05.00000. Foreword and Introduction

Foreword

Hebrews 3:1-19 and Hebrews 4:1-16 cover the second of the five major warnings to believers in this book. And different things in these two chapters have been an enigma to numerous Bible students over the years.

For example, what does the Scripture mean when it states:

"But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if..." (Hebrews 3:6)?

"For we are made partakers [’companions’] of Christ, if..." (Hebrews 3:13)?

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it" (Hebrews 4:1)?

"There remaineth therefore a rest [’Sabbath rest’] to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9)?
The problem which most students of the Word encounter when studying passages such as these in the Book of Hebrews is actually self-induced. Individuals seek to understand these and other passages in this book apart from two main things: 1) Understanding that Hebrews deals, not with the salvation which we presently possess, but with the salvation of the soul, and 2) understanding that Hebrews draws extensively from Old Testament typology at almost every point.

That is to say, issues in the Book of Hebrews have to do with millennial rather than eternal verities. The warnings in this book have to do with the Messianic Era alone, not with one’s presently possessed eternal salvation. And the spiritual lessons surrounding these issues are drawn mainly from the Old Testament types.

This is what the book is about, this is the manner in which the book has been written, and the book must be studied accordingly.

Introduction

Something which must be understood in Biblical study is the fact that Old Testament history has been recorded after a particular fashion. Not only does Old Testament history comprise an actual account of that which God wants His people to know concerning events throughout the 4,000 years preceding Christ’s first coming, but this history is also fraught with types and meanings.

Actually, all Old Testament history has been written after this fashion. In the words of Paul to the Church in Corinth, "Now all these things happened to them for ensamples [lit., ’for types’]..." (1 Corinthians 10:11; cf. 1 Corinthians 10:6). And though this passage written to the Church in Corinth refers more specifically to events during the wilderness journey of the Israelites under Moses, other portions of Scripture make it perfectly clear that this is not the only block of Old Testament history which has been recorded after this fashion.

When Christ dealt with the two disciples on the Emmaus road following His resurrection, He began "at Moses and all the prophets" and "expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). All Old Testament Scripture is about Christ, beginning with Genesis 1:1.

The Old Testament Scriptures, beginning with Genesis 1:1, set forth numerous inexhaustible word-pictures of the person and work of Christ. And these word-pictures are set forth largely within the numerous Divinely designed and established types found in all revealed Old Testament history.

God, in this manner, throughout the Old Testament Scrip tures, has seen fit to reveal the numerous facets of Christ’s person and work -- past, present, and future. This is the way Scripture has been written, and this is the way Scripture must be studied and understood.

This book, FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN, deals not only with the type extending from Exodus 12:1-51 through Joshua but also with the original type in Genesis 1:1-31; Genesis 2:1-3. The latter type is simply an expansion of the former, adding numerous details. The original type in Genesis was set perfect at the beginning; and the subsequent type beginning in Exodus, designed and established by the same triune God, can only remain in complete accord with the original at every point, in every detail.

The second of the five major warnings in Hebrews 3:1-19 and Hebrews 4:1-16 draws extensively from both types. Hebrews 3:1-19 draws its spiritual lessons from the type beginning with Exodus 12:1-51; and Hebrews 4:1-16 refers back to the original type in Genesis 1:1-31; Genesis 2:1-25 for its spiritual lessons.

And that is, accordingly, the order in which this book, FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN, deals with the two types. The first part of the book (Chs. I-IV) deals with the latter type, beginning in Exodus; and the last part of the book (Chs. V-VIII) deals with the former type, opening the Book of Genesis.