Priest

 Hebrews 4:1-16

Welcome to our sixth message on the powerful book of Hebrews. Today our focus is Chapter 4, but I want to start with a brief review of where we’ve been. Hebrews begins, without a typical introduction, by telling us:

 

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son… - Hebr. 1:1-2a

 

The passage, and indeed, the entire book, goes on to point out how great Jesus is, and how much greater Jesus is than anything you might compare Him to. With regards to these opening verses, the point is that Jesus is a greater messenger than all the past human proclaimers of the truth of God, and moreover, Jesus’ message is a greater message than all the past messages of God communicated by these human messengers.

 

In verse 3, we are told that Jesus is the “radiance” of God’s glory and the exact “imprint” of His nature. Both these word pictures communicate the idea that Jesus is not merely great, and not even merely greater than any other created thing – He is God Himself. He is like the sunrays in connection with the sun itself, and He is like the wax that has been pressed by the signet ring in connection with the ring itself. Both metaphors communicate the idea that when we look at Jesus, we are seeing God.

 

The remainder of Chapter 1 along with much of Chapter 2 compares Jesus with angels. Why angels? Because angels are God’s non-human messengers. We are told that humans are a little lower than the angels, and we see throughout the Old Testament that to see an angel is to be struck with fear and awe because of their glory. And the angels carried many great messages to the people that God chose. Yet Jesus is higher than the angels, and His message is likewise greater than any of their messages. And His message was not in words only, but in actions; He Himself became “lower than the angels for a little while,” tasting death in our place, thereby becoming salvation for us. He is His message; the gospel, the “good news” is His actions, what He did for us. And we know from many places in Scripture that this “gift” of salvation to us is “opened” by us putting our faith in Him.

 

I have been watching videos of a church in Kiev since the war began, a church that has connections to our church from decades ago (Almaz). The church has recently been going to the villages outside of Kiev in convoys of cars filled with food and other supplies, delivering them to hospitals, churches, community gathering points, and even, in the most heavily destroyed areas, to any individuals they find. Invariably the people they meet, after expressing profound gratitude for what they have been given, start telling their heartbreaking stories of what they have gone through. Even though they have many more stops to make, the team patiently and intently listens to their stories. The team then prays out loud as a group for the people they meet, and those being prayed for often shed tears during the prayer whether they are Christian believers or not. The videos are both encouraging and depressing at the same time. Encouraging to see the church be Christ’s hands and feet; depressing to hear the stories and see the devastation. The videos are not easy to watch.

 

I was especially struck by the opening sentence of a prayer for hospital workers. Most health care workers, like most other people, have fled the theater of war, so the work for those who remained was even more overwhelming. The prayers of the team started with this sentence: “Dear God, we live, and we thank You for the opportunity to live not for ourselves, but for other people.”

 

It struck me that this prayer conveys the heart of Jesus, who also lives, and who is also, in a way, living not for Himself, that is, not for selfish purposes, but for other people, for us. He who died for us now lives for us.

 

Now, simultaneously, Jesus is also the pinnacle of glory as God’s Son; He made the universe, and, indeed, all the universe bows down to Him. He is so much greater than the angels that it feels blasphemous to even make the comparison, as Hebrews does, at all. But yet, still, it is equally true that Jesus lives for us. He intercedes for us, He cares for us, He loves us.

 

Hebrews contains multiple comparisons between Jesus and other beings. In each case, the comparison is followed by a warning. After the comparison between Jesus and the angels, the warning in chapter 2 is that, if there were severe consequences for not heeding the various messages of the angels, how much more severe are the consequences if we ignore the message of the One who is incomparably greater than the angels?

 

In chapter 3, Jesus is compared to Moses. We are told the following:

 

Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. – Hebr. 3:5-6a

 

Moses was chosen by God to predict God’s plan, but Jesus came to fulfill God’s plan. Moses served as the King’s servant, but Jesus serves as the King’s Son.

 

Chapter 3 goes on to give a warning, a warning that is continued in Chapter 4. Continuing with the focus on the events at the time of Moses, the passage reminds us that the Israelites, despite being rescued from the terrible bondage of Pharaoh, then rebelled against Moses and against the Lord in the desert. They “hardened their hearts,” refusing both to trust and to obey the Lord. Now the Lord did not take them out of Egypt just to have them languish in the desert; the desert was the pathway, the road to the Promised Land, and yes, there were challenges on that pathway, but there was also the promise. But the people refused to trust in the promise, and they refused to obey the Promiser, doing so repeatedly. At last, the Lord declared that they would not enter His rest; that is, the older generation would wander 40 years in the desert and die in the desert; the Promised Land would be given to the next generation, their children, but not to them.

 

Hebrews 3 then warns the readers of this letter to not be like those faithless Israelites, to not become hardened as they did, to not turn away from God. The passage points out that, at the root, it was indeed their unbelief that led to their not being able to enter God’s “rest.” And this brings us to the start of today’s passage:

 

Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all His works.” And again in the passage above He says, “They shall never enter My rest.” – Hebr. 4:1-5

 

There is a lot to unpack and understand here. Let’s start with the first phrase: “Since the promise of entering His rest still stands.” I am continually in awe of God in how the Bible uses actual events of history as foreshadows of even greater future events. The entire Exodus story is a foreshadowing of the gospel. In one of the very first messages I ever gave at Clemson Community Church, I compared the Bible to a grand musical symphony that, early on, introduces various musical themes and motifs but in the final movement, combines all these themes and motifs, showing how they all fit together to produce something far grander than any of the original introductions of these elements. In what you might call “traditional” classical form, this does not normally happen. Each movement stands on its own, and in many cases, some of the greatest moments occur in the first movement. In many cases, the final movement is fast, and exciting, with a big ending, but it may use a more repetitive form than the first movement, perhaps aiming more for being “catchy” than “deep”. In any case, the musical ideas are usually distinct from those of the other movements. This is so much the case that when the final movement takes something from an earlier movement, it is surprising; the listener is meant to exclaim, “Wait – that was in the second movement!” It’s almost a violation, kind of like “breaking the fourth wall” in drama.

 

The Bible is exactly like this. You think you are just reading about Adam and Eve, but then you realize that a weird statement about bruising a heel and crushing a head is actually about Jesus and Satan. You think you are just reading about a weird priest that comes out of seemingly nowhere that Abraham provides offerings to, and then you realize – well, wait, that will be discussed later in Hebrews, so I can’t tell you about that. But I could go on and on and on and on with examples of this. Account after account, event after event, person after person, detail after detail, points to Jesus or the gospel. The Bible is indeed like a master symphony whose final movement brings absolutely everything together and even explains why the earlier movements were structured how they were.

 

So here, we have the promise of entering God’s rest, meaning the Israelites were promised that, after leaving the land of Egypt, God would take them to the land of “milk and honey”. In the same way, Jesus has promised us, that after leaving our bondage to Satan, He will take us to be with Him forever, in a place where we have new, perfected bodies, where there will be no more disease or pain or war, where Jesus Himself will wipe away every tear, and where we will experience peace, and joy, and fellowship with Him forever.

 

But just as the Israelites had to first go through the desert before getting to the Promised Land, we too also have a journey, the journey of this life. And although there can be many joys and thrills in this life, it can also, in many various ways, seem like a desert. We may experience times where God feels like He is far away from us. He isn’t, but it may feel like this. We may experience terribly difficult trials where all we can do is put one foot ahead of the other and take one step at a time. I think of the many believers in Ukraine who have lost their homes, lost friends, and lost family members. Indeed, the book of Hebrews was written, I think, especially to those who have either already had a desert experience or who were in the middle of such an experience. Indeed, Hebrews 10:32-35 reminds the audience of this letter that they had suffered severe persecution in the past and calls on them to continue to persevere.

 

Now, unless you have lost loved ones in this pandemic, I do not think that our experiences in the pandemic compare either to those of Hebrews’ audience or those presently in Ukraine, but, nevertheless, I do know that many believers’ faith have indeed been sorely shaken by the events of the past couple years. Recent events have strongly affected people throughout this country and around the world, both believers and unbelievers. For example, educators across the country are now sounding the alarm about a never-before-seen crisis among college students. Countless students are just going through the motions, struggling to do their assignments, struggling to even come to class, or to care about the fact that they are failing. Across college campuses, there is severe decline in those seeking tutoring help, in those participating in extracurricular activities, and so on. To be honest, the descriptions remind me of what I have read about the people in Europe that Corrie ten Boom ministered to in the immediate years after World War II. We have a phrase, “the walking wounded” to describe people in war who don’t appear injured on the outside, and therefore don’t receive medical attention, but who are nevertheless significantly injured mentally and emotionally, if not physically. We see this among medical professionals, who are often burnt out after what they went through. We also see this among many other professions, including teaching. And churches are also seeing major declines in attendance.

 

My point is that our lives have significant parallels with those who left Egypt and went through the desert towards the Promised Land. Now it says that the message they (the Israelites) heard was of no value to them, because they did not have faith. And so it is not all that surprising that they fell apart when trials came to them in the desert; it is not surprising that they turned against God, because they were never really dedicated to Him in the first place; they had simply gone out of Egypt along with the other Israelites.

 

The parallel for the Jewish believers – and for us – is that there are, likewise, many people who attend church, who have heard the gospel many times, who give to the church, who even teach Sunday school – who have done all these things in the good times, because, well, it is pleasant to be with pleasant people, much better than the perhaps lonely alternative. This is just like the many Israelites who saw going with their people far better than staying in bondage in Egypt. And some of them, like some of early Jewish believers, and like some people today – may have even talked themselves into believing that they did have faith, even though their faith was only skin deep. These people, then and now, had not had to face the following questions. Will you keep on following God when God doesn’t seem to make sense? Will you follow God when doing so threatens your comfort, or progressively worse, your freedom, your basic needs, or your life? With the events of the past few years, we are beginning to have to face the first question about following God in a scary, seemingly out-of-control world, and who knows? We may have to soon face the harder questions too.

 

The rest of Hebrews 4:1-5 points out the seeming incongruence between the fact that we are living in the seventh day, when God’s works are completed, and He is resting, and the fact that people like the rebellious Israelites were told that they could not enter God’s rest. What is the point? It is that there is another kind of rest that God promises, and this goes for us as well – and this rest, is not simply the “rest” of the seventh day. The passage continues:

 

Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This He did when a long time later He spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” – Hebr. 4:6-7

 

And so this passage brings home the point that, like the Israelites, we too have the possibility of not entering into a “greater” rest than the “rest” of the seventh day. And it is not just in the New Testament that this greater rest for us is discussed. It is foreshadowed, like the symphony themes, in the Old Testament. We see this explained starting at verse 8:

 

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. – Hebr. 4:8-11

 

The Old Testament indeed pointed to this future rest, the one available to us, eternity with God. And, again, just as there were those who went along out of Egypt into the desert, there are those today who go along with believers to church and other religious activities, but who have not yet made that personal effort to enter that “rest” – and some of these people are still trying to enter that rest through good works, rather than through personal faith, faith born of repentance, faith that commits to follow God no matter what – faith not in faith, or in goodness, or in anything else, but in the Person of Christ – this is the only faith that actually saves.

 

When the passage tells us to make every effort to enter that rest, it is calling to unbelievers – even those who have half-convinced themselves that they believe, when they really don’t. It calls on everyone to search their hearts. And although I believe you can have confidence in your salvation, at the same time, there is no harm in re-dedicating yourself in faith to God. Indeed, as believers, it is good to recommit ourselves to God every morning. We don’t need to have all the theology of our personal salvation story worked out. We can start every morning by praying something like this: “God, I commit myself in faith to follow You today. Strengthen my faith. Show me how to serve you throughout the day. Help me to depend on You. Protect me from temptation. Show me how to live selflessly – to care about others, both those that know You and those who don’t. Help me to live – for You – by faith. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

 

We now come to an especially often-cited verse. Keep in mind the preceding context: We have just been told to make every effort – which means to commit ourselves to God, in faith – to make every effort to enter into that future, glorious, eternal rest in God.

 

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. – Hebr. 4:12-13

 

These words are quoted so much that they lose their impact. In context, these are actually terrifying verses! They aren’t meant to make us feel warm and fuzzy, or express platitudes about how the Bible helps us. The “word of God” in this context means “what God, the awesome and powerful and holy living God, says.” Nothing about this is safe. I think the sentence “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” is one of the most serious warnings in all of Scripture.

 

And yet the world chooses to find terrors everywhere but with the reality that a Creator exists and is watching everything you do, and will judge you when you die. I saw a recent article that illustrates this that is so powerfully ironic that I feel compelled to read a significant chunk of it to you. Here goes: (link to original article: https://dnyuz.com/2022/05/14/prepare-for-arrival-tech-pioneer-warns-of-alien-invasion/)

 

An alien species is headed for planet Earth and we have no reason to believe it will be friendly. Some experts predict it will get here within 30 years, while others insist it will arrive far sooner. Nobody knows what it will look like, but it will share two key traits with us humans – it will be intelligent and self-aware.

 

No, this alien will not come from a distant planet – it will be born right here on Earth, hatched in a research lab at a major university or large corporation. I am referring to the first artificial general intelligence (AGI) that reaches (or exceeds) human-level cognition.

 

As I write these words, billions are being spent to bring this alien to life, as it would be viewed as one of the greatest technological achievements in human history. But unlike our other inventions, this one will have a mind of its own, literally. And if it behaves like every other intelligent species we know, it will put its own self-interests first, working to maximize its prospects for survival.

 

Should we fear a superior intelligence driven by its own goals, values and self-interests? Many people reject this question, believing we will build AI systems in our own image, ensuring they think, feel and behave just like we do. This is extremely unlikely to be the case.

Artificial minds will not be created by writing software with carefully crafted rules that make them think like us. Instead engineers feed massive datasets into simple algorithms that automatically adjust their own parameters, making millions upon millions of tiny changes to their structure until an intelligence emerges – an intelligence with inner workings that are far too complex for us to comprehend.

 

And no – feeding it data about humans will not make it think like humans do. This is a common misconception – the false belief that by training an AI on data that describes human behaviors, we will ensure it ends up thinking, feeling and acting like we do. It will not.

Instead, we will build these AI creatures to know humans, not to be human. And yes, they will know us inside and out, able to speak our languages and interpret our gestures, read our facial expressions and predict our actions. They will understand how we make decisions, for good and bad, logical and illogical. After all, we will have spent decades teaching AI systems how we humans behave in almost every situation. But still, their minds will be nothing like ours. To us, they will seem omniscient, linking to remote sensors of all kinds, in all places.

 

So I hope you see the incredibly rich irony here. Regardless of whether the author’s concerns are justified – note that the author is absolutely freaking out over a possible future “being” that will know us inside and out, seem omniscient, and, presumably, be or become scarily powerful.

 

Well, I have news for this author: Such a “threat” certainly already exists! And this “threat” is far more omniscient, for more non-human, and far more powerful than any AI creature will ever be. And that really is the intended message of Hebrews 4:12-13. This entire chapter is a warning.

 

We have read the Exodus account so many times that it is no longer shocking to us. But it is indeed shocking. Through an absolutely dramatic series of unprecedented miracles, God rescues the entire Israelite people from the most powerful kingdom on Earth, the Egyptian Empire, hundreds of thousands of people, and leads them day and night with dramatic miraculous fashion – the fire and the cloud – with a promise of bringing them to a land where they can rest from their horrible slavery, where they can build a society following God’s good laws, forever worshiping Him, bringing Him glory, until some day, the whole Earth knows and follows Him. That seems to be where this story is headed.

 

But what happens? The people rebel, again and again, in more and more brazen ways, and then, God declares that the entire adult generation will NOT get to enter the Promised Land after all, but they will instead languish in the desert for 40 years, as their children grow up, and they, every one of them, will die in that desert; only their children will go forth into that promised rest. Wow! When the Israelites complained that it would have been better if they had stayed in Egypt, maybe, in a way, they were right! This is a shocking story. There is nothing like it. And God uses it as a warning – to us! Don’t end up like them, Hebrews says! Repent and truly turn to God, through faith in Christ!

 

Returning to our overarching theme of both chapters 3 and 4, Jesus is incomparably greater than Moses. So, looking at the terrible consequences of rebelling against Moses that we have just discussed, how much more terrible must be the consequences of remaining in rebellion against Jesus!

 

Let’s look at the final portion of our passage:

 

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. – Hebr. 4:14-16

 

Now the theme of priests will be expounded on in much greater detail in chapters 5-7, so I don’t want to say too much here. But we do see another title given to Jesus. I don’t know if you have noticed, but so far, each message title has pointed to a title of Jesus in the passage. Our past titles were Heir, Provider, Supreme Commander, Pioneer, and Apostle, and now, our title for Jesus is Priest. And really, the title here is not just Priest, but High Priest, the Kohen Gadol.

 

The distinction is significant – again in the foreshadowing sense, in the sense of the musical theme that later appears in the final movement. All priests had a series of rites required for their consecration, and you can read about these in Exodus 28-29 and Leviticus 8. But the high priest additionally and uniquely was also anointed with oil.

 

As we know, Jesus was also anointed with expensive perfume, nard, which is also an oil. This happened shortly before His death on the cross. Did you know that Passover lambs were selected six days in advance of being slaughtered, and were often brought into a home in those final days, and even had oil rubbed on their legs? Why? Because the animals were to be without spot or blemish, and lambs easily injured their legs. The oil both revealed any scars and also healed minor dryness issues on the skin. And so Jesus was both our high priest – anointed with oil – and our sacrifice!

 

With all the scary talk of the warnings in this chapter, I do not want you to miss the two great encouragements in these final verses in the chapter. First, our great high priest knows us, warts and all, and loves us anyway. When we come to Him in our weakness, under temptation, He understands, and He loves. We should not shy away from coming to Him.

Second, when we come to Him, we will receive mercy, not condemnation, and we will also receive grace to help us. We will be helped! Whatever our problem is – even if it is something like depression, or just feeling worn out over the events of the past few years, or just feeling distant from God – whatever it is, we can come to Him, knowing that He will respond to us with grace and love and help.

 

Let me finish by saying a bit more about this idea of coming to God’s throne of grace with confidence, or as some other translations put it, “boldly.” Now you might write off that phrase, saying “well, other people can come boldly – I’ll be doing good to come at all.” To this I would say, “Yes, you will be doing good to come, so do so, even if you cannot do so boldly.” But I would also say that if you do not feel like you can come to Him boldly, then you still don’t really understand His love for you. It’s not going to be like that scene in the Fellowship of the Ring where the hobbits intrude on the council of Elrond (to decide the fate of the One Ring) and Elrond gives his perfect scowl. Jesus will not scowl at us when we come to Him! He will embrace us. And so yes, you can really come to Him boldly. Let us do so now.