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Numbers 14:21-23, Numbers 14:39-45, Hebrews 6:4-6a

Entering into Jesus’ Rest

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
October 14, 2019

When the Israelites took their eyes off of God and His promises to give them the Promised Land wherein lay “rest” from all their enemies, they looked at themselves, looked at their opposition, and doubted God’s promise and therefore languished away in the wilderness for 40 years. The result of that lack of faith was that they could never enter into God’s rest. God told them so in Numbers 14:21-23, “But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers.” In other words, it became impossible for them to enter into the rest God had promised the nation. They tried to do so on their own and were soundly defeated by the inhabitants of that land (See Numbers 14:39-45). It’s impossible to experience God’s rest through our own efforts. God’s promise forbids it just as He forbade the Israelites from entering into their rest.

Something similar is going to be impossible for some of those to whom the author of Hebrews is addressing. In Hebrews 6:4-6a he describes those who will face this impossibility. He says, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away…” The Israelites in Egypt were enlightened while all of Egypt was cast into darkness during the 10 plagues. Jesus, the light of the world, could not be overcome by the darkness (John 1:5). The Israelites tasted the Passover lamb whose blood protected them from God’s judgment on Egypt. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The Israelites witnessed the parting of the Red Sea and joined in the procession of those who marched through on dry ground while the Egyptians entered a watery grave. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit which becomes a well of water within us, swelling up into eternal life and whoever drinks from it will have eternal life. The Israelites saw God’s provision day after day in the wilderness and enjoyed the faithfulness of God providing daily manna from heaven. But Jesus is the “true bread” that comes from heaven and those who feast on it will have eternal life. The Israelites saw the promise of a coming Kingdom in the Promised Land where they would find perfect rest.  Jesus came to bring us the Kingdom and has promised to come again with the Kingdom of God wherein we too will find perfect rest.

With respect to the phrase “fallen away,” the idea has appeared twice before in this epistle. Both times, Hebrews 3:12 and Hebrews 4:11, it has to do with events that took place at Kadesh Barnea. That’s why Tanner says, “Thus falling away’ in v 6 is to transgress against the Lord in a way that parallels what happened at Kadesh Barnea when the Hebrews hardened their hearts and rebelled against the Lord in unbelief.”[1] Because of their lack of maturing faith, the Israelites were unable to move forward into God’s rest. Many Christians today languish in immaturity. They wrestle constantly with guilt and bitterness and find no rest from their dilemma. Only the maturing believer, finding Jesus meat throughout the entire Bible, experiences a vibrant and growing faith in Jesus’ complete sufficiency. His grace is sufficient for all our circumstances. Growing up in Christ requires Jesus meat and the Bible is full of it. Melchizedek is a full healthy meal as it illustrates for us the role of Jesus in dealing with our sin and guilt. The author will go there next.

[1] J. Paul Tanner, “The Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Grace New Testament Commentary, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010), 1053.

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Hebrews 6:3, Hebrews 3:11

Jesus gives us rest

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
October 8, 2019

The author of Hebrews hopes that he can move on from Jesus milk to Jesus meat. The milk is crucial because it nourishes and strengthens us to be able to manage more sophisticated meals; Jesus meat. He’s already explained that Jesus milk consists of several doctrines that are foundational to the Christian faith. The first one is salvation by grace through faith and not confidence in the dead works of the law. The second one concerns the sacrificial system of purification and transferring our sin to a substitutionary sacrifice. It’s not bulls and goats, but the very Son of God that entered into the presence of God with the all sufficient sacrifice for our sins once and for all. The third issue was the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgement from which, as Paul says, in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, is Jesus “who God raised from the dead.” Further it is Jesus who “rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.” These issues are all fundamental and everything about the superstructure must rest upon these principles.

But the writer hopes to move on to Jesus meat. He wants to give his readers something to chew on regarding more mature teaching regarding Jesus. In Hebrews 6:3 he says, “And this we will do if God permits.” The author is again including himself in this prayer. He wants to move on from the foundational truths to build a life out of biblical truths that rest upon the solid ground of the Jesus milk. Just as the milk is “Jesus” milk, the meat is “Jesus” meat. It’s the same nourishment but comes in a more mature form. We know where this writer is going with this because he will return to his study of the life of Melchizedek at the end of chapter 6 and for all of chapter 7. Melchizedek, King of Righteousness, is a figure from the Old Testament that teaches a deeper and more mature understanding of Jesus. That was Melchizedek’s role: to open the eyes of mature Christians to all the glories and wonders of the Savior that strengthen the foundational truths and builds our confidence in Jesus. The writer wants his readers to move on into a mature confidence or rest in Jesus.

But God did not permit the Israelites to enter into that rest. They took their eyes off of God’s promises and looked at all the troubles and challenges around them and said “we can’t do it.” Actually what that meant was “God can’t keep His promise.” So God declared “they will never enter my rest” (See Hebrews 3:11). They came out of Egypt of course, and were freed from Egyptian bondage but never experienced the full “rest” God wanted for them in the Promised Land. I like the way Steadman puts it, “The unbelieving Israelites in the desert wanted to enter into Canaan, and, presumably, into the spiritual rest which Canaan symbolized. But they could not, for God would not permit it! Hence they must continue to wander in the wilderness till all were dead. Far from being a polite cliché or pious wish, these words God permitting form the fulcrum on which the warning of verses 4–8 turns.”[1] Jesus meat nourishes our faith and enables us to “rest” confidently in God’s promises. Without a full, growing faith in God’s promises realized in Jesus, we’ll never enter into His rest.

[1] Ray C. Stedman, Hebrews, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1992), Heb 6:1.

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Hebrews 6:1-2, John 11:25-26, 1 Thessalonians 1:10

Jesus is the Resurrection

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
October 8, 2019

Jesus is both milk and meat! He nourishes the infants and He nourishes the adults. He is all the nourishment believers need. But if children don’t digest the Jesus milk, they’ll never be able to handle the Jesus meat. The author of Hebrews seems to say that Jesus milk is foundational. If you don’t get that, digest that, you’ll never be able to digest the meat. In Hebrews 6:1-2 the writer says, “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” The first foundational principle of Christ that must be laid deals with the issue of salvation by grace through faith instead of by dead works of the law. If that’s not the basis of your understanding of the whole Bible, you don’t understand the whole Bible.

The second foundational principle deals with Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross as payment for our sins. It was in my stead that Jesus died, and for my sins that Jesus died. As the author said earlier and will say again later, Jesus had no sin for which He needed to offer a sacrifice as the Priests of Aaron’s line did. If the washings of purification made people acceptable to God how much more acceptable will we be who are purified by the cleaning blood of Jesus? After the priest laid his hands on the sacrifice, transferring the sins of the people onto it, he then sent it out into the wilderness never to return. Salvation is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus! This is foundational. We are cleansed from our sins by his sacrifice! This is foundational. If you don’t build all your thinking around these two truths, you’ll never understand God.

But there is another foundational issue the author mentions in the last part of verse 2. It concerns “…the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” The resurrection is an essential and foundational doctrine of the faith. Whether these doctrines were part of Old Testament theology or not it must be recognized as Hughes observes, “But in the New Testament these subjects take on massive significance, with Jesus Christ at their very center.” This foundational doctrine came directly from the mouth of Jesus in John’s Gospel 11:25-26. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Further, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 puts the two, resurrection and judgment, into the hands of Jesus. It commend the believers who “are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.” These are foundational! We are saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus. Jesus paid our debt and cleansed us from our sins. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees God’s acceptance of us in the future kingdom. It’s all about Jesus! If you don’t get these, you won’t get the Bible.

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Hebrews 6:1-2, 9:13,14, Leviticus 16:21, John 6:55-56

Jesus cleanses us from all sin

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
October 8, 2019

Hebrews 6:2 continues from verse 1 naming the foundational teachings of Christ upon which the superstructure of the faith must be built. Hebrews 6:1-2 says, “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” The first foundational issue is that we repent of our confidence in our works and rest confidently in Christ’s work for us on the cross. It’s easy to see why the writer would include this as the first foundational issue. The second issue deals with 2 other items that could be connected to the idea of dead works. One commentary said, “Dead works may represent the efforts connected with the earthly sanctuary system to secure cleansing and acceptance before God.”[1] The instructions about washings and laying on of hands deal with offering sacrifices under the Old Testament economy. It has to do with the purification of sinners through blood sacrifices.

It’s faith in God and the sacrifice offered by Jesus on the cross of Calvary that replaces all that. It’s foundational to our faith to see that there need not be any more blood sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins. That’s been taken care of! It’s foundational. The author of Hebrews will make this all perfectly clear in Chapter 9 verses 13-14 when he writes, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

“Laying on of hands” is another ritual of the Jewish religious system. Another commentary explains, “The rite symbolized transfer. On the Day of Atonement hands were placed on the head of a goat as the priest confessed the sins of Israel (Lev. 16:21). Then the goat was sent away into the wilderness where he typically carried the sins which he bore, never to return with them again.”[2] The foundational issues associated with washings and laying on of hands as practiced in the Old Testament have been fulfilled in Christ. Like salvation by grace through faith alone, the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins is foundational. Your sins have been atoned for and taken away as far as the east is from the west to never return. If you don’t grasp this truth, you’ll not understand Jesus meat! He says (John 6:55-56), “My body is real food. My blood is real drink. Anyone who eats my body and drinks my blood remains in me. And I remain in him.”

[1] J. Paul Tanner, “The Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Grace New Testament Commentary, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010), 1052.

[2] Charles F. Pfeiffer, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1962), 50.

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Hebrews 6:1, 1 Corinthians 3:11, Isaiah 28:16

Jesus is Milk and Meat!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
October 4, 2019

Hebrews 6:1 begins with a “therefore.” That always requires that we understand what the “therefore” is there for. What is the connection between what he is about to say and what he has already said? He’s argued that Jesus is the absolute best thing from God. He’s better than the prophets, the angels, the law, Moses and the priesthood of Aaron’s line. When he speaks of the priesthood of Jesus, he identifies Jesus as a priest in the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron. Then stops and says this is really difficult to understand and is intended for the mature believer. He is concerned because his readers are only accustomed to the Jesus milk and needed to grow up in order to be able to digest the Jesus meat. Jesus milk is nourishing for infants but adults need more than that. Melchizedek is going to be meaty and the writer is going to go back to that discussion in Chapter 7 but not until he deals with the difference between Jesus milk and Jesus meat. Hebrews 6:1 says, “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.”

Don’t think that “the elementary doctrine of Christ” is something to be discarded! It’s actually the foundation of everything. It’s something that’s built upon and which holds the superstructure together. Jesus speaks of the difference between those who build on a solid foundation and those who build on sand.  Houses built on sand collapse, but not those built on a solid foundation. Paul makes sure we know what our foundation is and the writer of Hebrews knows this also. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:11, “For no one is able to lay another foundation than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” This foundation was spoken of by Isaiah years before. He speaks for God and says in Isaiah 28:16 “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.”

“Dead works” refers to a foundation of sand. It’s never going to be secure! A relationship with God based on my performance and my works of righteousness is always going to fall short. I’ll never quite be good enough. But faith in Jesus who is perfect, is a solid foundation upon which we can build confidently and securely. This is Jesus milk. Every understanding of the Old Testament must be founded on this truth. The writer of Hebrews directs our attention to the Old Testament prophets, priests, laws, and everything else as further nourishment for Christians. Drawing out the nutrients of Christ as seen in every verse is our solid food and our solid foundation. He will cut up the meat of Melchizedek for us in Chapter 7 and even go on later in his letter to dish up more meat of salvation by grace through faith alone by pointing out the foundational truth of Christ in all the key figures in the Old Testament. In Chapter 11 the writer will begin his long review of the key characters in the Bible explaining that it was faith, not works, that declared them righteous. In Hebrews 11:4 he talks about Able and says, “By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous” (The Message).

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John 6:54-58, Hebrews 5:14

Jesus is our “Solid Food”

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
October 4, 2019

Jesus held up a loaf of bread in the upper room before His death and challenged His followers to do this in remembrance of Him. The bread represents His body. The wine represents His blood.  Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and to purchase for us a place in heaven which He offers as a free gift which can only be received by grace through faith. It’s not by works and especially not by works of the Jewish laws lest anyone should have reason to boast. This is true solid food! This is what Jesus called Peter to feed His sheep. This is what Jesus wants modern preachers and teachers to feed His sheep. This is perfectly clear from Jesus owns words recorded in John 6:54-58. Jesus says, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

In Hebrews 5:14 the writer begins a discussion about solid food. He says, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” Hagner rightly recognizes what the writer of Hebrews means by solid food. He writes, “Solid food is what the author is presenting in this epistle, and in this particular context it is the argument about Melchizedek.”[1] But Hagner doesn’t note that according to Hebrews, Jesus is the fulfillment of Melchizedek. Melchizedek is just a picture of the true “King of righteousness” (that’s what the name Melchizedek literally means). The writer will get back to the solid food of Melchizedek as the picture of Jesus in Chapter 7.

But then what does it mean to have our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil?” I’m convinced that “good and evil” has nothing to do with moral issues at all but rather with being able by training and through practice to discern between good teaching and poor bible teaching. Guzik gets this. In his commentary he says, “Not moral good and evil, but wholesome and corrupt doctrine. The implication is that the readers’ condition is such as to prevent them from making this distinction.”[2] When you grasp that solid food is always about Jesus and the Gospel, you have a basis of evaluating teaching and preaching as well as writing. If it’s about Jesus, it is solid food. If it’s about you it is not solid food. It’s just another pep-talk, or self-help instruction, or even a religious requirement to shame you to change your ways. Solid food, the real meat of Christianity, is always about Jesus!

[1] Donald A. Hagner, Hebrews, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 86.

[2] David Guzik, Hebrews, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Heb 5:12b–14.

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Hebrews 5:12b-13, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10, Philippians 3:9, Jeremiah 33:15-16

Jesus is our Righteousness!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 25, 2019

Jesus interpreted the whole Old Testament as a commentary on Himself to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The writer of Hebrews begins his letter and keeps it going with the same effort; Jesus is the revelation of the Bible from Genesis to the end. He quotes the Old Testament over and over again and interprets it Christologically. He points out how it’s really about Christ. Some passages he uses are relatively obvious. But when he gets to Genesis 14 and the story of Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek, he realizes that this is not so easy to understand. Understanding Jesus from Melchizedek is difficult to digest. So in Hebrews 5:12b-13 he says, “You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.”

They should be teachers but they haven’t matured. What should they be teaching? They should be teaching as Jesus did to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and what the writer of Hebrews demonstrates for them. They should be interpreting the Old Testament Christologically, that is, as it pertains to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. This is what the author of Hebrews has been doing all along and this is what Christian expositors of the Bible should do as well. If it’s “Christian,” it must be about Christ or even better, Jesus as the Christ. The writer moves on from the milk of the Psalms and other obvious passages about the Messiah and reaches back to Genesis 14 and the story of Melchizedek. But that’s solid food. They are not ready for that yet because of their immaturity. He argues that just drinking the milk, although nourishing when you’re a child, will not foster true maturity. Milk keeps one “unskilled in the word of righteousness.”

Commentators are divided over what “the word of righteousness” means. Some suggest it is referring to our own personal righteousness. But the Bible makes it clear (Isaiah 64:6) that all of “our righteous deeds are as filthy rags” to God. The New Testament (Romans 3:10) says “there is none righteous no not one!” Paul tells the Philippians that he’s not trusting in his own personal righteousness but in Jesus. He writes in Philippians 3:9, “…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Jesus is the “word” of righteousness. Jeremiah actually told the sinful nation that righteousness would be theirs but not through good works.  Jeremiah 33:15-16 says, “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’”

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Hebrews 5:12a, Luke 24-25-27, Matthew 13:15

Jesus is the Oracle of God

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
September 25, 2019

The writer of Hebrews wanted to teach his readers some mature doctrines relating to the Old Testament character Melchizedek. He had a lot to say about it but hesitated because he said in Hebrews 5:11 that his readers were dull or slow of hearing. Jesus used a similar phrase in his rebuke of a couple of disciples. They too were dull or slow of hearing and believing. In Luke 24:25-27, Jesus speaks to the two men on the road to Emmaus, “And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

The point of the author’s rebuke of the Hebrews as well as Jesus’ rebuke of the two travelers is that they didn’t understand how the Old Testament was a progressive revelation of God’s salvation of mankind through the promised seed of the woman mentioned in Genesis 3:15. Actually “dull” hearts and minds is how Jesus used to refer to those who did not get or believe in who He was and what He, as the promised Messiah, was to accomplish on behalf of those who would believe in Him. The dull hearts, deaf ears, and blind eyes all refer to the comprehension of Christ and His complete fulfillment of the Old Testament and His complete sufficiency to save us from our sins. Jesus mentions this in Matthew 13:15. He says, “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”

The writer of Hebrews wants his readers to mature in their grasp of the truths of Jesus as seen in the Scriptures from beginning to end. He wants them to see, hear, and understand how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. He frequently challenges them to “consider” or to “think about” or to “reflect on” Jesus. This is what will mature them and enable them to become teachers of Jesus as well. But their dull hearts and minds have lulled them into a lethargic stupor regarding the things of Christ and allowed them to drift back into a religion of works. Hebrews 5:12a says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.” What does the writer mean by “the basic principles of the oracles of God?” Hagner correctly understands this writing, “This probably refers to the basics of the Christian gospel, but as contained in the OT. If the readers still need elementary Christian exegesis of the OT, how will they move to such exegesis at the more advanced level?”[1] Jesus is the oracle of God.

[1] Donald A. Hagner, Hebrews, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 86.

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