vegetarians with the added staples of fowl and fish. This quail hunt is not the Great Quail hunt, it’s found in Numbers 11:31, here they questioned the Manna, what God did was not good enough for them. The point shows the questioning of the manna connected to the required sabbath day, meaning the sabbath was not a product of God’s joy, rather it came as a result of the unbelief and murmuring of the children. It’s reasonable to say God’s rest is not found in His wrath. The children failed to see why they were given the sabbath, they thought it was a Token connected to the Law of Moses, which it was, but it was still to reflect on what they did during the last six days. Did the believe God? Or murmur and complain?
Why say “Today” if all the work was done Back when? Is the work done? Or is the plan done? Belief is gives us the information to guide our faith, by faith we know God farmed the worlds (ages), yet our belief knows we are children of the Day. Our belief knows God has the plan of Salvation complete just for us, yet we must reach toward the finish by faith to be complete in the plan. We know there remains a Rest, since after the children entered the wilderness, the next generation entered the promised land, yet David showed there remains a Day for those of the Day (v. 7). When David wrote the words the sabbath day was established, yet there remained “a Day”. We are children of the Day, thus our Sabbath isn’t a day as man knows it, but Jesus in us, the hope of glory, the Greater He. Our Rest is in our belief, part of which says the same Spirit who raised Jesus will raise us. As long as the Day is active our Sabbath is within, thus the Day is a time of rest in Christ, knowing what God began, He is fully able to finish.
In verse 8 the name Jesus is the Greek rendering for the Hebrew Joshua, but we also find a promise. Moses led the people through the Sea to the wilderness, but Joshua led them across the Jordan to the promised land, thus the Law of Moses is Good, but not Good enough to get us into the Promise. Again we find the phrase, “harden not your hearts”, this becomes the context throughout this part of Hebrews. The center thought is the Perfection of God, but if we allow unbelief to enter, Perfection is only a distance out of touch dream.
This is still to the “brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”, who can harden their hearts by making the choice not to continue to belief. The Rest is at hand, but why? Is there a Work God is doing? Is there one we need to do in order to find the Rest? Could it be continual belief? It might be the point.
Since the children failed to enter into the Rest, yet David spoke of it, the fact then remains: there still remains a Rest for the people of God who believe. If God rested from His works, then those who enter the Rest of God cease from their own works. This is an element pointing to the tenet Repentance from dead works in the Doctrine of Christ. Dead works include any work by the Law of sin and death, or any work holding to the Age of death, or any work involving self-righteousness. We turn from our works, which were based in dead deeds, then form our belief in God, rather than our works. By belief we enter the Rest of God to allow the New Man to save our souls. We must become a servant, rather than think we are master.
If the Law of Moses defined the Law of sin and death, then the things therein pertain to death, yet it promised long life on earth? Ahh, the result was still death, but the Law of the Spirit is Life centered based on eternity. The strange thing is we have to impute death in order to gain Life, thus when we impute death by the Cross of Jesus we find the Law of Moses has served its purpose, it is nailed then to the Cross. It’s also important to keep in mind it’s “Repentance from dead works”, not “repentance from sin”. Both entail a turning, but in reference to dead works it’s turning to the Blood of Jesus to be cleaned from all unrighteousness. After the Righteousness of God was presented in Jesus all other forms of righteousness become unrighteousness, including self-righteousness.
Rest means to cease from Labor, yet we Labor to enter the Rest. What type of Labor? Jesus said “This is the Work of God, that you believe on Him Whom He has sent” (Jn 6:29). Unbelief cannot enter in, it exists because the flesh exalts itself in deeds. Wait, the Law of Moses was not of faith, yet it called for acts of self-righteousness. I think we touched something here, acts of self-righteousness are not of faith, anything not done in faith is sin. The Righteousness Jesus presented is based on the Now, thus it’s eternal, without end, never complete by the act, but remains regardless of the act. On the other hand self-righteousness is only good for the act it is applied to, when the act is complete, the act of self-righteousness is dead, thus they had to keep every sabbath day, rather than just one. To accept Jesus, then go about attempting to complete our own righteousness is really holding the Truth in unrighteousness, the same context Paul used in Romans.
Hebrews 4:12 has been referred to in past studies, the Word is of course the Logos in us as the New Man, who divides, discerns, meaning the New Man is doing the Work while we rest. The Scripture does not say the Word in us is a two-edged sword, it says it’s sharper than one. Our position is Rest is still to be alert to the division and separation taking place. The Word finds something in a corner, then says, “look here at what I found”, faith will say, “Wow, let’s get rid of it, what do you want from me?”, but unbelief will say, “What are you doing? Can’t you leave my stuff alone?”.
There is a very sound reason we move from “enter His rest”, to “The Word of God is quick and powerful”. There is an excellent reason for going from “has ceased from his own works”, to “piercing even to the dividing asunder”. Clearly the Rest is found in the ability of the New Man to secure us in our Belief. The Engrafted Word in us is forming us into the Image of God’s dear Son, it’s a work we can’t do, but one we can rest in.
There is a mighty powerful reason for going from “Today while it is yet today”, to “discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. Why put this teaching here? Did the Holy Ghost have a point? Yes, when we cease from our works, it doesn’t mean all work is done, there is yet a work for the New Man, but a Rest for us. When we Rest we understand the work is being done for us, why would we want to work, if the New Man is doing it for us? The Works God rested from are as good as completed, there is no additional effort, it’s set, no man can change it, but we can avoid it. The premise is once we are Born Again we are to submit to the New Man to become One in the Spirit.
The Word of God is Sharper than Any two edged sword, even the Sword seen in the mouth of Jesus at the Judgment, thus it’s better to submit to the working of the Word, then face the Judgment Sword on the Last Day. The Sword of the Spirit is the Rhema, here we’re not talking about a Sword, but about the Logos which is sharper, but why sharper? To divide and separate? Yes, but didn’t God promise to circumcise our hearts? Ahh, the Logos in us is Jesus in us, the Greater He, Another Comforter proving we have a New Heart which is the New Man, thus from the heart we can believe.
When a Sacrifice is presented it’s cut in half, but here we find the Logos is not cutting as if we were a Sacrifice, rather the Logos as the result of the Sacrifice, but the action is still akin to a type of sacrifice. This method is what the priest did with the doves, they didn’t cut them into two parts, rather they opened to view the inner areas, without dividing completely apart. This connects to our priestly duties, our High Priest as the Word in us is doing a sacrificial work, we must cease from our own works, then engage in the work of Him who is in us, the Greater He, the Exposure unto the Cleaning, to bring us the Salvation of our souls.
This verse will add to the concept of Faith, indicating an element of Faith is submissive. Our belief says the Word will separate, our faith says God Is, regardless of what is exposed. We must learn to bend to the Word with the confidence the future result is God based, rather than have the Word bend to our self imposed agendas we think are best for us. There are several words used just in this verse, which was a trait of Paul’s writings. The Greek for Dividing Asunder is Merismos, it’s used here and in Hebrews 2:4, only in 2:4 it’s translated as “gifts”, both are correct in the context used, as we saw. The Holy Ghost does brings the Gift, the Gift will Merismos us.
Once the Word beings the search, what was exposed will soon retaliate to show it’s supposed power. Usually in anger, at times in self-pity, whichever the purpose is to take our faith eyes off the reason for the exposure. This is not merely separating the soul and Spirit, but detecting the source for clarification. Within the saving of the soul we find three areas, all of which need clarification to separate the actions of the soul from the Ways of the Spirit. The soul is the Mind, Will and Emotions of man, each has strongholds, hurts, or fables picked up along the way. The soul is natural in nature, it came with the flesh, thus it was associated with “born of the flesh is flesh”, yet we are now Born Again, thus the process is for the soul to become spiritual in nature. We need to know if some element is fleshly attempting to counterfeit the Spirit, or is it the Spirit.
Our Mind needs to be renewed into thinking as the Spirit, it no longer can think as the spirit of disobedience. The old man has his thought process, the Spirit uses the Mind of Christ, we can’t use both; the attempt to use both makes us “double-minded”. Our Emotions need to be healed and saved. We need our emotions, God has emotions, but they don’t guide or instruct God. Think of what would happened to the children if God’s wrath became God’s guide. All the manna, and no one to eat it.
Emotions saved help us to praise and worship, they also become warning signs to assist us. When we miss the mark the New Man will convict us, but so does fear, which is an emotion. When emotions are rulers, or guides, we will allow them to speak for us, cause us to react, meaning they will get us into all sorts of trouble. Unsaved emotions run around putting wood where there is no fire, or they go about building fires, where there is no wood. Our. Emotions help us minister, but we never minister through the Emotions. Our Emotions pick up the feelings of others, but when we attempt to minister to the feelings, we are pulled into the same despair, or worse the same deception. When we attempt to minister by our feelings we will end needing more ministry, than the one we are ministering to. The saving of the Emotions brings them into a area where they work for us, rather than against us. How do we know what is what? We enter His rest by allowing the Word in us to separate asunder to bring us to a place where we know our souls are becoming Spiritual.
There is a healing of the soul, as well as saving of the soul. The healing begins when we forgive others with the serious intent of pleasing God. When we retain unforgiveness those hurts will fester, the soul will scab over causing a scare. The scare will become hard, we will then build a wall to protect our egos; the next step is a hard heart. We must forgive completely, the more we forgive the more we’re healed. We can’t forgive one person, yet transfer the blame to another. “Oh I forgave them years ago, but you, yes you knew what was going on, and did nothing”. The Word in us beings clarity, we will see how we thought we forgave, but all we did was transfer the blame to another person.
The Word is Quick, Powerful and Sharper, three areas, each with importance. The Word (Logos) is added to the Quick (Rhema), which brings the Power and Sharpness, thus we could see this as the Logos being the Word projecting the Rhema. The metaphor “sword” means the tongue, the Sword of the Spirit is speaking words of Grace to the hearer, the Sword coming from the mouth of Jesus is to separate the sheep from the goats at the Judgment, but here we find the Logos is sharper than any two-edged sword as it works within, making it akin to the groanings which can’t be uttered. There is no Sword here, the Word is sharper than any two-edged Sword, it’s not a sword. This is not the same as the Sword of the Spirit found in Ephesians, there it is a sword, meaning Rhema or Grace projected from the mouth, in this case nothing is said, the work is eternal.
The word Powerful is the Greek Energes meaning a Working or In Working, explaining the Rest and Labor. We enter the Rest by allowing the Labor of the Word to save our souls. The word Sharper is the Greek Tomoteros, it’s only used here, meaning To Cut, it is akin to the Greek Orthotomeo meaning To handle correctly, thus this is a type of cutting away of the old heart, as the New Heart becomes our nature. The old man was king of the mountain, the spirit of man guided us into disobedience. It attempted to influence us with a nature, its hope was for us to continue to use the nature when we entered the kingdom, only in a legalistic religious manner. The children left Pharaoh at the Sea, but they brought the nature of Pharaoh into the wilderness. The old man is the Egypt (worldly) mentality, the very thing causing the children to fail in the wilderness. They lacked the ability to change natures, but they had the ability to change attitudes.
Now we begin to see what God was saying, the sabbath reflected on the attitude of the children, they saw God’s deliverance as destruction, yet the work is done, the work He was doing was deliverance. Here in Hebrews we find the Law of Moses, the Tabernacle or the sabbath day could neither change the children, or make them believe. The Law of the Spirit is designed to bring a change in nature, the Law of Moses was not so designed.
Keeping the sabbath day may make one feel good inside, or even make them feel superior, but keeping the sabbath will not save their soul, rather they die in their sins. The Word is the Greater He, the old man is the he in the world, guess which one loves self-righteousness? This area of the Word working in us is different from the Wisdom of God, James will talk about. The Word in us isn’t dealing with people in this case, it’s dealing with us. Clearly if the Word in us is dividing and separating it points to Process.
Paul talked about casting down imaginations in II Corinthians, but who is going to expose the Imagination from the Truth? Our souls? Really? Or will it be the Word in us? Correct, the division between what the soul conjured up, and what the Spirit obtained from ABBA Father is a vital separation. When the imagination comes, from where did it come? Was it a thought? The intent of the thought? A suggestion? Or what? The Word in us is Jesus, thus it’s important not to limit the “word of God” to the Bible alone. If we do, we will think if we read the Bible it will become the Word in us. The Bible is the Rule Book, but without being Born Again we will not have the nature the Bible speaks of.
The Word in us is discerning the source of the intent and thought. This is the area where the Just live by faith, the place of Justification, the area where the hard heart is exposed then cut away, so the New Heart can bring the Salvation of our souls.
This also shows how the Word divides, as it rightly divides. The Word in us, is unto salvation, pure and simple, but facing the Word on the last day is unto judgment, pure and simple.
The first area defined is soul and Spirit, then joints (works or acts) and marrow (ways), then to the discerning of the thoughts and intents. Jeremiah 23:20 says, “The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He have Executed (Hebrew Asah To toil, or Form), and till He have performed the Thoughts of His Heart: in the latter days you shall consider it perfectly”, the same thing is said again in Jeremiah 30:24; therefore, the Work regarding Judgment was done from the foundation of the world. The world is moving in the work, as we are moving from the work into the Rest of God by our continual belief.
The soul looks to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Spirit to the fruit of the Tree of Life, the Word (Logos) mixed with the Rhema shows the soul which is which. When something is Pierced it’s opened and naked, verse 13 shows all things are Naked and Manifest in the sight of God, why then do we want to hide behind a mask of pretend holiness?
The Old Testament high priest presented the sacrifice, not the person, but Our High Priest presents us; the high priest of old was restricted to the earth, but Our High Priest is in heaven. We saw the “holy brethren”; then “partakers”; then the calling, now we Consider Jesus, and the Profession. A Profession is the type of work we are known by, it’s the Confession at work, or being worked. We said, “I love God with all my heart, I trust God, and I have faith in God”, then God applied the test to the confession to gain an experience to make it a Profession. The Profession firms the Hope, allowing faith a confidence. On the other hand, we may find the test produced an exposure, indicating how our mouth moved faster than our heart.
Jesus is touched with our weaknesses, but He will not be moved by our natural agendas, or supposed greatness, nor will He submit to words, or lust based prayers. He does know our weaknesses, but He has also given us the New Man to bring Strength where there is weakness. He will move us to higher ground based on our faith in Him to move us. Verse 15 shows Jesus was Tempted in all points, there are only three points in which all temptation lays, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. The temptation came, but Jesus being without sin was not tempted, thus no one can tempt God with evil, since there is no evil in God, which we have all ready discussed.
If Jesus is the Word, and the Word in us is “working”, and Jesus is our High Priest, and Paul said we are the “temple”, or better the Holy of Holies, what is Jesus doing? High Priest activities, we present ourselves a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service, yet a sacrifice must be examined before it can be presented. The time of presentation is yet future, the time of preparation is a Process for the Now, while it is yet Today.
We have to be careful in reading verse 15, or we will read it as, “For we have a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses”, when in fact it shows “we have Not a high priest”, thus showing Jesus has been tempted, yet He never fell to the temptation. He also knows what it will take for us to have the victory. The one phrase man no longer can use is, “You don’t know what I’m going through”. There is nothing fallen on us, which is not common to man, or nothing Jesus hasn’t faced. “Well, I don’t know, this thing is something no one has faced”, there is nothing fallen on us which is not common to man, or nothing Jesus hasn’t faced, or gained the victory over. “Oh shut up, and leave me with this pity, it feels good”. Ahh, the flesh wanting his self-nature comforted, which is a sign of unbelief in the Victory of Jesus.
The phrase “be touched with the feeling” in verse 15 is the Greek Sumpatheo from the Greek Sum meaning Together with, and the Greek Pascho meaning To suffer. This shows the Cross was more than any of us could bear, yet Jesus not only suffered, He gained the victory. Now try to say the event facing us is something strange.
Verse 16 is a Hope showing a position not granted to any man prior to Jesus, not even Adam. Adam being a living soul could not come boldly to the throne, he had to wait for the throne to come to him, yet when temptation came to him, he did partake. The Faith of Jesus is tested, proven and willing to stand as a Shield for us. Even a prophet like Isaiah couldn’t go to the altar of God, he had to wait for an angel to bring a coal from the altar. We come Boldly to the Throne of Grace (position) to obtain Mercy (condition) then find Grace (Ability in the Rest of God) to help in time of need. Like Paul we will find Grace is sufficient, it always is.
Will we fall to times of unbelief? Yes, but we have a High Priest who can clean us, and bring us back to Belief. The word Boldly is the Greek Parresia meaning a Freedom or Frankness to Speak, or a Confidence with a Plainness of Speech, it’s approaching the Throne by Words, not acts. The phrase “May Obtain” is the Greek Lambano, which we know from our study in Romans; we Lambano, Jesus is KataLambano toward us, as the Spirit is SunAntiLambanomai for us. Lambano is using the same method used to obtain us, showing we can’t use anger, when Jesus uses Mercy. We must respond in the same manner is Jesus is responding. Jesus approaches us with the intent of saving our souls, we must respond the same way by allowing Him to save our souls. This doesn’t mean some mirror, where Jesus approaches us to save our souls, and we think we’re going to save His. It would be stupid, it means holding the same attitude and conviction. When the Word begins to divide, we can’t ignore what is going on. The Word is bringing clarity, it’s our position of Rest to observe what the Word has brought to the light. The Greek Lambano also denotes one received what was offered, then used the same means to offer it back again, clarity for clarity. The word Time is the Greek Eukairos meaning Well timed or Opportune, shows we don’t wait, we move to the Throne whenever the need is there. Lambano points to the Method of the Weapons of our warfare, indicating they are mighty through God, we are given the Peace, Love, Grace and Light from God, thus we have two sets of weapons, one from God, the other waiting in the darkness, the latter is bitterness, hate, vengefulness, strife, ego infested words, manipulation, envy, lust and control, which set of weapons we pick determines if we are standing with God, or against Him.
We know God has a Will at work in the world, no one, not even a Christian can stop it (Isa 14:24-27), but we also know God has a Will for us. The Will He has for us in written on the Record in heaven, the work is being done by the Witness on earth. When we pray for God’s Will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are also asking God for the Witness to conduct the work. In turn God expects us to submit to the Water, Blood and Spirit to conduct the labor. We are not asking God to condone our will, which would be praying through a lust, rather we are telling God we will submit as we enter His will. Use the children in the wilderness as an example, did they pray? Yes, anyone who makes a request to God is praying, so how did they pray? Through a lust, they murmured, complained, and provoked God to the point He called their condition a Provocation. The children wanted God to carry out their agenda, they even attempted to change the Will of God by tempting Him, ye they lost what little they thought they had.
Mercy and Lambano are connected, Jesus told us to Forgive in order to be forgiven, thus our Lambano is based in a heart of forgiveness, it’s willing to forgive before there is a cause to forgive. How can we come Boldly? By the Faith of Jesus? Yes, but what is the Faith, and how does it work? It works by Love, thus when we stand in Mercy and Love we have the confidence to come Boldly. Some attempt to come Boldly, but they either want God to inflict some harm on others, or they want God to carry out their agenda, hardly faith, or Mercy. What about those we simply can’t forgive? Jesus is our High Priest, if it’s our desire to forgive, Jesus will grant us the power to complete the act. The Ingress Aires answered the question, there are times when we come to the Throne of Grace and required Breath of Christ, in order to have the ability. The “faith issue” is knowing it may not be “instant forgiveness” on our part, but faith still stays the forgiveness will manifest. It’s an aspect of our priestly duties, to administer Mercy, the Mercy of God does endure forever.
This process is only open to the New Testament priest, follow the steps, we enter the holy place where we find Mercy, then into the holiest where Grace remains. Since we are priests, we can partake of the things in the holy place, which means we can “obtain Mercy”, but only our High Priest has duties in the holiest of all, thus we Find Grace, we don’t obtain it. Wait, isn’t the Gift Grace? Yes, the Gift still belongs to Jesus, we are given the gift based on His freewill in order for us to do the things of Grace.
The thought in all is this is to “hold fast our profession” (v. 14). Don’t let it “slip”, don’t allow a hard heart to enter in causing us to fall away from our profession. We gain the strength not through deeds of the Law of Moses, but by being a priest unto the Lord, as we come boldly to the Throne of Grace to Obtain Mercy, and Find God’s Grace to help in the time of need. What time? When we begin to slip from our profession.
Heb 5:1-14
Can we have a like confidence? What manner of High Priest do we have? What manner did Moses have? The priests under the Law of Moses were “ordained for men in things pertaining to God”; however, as the Son of man Jesus was appointed by the Father to be our High Priest in the things pertaining to man by God. Here is where another division takes place, the priests of old cared for the things of the tabernacle as they pertained to God, but Jesus as God the Son is in us pertains to the things of the saint, as they relate to God. Paul explained this to the Corinthians when he said, “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (I Cor 2:13), and “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; so we might know the things which are freely given to us of God” (I Cor 2:12).
This Priestly Order is perhaps as important, or more so than our Kingly positions. Priests operate under an Order which pertains to their Priesthood, any priest who operates outside of their Order is casting strange fire into the Tabernacle of God. We cannot do the duties of the Levitical Priesthood, and the duties of the New Testament Priesthood at the same time, it would be Two Orders, not One.
In reference to the earthly high priest, he should have compassion on the ignorant, and those out of the Way, since we were also human and weak, thus ignorance is a human trait; being carnal or fleshly is a human trait, but it doesn’t mean we have faced all things, neither does it mean the priests of old have faced all things. Jesus as our High Priest knows exactly what we have faced, what it takes to heal the wound, what it takes to protect us for the future, while at the same time saving our souls. The phrase “them who are out of the way” is the one Greek word Planes meaning A wandering out of the right way, or as we would term it a backslider.
The priests of Israel and the Order of Aaron all came from the tribe of Levi, regardless of when it was BC or AD. If they were a Jew of the tribe of Levi, then they could be appointed to the office, but not all Jews could say, “guess what, I want to be a priest”, they had to be born of the tribe of Levi, then appointed by man to be in the office (v. 4). In the Book of Revelation we find we were “Made” kings and priests (Rev 1:6). This does not pertain to leadership alone, it means everyone who has been Born Again. Our Order is specific, “unto God and His Father” (Rev 1:6). Truly we see Jesus termed “God” here, so this pertains to the position of the Son of God. Yet, we find the Body of Christ has “sons of God” as well as “sons of men”. Our priestly Order pertains to the People of God, not merely the “things of God”. The role of Intercessory prayer is a priestly duty, as we stand for the saints.
Christ glorified not Himself, He didn’t say, “I’m the Son of God, I must be High Priest”, rather the Father said many years ago, “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec” ( v. 6). Six times we find the phrase “Order of Melchisedec” in Hebrews (5:6, 5:10, 6:20, 7:11, 7:17 & 7:21). This is after the Order of Melchisedec (Melchizedek), not after the man; Hebrews never tells us Melchizedek is our high priest. Going back to Genesis 14 we find the meeting between Melchizedek and Abraham then we read Melchizedek was, “the priest of the Most High God” (Gen 14:18). The word Priest is the Hebrew Kohen meaning the principle officer, or acting priest, meaning there were others, even outside of the Levitical order who held this title (II Sam 8:18, I Kings 4:5, and I Chron 18:16). How can this be? The Law of Moses wasn’t even around yet. Ahh, this Order is not associated to the Law of Moses, it is apart from it, before it, and consisting of an Order all it’s own.
We can’t use the excuse, “well Abram only gave tithes once”, since we don’t know it’s the case, what we do know is God wanted us to see the meeting, as well as the Order, and what the Order consisted of. There are some things we must keep in mind, the Commandment regarding the Tithe didn’t come until Leviticus 27:30, Abram is not said to have given a “Tithe”, nor was he termed a “Tither”, but he did give Tithes. All different things, the Tithe under the Law is by Commandment, the person who gives the Tithe by the commandment is a Tither, but the thing given is the Tithes. If there is no Commandment regulating the amount of the Tithes, then it becomes voluntary by the giver. This will be evident in the terms, “take tithe”, and “receive tithe”.
There are some who hear “tithe” in any form and go into a rage, some even make the mistake of considering the Tithe “illegal”, the Tithe isn’t since it came from God as a point of the Law, but so was circumcision of the flesh. The wrong person doing it would be illegal for the person, since the Law and Commandment doesn’t apply to them. It doesn’t make the Tithe illegal, it means the person is doing an illegal act. This was the great concern of Paul toward the Galatians, doing the “lawful” thing when one doesn’t have the lawful right to do it, thus making the effort unlawful. Of course there are others who extract Tithes, or use the tithe as a means of control, then there are others to claim the Tithe is not for the Christian. Tithes without a Commandment are monies or things given to any priest for the assistance of the “house of God”. We found several verses back Jesus is the Son over His own house, which House we are (Heb 3:6). There are two elements in which one can “take tithes”, one is by manipulation (grudgingly), or based on a promise of a return greater than the gift given (necessity – II Cor 9:7). Either one of these removes both the “taker” and “giver” from the Love of God. How can one take tithes, yet say they are against the Tithe? By manipulation, they indicated if we don’t give, we are not Christian, or if we ask for material, yet don’t give we are not Christian, it’s not only manipulation, but becomes hypocrisy if they have set themselves against the Tithe, since they are in fact extracting tithes from the person by using manipulation.
The terms are important, we reviewed them some lessons back, but for quick review, the Tithe is ten percent, based on the Hebrew word Ma’saer meaning Tithe, or Tenth, it was used in the phrase “a tenth thereof” (Numb 18:26, Ex 16:36 et al). A free will offering is something the person does without having “heard” from the Lord, nor is there any Commandment, Law or Regulation telling them to give; Alms are things given to the poor and needed. In Malachi the premise was “rob God”, but with us it’s different. If we do not have a Commandment, or premise making it legal for us to “take tithes”, meaning if we do “take tithes” we are robbing the people of God. What if our pastor says, “We are going to receive your tithes and offerings now”? It’s within the bounds of our Order, the priests are to Receive tithes. What if the same pastor said, “We are going to take your tithe now, and if you don’t give you are in danger of hell fire”? It would “taking tithes”, which would illegal for the Priest under the Order of Melchizedek. Why? We have no commandment telling us we can take tithes from people, we do however have an Order saying we can receive tithes.
The Order has some obvious attributes we will look at, but the entire meeting tells us much. Both Abram and Melchizedek respected each another, they each gave to one another, but neither received from the king of Sodom. Respect for those in our Priesthood is a priestly function, must honor the members of the Body of Christ. This meeting set the premise we find in Romans and Corinthians; many of our functions are between members in the Body. By both Abram and Melchizedek excluding the king of Sodom we find the Order was restricted between those who serve the Living God. Both gave, both men received, neither had a rule, regulation or commandment telling them to give.
If we slander a member we have tossed strange fire into the Holy Place, not real smart. How? Removal of Mercy, we come to the Throne to obtain Mercy, but how can we if we don’t apply any? Mercy is our first encounter in the Priesthood Order, we are given Mercy, we are expected to give it. We can look at the vast difference between Taking tithes, and Receiving tithes.
Not only did the Father say “You are My Son” but He also said, “You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (v. 6). The Greek word for After in verse 6 is Kata meaning From higher to lower, the Greek word for Order is Taxis meaning To place in Order, or in Rank, it doesn’t mean Jesus followed the teachings of Melchizedek, but there was something about the Order of Melchizedek becoming at issue. The Order of Melchizedek doesn’t mean Melchizedek was Jesus, nor does it mean Melchizedek came from heaven, it means the person did things as a priest, which display a certain Order of the Priesthood. This will also prevents the false assumption of one being a priest under the Levitical Order, and the Order of Melchizedek at the same time, they are two completely different orders. The “tithes” issue is one dividing factor, as is the Bread and Wine.
The best evidence of the Bible being Authored by the Holy Ghost is the enigma of Melchizedek, a gentile given proper notice in the Bible, who has heard of such a thing? This person who appears once is given a specific place, one so vital to the Cross we find the Priesthood being changed actually caused the Law of the Spirit to be in place. The Priest under the Order of Melchizedek has the Law of the Spirit, the Levi priest has the Law of Moses.
If Moses was the author, he would never have put this man in the text. Why? The Law of Moses was not yet when Abram gave tithes to Melchizedek, clearly Melchizedek is a “priest of the most high God”. If Moses the man was the Author two things would be evident, he would have said Abram was the priest, and it would have been Abram taking tithes, not giving them. To place another priesthood in the text would bring confusion by indicating a priesthood before the one Moses established in Aaron. No, the Holy Ghost moved on Moses, and the man wrote was he was told. The Aaron priesthood is based in the Law of Moses, the only things we know about the Order of Melchizedek are written for us. However, this Order of Melchizedek had some main elements, respect is one, bread with wine another, then the “tithes” without commandment. The Law of Moses had bread, tithing by commandment, and other similar things, but there was a major difference. In the Law of Moses the sacrifices were the main issue, but in the Order of Melchizedek the Bread and Wine were the focus. We also find cursing and blessing in the Law of Moses, but the Order of Melchizedek was based on “Blessing” (Gen 14:19). The two elements of Bread and Wine center on the Body, for we are the Bread, and the Blood of Jesus, the New Covenant, both also represent the Priesthood of Jesus. If the concept of Abram “only gave once” is our excuse, we must also consider Communion was done once, to do it again would be illegal, which we know is not right. Paul told us when we gather we are to partake of Communion, so the “one time giving” falls short in face of the evidence; however, there is an added element, the Spirit, the CharismaCharis, the cheerful giver, the mutation change from having to tithe under Commandment to being Loved of God because our nature is conducive to being a son of God. of
Jesus as our High Priest gave us the two elements of Bread, and His Blood in the Cup, we as priests partake of the things of the altar. Those two items entail much, they bring to bear the doctrine of baptisms, the laying on of hands, and many areas all within the Order we are a part of. Another issue is how Melchizedek was both king and priest, something not lawfully allowed under the Old, but granted under the New.
Verse 7 tells us Jesus offered up prayers, we could confuse this verse with 6, thinking Melchizedek was praying and offering up prayers, but it goes back to the forth element of the Order of Melchizedek. We know the prayer in the Garden was not for Jesus alone, since He told Peter, “what could you not watch WITH ME one hour?” (Matt 26:40). The reason Jesus prayed during the earthly ministry is told here in verses 7 and 8. Jesus was acting as our High Priest, even as the Son of man He offered prayers and supplications on our behalf. John’s account shows Jesus in the Garden as most of the prayer content was Jesus praying for us, but not for the world. Why? A priest doesn’t offer for those not in the House, Jesus as our High Priest was established before the Law of the Spirit.
The word Supplication means To ask for the supply, the Greek word used for prayers is Deeis meaning To make known a particular need, which would be the context of the prayer in John 17. How could Jesus stand for us, if He didn’t face the many things we face? How could He perform as our High Priest if He didn’t feel and understand our souls? On the other hand, how could any man stand for us before the Father?
The word Save in verse 7 is the Greek Sozo meaning pulled from the world to enter the process of Salvation, thus by His prayers and supplications, the process of pulling us from the world was accomplished, but what then? Leaving us in a Adam state was not the purpose, bringing us back to the Garden so we can face the tree of the knowledge of good and evil isn’t going to open heaven. The aspect of the verses here shows Death, we are delivered from the fear of Death, which is found in the second death. Freedom comes with the confidence of Life, unto the hope of Life More Abundantly (v. 7). We’re moving step by step to learn of the Greatness of Jesus.
Jesus being The Son of man learned Obedience by the things He suffered, we learn by the things we suffer for His sake. The Greek word for Learned in verse 8 is Manthano meaning To have learned something in order to understand it by experience, it goes further than learning something from someone, it means one has learned it by living it. The phrase Being Made Perfect in verse 9 is the Greek word Teleioo meaning to Mature, Be complete, or Reach the intended goal, which is really the heart of this letter.
God taking on flesh to experience man’s feelings, then God bringing us the Seed of God so we can experience the things of God are all part of Grace, the Good News. In order for Jesus to be our High Priest, He had to experience the things of man, but in order to bring us into the position, He must be God the Son, a position between positions, while being in both positions.
The writer keeps pointing to Melchizedek, making the separation and division between the two orders. If this was not important, why even tell us? It’s vital, we must make the Godly division, or we could find ourselves blaspheming the very Priesthood Jesus has established for us. The invasion of the Judaizers was a serious problem, the idea of the Gentile going back to the Law of Moses, in order to gain what they already had seems foolish to us. However, how many of us pick up winds of doctrine to make us feel more important to God? The Law of Moses is from God, but the Law of the Spirit is better, it advances one from the confines of the Law of Moses to a higher position. The point is why go back to something you are free of, just to gain a position you already have?
Our Order has ordinances, but the Order of Aaron had many Commandments. God gave the priests under the lawful established procedure in Leviticus several years after Abram talked with Melchizedek. If God called the high priest under the Old Covenant, and Jesus is called of God (v. 10), then all the priests under Jesus are called of God as well. It seems to the be point doesn’t it? God called us, we didn’t call ourselves. If God called us, He also equipped us for the task ahead. No priest was called, then not given the wherewithal to accomplish the task. Every priest called of God, has what it takes to complete the task before them. What is our task? To believe unto the saving of the soul.
By Rev. G. E. Newmyer – sbiles25rev7/ © 2003
