Hebrews 13
KingCommentsHebrews 13:1
Hold Fast the Assurance Firm Until the End
It is a good thing to repeat that in this letter everyone is addressed who confesses to belong to God’s people. In the first place it is about believing Hebrews, Jews who came to faith in the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, given by God. They are familiar with the prophecies of the Old Testament. They learnt from that about the coming of the Messiah. When the Lord Jesus came, they believed in Him as the Fulfiller of all God’s promises to His earthly people of which they were part. But the Lord Jesus was rejected. By that their faith was severely put to the test. They do not see the Lord Jesus, but to faith He certainly is there, namely in heaven.
They found themselves on earth. Instead of finding themselves in the millennial kingdom of peace, that was to start with the coming of the Messiah, they are mocked and persecuted by their unbelieving fellow countrymen. They had to learn that the fulfillment of the promises was postponed. That fulfillment is sure, only there is still a way of faith to go before it happens.
Here you see the parallel with the wilderness journey that the people of Israel made from Egypt to Canaan. You travel with God’s people through the world on the way to the promised blessing of rest. In this letter the world is pictured as a wilderness, the territory of trials of faith, accompanied by temptations through worldly and religious seductions.
Hebrews 3:14. You are one of the “partakers of Christ”. The writer sees himself as one of them. He speaks about “we”. Then that conditional “if” appears again (Hebrews 3:6), through which it seems that it is still not sure and that it will only be sure if you have made a certain performance. That performance is here: “Hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.”
Again I want to make it clear that it is different from making a performance. You ought to discern again two things clearly. On the one side, a person who once has become a child of God through conversion and faith, remains a child of God for ever. If a person is a child of God, his life must and will show this. Therefore on the other side it becomes clear through trials whether someone is really a child of God. On the one side each believer is a companion of Christ, but on the other side, not everyone who outwardly belongs to God’s people is a believer. The latter will be evidenced by perseverance.
Although trueness is assumed, there is room left that the confession is only a lip confession, with no life from God present. Therefore hardships are the test whether there is real faith with the confessor. To a true believer hardships are not hindrances for faith, but on the contrary it is a motivation to show faith. Such a person has started the journey of faith with assurance and he will continue with assurance. A lack of assurance in God causes a person to doubt his salvation. Then the awareness of His love, His power or His concern for us is not there anymore. The assurance has disappeared. The hope and the appreciation for intangible things are diminishing, while the appreciation for tangible things is increasing.
The exhortations are meant to keep you in the assurance you have and to persevere in that. They are not meant to stop fear and doubt. The letter is not addressed to doubting Christians or people who still do not have total assurance in God.
I again went into details here because I know that young Christian believers, and even older Christian believers also, may struggle with these things. I hope that it has also helped you to understand the writer’s arguments better.
Hebrews 3:15. The writer repeats (Hebrews 3:7-8) the essence of the quotation from Psalms 95 to make the reader aware of the power of it. The danger the Hebrew confessors were exposed to – and to which we are exposed in Christendom –, was the same as that of their ancestors when they were in the wilderness on their way to the promised land. To be able to face this danger it is a crucial thing to listen to God’s voice. You hear His voice if you read His Word and in the meetings where His Word is preached. By subsequently doing His will you will be kept from a hardened heart and from provoking God.
Hebrews 3:16. To emphasize his exhortation more, the writer asks three questions in Hebrews 3:16-18. In these three questions he summarizes in three great events from the past the history of the people of Israel. The first question is about the departure from Egypt, the second question refers to the wilderness journey, the third question regards the entry into the promised land. He himself replies to these questions in the form of questions in which the answer is embedded. By teaching in an interrogative sentence he forces his readers to think. It is not the issue to rationally give a good answer; the point is that the question moves the heart.
The first question shows that a whole nation can be affected by the sin of unbelief. So not only an individual was involved. This is the embarrassing answer of a whole nation to the mercy of the Lord toward Israel. “All” refers to those who were guided by Moses from Egypt, which means six hundred thousand men together with their households (Numbers 1:46).
The gravity of sin is that they became rebellious after they heard God’s voice. That makes them much more responsible than many who live in sin without having heard anything about God and Christ. Therefore the idolatry that is committed by Christians in worshiping Mary and Peter and angels is much worse than the worship of idols as Zeus or Venus by pagans.
Hebrews 3:17. The first question deals with the attitude of the people toward God. The second question shows the reaction of God to the sin of the people. It was not only that the whole nation was sinning against God, but they did that all the time for forty years. Therefore God was angry with them the whole time, which was the reason that they who had sinned didn’t reach the promised land. Their “bodies fell in the wilderness”. God didn’t punish them because of only one mistake, but because of their persistent rebellion during the time when His care for them was overwhelmingly evident.
Hebrews 3:18. The third question shows that they hardened their heart to the utmost. Even when they were standing at the border of the land, they did not enter the land because of their disobedience. Disobedience is unacceptable to God. He abhors and judges that. He swore because of this evil “that they would not enter His rest”. God cannot possibly connect Himself to disobedience in any way. To bring these disobedient or unbelieving people into His rest would be in contrast with His Being. His rest is only for those who do rest in Him and in His will.
Hebrews 3:19. You can see this verse as a conclusion. That conclusion is that their unbelief is the cause of their perishing and of not being able to enter. Unbelief is the lack of trust in God being able to bring them there and that He wanted to bless them. They didn’t know God. He was acting strangely in their eyes. Still God had spoken to them and had revealed them His will and His way. However, when the heart desires other things than only honoring God by trusting Him, which means to believe Him, the blessing will not be obtained.
It is not written that they were stopped by God, but that their own unbelief made it impossible for them to enter. They were not able to do that. The inevitable result of unbelief is that it does not take into possession what has been reserved for faith. Unbelief excludes trust. Unbelief robbed the wilderness generation from the rest they were supposed to expect, after they went out of Egypt.
The character of unbelief is the attitude of neglecting or forgetting God, acting as if He doesn’t exist, while the everlasting Present One is full of mercy. Unbelief makes God a liar instead of Someone Who speaks the truth in what He promises. Unbelief makes God Someone Who is too weak to fulfill His promises. Unbelief means that He is changeable and that He reconsiders His promises and that He is therefore not the Unchangeable One. Unbelief doubts His faithfulness to the expectations that He raises through His promises.
I hope that unbelief will not get a chance to settle in your heart. I rather hope that you are like Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:6-9). Opposite the unbelief of their ten fellow spies and the unbelief of the whole nation, they honored God by keeping His Word as the absolute truth and His power as infinite, His counsel as unchangeable and His faithfulness as that great that He surely fulfills the expectations raised by Himself.
Now read Hebrews 3:14-19 again.
Reflection: What makes you confident that you will enter God’s rest?
Hebrews 13:3
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:4
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:5
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:6
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:7
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:8
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:9
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:10
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:11
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:12
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:13
The Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1. This chapter begins with a strange call, at least at first glance, to “fear”. But ‘fear’ here doesn’t mean that you should continually live in fear and doubt whether you will be saved after all perseverance. To fear does not mean: to be afraid of God, but: to be afraid of yourself, of your own weakness and of your own wicked and sinful heart.
If you fear God you will take to heart the warnings that are made to Israel, that you will not follow them in their ways of unbelief. However, if you ignore those warnings and think self-confidently that you will achieve the final goal in your own strength, it means that you have no trust in God and you live independently of Him. In that case you may possibly imagine that the promise to enter God’s rest also applies to you, though reality will be that you will come short of it. To have come short of it means to perish in the wilderness and not reaching the rest. Though, if you completely trust in God for entering God’s rest, you will undoubtedly enter His rest at last. Distrust in yourself and trust in God are proof that you have new life.
Hebrews 4:2. You received that new life when you accepted the “good news” that was preached to you. The same goes for the readers of the letter. The good news, the literal meaning of the word gospel, was preached to them by the Son of God (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 2:3).
Also to the people of Israel the good news was once brought. It may remind you of two events. The one is the good news of their deliverance from Egypt. The other is that they were going to enter Canaan. Therein is an application for you. The good news means to you that you were delivered from the power of sin and that you entered the heavenly blessings.
Whatever the preaching of that good news consisted of, if it were not united by faith the hearers it would not profit them.
Hebrews 4:3. To partake of the contents of the good news, faith is essential. That applies to everyone who hears. Only then there is an entry into the rest. The emphasis is that only those who believe will enter the rest. Like Joshua and Caleb we, who have believed, shall enter the rest. They who do not believe now, will not enter it later, just as surely as those who did not believe did not enter then.
The rest is nothing new in itself. The rest that you will enter, exists from the beginning. The first time rest is spoken about in the Bible is in connection with the day of God’s rest on the seventh day that followed the six days of creation. In that rest God purposed man to partake of, but sin disturbed that rest. Therefore a new work from God was necessary (John 5:17) to be able to give and to enjoy a new rest.
God cannot rest where sin is present. Only when the curse has been taken away from creation He will be able to rest again in His works. When it is written that God rested from all His works it doesn’t mean, of course, that God was tired and needed rest. The rest of God has to do with His innermost being. It is the rest of the inner satisfaction with which He can look at His works.
Hebrews 4:4. The writer supports his argument with a quotation from Genesis 2. God had worked in His creation and had rested from His work when He had completed it (Genesis 2:2). In that way He proved from the foundation of the world that He had a rest. As it is said, God’s rest came to an end through the fall of man. But the Son of God has provided a new rest. God is resting in the work that His Son accomplished on the cross. In that work there is also rest to be found for all who are weighed down by the burden of their sins (Matthew 11:28). Through that work God can rest in His love, which will soon be with respect to all creation (Zephaniah 3:17).
Hebrews 4:5. In this verse the writer once again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:11). His whole argument is focused on making his readers fully aware of the fact that there is a rest of God and that God desires to have people partaking of this rest. He also shows clearly that man did not enter God’s rest because he acted in unbelief.
Hebrews 4:6. He reminds them that the rest is still accessible, but also reminds them that everyone who are disobedient will never enter it. As a kind of summary he poses that some – those who believe – will enter the rest. He also poses that those to whom the good news was preached during the wilderness journey, did not believe God and that they disobeyed His commandment, which was the cause they did not enter this rest.
Hebrews 4:7. However, this is not the last word. God is still busy in His mercy to lead His people to partake of His rest. Therefore He again fixed a certain day, which He does in the time of David. That is “so long a time” after the events of the wilderness journey of forty years.
The writer again quotes Psalms 95 (Psalms 95:7-8) with in it the call to Israel to convert to the Lord with a view to the coming of Christ to earth to lead the people into the rest. “In David”, the man after His heart, He offered the people a new opportunity to receive the fulfillment of His promises. But even then the promised rest did not come. Not even under Solomon, who was a man of rest (1 Chronicles 22:9).
Hebrews 4:8. God would not have spoken about another day “through David” if Joshua had brought the people into the rest when he captured the land. Their hearts were not changed by living in that land. They were still unbelieving and disobeying like they were in the wilderness. All the blessings in that land only made it all the more clear how little they valued God’s provisions.
Hebrews 4:9. All of this means that the rest for the people of God that is showed by the Sabbath, still is to come. It also means that we should not expect the rest here and now and we should even less expect that we would have already reached it. The writer doesn’t say where the rest is. In that way he leaves room for a rest in heaven for a heavenly people and a rest on earth for an earthly people. Not Moses, not Joshua, not David and not even Solomon, but the Lord Jesus will realize and preserve the true rest. It is a rest “for the people of God”.
That rest of God is for all the fallen asleep believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament in heaven. That is not the Father’s house, but heaven as that will extend over a cleansed earth. It is the situation of the millennial kingdom of peace, when Christ will be Head over all things that are in heaven an on earth (Ephesians 1:10). The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Sabbath is not a picture of the everlasting rest, but of the rest of the millennial kingdom of peace. The rest of the millennial kingdom is still to come both for the heavenly people of God, the church, and God’s earthly people, Israel.
Hebrews 4:10. There is also a rest from your works and that is when your life of faith on earth has come to an end. That rest is the portion of all those who have persevered in faith and have not fallen and perished because of unbelief. He who dies in faith, enters into the rest of God and rests from his works. This is compared with the rest that God had after His works. Those works are of course good. Therefore the works here are the works of the believer. Those are the works that were done by faith and not works for earning salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5). From those works the believer rests when he enters into the rest of God when he has come to the end of his pilgrim’s journey.
Hebrews 4:11. In order to reach the rest of God you have to persevere. A present, apparent rest is not the true rest. The faith of the Hebrews was weakened by the continual trials, through which the coming rest faded more and more. Therefore they were exposed to the danger of changing the life of faith for enjoying a rest that is an apparent rest. Therefore the writer appeals to be diligent to enter the promised rest, which is still to come.
“To be diligent” means resisting the temptation to give up under the pressure of circumstances of whatever nature. The diligence of the believer implies a continual examination of himself and of the circumstances. As a perfect touchstone for this, you are given the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). On that basis you can examine if there are wrong thoughts or considerations in the heart.
Love can never rest where sin rules and where sorrow and misery are seen all over. That goes for God and for the believer. The time will come when God wipes all the tears from the eyes. Then you are in His rest.
Now read Hebrews 4:1-11 again.
Reflection: When will you enter the rest of God?
Hebrews 13:14
Three ‘Aids’
In this section the Holy Spirit presents to you three ‘aids’, which will enormously support you and which are also absolutely essential for you on your way to the rest. These supporting aids are: 1. the Word (Hebrews 4:12-13); 2. the Lord Jesus as High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15); 3. the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). Seek your help only there and there alone to conquer all adversaries (Psalms 60:11).
- The Word watches over your inward and judges sin. 2. The High Priest watches over you regarding the circumstances you are in, sympathizes and helps you. 3. To the throne of grace you may always go as boldly as to the Lord Jesus.
You see, everything is provided for. This is how God is to His people.
Hebrews 4:12. We first look at the Word. In what you read about the Word three features of God are presented: life, power and omniscience. Beware of making the mistake to criticize the Word, for the consequences are fatal. You are not the one to judge the Word, but the Word judges you. In fact you do not know your own heart, but God surely knows it (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Through the Word you learn to know your own heart. When you read the Word, sin and unbelief become apparent. If you are sincere in your heart, this judgment about the effects on the heart has a great value (Psalms 139:23-24).
The “word of God is living” because this Word is the Word of the living God. He gave to Israel ‘living oracles [or: words]’ (Acts 7:38). The Word is also “active”. It is not like the empty words of people, without content. It ‘performs its works in you who believe’ (1 Thessalonians 2:13), but it also accuses (John 5:45). Furthermore, it is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Revelation 1:16; Ephesians 6:17). When used, it is destructive, it cuts away that which should not be there, it kills what should not remain alive.
It is not only destructive, it is also discerning. In that way it is “piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit” which means that the Word discerns what comes from the soul and what comes from the spirit. The ‘soul’ rather indicates feelings and desires, the ‘spirit’ indicates more the hidden considerations and belief or unbelief. Soul and spirit are, so to say, the two parts of the non-material nature of man.
The Word also unveils the distinction between “joints” and “marrow”, whereby ‘joints’ indicates more the outward actions and the ‘marrow’ the inward power of those actions. The sinfulness of the human heart shows itself by the members of the body that are functioning through ‘joints’ and ‘marrow’.
Soul and spirit on the one hand and joints and marrow on the other hand present the total man. In this way the writer shows that no single aspect of the total man escapes from the working of the Word of God.
Finally it is said of the Word that it is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9). Here we have come to the most inner part of man, the center from where soul and spirit and joints and marrow are directed in their workings. What becomes visible in life emerges from the heart. Therefore you should watch over your heart above everything that you should watch over (Proverbs 4:23). And for that, the Word of God has been given to you. So use it!
Hebrews 4:13. In this verse the writer suddenly moves from the Word of God to God Himself. What the Word does, God does. This connection between the Word that is addressed to you and God Himself is remarkable. The Word comes from God. It is as it were His eye that is focused on your conscience and that brings you into His presence. God exposes everything in you.
He does not do that for Himself, for He does not need it. There are no secret things for Him that He should expose. All things are open and laid bare to His eyes. But He wants to make you aware that you are dealing with Him. You are going your way under the all-seeing eye of the living God. If you are aware of that, you will, in self-judgment, put away everything that could possibly hinder you to persevere in the way of faith.
Hebrews 4:14. Then the writer comes back to his main subject: the High Priest in the heavens (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1). The ministry of the Lord Jesus as High Priest is diverse. Therein the grace of God is revealed magnificently. Consider just the connection with the two previous verses about what the Word does. If the Word exposes in you whatever can go wrong, don’t you see your weakness and incapability to reach the final goal by your own strength?
Therefore it is a great blessing that you have a great High Priest and a throne of grace. The Lord Jesus exercises His high priesthood in heaven, where God is, to help you from there in accordance to Whom God is. Christ not only went into heaven, but He passed through the heavens. He did not stay in the first or second heaven, but He entered the third and highest heaven.
He is not only High Priest, He also is the Son of God. To be able to become High Priest the Lord Jesus has gone a long way. He has become Man and has suffered on earth. He also accomplished the work of propitiation. Then He passed through the heavens to take His place on the throne of grace. He is also appointed by God as Son over His house and He now can also sympathize with us in our weaknesses. Without being the Son of God He couldn’t be our High Priest. However, now He is able to comfort us as Man, while He, with the full knowledge of God as Son, draws near to God for us.
Therefore it is justified that He is called here the ‘great High Priest’. That’s something that was never said of any high priest in the Old Testament. Again and again the writer points to the greatness of the Lord Jesus. Here He is great in His compassion for us. He is “Jesus the Son of God”. ‘Jesus’, the humiliated Man on earth in all our afflictions, Who as ‘the Son of God’ can sympathize with all His own.
Now He has been presented like that, the writer exhorts again to hold fast the confession, which is hold on to Him Whom you confess. You are on the way to Him and you may thereby know that He helps you.
Hebrews 4:15. And Who is He Who helps you? He is Someone Who knows exactly whatever you’re going through and Who understands you thoroughly because He Himself also has gone through all of that. You can count on His sympathizing with you.
To sympathize with another person it is not necessary that you feel at the same time what the other person feels. When you suffer pain you cannot think of the pain of someone else. Though to share in suffering you ought to have a nature that enables you to be aware of what the pain of the other person is.
This is how Jesus exerts His high priesthood. In every way He is beyond the reach of pain and affliction, but He is Man and He not only has the nature of man who used to suffer pain, but He underwent afflictions that a believer has to endure in a more than perfect way than any of us ever endures.
He was tempted in all things as you are, “[yet] without sin”. That doesn’t mean ‘without sinning’, but it means that He absolutely had no part in sin. He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); in Him there is no sin (1 John 3:5). Satan had nothing in Him (John 14:30) – neither did God find anything in Him (Psalms 17:3) – whatever could be a lead to sin.
His suffering was not caused by sin (as it could be the case with us) and it neither led Him to sin. But because He was tempted, He is able to fully sympathize with you. He feels what you feel and therefore He is able to understand and help you. He cannot sympathize with your sins. If you have sinned, He is the Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). Infirmities are no sins. Paul boasted in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), but never in his sins.
Hebrews 4:16. When the writer has presented the glory of the great High Priest to you like that, it could only cause the result that your heart is full of confidence to draw near “to the throne of grace”. You may say that to yourself: ‘I can draw near with confidence, because I can freely look God in the eyes because my sins are taken away and also because the High Priest, Who can sympathize with my infirmities, is there.’
‘The throne of grace’ reminds us of the ark in the tabernacle. God dwelled between the cherubim on the mercy seat of the ark. That throne was a judgment throne, but through the offering that the judgment had borne, the blood was sprinkled on the ark. Therefore the judgment throne has now changed into a throne of grace. To us Christ became the offering and through His blood we are able to come to the throne of grace. Christ Himself was set forth by God as propitiation, or a throne of grace, (Romans 3:25). Therefore you may come to God without any hesitation. This you do when you focus directly from your heart on God and tell Him everything that is in it.
Christ represents you there and therefore God is well pleased with you. You take refuge at the throne of grace because you are aware that you will fail if God doesn’t help you. Then you receive “mercy”, that is God’s sympathy in your circumstances, you are made aware again of His mercy and protection. You also find “grace”, you are made aware again that you stand in grace before God (Romans 5:2).
This awareness is your “help in time of need”, at the crucial moment, the moment that the hardships nearly become too much for you. You suddenly see again that God is greater than the hardships and that the Lord Jesus is always beside you in times of difficulties.
Now read Hebrews 4:12-16 again.
Reflection: Just reconsider the means that God has provided you with and thank Him for them. Ask Him to help you to use them extensively.
Hebrews 13:15
Three ‘Aids’
In this section the Holy Spirit presents to you three ‘aids’, which will enormously support you and which are also absolutely essential for you on your way to the rest. These supporting aids are: 1. the Word (Hebrews 4:12-13); 2. the Lord Jesus as High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15); 3. the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). Seek your help only there and there alone to conquer all adversaries (Psalms 60:11).
- The Word watches over your inward and judges sin. 2. The High Priest watches over you regarding the circumstances you are in, sympathizes and helps you. 3. To the throne of grace you may always go as boldly as to the Lord Jesus.
You see, everything is provided for. This is how God is to His people.
Hebrews 4:12. We first look at the Word. In what you read about the Word three features of God are presented: life, power and omniscience. Beware of making the mistake to criticize the Word, for the consequences are fatal. You are not the one to judge the Word, but the Word judges you. In fact you do not know your own heart, but God surely knows it (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Through the Word you learn to know your own heart. When you read the Word, sin and unbelief become apparent. If you are sincere in your heart, this judgment about the effects on the heart has a great value (Psalms 139:23-24).
The “word of God is living” because this Word is the Word of the living God. He gave to Israel ‘living oracles [or: words]’ (Acts 7:38). The Word is also “active”. It is not like the empty words of people, without content. It ‘performs its works in you who believe’ (1 Thessalonians 2:13), but it also accuses (John 5:45). Furthermore, it is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Revelation 1:16; Ephesians 6:17). When used, it is destructive, it cuts away that which should not be there, it kills what should not remain alive.
It is not only destructive, it is also discerning. In that way it is “piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit” which means that the Word discerns what comes from the soul and what comes from the spirit. The ‘soul’ rather indicates feelings and desires, the ‘spirit’ indicates more the hidden considerations and belief or unbelief. Soul and spirit are, so to say, the two parts of the non-material nature of man.
The Word also unveils the distinction between “joints” and “marrow”, whereby ‘joints’ indicates more the outward actions and the ‘marrow’ the inward power of those actions. The sinfulness of the human heart shows itself by the members of the body that are functioning through ‘joints’ and ‘marrow’.
Soul and spirit on the one hand and joints and marrow on the other hand present the total man. In this way the writer shows that no single aspect of the total man escapes from the working of the Word of God.
Finally it is said of the Word that it is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9). Here we have come to the most inner part of man, the center from where soul and spirit and joints and marrow are directed in their workings. What becomes visible in life emerges from the heart. Therefore you should watch over your heart above everything that you should watch over (Proverbs 4:23). And for that, the Word of God has been given to you. So use it!
Hebrews 4:13. In this verse the writer suddenly moves from the Word of God to God Himself. What the Word does, God does. This connection between the Word that is addressed to you and God Himself is remarkable. The Word comes from God. It is as it were His eye that is focused on your conscience and that brings you into His presence. God exposes everything in you.
He does not do that for Himself, for He does not need it. There are no secret things for Him that He should expose. All things are open and laid bare to His eyes. But He wants to make you aware that you are dealing with Him. You are going your way under the all-seeing eye of the living God. If you are aware of that, you will, in self-judgment, put away everything that could possibly hinder you to persevere in the way of faith.
Hebrews 4:14. Then the writer comes back to his main subject: the High Priest in the heavens (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1). The ministry of the Lord Jesus as High Priest is diverse. Therein the grace of God is revealed magnificently. Consider just the connection with the two previous verses about what the Word does. If the Word exposes in you whatever can go wrong, don’t you see your weakness and incapability to reach the final goal by your own strength?
Therefore it is a great blessing that you have a great High Priest and a throne of grace. The Lord Jesus exercises His high priesthood in heaven, where God is, to help you from there in accordance to Whom God is. Christ not only went into heaven, but He passed through the heavens. He did not stay in the first or second heaven, but He entered the third and highest heaven.
He is not only High Priest, He also is the Son of God. To be able to become High Priest the Lord Jesus has gone a long way. He has become Man and has suffered on earth. He also accomplished the work of propitiation. Then He passed through the heavens to take His place on the throne of grace. He is also appointed by God as Son over His house and He now can also sympathize with us in our weaknesses. Without being the Son of God He couldn’t be our High Priest. However, now He is able to comfort us as Man, while He, with the full knowledge of God as Son, draws near to God for us.
Therefore it is justified that He is called here the ‘great High Priest’. That’s something that was never said of any high priest in the Old Testament. Again and again the writer points to the greatness of the Lord Jesus. Here He is great in His compassion for us. He is “Jesus the Son of God”. ‘Jesus’, the humiliated Man on earth in all our afflictions, Who as ‘the Son of God’ can sympathize with all His own.
Now He has been presented like that, the writer exhorts again to hold fast the confession, which is hold on to Him Whom you confess. You are on the way to Him and you may thereby know that He helps you.
Hebrews 4:15. And Who is He Who helps you? He is Someone Who knows exactly whatever you’re going through and Who understands you thoroughly because He Himself also has gone through all of that. You can count on His sympathizing with you.
To sympathize with another person it is not necessary that you feel at the same time what the other person feels. When you suffer pain you cannot think of the pain of someone else. Though to share in suffering you ought to have a nature that enables you to be aware of what the pain of the other person is.
This is how Jesus exerts His high priesthood. In every way He is beyond the reach of pain and affliction, but He is Man and He not only has the nature of man who used to suffer pain, but He underwent afflictions that a believer has to endure in a more than perfect way than any of us ever endures.
He was tempted in all things as you are, “[yet] without sin”. That doesn’t mean ‘without sinning’, but it means that He absolutely had no part in sin. He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); in Him there is no sin (1 John 3:5). Satan had nothing in Him (John 14:30) – neither did God find anything in Him (Psalms 17:3) – whatever could be a lead to sin.
His suffering was not caused by sin (as it could be the case with us) and it neither led Him to sin. But because He was tempted, He is able to fully sympathize with you. He feels what you feel and therefore He is able to understand and help you. He cannot sympathize with your sins. If you have sinned, He is the Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). Infirmities are no sins. Paul boasted in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), but never in his sins.
Hebrews 4:16. When the writer has presented the glory of the great High Priest to you like that, it could only cause the result that your heart is full of confidence to draw near “to the throne of grace”. You may say that to yourself: ‘I can draw near with confidence, because I can freely look God in the eyes because my sins are taken away and also because the High Priest, Who can sympathize with my infirmities, is there.’
‘The throne of grace’ reminds us of the ark in the tabernacle. God dwelled between the cherubim on the mercy seat of the ark. That throne was a judgment throne, but through the offering that the judgment had borne, the blood was sprinkled on the ark. Therefore the judgment throne has now changed into a throne of grace. To us Christ became the offering and through His blood we are able to come to the throne of grace. Christ Himself was set forth by God as propitiation, or a throne of grace, (Romans 3:25). Therefore you may come to God without any hesitation. This you do when you focus directly from your heart on God and tell Him everything that is in it.
Christ represents you there and therefore God is well pleased with you. You take refuge at the throne of grace because you are aware that you will fail if God doesn’t help you. Then you receive “mercy”, that is God’s sympathy in your circumstances, you are made aware again of His mercy and protection. You also find “grace”, you are made aware again that you stand in grace before God (Romans 5:2).
This awareness is your “help in time of need”, at the crucial moment, the moment that the hardships nearly become too much for you. You suddenly see again that God is greater than the hardships and that the Lord Jesus is always beside you in times of difficulties.
Now read Hebrews 4:12-16 again.
Reflection: Just reconsider the means that God has provided you with and thank Him for them. Ask Him to help you to use them extensively.
Hebrews 13:16
Three ‘Aids’
In this section the Holy Spirit presents to you three ‘aids’, which will enormously support you and which are also absolutely essential for you on your way to the rest. These supporting aids are: 1. the Word (Hebrews 4:12-13); 2. the Lord Jesus as High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15); 3. the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). Seek your help only there and there alone to conquer all adversaries (Psalms 60:11).
- The Word watches over your inward and judges sin. 2. The High Priest watches over you regarding the circumstances you are in, sympathizes and helps you. 3. To the throne of grace you may always go as boldly as to the Lord Jesus.
You see, everything is provided for. This is how God is to His people.
Hebrews 4:12. We first look at the Word. In what you read about the Word three features of God are presented: life, power and omniscience. Beware of making the mistake to criticize the Word, for the consequences are fatal. You are not the one to judge the Word, but the Word judges you. In fact you do not know your own heart, but God surely knows it (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Through the Word you learn to know your own heart. When you read the Word, sin and unbelief become apparent. If you are sincere in your heart, this judgment about the effects on the heart has a great value (Psalms 139:23-24).
The “word of God is living” because this Word is the Word of the living God. He gave to Israel ‘living oracles [or: words]’ (Acts 7:38). The Word is also “active”. It is not like the empty words of people, without content. It ‘performs its works in you who believe’ (1 Thessalonians 2:13), but it also accuses (John 5:45). Furthermore, it is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Revelation 1:16; Ephesians 6:17). When used, it is destructive, it cuts away that which should not be there, it kills what should not remain alive.
It is not only destructive, it is also discerning. In that way it is “piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit” which means that the Word discerns what comes from the soul and what comes from the spirit. The ‘soul’ rather indicates feelings and desires, the ‘spirit’ indicates more the hidden considerations and belief or unbelief. Soul and spirit are, so to say, the two parts of the non-material nature of man.
The Word also unveils the distinction between “joints” and “marrow”, whereby ‘joints’ indicates more the outward actions and the ‘marrow’ the inward power of those actions. The sinfulness of the human heart shows itself by the members of the body that are functioning through ‘joints’ and ‘marrow’.
Soul and spirit on the one hand and joints and marrow on the other hand present the total man. In this way the writer shows that no single aspect of the total man escapes from the working of the Word of God.
Finally it is said of the Word that it is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9). Here we have come to the most inner part of man, the center from where soul and spirit and joints and marrow are directed in their workings. What becomes visible in life emerges from the heart. Therefore you should watch over your heart above everything that you should watch over (Proverbs 4:23). And for that, the Word of God has been given to you. So use it!
Hebrews 4:13. In this verse the writer suddenly moves from the Word of God to God Himself. What the Word does, God does. This connection between the Word that is addressed to you and God Himself is remarkable. The Word comes from God. It is as it were His eye that is focused on your conscience and that brings you into His presence. God exposes everything in you.
He does not do that for Himself, for He does not need it. There are no secret things for Him that He should expose. All things are open and laid bare to His eyes. But He wants to make you aware that you are dealing with Him. You are going your way under the all-seeing eye of the living God. If you are aware of that, you will, in self-judgment, put away everything that could possibly hinder you to persevere in the way of faith.
Hebrews 4:14. Then the writer comes back to his main subject: the High Priest in the heavens (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1). The ministry of the Lord Jesus as High Priest is diverse. Therein the grace of God is revealed magnificently. Consider just the connection with the two previous verses about what the Word does. If the Word exposes in you whatever can go wrong, don’t you see your weakness and incapability to reach the final goal by your own strength?
Therefore it is a great blessing that you have a great High Priest and a throne of grace. The Lord Jesus exercises His high priesthood in heaven, where God is, to help you from there in accordance to Whom God is. Christ not only went into heaven, but He passed through the heavens. He did not stay in the first or second heaven, but He entered the third and highest heaven.
He is not only High Priest, He also is the Son of God. To be able to become High Priest the Lord Jesus has gone a long way. He has become Man and has suffered on earth. He also accomplished the work of propitiation. Then He passed through the heavens to take His place on the throne of grace. He is also appointed by God as Son over His house and He now can also sympathize with us in our weaknesses. Without being the Son of God He couldn’t be our High Priest. However, now He is able to comfort us as Man, while He, with the full knowledge of God as Son, draws near to God for us.
Therefore it is justified that He is called here the ‘great High Priest’. That’s something that was never said of any high priest in the Old Testament. Again and again the writer points to the greatness of the Lord Jesus. Here He is great in His compassion for us. He is “Jesus the Son of God”. ‘Jesus’, the humiliated Man on earth in all our afflictions, Who as ‘the Son of God’ can sympathize with all His own.
Now He has been presented like that, the writer exhorts again to hold fast the confession, which is hold on to Him Whom you confess. You are on the way to Him and you may thereby know that He helps you.
Hebrews 4:15. And Who is He Who helps you? He is Someone Who knows exactly whatever you’re going through and Who understands you thoroughly because He Himself also has gone through all of that. You can count on His sympathizing with you.
To sympathize with another person it is not necessary that you feel at the same time what the other person feels. When you suffer pain you cannot think of the pain of someone else. Though to share in suffering you ought to have a nature that enables you to be aware of what the pain of the other person is.
This is how Jesus exerts His high priesthood. In every way He is beyond the reach of pain and affliction, but He is Man and He not only has the nature of man who used to suffer pain, but He underwent afflictions that a believer has to endure in a more than perfect way than any of us ever endures.
He was tempted in all things as you are, “[yet] without sin”. That doesn’t mean ‘without sinning’, but it means that He absolutely had no part in sin. He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); in Him there is no sin (1 John 3:5). Satan had nothing in Him (John 14:30) – neither did God find anything in Him (Psalms 17:3) – whatever could be a lead to sin.
His suffering was not caused by sin (as it could be the case with us) and it neither led Him to sin. But because He was tempted, He is able to fully sympathize with you. He feels what you feel and therefore He is able to understand and help you. He cannot sympathize with your sins. If you have sinned, He is the Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). Infirmities are no sins. Paul boasted in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), but never in his sins.
Hebrews 4:16. When the writer has presented the glory of the great High Priest to you like that, it could only cause the result that your heart is full of confidence to draw near “to the throne of grace”. You may say that to yourself: ‘I can draw near with confidence, because I can freely look God in the eyes because my sins are taken away and also because the High Priest, Who can sympathize with my infirmities, is there.’
‘The throne of grace’ reminds us of the ark in the tabernacle. God dwelled between the cherubim on the mercy seat of the ark. That throne was a judgment throne, but through the offering that the judgment had borne, the blood was sprinkled on the ark. Therefore the judgment throne has now changed into a throne of grace. To us Christ became the offering and through His blood we are able to come to the throne of grace. Christ Himself was set forth by God as propitiation, or a throne of grace, (Romans 3:25). Therefore you may come to God without any hesitation. This you do when you focus directly from your heart on God and tell Him everything that is in it.
Christ represents you there and therefore God is well pleased with you. You take refuge at the throne of grace because you are aware that you will fail if God doesn’t help you. Then you receive “mercy”, that is God’s sympathy in your circumstances, you are made aware again of His mercy and protection. You also find “grace”, you are made aware again that you stand in grace before God (Romans 5:2).
This awareness is your “help in time of need”, at the crucial moment, the moment that the hardships nearly become too much for you. You suddenly see again that God is greater than the hardships and that the Lord Jesus is always beside you in times of difficulties.
Now read Hebrews 4:12-16 again.
Reflection: Just reconsider the means that God has provided you with and thank Him for them. Ask Him to help you to use them extensively.
Hebrews 13:17
Three ‘Aids’
In this section the Holy Spirit presents to you three ‘aids’, which will enormously support you and which are also absolutely essential for you on your way to the rest. These supporting aids are: 1. the Word (Hebrews 4:12-13); 2. the Lord Jesus as High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15); 3. the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). Seek your help only there and there alone to conquer all adversaries (Psalms 60:11).
- The Word watches over your inward and judges sin. 2. The High Priest watches over you regarding the circumstances you are in, sympathizes and helps you. 3. To the throne of grace you may always go as boldly as to the Lord Jesus.
You see, everything is provided for. This is how God is to His people.
Hebrews 4:12. We first look at the Word. In what you read about the Word three features of God are presented: life, power and omniscience. Beware of making the mistake to criticize the Word, for the consequences are fatal. You are not the one to judge the Word, but the Word judges you. In fact you do not know your own heart, but God surely knows it (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Through the Word you learn to know your own heart. When you read the Word, sin and unbelief become apparent. If you are sincere in your heart, this judgment about the effects on the heart has a great value (Psalms 139:23-24).
The “word of God is living” because this Word is the Word of the living God. He gave to Israel ‘living oracles [or: words]’ (Acts 7:38). The Word is also “active”. It is not like the empty words of people, without content. It ‘performs its works in you who believe’ (1 Thessalonians 2:13), but it also accuses (John 5:45). Furthermore, it is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Revelation 1:16; Ephesians 6:17). When used, it is destructive, it cuts away that which should not be there, it kills what should not remain alive.
It is not only destructive, it is also discerning. In that way it is “piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit” which means that the Word discerns what comes from the soul and what comes from the spirit. The ‘soul’ rather indicates feelings and desires, the ‘spirit’ indicates more the hidden considerations and belief or unbelief. Soul and spirit are, so to say, the two parts of the non-material nature of man.
The Word also unveils the distinction between “joints” and “marrow”, whereby ‘joints’ indicates more the outward actions and the ‘marrow’ the inward power of those actions. The sinfulness of the human heart shows itself by the members of the body that are functioning through ‘joints’ and ‘marrow’.
Soul and spirit on the one hand and joints and marrow on the other hand present the total man. In this way the writer shows that no single aspect of the total man escapes from the working of the Word of God.
Finally it is said of the Word that it is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9). Here we have come to the most inner part of man, the center from where soul and spirit and joints and marrow are directed in their workings. What becomes visible in life emerges from the heart. Therefore you should watch over your heart above everything that you should watch over (Proverbs 4:23). And for that, the Word of God has been given to you. So use it!
Hebrews 4:13. In this verse the writer suddenly moves from the Word of God to God Himself. What the Word does, God does. This connection between the Word that is addressed to you and God Himself is remarkable. The Word comes from God. It is as it were His eye that is focused on your conscience and that brings you into His presence. God exposes everything in you.
He does not do that for Himself, for He does not need it. There are no secret things for Him that He should expose. All things are open and laid bare to His eyes. But He wants to make you aware that you are dealing with Him. You are going your way under the all-seeing eye of the living God. If you are aware of that, you will, in self-judgment, put away everything that could possibly hinder you to persevere in the way of faith.
Hebrews 4:14. Then the writer comes back to his main subject: the High Priest in the heavens (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1). The ministry of the Lord Jesus as High Priest is diverse. Therein the grace of God is revealed magnificently. Consider just the connection with the two previous verses about what the Word does. If the Word exposes in you whatever can go wrong, don’t you see your weakness and incapability to reach the final goal by your own strength?
Therefore it is a great blessing that you have a great High Priest and a throne of grace. The Lord Jesus exercises His high priesthood in heaven, where God is, to help you from there in accordance to Whom God is. Christ not only went into heaven, but He passed through the heavens. He did not stay in the first or second heaven, but He entered the third and highest heaven.
He is not only High Priest, He also is the Son of God. To be able to become High Priest the Lord Jesus has gone a long way. He has become Man and has suffered on earth. He also accomplished the work of propitiation. Then He passed through the heavens to take His place on the throne of grace. He is also appointed by God as Son over His house and He now can also sympathize with us in our weaknesses. Without being the Son of God He couldn’t be our High Priest. However, now He is able to comfort us as Man, while He, with the full knowledge of God as Son, draws near to God for us.
Therefore it is justified that He is called here the ‘great High Priest’. That’s something that was never said of any high priest in the Old Testament. Again and again the writer points to the greatness of the Lord Jesus. Here He is great in His compassion for us. He is “Jesus the Son of God”. ‘Jesus’, the humiliated Man on earth in all our afflictions, Who as ‘the Son of God’ can sympathize with all His own.
Now He has been presented like that, the writer exhorts again to hold fast the confession, which is hold on to Him Whom you confess. You are on the way to Him and you may thereby know that He helps you.
Hebrews 4:15. And Who is He Who helps you? He is Someone Who knows exactly whatever you’re going through and Who understands you thoroughly because He Himself also has gone through all of that. You can count on His sympathizing with you.
To sympathize with another person it is not necessary that you feel at the same time what the other person feels. When you suffer pain you cannot think of the pain of someone else. Though to share in suffering you ought to have a nature that enables you to be aware of what the pain of the other person is.
This is how Jesus exerts His high priesthood. In every way He is beyond the reach of pain and affliction, but He is Man and He not only has the nature of man who used to suffer pain, but He underwent afflictions that a believer has to endure in a more than perfect way than any of us ever endures.
He was tempted in all things as you are, “[yet] without sin”. That doesn’t mean ‘without sinning’, but it means that He absolutely had no part in sin. He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); in Him there is no sin (1 John 3:5). Satan had nothing in Him (John 14:30) – neither did God find anything in Him (Psalms 17:3) – whatever could be a lead to sin.
His suffering was not caused by sin (as it could be the case with us) and it neither led Him to sin. But because He was tempted, He is able to fully sympathize with you. He feels what you feel and therefore He is able to understand and help you. He cannot sympathize with your sins. If you have sinned, He is the Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). Infirmities are no sins. Paul boasted in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), but never in his sins.
Hebrews 4:16. When the writer has presented the glory of the great High Priest to you like that, it could only cause the result that your heart is full of confidence to draw near “to the throne of grace”. You may say that to yourself: ‘I can draw near with confidence, because I can freely look God in the eyes because my sins are taken away and also because the High Priest, Who can sympathize with my infirmities, is there.’
‘The throne of grace’ reminds us of the ark in the tabernacle. God dwelled between the cherubim on the mercy seat of the ark. That throne was a judgment throne, but through the offering that the judgment had borne, the blood was sprinkled on the ark. Therefore the judgment throne has now changed into a throne of grace. To us Christ became the offering and through His blood we are able to come to the throne of grace. Christ Himself was set forth by God as propitiation, or a throne of grace, (Romans 3:25). Therefore you may come to God without any hesitation. This you do when you focus directly from your heart on God and tell Him everything that is in it.
Christ represents you there and therefore God is well pleased with you. You take refuge at the throne of grace because you are aware that you will fail if God doesn’t help you. Then you receive “mercy”, that is God’s sympathy in your circumstances, you are made aware again of His mercy and protection. You also find “grace”, you are made aware again that you stand in grace before God (Romans 5:2).
This awareness is your “help in time of need”, at the crucial moment, the moment that the hardships nearly become too much for you. You suddenly see again that God is greater than the hardships and that the Lord Jesus is always beside you in times of difficulties.
Now read Hebrews 4:12-16 again.
Reflection: Just reconsider the means that God has provided you with and thank Him for them. Ask Him to help you to use them extensively.
Hebrews 13:18
Three ‘Aids’
In this section the Holy Spirit presents to you three ‘aids’, which will enormously support you and which are also absolutely essential for you on your way to the rest. These supporting aids are: 1. the Word (Hebrews 4:12-13); 2. the Lord Jesus as High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15); 3. the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). Seek your help only there and there alone to conquer all adversaries (Psalms 60:11).
- The Word watches over your inward and judges sin. 2. The High Priest watches over you regarding the circumstances you are in, sympathizes and helps you. 3. To the throne of grace you may always go as boldly as to the Lord Jesus.
You see, everything is provided for. This is how God is to His people.
Hebrews 4:12. We first look at the Word. In what you read about the Word three features of God are presented: life, power and omniscience. Beware of making the mistake to criticize the Word, for the consequences are fatal. You are not the one to judge the Word, but the Word judges you. In fact you do not know your own heart, but God surely knows it (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Through the Word you learn to know your own heart. When you read the Word, sin and unbelief become apparent. If you are sincere in your heart, this judgment about the effects on the heart has a great value (Psalms 139:23-24).
The “word of God is living” because this Word is the Word of the living God. He gave to Israel ‘living oracles [or: words]’ (Acts 7:38). The Word is also “active”. It is not like the empty words of people, without content. It ‘performs its works in you who believe’ (1 Thessalonians 2:13), but it also accuses (John 5:45). Furthermore, it is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Revelation 1:16; Ephesians 6:17). When used, it is destructive, it cuts away that which should not be there, it kills what should not remain alive.
It is not only destructive, it is also discerning. In that way it is “piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit” which means that the Word discerns what comes from the soul and what comes from the spirit. The ‘soul’ rather indicates feelings and desires, the ‘spirit’ indicates more the hidden considerations and belief or unbelief. Soul and spirit are, so to say, the two parts of the non-material nature of man.
The Word also unveils the distinction between “joints” and “marrow”, whereby ‘joints’ indicates more the outward actions and the ‘marrow’ the inward power of those actions. The sinfulness of the human heart shows itself by the members of the body that are functioning through ‘joints’ and ‘marrow’.
Soul and spirit on the one hand and joints and marrow on the other hand present the total man. In this way the writer shows that no single aspect of the total man escapes from the working of the Word of God.
Finally it is said of the Word that it is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9). Here we have come to the most inner part of man, the center from where soul and spirit and joints and marrow are directed in their workings. What becomes visible in life emerges from the heart. Therefore you should watch over your heart above everything that you should watch over (Proverbs 4:23). And for that, the Word of God has been given to you. So use it!
Hebrews 4:13. In this verse the writer suddenly moves from the Word of God to God Himself. What the Word does, God does. This connection between the Word that is addressed to you and God Himself is remarkable. The Word comes from God. It is as it were His eye that is focused on your conscience and that brings you into His presence. God exposes everything in you.
He does not do that for Himself, for He does not need it. There are no secret things for Him that He should expose. All things are open and laid bare to His eyes. But He wants to make you aware that you are dealing with Him. You are going your way under the all-seeing eye of the living God. If you are aware of that, you will, in self-judgment, put away everything that could possibly hinder you to persevere in the way of faith.
Hebrews 4:14. Then the writer comes back to his main subject: the High Priest in the heavens (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1). The ministry of the Lord Jesus as High Priest is diverse. Therein the grace of God is revealed magnificently. Consider just the connection with the two previous verses about what the Word does. If the Word exposes in you whatever can go wrong, don’t you see your weakness and incapability to reach the final goal by your own strength?
Therefore it is a great blessing that you have a great High Priest and a throne of grace. The Lord Jesus exercises His high priesthood in heaven, where God is, to help you from there in accordance to Whom God is. Christ not only went into heaven, but He passed through the heavens. He did not stay in the first or second heaven, but He entered the third and highest heaven.
He is not only High Priest, He also is the Son of God. To be able to become High Priest the Lord Jesus has gone a long way. He has become Man and has suffered on earth. He also accomplished the work of propitiation. Then He passed through the heavens to take His place on the throne of grace. He is also appointed by God as Son over His house and He now can also sympathize with us in our weaknesses. Without being the Son of God He couldn’t be our High Priest. However, now He is able to comfort us as Man, while He, with the full knowledge of God as Son, draws near to God for us.
Therefore it is justified that He is called here the ‘great High Priest’. That’s something that was never said of any high priest in the Old Testament. Again and again the writer points to the greatness of the Lord Jesus. Here He is great in His compassion for us. He is “Jesus the Son of God”. ‘Jesus’, the humiliated Man on earth in all our afflictions, Who as ‘the Son of God’ can sympathize with all His own.
Now He has been presented like that, the writer exhorts again to hold fast the confession, which is hold on to Him Whom you confess. You are on the way to Him and you may thereby know that He helps you.
Hebrews 4:15. And Who is He Who helps you? He is Someone Who knows exactly whatever you’re going through and Who understands you thoroughly because He Himself also has gone through all of that. You can count on His sympathizing with you.
To sympathize with another person it is not necessary that you feel at the same time what the other person feels. When you suffer pain you cannot think of the pain of someone else. Though to share in suffering you ought to have a nature that enables you to be aware of what the pain of the other person is.
This is how Jesus exerts His high priesthood. In every way He is beyond the reach of pain and affliction, but He is Man and He not only has the nature of man who used to suffer pain, but He underwent afflictions that a believer has to endure in a more than perfect way than any of us ever endures.
He was tempted in all things as you are, “[yet] without sin”. That doesn’t mean ‘without sinning’, but it means that He absolutely had no part in sin. He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); in Him there is no sin (1 John 3:5). Satan had nothing in Him (John 14:30) – neither did God find anything in Him (Psalms 17:3) – whatever could be a lead to sin.
His suffering was not caused by sin (as it could be the case with us) and it neither led Him to sin. But because He was tempted, He is able to fully sympathize with you. He feels what you feel and therefore He is able to understand and help you. He cannot sympathize with your sins. If you have sinned, He is the Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). Infirmities are no sins. Paul boasted in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), but never in his sins.
Hebrews 4:16. When the writer has presented the glory of the great High Priest to you like that, it could only cause the result that your heart is full of confidence to draw near “to the throne of grace”. You may say that to yourself: ‘I can draw near with confidence, because I can freely look God in the eyes because my sins are taken away and also because the High Priest, Who can sympathize with my infirmities, is there.’
‘The throne of grace’ reminds us of the ark in the tabernacle. God dwelled between the cherubim on the mercy seat of the ark. That throne was a judgment throne, but through the offering that the judgment had borne, the blood was sprinkled on the ark. Therefore the judgment throne has now changed into a throne of grace. To us Christ became the offering and through His blood we are able to come to the throne of grace. Christ Himself was set forth by God as propitiation, or a throne of grace, (Romans 3:25). Therefore you may come to God without any hesitation. This you do when you focus directly from your heart on God and tell Him everything that is in it.
Christ represents you there and therefore God is well pleased with you. You take refuge at the throne of grace because you are aware that you will fail if God doesn’t help you. Then you receive “mercy”, that is God’s sympathy in your circumstances, you are made aware again of His mercy and protection. You also find “grace”, you are made aware again that you stand in grace before God (Romans 5:2).
This awareness is your “help in time of need”, at the crucial moment, the moment that the hardships nearly become too much for you. You suddenly see again that God is greater than the hardships and that the Lord Jesus is always beside you in times of difficulties.
Now read Hebrews 4:12-16 again.
Reflection: Just reconsider the means that God has provided you with and thank Him for them. Ask Him to help you to use them extensively.
Hebrews 13:20
Aaron and Christ as High Priest
Hebrews 5:1. The writer is now going to explain more about the person of the high priest. His readers were familiar with this person. They knew him well from the Old Testament and also from practice before they believed in the Lord Jesus. First he points at the high priesthood as how that functioned among God’s earthly people and had in Aaron its first representative. Then he compares the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus with that of Aaron to show the eminence above that of Aaron.
He already touched on the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus in the chapters 2, 3 and 4 (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 4:14-15), only now he explains it in detail. This teaching goes on till chapter 10. For the Jewish Christians, who continually had a tendency to return to the old traditions, this teaching was of great importance. It is also important for professing Christianity, where many things are present that remind us of Judaism.
The high priest in Israel was characterized by some things. In particular he was someone from among the people, “from among men”, a man taken from among men. Therefore it was necessary that Christ became Man, although you ought not to forget that He is much more than that, for He is the unique, eternal Son of God.
Furthermore, the service of the high priest relates to people. He is “appointed on behalf of men”. Men are the object of his service and he makes efforts on their behalf. However, they are not a goal in themselves. In the service of the high priest it is about “things pertaining to God”. It is about His interests and His honor and about a cleansed nation that is consecrated to Him and worships and serves Him.
In the Old Testament that service is presented explicitly by the offering of “both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (cf. Hebrews 8:3; Hebrews 9:9). Regarding ‘gifts’ you may think of all possible offerings and regarding ‘sacrifices’ you may think especially of bloody offerings. Sins cause separation between God and His people. When offerings were brought for the sins, God could be with His people again. It was the task of the high priest to restore the connection between God and the people.
Hebrews 5:2. Because Aaron, as human high priest, was a sinner himself, he could “deal gently” with others. Christ could never deal gently with sins, for that’s what He died for. The gently dealing of the human high priest is something in the sense of ‘expressing moderate feelings’. It indicates an infirm and incomplete sympathy. He dealt gently “with the ignorant and misguided”. These are sinners, but not sinners who live in conscious rebellion against God. For the latter there is no offering possible (Hebrews 10:26-29).
Hebrews 5:3. Because Aaron was a human high priest, he also had to bring offerings for himself. That applied both to Aaron and to his successors in the next centuries up to Christ. He indeed performed for the people with God, but at the same time he was one of them, also in their sinfulness. The weakness that is meant here, indicates the tendency to sin. That was not the case with Christ. He did not sacrifice for Himself, He sacrificed Himself.
Hebrews 5:4. The high priesthood is not an office that anyone could claim for himself. That this nevertheless happened in the unfaithful Israel – there is a situation where there is even talk of two high priests (Luke 3:1) –, doesn’t change anything to God’s statutes. God has determined His choice who finally will be high priest, as it is to be seen with Zadok and his sons (Ezekiel 44:15-16; Ezekiel 48:11). A person is high priest on the ground of calling, not by pretention. Just as Aaron was called by God, so too Christ was called by God, albeit in a way that at the same time shows a great difference from Aaron.
So you see that there are some similarities in the Hebrews 5:1-4 between Aaron and Christ. I go through them again and discover the following. Both Christ and Aaron 1. are appointed on behalf of men in the things pertaining to God, 2. sacrifice for the sins of the people and 3. take no honor for themselves.
There are also differences and even more than similarities: 1. Aaron was taken from among men, while Christ became Man and is also the unique Son of God. 2. Aaron was surrounded by infirmities and had the tendency to sin, while Christ is without sin, neither was the tendency to sin in Him. 3. Aaron had to sacrifice for himself, while Christ sacrificed Himself for others.
In what follows also the difference becomes apparent: 1. The difference between the way Aaron is called and the way Christ is called (Hebrews 5:5) and 2. the difference between the priesthood according to the order of Aaron and that according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6). 3. In Hebrews 5:5 the glory of Christ’s calling as High Priest above the calling of Aaron is confirmed by Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7). 4. In Hebrews 5:6 the glory of Christ’s priestly order above that of Aaron is placed in the light by Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4).
Hebrews 5:5. We first look at the quotation from Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7), where the glory of His Person becomes apparent. The beginning of the verse still shows a similarity with Aaron. Christ never sought His own honor, not even in the high priesthood. Then the contrast follows: He is personally the Son. That gives a much higher dignity to His high priesthood than that of Aaron. He was begotten by God in Mary (Luke 1:35) and therefore He is as Man also God’s Son. This Man is the High Priest with God, what He was not and could not be as God the Son. Only when He became Man, could He become High Priest.
Hebrews 5:6. The other quotation, from Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), adds even more glory, which becomes apparent from the introductory words: “Just as He says also in another [passage].” The writer draws – of course under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – from the riches of God’s Word to let fall continually another ray of light on Christ. Thereby he doesn’t act randomly, but he continually quotes verses that magnify the radiance and glory of Christ and which causes his argumentation to be strengthened and clarified.
In the quotation of Psalm 110 the glory of the office of Christ becomes clear. Psalms 110 is a psalm that, as many psalms, refers to the millennial kingdom of peace. The enemies of the Messiah are made His footstool (Psalms 110:1). He receives out of Zion the strong scepter (Psalms 110:2) in the midst of God’s people who will volunteer freely and celebrating (Psalms 110:3), while He shatters hostile kings and judges among the nations (Psalms 110:5-6). Besides all this glory and magnificence there is also a review of His life on earth when He was dependent on the refreshment by God (Psalms 110:7).
From both quotations (Psalms 2 and Psalms 110) it becomes clear that God declares that the Messiah is both Son and Priest. Sonship and priesthood are therefore closely related to each other. That goes for Christ and also for us.
I will not comment yet on “the order of Melchizedek”, for that will be further explained in chapter 7. What becomes clear though, is that He is not high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, but priest according to the order of Melchizedek. There is a nice explanation for this. A high priest assumes other priests, but the Lord Jesus alone is priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The order of Melchizedek is an order of blessing. Melchizedek blessed Abraham from God’s side and he praised God for what He did for Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20). According to that order the Lord Jesus is King-Priest Who brings blessing from God to God’s people, what will be fully fulfilled in the millennial kingdom of peace. The priesthood of Melchizedek, which in the Old Testament is only mentioned in Genesis 14 (Genesis 14:18) and in Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), existed earlier than that of Aaron and will also remain to exist when that of Aaron will not be necessary anymore.
Hebrews 5:7. Here the writer refers impressively to something that didn’t take place in the life of Aaron or Melchizedek, but it did take place in the life of Christ. Between His being conceived as Son of God on earth and His glorification as Priest in heaven are “the days of His flesh”, by which His life on earth is meant. His glory doesn’t bring Him nearer to the misery of man, while His life on earth does.
In what is described of Him here you learn how true it is for Him to partake of your hardships and sorrows. On earth, ‘the days of His flesh’, He endured, in dependence on God, all the fear of death. He offered up supplications to be saved, for He did not want to save Himself because He came to obey. His life on earth made Him suitable to be High Priest in connection with us. His life on earth also led to the offering of Himself, in which He is unique.
He did not offer up prayers and supplications when He was tempted by satan in the wilderness. That He did in Gethsemane, when the moment came before Him that He would be forsaken by God. All sufferings from man’s side He bore with joy, something that many martyrs have done in His footsteps. But to be made sin He could not encounter with joy. In this also no one could follow Him.
Seeing that before Him, He offered up both His prayers and supplications to God, He sent them up to Him. He did so, trusting that God “was able to save Him from death”. It was not that He wanted to be saved of death, for that was necessary. He knew that and therefore He prayed: “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). And He was answered, for God raised Him up. “He was heard because of His piety” means that He was heard because of His perfect trust in His God, because of His piety and because of His perfect commitment and His dependence of God. What a Lord!
Now read Hebrews 5:1-7 again.
Reflection: Name some glories of the Lord Jesus from this section and thank God for them.
Hebrews 13:21
Aaron and Christ as High Priest
Hebrews 5:1. The writer is now going to explain more about the person of the high priest. His readers were familiar with this person. They knew him well from the Old Testament and also from practice before they believed in the Lord Jesus. First he points at the high priesthood as how that functioned among God’s earthly people and had in Aaron its first representative. Then he compares the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus with that of Aaron to show the eminence above that of Aaron.
He already touched on the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus in the chapters 2, 3 and 4 (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 4:14-15), only now he explains it in detail. This teaching goes on till chapter 10. For the Jewish Christians, who continually had a tendency to return to the old traditions, this teaching was of great importance. It is also important for professing Christianity, where many things are present that remind us of Judaism.
The high priest in Israel was characterized by some things. In particular he was someone from among the people, “from among men”, a man taken from among men. Therefore it was necessary that Christ became Man, although you ought not to forget that He is much more than that, for He is the unique, eternal Son of God.
Furthermore, the service of the high priest relates to people. He is “appointed on behalf of men”. Men are the object of his service and he makes efforts on their behalf. However, they are not a goal in themselves. In the service of the high priest it is about “things pertaining to God”. It is about His interests and His honor and about a cleansed nation that is consecrated to Him and worships and serves Him.
In the Old Testament that service is presented explicitly by the offering of “both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (cf. Hebrews 8:3; Hebrews 9:9). Regarding ‘gifts’ you may think of all possible offerings and regarding ‘sacrifices’ you may think especially of bloody offerings. Sins cause separation between God and His people. When offerings were brought for the sins, God could be with His people again. It was the task of the high priest to restore the connection between God and the people.
Hebrews 5:2. Because Aaron, as human high priest, was a sinner himself, he could “deal gently” with others. Christ could never deal gently with sins, for that’s what He died for. The gently dealing of the human high priest is something in the sense of ‘expressing moderate feelings’. It indicates an infirm and incomplete sympathy. He dealt gently “with the ignorant and misguided”. These are sinners, but not sinners who live in conscious rebellion against God. For the latter there is no offering possible (Hebrews 10:26-29).
Hebrews 5:3. Because Aaron was a human high priest, he also had to bring offerings for himself. That applied both to Aaron and to his successors in the next centuries up to Christ. He indeed performed for the people with God, but at the same time he was one of them, also in their sinfulness. The weakness that is meant here, indicates the tendency to sin. That was not the case with Christ. He did not sacrifice for Himself, He sacrificed Himself.
Hebrews 5:4. The high priesthood is not an office that anyone could claim for himself. That this nevertheless happened in the unfaithful Israel – there is a situation where there is even talk of two high priests (Luke 3:1) –, doesn’t change anything to God’s statutes. God has determined His choice who finally will be high priest, as it is to be seen with Zadok and his sons (Ezekiel 44:15-16; Ezekiel 48:11). A person is high priest on the ground of calling, not by pretention. Just as Aaron was called by God, so too Christ was called by God, albeit in a way that at the same time shows a great difference from Aaron.
So you see that there are some similarities in the Hebrews 5:1-4 between Aaron and Christ. I go through them again and discover the following. Both Christ and Aaron 1. are appointed on behalf of men in the things pertaining to God, 2. sacrifice for the sins of the people and 3. take no honor for themselves.
There are also differences and even more than similarities: 1. Aaron was taken from among men, while Christ became Man and is also the unique Son of God. 2. Aaron was surrounded by infirmities and had the tendency to sin, while Christ is without sin, neither was the tendency to sin in Him. 3. Aaron had to sacrifice for himself, while Christ sacrificed Himself for others.
In what follows also the difference becomes apparent: 1. The difference between the way Aaron is called and the way Christ is called (Hebrews 5:5) and 2. the difference between the priesthood according to the order of Aaron and that according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6). 3. In Hebrews 5:5 the glory of Christ’s calling as High Priest above the calling of Aaron is confirmed by Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7). 4. In Hebrews 5:6 the glory of Christ’s priestly order above that of Aaron is placed in the light by Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4).
Hebrews 5:5. We first look at the quotation from Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7), where the glory of His Person becomes apparent. The beginning of the verse still shows a similarity with Aaron. Christ never sought His own honor, not even in the high priesthood. Then the contrast follows: He is personally the Son. That gives a much higher dignity to His high priesthood than that of Aaron. He was begotten by God in Mary (Luke 1:35) and therefore He is as Man also God’s Son. This Man is the High Priest with God, what He was not and could not be as God the Son. Only when He became Man, could He become High Priest.
Hebrews 5:6. The other quotation, from Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), adds even more glory, which becomes apparent from the introductory words: “Just as He says also in another [passage].” The writer draws – of course under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – from the riches of God’s Word to let fall continually another ray of light on Christ. Thereby he doesn’t act randomly, but he continually quotes verses that magnify the radiance and glory of Christ and which causes his argumentation to be strengthened and clarified.
In the quotation of Psalm 110 the glory of the office of Christ becomes clear. Psalms 110 is a psalm that, as many psalms, refers to the millennial kingdom of peace. The enemies of the Messiah are made His footstool (Psalms 110:1). He receives out of Zion the strong scepter (Psalms 110:2) in the midst of God’s people who will volunteer freely and celebrating (Psalms 110:3), while He shatters hostile kings and judges among the nations (Psalms 110:5-6). Besides all this glory and magnificence there is also a review of His life on earth when He was dependent on the refreshment by God (Psalms 110:7).
From both quotations (Psalms 2 and Psalms 110) it becomes clear that God declares that the Messiah is both Son and Priest. Sonship and priesthood are therefore closely related to each other. That goes for Christ and also for us.
I will not comment yet on “the order of Melchizedek”, for that will be further explained in chapter 7. What becomes clear though, is that He is not high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, but priest according to the order of Melchizedek. There is a nice explanation for this. A high priest assumes other priests, but the Lord Jesus alone is priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The order of Melchizedek is an order of blessing. Melchizedek blessed Abraham from God’s side and he praised God for what He did for Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20). According to that order the Lord Jesus is King-Priest Who brings blessing from God to God’s people, what will be fully fulfilled in the millennial kingdom of peace. The priesthood of Melchizedek, which in the Old Testament is only mentioned in Genesis 14 (Genesis 14:18) and in Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), existed earlier than that of Aaron and will also remain to exist when that of Aaron will not be necessary anymore.
Hebrews 5:7. Here the writer refers impressively to something that didn’t take place in the life of Aaron or Melchizedek, but it did take place in the life of Christ. Between His being conceived as Son of God on earth and His glorification as Priest in heaven are “the days of His flesh”, by which His life on earth is meant. His glory doesn’t bring Him nearer to the misery of man, while His life on earth does.
In what is described of Him here you learn how true it is for Him to partake of your hardships and sorrows. On earth, ‘the days of His flesh’, He endured, in dependence on God, all the fear of death. He offered up supplications to be saved, for He did not want to save Himself because He came to obey. His life on earth made Him suitable to be High Priest in connection with us. His life on earth also led to the offering of Himself, in which He is unique.
He did not offer up prayers and supplications when He was tempted by satan in the wilderness. That He did in Gethsemane, when the moment came before Him that He would be forsaken by God. All sufferings from man’s side He bore with joy, something that many martyrs have done in His footsteps. But to be made sin He could not encounter with joy. In this also no one could follow Him.
Seeing that before Him, He offered up both His prayers and supplications to God, He sent them up to Him. He did so, trusting that God “was able to save Him from death”. It was not that He wanted to be saved of death, for that was necessary. He knew that and therefore He prayed: “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). And He was answered, for God raised Him up. “He was heard because of His piety” means that He was heard because of His perfect trust in His God, because of His piety and because of His perfect commitment and His dependence of God. What a Lord!
Now read Hebrews 5:1-7 again.
Reflection: Name some glories of the Lord Jesus from this section and thank God for them.
Hebrews 13:22
Aaron and Christ as High Priest
Hebrews 5:1. The writer is now going to explain more about the person of the high priest. His readers were familiar with this person. They knew him well from the Old Testament and also from practice before they believed in the Lord Jesus. First he points at the high priesthood as how that functioned among God’s earthly people and had in Aaron its first representative. Then he compares the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus with that of Aaron to show the eminence above that of Aaron.
He already touched on the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus in the chapters 2, 3 and 4 (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 4:14-15), only now he explains it in detail. This teaching goes on till chapter 10. For the Jewish Christians, who continually had a tendency to return to the old traditions, this teaching was of great importance. It is also important for professing Christianity, where many things are present that remind us of Judaism.
The high priest in Israel was characterized by some things. In particular he was someone from among the people, “from among men”, a man taken from among men. Therefore it was necessary that Christ became Man, although you ought not to forget that He is much more than that, for He is the unique, eternal Son of God.
Furthermore, the service of the high priest relates to people. He is “appointed on behalf of men”. Men are the object of his service and he makes efforts on their behalf. However, they are not a goal in themselves. In the service of the high priest it is about “things pertaining to God”. It is about His interests and His honor and about a cleansed nation that is consecrated to Him and worships and serves Him.
In the Old Testament that service is presented explicitly by the offering of “both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (cf. Hebrews 8:3; Hebrews 9:9). Regarding ‘gifts’ you may think of all possible offerings and regarding ‘sacrifices’ you may think especially of bloody offerings. Sins cause separation between God and His people. When offerings were brought for the sins, God could be with His people again. It was the task of the high priest to restore the connection between God and the people.
Hebrews 5:2. Because Aaron, as human high priest, was a sinner himself, he could “deal gently” with others. Christ could never deal gently with sins, for that’s what He died for. The gently dealing of the human high priest is something in the sense of ‘expressing moderate feelings’. It indicates an infirm and incomplete sympathy. He dealt gently “with the ignorant and misguided”. These are sinners, but not sinners who live in conscious rebellion against God. For the latter there is no offering possible (Hebrews 10:26-29).
Hebrews 5:3. Because Aaron was a human high priest, he also had to bring offerings for himself. That applied both to Aaron and to his successors in the next centuries up to Christ. He indeed performed for the people with God, but at the same time he was one of them, also in their sinfulness. The weakness that is meant here, indicates the tendency to sin. That was not the case with Christ. He did not sacrifice for Himself, He sacrificed Himself.
Hebrews 5:4. The high priesthood is not an office that anyone could claim for himself. That this nevertheless happened in the unfaithful Israel – there is a situation where there is even talk of two high priests (Luke 3:1) –, doesn’t change anything to God’s statutes. God has determined His choice who finally will be high priest, as it is to be seen with Zadok and his sons (Ezekiel 44:15-16; Ezekiel 48:11). A person is high priest on the ground of calling, not by pretention. Just as Aaron was called by God, so too Christ was called by God, albeit in a way that at the same time shows a great difference from Aaron.
So you see that there are some similarities in the Hebrews 5:1-4 between Aaron and Christ. I go through them again and discover the following. Both Christ and Aaron 1. are appointed on behalf of men in the things pertaining to God, 2. sacrifice for the sins of the people and 3. take no honor for themselves.
There are also differences and even more than similarities: 1. Aaron was taken from among men, while Christ became Man and is also the unique Son of God. 2. Aaron was surrounded by infirmities and had the tendency to sin, while Christ is without sin, neither was the tendency to sin in Him. 3. Aaron had to sacrifice for himself, while Christ sacrificed Himself for others.
In what follows also the difference becomes apparent: 1. The difference between the way Aaron is called and the way Christ is called (Hebrews 5:5) and 2. the difference between the priesthood according to the order of Aaron and that according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6). 3. In Hebrews 5:5 the glory of Christ’s calling as High Priest above the calling of Aaron is confirmed by Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7). 4. In Hebrews 5:6 the glory of Christ’s priestly order above that of Aaron is placed in the light by Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4).
Hebrews 5:5. We first look at the quotation from Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7), where the glory of His Person becomes apparent. The beginning of the verse still shows a similarity with Aaron. Christ never sought His own honor, not even in the high priesthood. Then the contrast follows: He is personally the Son. That gives a much higher dignity to His high priesthood than that of Aaron. He was begotten by God in Mary (Luke 1:35) and therefore He is as Man also God’s Son. This Man is the High Priest with God, what He was not and could not be as God the Son. Only when He became Man, could He become High Priest.
Hebrews 5:6. The other quotation, from Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), adds even more glory, which becomes apparent from the introductory words: “Just as He says also in another [passage].” The writer draws – of course under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – from the riches of God’s Word to let fall continually another ray of light on Christ. Thereby he doesn’t act randomly, but he continually quotes verses that magnify the radiance and glory of Christ and which causes his argumentation to be strengthened and clarified.
In the quotation of Psalm 110 the glory of the office of Christ becomes clear. Psalms 110 is a psalm that, as many psalms, refers to the millennial kingdom of peace. The enemies of the Messiah are made His footstool (Psalms 110:1). He receives out of Zion the strong scepter (Psalms 110:2) in the midst of God’s people who will volunteer freely and celebrating (Psalms 110:3), while He shatters hostile kings and judges among the nations (Psalms 110:5-6). Besides all this glory and magnificence there is also a review of His life on earth when He was dependent on the refreshment by God (Psalms 110:7).
From both quotations (Psalms 2 and Psalms 110) it becomes clear that God declares that the Messiah is both Son and Priest. Sonship and priesthood are therefore closely related to each other. That goes for Christ and also for us.
I will not comment yet on “the order of Melchizedek”, for that will be further explained in chapter 7. What becomes clear though, is that He is not high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, but priest according to the order of Melchizedek. There is a nice explanation for this. A high priest assumes other priests, but the Lord Jesus alone is priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The order of Melchizedek is an order of blessing. Melchizedek blessed Abraham from God’s side and he praised God for what He did for Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20). According to that order the Lord Jesus is King-Priest Who brings blessing from God to God’s people, what will be fully fulfilled in the millennial kingdom of peace. The priesthood of Melchizedek, which in the Old Testament is only mentioned in Genesis 14 (Genesis 14:18) and in Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), existed earlier than that of Aaron and will also remain to exist when that of Aaron will not be necessary anymore.
Hebrews 5:7. Here the writer refers impressively to something that didn’t take place in the life of Aaron or Melchizedek, but it did take place in the life of Christ. Between His being conceived as Son of God on earth and His glorification as Priest in heaven are “the days of His flesh”, by which His life on earth is meant. His glory doesn’t bring Him nearer to the misery of man, while His life on earth does.
In what is described of Him here you learn how true it is for Him to partake of your hardships and sorrows. On earth, ‘the days of His flesh’, He endured, in dependence on God, all the fear of death. He offered up supplications to be saved, for He did not want to save Himself because He came to obey. His life on earth made Him suitable to be High Priest in connection with us. His life on earth also led to the offering of Himself, in which He is unique.
He did not offer up prayers and supplications when He was tempted by satan in the wilderness. That He did in Gethsemane, when the moment came before Him that He would be forsaken by God. All sufferings from man’s side He bore with joy, something that many martyrs have done in His footsteps. But to be made sin He could not encounter with joy. In this also no one could follow Him.
Seeing that before Him, He offered up both His prayers and supplications to God, He sent them up to Him. He did so, trusting that God “was able to save Him from death”. It was not that He wanted to be saved of death, for that was necessary. He knew that and therefore He prayed: “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). And He was answered, for God raised Him up. “He was heard because of His piety” means that He was heard because of His perfect trust in His God, because of His piety and because of His perfect commitment and His dependence of God. What a Lord!
Now read Hebrews 5:1-7 again.
Reflection: Name some glories of the Lord Jesus from this section and thank God for them.
Hebrews 13:23
Aaron and Christ as High Priest
Hebrews 5:1. The writer is now going to explain more about the person of the high priest. His readers were familiar with this person. They knew him well from the Old Testament and also from practice before they believed in the Lord Jesus. First he points at the high priesthood as how that functioned among God’s earthly people and had in Aaron its first representative. Then he compares the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus with that of Aaron to show the eminence above that of Aaron.
He already touched on the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus in the chapters 2, 3 and 4 (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 4:14-15), only now he explains it in detail. This teaching goes on till chapter 10. For the Jewish Christians, who continually had a tendency to return to the old traditions, this teaching was of great importance. It is also important for professing Christianity, where many things are present that remind us of Judaism.
The high priest in Israel was characterized by some things. In particular he was someone from among the people, “from among men”, a man taken from among men. Therefore it was necessary that Christ became Man, although you ought not to forget that He is much more than that, for He is the unique, eternal Son of God.
Furthermore, the service of the high priest relates to people. He is “appointed on behalf of men”. Men are the object of his service and he makes efforts on their behalf. However, they are not a goal in themselves. In the service of the high priest it is about “things pertaining to God”. It is about His interests and His honor and about a cleansed nation that is consecrated to Him and worships and serves Him.
In the Old Testament that service is presented explicitly by the offering of “both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (cf. Hebrews 8:3; Hebrews 9:9). Regarding ‘gifts’ you may think of all possible offerings and regarding ‘sacrifices’ you may think especially of bloody offerings. Sins cause separation between God and His people. When offerings were brought for the sins, God could be with His people again. It was the task of the high priest to restore the connection between God and the people.
Hebrews 5:2. Because Aaron, as human high priest, was a sinner himself, he could “deal gently” with others. Christ could never deal gently with sins, for that’s what He died for. The gently dealing of the human high priest is something in the sense of ‘expressing moderate feelings’. It indicates an infirm and incomplete sympathy. He dealt gently “with the ignorant and misguided”. These are sinners, but not sinners who live in conscious rebellion against God. For the latter there is no offering possible (Hebrews 10:26-29).
Hebrews 5:3. Because Aaron was a human high priest, he also had to bring offerings for himself. That applied both to Aaron and to his successors in the next centuries up to Christ. He indeed performed for the people with God, but at the same time he was one of them, also in their sinfulness. The weakness that is meant here, indicates the tendency to sin. That was not the case with Christ. He did not sacrifice for Himself, He sacrificed Himself.
Hebrews 5:4. The high priesthood is not an office that anyone could claim for himself. That this nevertheless happened in the unfaithful Israel – there is a situation where there is even talk of two high priests (Luke 3:1) –, doesn’t change anything to God’s statutes. God has determined His choice who finally will be high priest, as it is to be seen with Zadok and his sons (Ezekiel 44:15-16; Ezekiel 48:11). A person is high priest on the ground of calling, not by pretention. Just as Aaron was called by God, so too Christ was called by God, albeit in a way that at the same time shows a great difference from Aaron.
So you see that there are some similarities in the Hebrews 5:1-4 between Aaron and Christ. I go through them again and discover the following. Both Christ and Aaron 1. are appointed on behalf of men in the things pertaining to God, 2. sacrifice for the sins of the people and 3. take no honor for themselves.
There are also differences and even more than similarities: 1. Aaron was taken from among men, while Christ became Man and is also the unique Son of God. 2. Aaron was surrounded by infirmities and had the tendency to sin, while Christ is without sin, neither was the tendency to sin in Him. 3. Aaron had to sacrifice for himself, while Christ sacrificed Himself for others.
In what follows also the difference becomes apparent: 1. The difference between the way Aaron is called and the way Christ is called (Hebrews 5:5) and 2. the difference between the priesthood according to the order of Aaron and that according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6). 3. In Hebrews 5:5 the glory of Christ’s calling as High Priest above the calling of Aaron is confirmed by Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7). 4. In Hebrews 5:6 the glory of Christ’s priestly order above that of Aaron is placed in the light by Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4).
Hebrews 5:5. We first look at the quotation from Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7), where the glory of His Person becomes apparent. The beginning of the verse still shows a similarity with Aaron. Christ never sought His own honor, not even in the high priesthood. Then the contrast follows: He is personally the Son. That gives a much higher dignity to His high priesthood than that of Aaron. He was begotten by God in Mary (Luke 1:35) and therefore He is as Man also God’s Son. This Man is the High Priest with God, what He was not and could not be as God the Son. Only when He became Man, could He become High Priest.
Hebrews 5:6. The other quotation, from Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), adds even more glory, which becomes apparent from the introductory words: “Just as He says also in another [passage].” The writer draws – of course under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – from the riches of God’s Word to let fall continually another ray of light on Christ. Thereby he doesn’t act randomly, but he continually quotes verses that magnify the radiance and glory of Christ and which causes his argumentation to be strengthened and clarified.
In the quotation of Psalm 110 the glory of the office of Christ becomes clear. Psalms 110 is a psalm that, as many psalms, refers to the millennial kingdom of peace. The enemies of the Messiah are made His footstool (Psalms 110:1). He receives out of Zion the strong scepter (Psalms 110:2) in the midst of God’s people who will volunteer freely and celebrating (Psalms 110:3), while He shatters hostile kings and judges among the nations (Psalms 110:5-6). Besides all this glory and magnificence there is also a review of His life on earth when He was dependent on the refreshment by God (Psalms 110:7).
From both quotations (Psalms 2 and Psalms 110) it becomes clear that God declares that the Messiah is both Son and Priest. Sonship and priesthood are therefore closely related to each other. That goes for Christ and also for us.
I will not comment yet on “the order of Melchizedek”, for that will be further explained in chapter 7. What becomes clear though, is that He is not high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, but priest according to the order of Melchizedek. There is a nice explanation for this. A high priest assumes other priests, but the Lord Jesus alone is priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The order of Melchizedek is an order of blessing. Melchizedek blessed Abraham from God’s side and he praised God for what He did for Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20). According to that order the Lord Jesus is King-Priest Who brings blessing from God to God’s people, what will be fully fulfilled in the millennial kingdom of peace. The priesthood of Melchizedek, which in the Old Testament is only mentioned in Genesis 14 (Genesis 14:18) and in Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), existed earlier than that of Aaron and will also remain to exist when that of Aaron will not be necessary anymore.
Hebrews 5:7. Here the writer refers impressively to something that didn’t take place in the life of Aaron or Melchizedek, but it did take place in the life of Christ. Between His being conceived as Son of God on earth and His glorification as Priest in heaven are “the days of His flesh”, by which His life on earth is meant. His glory doesn’t bring Him nearer to the misery of man, while His life on earth does.
In what is described of Him here you learn how true it is for Him to partake of your hardships and sorrows. On earth, ‘the days of His flesh’, He endured, in dependence on God, all the fear of death. He offered up supplications to be saved, for He did not want to save Himself because He came to obey. His life on earth made Him suitable to be High Priest in connection with us. His life on earth also led to the offering of Himself, in which He is unique.
He did not offer up prayers and supplications when He was tempted by satan in the wilderness. That He did in Gethsemane, when the moment came before Him that He would be forsaken by God. All sufferings from man’s side He bore with joy, something that many martyrs have done in His footsteps. But to be made sin He could not encounter with joy. In this also no one could follow Him.
Seeing that before Him, He offered up both His prayers and supplications to God, He sent them up to Him. He did so, trusting that God “was able to save Him from death”. It was not that He wanted to be saved of death, for that was necessary. He knew that and therefore He prayed: “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). And He was answered, for God raised Him up. “He was heard because of His piety” means that He was heard because of His perfect trust in His God, because of His piety and because of His perfect commitment and His dependence of God. What a Lord!
Now read Hebrews 5:1-7 again.
Reflection: Name some glories of the Lord Jesus from this section and thank God for them.
Hebrews 13:24
Aaron and Christ as High Priest
Hebrews 5:1. The writer is now going to explain more about the person of the high priest. His readers were familiar with this person. They knew him well from the Old Testament and also from practice before they believed in the Lord Jesus. First he points at the high priesthood as how that functioned among God’s earthly people and had in Aaron its first representative. Then he compares the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus with that of Aaron to show the eminence above that of Aaron.
He already touched on the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus in the chapters 2, 3 and 4 (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 4:14-15), only now he explains it in detail. This teaching goes on till chapter 10. For the Jewish Christians, who continually had a tendency to return to the old traditions, this teaching was of great importance. It is also important for professing Christianity, where many things are present that remind us of Judaism.
The high priest in Israel was characterized by some things. In particular he was someone from among the people, “from among men”, a man taken from among men. Therefore it was necessary that Christ became Man, although you ought not to forget that He is much more than that, for He is the unique, eternal Son of God.
Furthermore, the service of the high priest relates to people. He is “appointed on behalf of men”. Men are the object of his service and he makes efforts on their behalf. However, they are not a goal in themselves. In the service of the high priest it is about “things pertaining to God”. It is about His interests and His honor and about a cleansed nation that is consecrated to Him and worships and serves Him.
In the Old Testament that service is presented explicitly by the offering of “both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (cf. Hebrews 8:3; Hebrews 9:9). Regarding ‘gifts’ you may think of all possible offerings and regarding ‘sacrifices’ you may think especially of bloody offerings. Sins cause separation between God and His people. When offerings were brought for the sins, God could be with His people again. It was the task of the high priest to restore the connection between God and the people.
Hebrews 5:2. Because Aaron, as human high priest, was a sinner himself, he could “deal gently” with others. Christ could never deal gently with sins, for that’s what He died for. The gently dealing of the human high priest is something in the sense of ‘expressing moderate feelings’. It indicates an infirm and incomplete sympathy. He dealt gently “with the ignorant and misguided”. These are sinners, but not sinners who live in conscious rebellion against God. For the latter there is no offering possible (Hebrews 10:26-29).
Hebrews 5:3. Because Aaron was a human high priest, he also had to bring offerings for himself. That applied both to Aaron and to his successors in the next centuries up to Christ. He indeed performed for the people with God, but at the same time he was one of them, also in their sinfulness. The weakness that is meant here, indicates the tendency to sin. That was not the case with Christ. He did not sacrifice for Himself, He sacrificed Himself.
Hebrews 5:4. The high priesthood is not an office that anyone could claim for himself. That this nevertheless happened in the unfaithful Israel – there is a situation where there is even talk of two high priests (Luke 3:1) –, doesn’t change anything to God’s statutes. God has determined His choice who finally will be high priest, as it is to be seen with Zadok and his sons (Ezekiel 44:15-16; Ezekiel 48:11). A person is high priest on the ground of calling, not by pretention. Just as Aaron was called by God, so too Christ was called by God, albeit in a way that at the same time shows a great difference from Aaron.
So you see that there are some similarities in the Hebrews 5:1-4 between Aaron and Christ. I go through them again and discover the following. Both Christ and Aaron 1. are appointed on behalf of men in the things pertaining to God, 2. sacrifice for the sins of the people and 3. take no honor for themselves.
There are also differences and even more than similarities: 1. Aaron was taken from among men, while Christ became Man and is also the unique Son of God. 2. Aaron was surrounded by infirmities and had the tendency to sin, while Christ is without sin, neither was the tendency to sin in Him. 3. Aaron had to sacrifice for himself, while Christ sacrificed Himself for others.
In what follows also the difference becomes apparent: 1. The difference between the way Aaron is called and the way Christ is called (Hebrews 5:5) and 2. the difference between the priesthood according to the order of Aaron and that according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6). 3. In Hebrews 5:5 the glory of Christ’s calling as High Priest above the calling of Aaron is confirmed by Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7). 4. In Hebrews 5:6 the glory of Christ’s priestly order above that of Aaron is placed in the light by Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4).
Hebrews 5:5. We first look at the quotation from Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7), where the glory of His Person becomes apparent. The beginning of the verse still shows a similarity with Aaron. Christ never sought His own honor, not even in the high priesthood. Then the contrast follows: He is personally the Son. That gives a much higher dignity to His high priesthood than that of Aaron. He was begotten by God in Mary (Luke 1:35) and therefore He is as Man also God’s Son. This Man is the High Priest with God, what He was not and could not be as God the Son. Only when He became Man, could He become High Priest.
Hebrews 5:6. The other quotation, from Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), adds even more glory, which becomes apparent from the introductory words: “Just as He says also in another [passage].” The writer draws – of course under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – from the riches of God’s Word to let fall continually another ray of light on Christ. Thereby he doesn’t act randomly, but he continually quotes verses that magnify the radiance and glory of Christ and which causes his argumentation to be strengthened and clarified.
In the quotation of Psalm 110 the glory of the office of Christ becomes clear. Psalms 110 is a psalm that, as many psalms, refers to the millennial kingdom of peace. The enemies of the Messiah are made His footstool (Psalms 110:1). He receives out of Zion the strong scepter (Psalms 110:2) in the midst of God’s people who will volunteer freely and celebrating (Psalms 110:3), while He shatters hostile kings and judges among the nations (Psalms 110:5-6). Besides all this glory and magnificence there is also a review of His life on earth when He was dependent on the refreshment by God (Psalms 110:7).
From both quotations (Psalms 2 and Psalms 110) it becomes clear that God declares that the Messiah is both Son and Priest. Sonship and priesthood are therefore closely related to each other. That goes for Christ and also for us.
I will not comment yet on “the order of Melchizedek”, for that will be further explained in chapter 7. What becomes clear though, is that He is not high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, but priest according to the order of Melchizedek. There is a nice explanation for this. A high priest assumes other priests, but the Lord Jesus alone is priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The order of Melchizedek is an order of blessing. Melchizedek blessed Abraham from God’s side and he praised God for what He did for Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20). According to that order the Lord Jesus is King-Priest Who brings blessing from God to God’s people, what will be fully fulfilled in the millennial kingdom of peace. The priesthood of Melchizedek, which in the Old Testament is only mentioned in Genesis 14 (Genesis 14:18) and in Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), existed earlier than that of Aaron and will also remain to exist when that of Aaron will not be necessary anymore.
Hebrews 5:7. Here the writer refers impressively to something that didn’t take place in the life of Aaron or Melchizedek, but it did take place in the life of Christ. Between His being conceived as Son of God on earth and His glorification as Priest in heaven are “the days of His flesh”, by which His life on earth is meant. His glory doesn’t bring Him nearer to the misery of man, while His life on earth does.
In what is described of Him here you learn how true it is for Him to partake of your hardships and sorrows. On earth, ‘the days of His flesh’, He endured, in dependence on God, all the fear of death. He offered up supplications to be saved, for He did not want to save Himself because He came to obey. His life on earth made Him suitable to be High Priest in connection with us. His life on earth also led to the offering of Himself, in which He is unique.
He did not offer up prayers and supplications when He was tempted by satan in the wilderness. That He did in Gethsemane, when the moment came before Him that He would be forsaken by God. All sufferings from man’s side He bore with joy, something that many martyrs have done in His footsteps. But to be made sin He could not encounter with joy. In this also no one could follow Him.
Seeing that before Him, He offered up both His prayers and supplications to God, He sent them up to Him. He did so, trusting that God “was able to save Him from death”. It was not that He wanted to be saved of death, for that was necessary. He knew that and therefore He prayed: “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). And He was answered, for God raised Him up. “He was heard because of His piety” means that He was heard because of His perfect trust in His God, because of His piety and because of His perfect commitment and His dependence of God. What a Lord!
Now read Hebrews 5:1-7 again.
Reflection: Name some glories of the Lord Jesus from this section and thank God for them.
Hebrews 13:25
Aaron and Christ as High Priest
Hebrews 5:1. The writer is now going to explain more about the person of the high priest. His readers were familiar with this person. They knew him well from the Old Testament and also from practice before they believed in the Lord Jesus. First he points at the high priesthood as how that functioned among God’s earthly people and had in Aaron its first representative. Then he compares the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus with that of Aaron to show the eminence above that of Aaron.
He already touched on the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus in the chapters 2, 3 and 4 (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 4:14-15), only now he explains it in detail. This teaching goes on till chapter 10. For the Jewish Christians, who continually had a tendency to return to the old traditions, this teaching was of great importance. It is also important for professing Christianity, where many things are present that remind us of Judaism.
The high priest in Israel was characterized by some things. In particular he was someone from among the people, “from among men”, a man taken from among men. Therefore it was necessary that Christ became Man, although you ought not to forget that He is much more than that, for He is the unique, eternal Son of God.
Furthermore, the service of the high priest relates to people. He is “appointed on behalf of men”. Men are the object of his service and he makes efforts on their behalf. However, they are not a goal in themselves. In the service of the high priest it is about “things pertaining to God”. It is about His interests and His honor and about a cleansed nation that is consecrated to Him and worships and serves Him.
In the Old Testament that service is presented explicitly by the offering of “both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (cf. Hebrews 8:3; Hebrews 9:9). Regarding ‘gifts’ you may think of all possible offerings and regarding ‘sacrifices’ you may think especially of bloody offerings. Sins cause separation between God and His people. When offerings were brought for the sins, God could be with His people again. It was the task of the high priest to restore the connection between God and the people.
Hebrews 5:2. Because Aaron, as human high priest, was a sinner himself, he could “deal gently” with others. Christ could never deal gently with sins, for that’s what He died for. The gently dealing of the human high priest is something in the sense of ‘expressing moderate feelings’. It indicates an infirm and incomplete sympathy. He dealt gently “with the ignorant and misguided”. These are sinners, but not sinners who live in conscious rebellion against God. For the latter there is no offering possible (Hebrews 10:26-29).
Hebrews 5:3. Because Aaron was a human high priest, he also had to bring offerings for himself. That applied both to Aaron and to his successors in the next centuries up to Christ. He indeed performed for the people with God, but at the same time he was one of them, also in their sinfulness. The weakness that is meant here, indicates the tendency to sin. That was not the case with Christ. He did not sacrifice for Himself, He sacrificed Himself.
Hebrews 5:4. The high priesthood is not an office that anyone could claim for himself. That this nevertheless happened in the unfaithful Israel – there is a situation where there is even talk of two high priests (Luke 3:1) –, doesn’t change anything to God’s statutes. God has determined His choice who finally will be high priest, as it is to be seen with Zadok and his sons (Ezekiel 44:15-16; Ezekiel 48:11). A person is high priest on the ground of calling, not by pretention. Just as Aaron was called by God, so too Christ was called by God, albeit in a way that at the same time shows a great difference from Aaron.
So you see that there are some similarities in the Hebrews 5:1-4 between Aaron and Christ. I go through them again and discover the following. Both Christ and Aaron 1. are appointed on behalf of men in the things pertaining to God, 2. sacrifice for the sins of the people and 3. take no honor for themselves.
There are also differences and even more than similarities: 1. Aaron was taken from among men, while Christ became Man and is also the unique Son of God. 2. Aaron was surrounded by infirmities and had the tendency to sin, while Christ is without sin, neither was the tendency to sin in Him. 3. Aaron had to sacrifice for himself, while Christ sacrificed Himself for others.
In what follows also the difference becomes apparent: 1. The difference between the way Aaron is called and the way Christ is called (Hebrews 5:5) and 2. the difference between the priesthood according to the order of Aaron and that according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6). 3. In Hebrews 5:5 the glory of Christ’s calling as High Priest above the calling of Aaron is confirmed by Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7). 4. In Hebrews 5:6 the glory of Christ’s priestly order above that of Aaron is placed in the light by Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4).
Hebrews 5:5. We first look at the quotation from Psalms 2 (Psalms 2:7), where the glory of His Person becomes apparent. The beginning of the verse still shows a similarity with Aaron. Christ never sought His own honor, not even in the high priesthood. Then the contrast follows: He is personally the Son. That gives a much higher dignity to His high priesthood than that of Aaron. He was begotten by God in Mary (Luke 1:35) and therefore He is as Man also God’s Son. This Man is the High Priest with God, what He was not and could not be as God the Son. Only when He became Man, could He become High Priest.
Hebrews 5:6. The other quotation, from Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), adds even more glory, which becomes apparent from the introductory words: “Just as He says also in another [passage].” The writer draws – of course under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – from the riches of God’s Word to let fall continually another ray of light on Christ. Thereby he doesn’t act randomly, but he continually quotes verses that magnify the radiance and glory of Christ and which causes his argumentation to be strengthened and clarified.
In the quotation of Psalm 110 the glory of the office of Christ becomes clear. Psalms 110 is a psalm that, as many psalms, refers to the millennial kingdom of peace. The enemies of the Messiah are made His footstool (Psalms 110:1). He receives out of Zion the strong scepter (Psalms 110:2) in the midst of God’s people who will volunteer freely and celebrating (Psalms 110:3), while He shatters hostile kings and judges among the nations (Psalms 110:5-6). Besides all this glory and magnificence there is also a review of His life on earth when He was dependent on the refreshment by God (Psalms 110:7).
From both quotations (Psalms 2 and Psalms 110) it becomes clear that God declares that the Messiah is both Son and Priest. Sonship and priesthood are therefore closely related to each other. That goes for Christ and also for us.
I will not comment yet on “the order of Melchizedek”, for that will be further explained in chapter 7. What becomes clear though, is that He is not high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, but priest according to the order of Melchizedek. There is a nice explanation for this. A high priest assumes other priests, but the Lord Jesus alone is priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The order of Melchizedek is an order of blessing. Melchizedek blessed Abraham from God’s side and he praised God for what He did for Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20). According to that order the Lord Jesus is King-Priest Who brings blessing from God to God’s people, what will be fully fulfilled in the millennial kingdom of peace. The priesthood of Melchizedek, which in the Old Testament is only mentioned in Genesis 14 (Genesis 14:18) and in Psalms 110 (Psalms 110:4), existed earlier than that of Aaron and will also remain to exist when that of Aaron will not be necessary anymore.
Hebrews 5:7. Here the writer refers impressively to something that didn’t take place in the life of Aaron or Melchizedek, but it did take place in the life of Christ. Between His being conceived as Son of God on earth and His glorification as Priest in heaven are “the days of His flesh”, by which His life on earth is meant. His glory doesn’t bring Him nearer to the misery of man, while His life on earth does.
In what is described of Him here you learn how true it is for Him to partake of your hardships and sorrows. On earth, ‘the days of His flesh’, He endured, in dependence on God, all the fear of death. He offered up supplications to be saved, for He did not want to save Himself because He came to obey. His life on earth made Him suitable to be High Priest in connection with us. His life on earth also led to the offering of Himself, in which He is unique.
He did not offer up prayers and supplications when He was tempted by satan in the wilderness. That He did in Gethsemane, when the moment came before Him that He would be forsaken by God. All sufferings from man’s side He bore with joy, something that many martyrs have done in His footsteps. But to be made sin He could not encounter with joy. In this also no one could follow Him.
Seeing that before Him, He offered up both His prayers and supplications to God, He sent them up to Him. He did so, trusting that God “was able to save Him from death”. It was not that He wanted to be saved of death, for that was necessary. He knew that and therefore He prayed: “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). And He was answered, for God raised Him up. “He was heard because of His piety” means that He was heard because of His perfect trust in His God, because of His piety and because of His perfect commitment and His dependence of God. What a Lord!
Now read Hebrews 5:1-7 again.
Reflection: Name some glories of the Lord Jesus from this section and thank God for them.