Hebrews 4
McGeeCHAPTER 4THEME: Christ is superior to Joshua; Christ is superior to the Levitical priesthoodIn the first two verses of chapter 4 we have a continuation of the warning concerning doubting which was given in chapter 3.
Hebrews 4:1
We have come to the first “Let us” in this Epistle to the Hebrews. Constantly Paul urges the Hebrew believers to go on with the Lord; he is constantly challenging them. This is the first “Let us,” but there is a whole lot of “Let us” in this epistle. “Let us therefore fear.” There are always those folk who are eager to find fault even with the Word of God, and they will say that this statement is a contradiction of other statements in the Bible. We are told in Rom_8:15, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear….” And in 2Ti_1:7 Paul wrote, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Well, I have an answer for those folk in a message I have called, “When It Is Not Wrong to Fear.” I hope that you are afraid of a rattlesnake. If I see one coming down the road, I don’t simply move to the right-hand side, I give him the whole road! There are certain things that you and I would do well to fear"Let us therefore fear." I wish there were more concern among believers today about ignorance of the Word of God. In a church I pastored, a man was on our church board who was on about every board in town because he had a lot of money. He actually boasted of how many boards he was on.
Then one day he boasted to me of how ignorant he was of the Word of God! The writer to the Hebrews said, “Let us therefore fear.” That man should have said to me with great concern, “Oh, my ignorance of the Word of God! I am afraid of it.” There are very few believers who are afraid of their ignorance of the Scriptures. When Paul says, “Let us therefore fear,” he is speaking of a good fear. When I take my grandsons for a walk, I warn them not to go out into the street. I want them to be afraid to go out into the streetthat is a good fear. The Word of God says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge …” (Pro_1:7). That is the kind of fear you and I are to have. The fear he is talking about is for a purpose: “Lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” He is going to talk a great deal about rest in this chapter. The word rest occurs eight times here. There are several different kinds of rest, including Sabbath day or creation rest, and Canaan rest. Here he is speaking of Canaan rest. He is saying to believers, “Be afraid, because you do not want to miss it.” How many believers are missing that rest today? Have you entered into rest? Do you know, Christian friend, what it is to really trust Christ and rest in Him?
Hebrews 4:2
Here is the “rest” of salvation, the rest of trusting Christ as Savior. They heard the gospel but did not believe it.
Hebrews 4:3
CHRIST IS SUPERIOR TO JOSHUAMoses led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but he could not lead them into Canaan. Joshua led them into the land, but we will see here that he couldn’t give them rest. Many of them never found restthey never really laid hold of their possessions in the land. The world, the flesh, and the Devil rob many of the blessing God has for them. You and I live in a mean, wicked world. This world is not a friend of grace; it is not the friend of believers. Many of us have not discovered that yet. He is discussing here salvation rest, the rest of trusting Christ. Let me ask you a question: If you knew a man who professed to be a Christian and whom you really believed was a born-again believer, and he suddenly stopped living the Christian life and began acting like the world, if he stopped going to church, stopped giving to the Lord’s work, and stopped all his participation in Christian activity, would you think that he had lost his salvation? If you were that person, would you feel that you had lost your salvation? If you think that this would cause you to lose your salvation, may I say to you that way back in your mind and deep down in the recesses of your heart, you are not really trusting Christ. You are believing that those activities add to your salvation, but they do not. You are to completely trust Christ.
Don’t misunderstand me. I believe that if you are trusting Christ you are going to be doing those things, but doing those things has nothing in the world to do with your salvation. My friend, have you really entered into rest?
Hebrews 4:4
This is the Sabbath. God rested on the seventh day, and that was the Sabbath day. However, the Sabbath today is not a day you keep or observe. Have you entered into the real Sabbath today? Do you know what it is to trust Christ and Christ alone for your salvation? Are you trusting anything else? Is He it? Have you entered into rest? I had a good friend who was a doctor and who observed Saturday as the Sabbath. We used to play tennis together, and we got pretty well acquainted with one another. One day after we had played three sets of tennis, we sat down on the bench, and we began to have what you would call a religious argument. He looked at me and said, “McGee, do you keep the Sabbath day?” “Yes, I keep the Sabbath.” He looked at me real hard and said, “What day?” I said to him, “Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then I start all over again on Saturday.” He said to me, “What in the world do you mean?” “Well, the way I understand the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Sabbath day is now this day of grace in which we live, and Christ, after He died on the Cross and came back to life, went back to the right hand of the Father and sat down. He sat down, not because He was tired, but because He had finished your redemption and mine. So now He tells me, ‘You rest in Me.’ I have a Sabbath day every dayI rest in Christ.” That doctor friend looked at me in amazement. “Well,” he said, “that’s better than having just one day, isn’t it?” I said, “It sure is. Seven days a week is a sabbath of resting in Christ.”
Hebrews 4:5
It is unbelief that robs you of the rest of salvation, that robs you of the rest of satisfaction and blessing which God can give to you. Oh, the wonderful rest that He wants to give to us!
Hebrews 4:7
He is not saying tomorrow, but today. Today is the day for you and me. Today, right now, wherever you are, look at your watch or clock. What time is it? Well, this is the time of salvation. Now, right now you can trust Christ to save you. “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
Hebrews 4:8
Joshua is the Old Testament or Hebrew word for “savior”; Jesus is the Greek or New Testament word, meaning “savior.” In the verse before usJoshua: “For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.” When Joshua was old and stricken in years, there was yet very much land to conquer. The people of Israel had not entered into all the blessing God had in store for them. Joshua wasn’t able to secure it for them. But, my friend, if you trust Christ, Christ can let you enter into the Canaan of the present day, in which there will be fruit and blessing and joy in your life. Oh, how we need this today! What robs us of it? Unbelief.
Hebrews 4:9
Here the writer is projecting into the future when all the people of God are going to find a heavenly rest. Heaven will be a place of deep satisfaction, of real joy, and real blessing. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
Hebrews 4:10
We shouldn’t get the impression that when God rested on the seventh day He sat down and said, “My, I’m tired. I’ve been working for six days, eight hours a day, from sunup to sundown, and I’m weary! I’ll pull up the rocking chair and rest.” That is not the thought behind “rest” at all. The thought here is the rest of completeness. Creation is finished. God has never been in the business of creating since then. There were just so many atoms which He needed for His universe, and He just made them all at once. He hasn’t made any more since then. Now there have been quite a few changes taking place in the universe, but it is just those original little atoms rearranging themselves. You and I live in a universe where creation is over withexcept in the new creation. That new creation began yonder at Calvary and the Day of Pentecost. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Co_5:17). Sons of God are the only things God is creating todaythrough faith in Christ. And there is a rest that He has promised to them. God has promised a heavenly rest, but, my friend, He wants us to enjoy ourselves even now. As someone has said, “All the way to heaven is heaven.” We ought to enjoy this life.
That is what the writer is talking about here: God rested, He ceased from His labors, and He is finished. Therefore, you do not have to lift your little finger to do something toward your salvation. Isn’t it really a matter of conceit on our part to think that you and I as sinners could do anything that would cause God to say, “Oh my, what a nice little fellow you are! I’m so happy to have you in heaven because you are going to add a great deal to it”? Well, my friend, that is not the picture at all. He did it all for us.
Even our righteousness is filthy rags in His sight. He cannot accept our righteousness, because we really do not have any. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom_3:10). Therefore He offers a finished salvation to us, and when we trust Christ we become new creations in Him.
Hebrews 4:11
I think the supreme satisfaction that can come to a child of God is that he is in the will of God, doing the work of God, and trusting and just resting in Him. That is the glorious place to which God wants you and me to come. Mary came to that place. She sat at Jesus’ feet while Martha was back yonder in the kitchen with those pots and pans. Martha wanted to serve Christ, but she just didn’t know what real rest was. She probably decided she was going to bake something and reached for a pan.
It was not big enough and she was going to put it back and get a bigger one, but she dropped it on the floor. What a time she had with those pots and pans! She was really worn to a frazzle and finally lost her temper. But Mary was just sitting at Jesus’ feet, doing nothingshe had already done her work. We need to learn to find our satisfaction sitting at Jesus’ feet. “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.” Someone will say, “Do I have to labor to enter into rest?” Yes, my friend. This is sort of like the Irishman who said he intended to have peace in his home even if he had to fight for it. Fighting for peace? Yes! I wish America had learned that lesson. May I say to you, you must win a war before you can have peace. You have to have a victory before you can have peace. He says here, “Let us labor in order to rest.” After all, when you have worked at something and come to the end of the day and sit down, isn’t there a satisfaction in what you have done? Oh, today, we need to lay hold of God! To lay hold of God in prayer, and in faith, and to be used of Him. Oh, my Christian friend, let us labor toward that end. “Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” The only thing in the world that can rob you of that rest is unbelief. Ever since I retired from the pastorate my prayer has been, “Oh, God, help me to trust You.” I was a pastor for forty years, and very frankly, I look back and have to say that I wish I had trusted Him more. Many times I was so fearful and unbelieving. So today I want to simply lean back and trust Him. How wonderful He is! He is worthy of our trust.
Hebrews 4:12
“For"Paul used the words wherefore, therefore, and for as cement to hold together his argument. Someone has said, “Regardless of what you want to say about Paul, one thing you have to say is that Paul is logical.” Paul was a marvelous logician, and I believe he wrote this epistle. For is a little word, but it is a big word. Someone has said, “God swings big doors on little hinges.” Here is one of those little hinges, but there is a big door hanging on it. “The word of God.” There are some expositors who consider the “word” here not to be the written Word, but the living Word who is the Lord Jesus Christ. However, in Scripture the written Word is called the living Word. I believe the reference here is primarily to the written Word of God. As the written Word reveals Christit is a frame that reveals the living Christthe reference here could be to both the written and living Word. Quick is “living.” The Word of God is living. “Powerful"the Greek word is energes, meaning “energizing.” The Word of God is living, and it energizes. “Sharper than any two-edged sword.” I had a professor in seminary who said to a group of us young preachers: “Remember when you preach the Word of God that it is quick and sharp, but it is a two-edged sword. It will cut toward the congregation, but the other side is going to cut toward you. Therefore, don’t preach anything that you are not preaching to yourself.” I have found many times in my ministry that I am preaching to myself. The sermon might not have been for anybody else, but it was for me. I have a friend who likes to kid me about my recording of tapes for our radio Bible study broadcasts. He says, “There you are, sitting in your study, just talking to yourself!” Very candidly, that is the way it works out many times as I sit there teaching the Bible. I’m speaking to myself. It may not apply to anyone in the radio audience, but it applies to me. The Word of God is two-edged. It will cut toward the other fellow, but it will also cut toward you and me. The Word of God is a two-edged sword, and it will penetrate. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1Th_2:13). The Thessalonians received the Word not just as an ordinary word, but they received it as the very Word of God. Paul said that when he gave out the Word of God “…my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1Co_2:4). We receive many letters from those who listen to our radio Bible study broadcasts, from folk who through the Word have been brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, brought to a place where they enjoy their Christian faith, and brought to a place where they enjoy prayer. That is the purpose of the Word of Godit will have an effect upon you and your life. It has been said, “The Word of God will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Word of God.” A great many believers do not spend enough time in the Word of God. A great many preachers do not spend enough time in the Word of God. The greatest discipline a preacher can have is to go through the Bible book by book with his congregation. That is a discipline which even if it does not help the congregation, it will surely help the preacher. In every church which I have served as a pastor, I have gone through the Bible with the congregation. It surely helped meit was good for me. The Word of God is sharp; it is living and powerful and sharp. “Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.” There are many people who try to make a distinction between soul and spirit, devising some ingenious psychological division between the two. Do you know that only the Word of God can divide the soul and spirit? You and I cannot do that. When I talk about the soulish part of man and how God has given us the Holy Spirit, I suddenly find that I am no longer making a distinction between the soul and spiritonly the Word of God can do that. There are times in the Scriptures when “soul” and “spirit” are used synonymously. There are other passages where it is clear that the soul and spirit are separate and are not the same thing. Only the Word of God can divide soul and spirit. “Of the joints and marrow.” The Word can get right down even in this flesh of ours and make a distinction (see Psa_32:3). “A discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The Greek word for “discerner” actually means “critic.” We have today many critics of the Word of God. However, the Word of God is the critic. It criticizes you. It criticizes me. No man is in a position to sit in judgment on the Word of God. There are many reasons for that, and one reason is that there is no other book like it. The Word of God was written over a period of fifteen hundred years, by about forty-five different authors, some of whom had never heard of the others. Yet they are all in agreement. They all present a glorious salvation. May I say to you, no man is in a position to sit in judgment on such a remarkable book. I had an opportunity one time to listen to a very fine, brilliant, Shakespearean scholar. Many scholars are not humble, but this man was a very humble man. When he had finished his lecture he said, “Today I have attempted to give to you a critique of Shakespeare, but now I would like to say to you that I am in no position to sit in judgment on Shakespeare.” It took a humble man to say that. Nor can any man sit in judgment on the Bible, my friend. You really don’t know enough to sit in judgment on this Book. This Book surely sits in judgment on us. It is sin that keeps men from Christ today. It is not intellectual problems of the head, but it is problems in the heart which keep men from God. “A discerner [critic] of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” You see, the Bible does not deal with acts primarily. What the hand does is because of what the heart thought. The heart had the action of the hand in hand before the hand got hold of it. Therefore the Word of God goes down and deals with the heart. The Lord Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Mat_15:19). My, that’s a filthy list, but that is what is in your heart and mine. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer_17:9).
No man can, but God does. The Word of God gets down and deals with the nitty-gritty of our hearts. It gets down and meets us right where the rubber meets the road, right down where you and I live and move and have our being.
Hebrews 4:13
You cannot conceal anything from God. I labored under the delusion as a young Christian that I would not let God in on everything in my life, even my plans. I prayed that He would give me certain things and do certain things for me, but I never let Him know my motives. I thought the prayer would sound better that way. To tell the truth, I didn’t need to let Him know my motive because He knew it all the time. He is the one who knows the thoughts of the heart, and everything is open to Him. My friend, your life is an open book to Him. People ask me, “Do you think we ought to confess everything to Him?” Well, why not? He already knowsyou might just as well tell Him all about it.
Hebrews 4:14
CHRIST IS SUPERIOR TO THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOODBeginning with verse Heb_4:14 of this chapter through verse Heb_7:28 of chapter 7, the writer of this epistle is going to show that Christ is superior to the Levitical priesthood. This was very important for Hebrew believers to see because they were accustomed to approaching God through their high priest of the Levitical order, the priests who served first in the tabernacle and then in the temple. It was through them that they made their commitment to God and brought their sacrifices. OUR GREAT HIGH PRIESTThe Lord Jesus Christ himself is our Great High Priest. Paul was so concerned and enthusiastic about the priesthood of Christ that way back in chapter 3 he said, “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” (Heb_3:1). He wanted to get the folk who were reading the epistle to immediately consider our High Priest. This is going to be the subject of much of the rest of the epistle, and, of course, there will be application of this great truth also. Christ is our High Priest. The pagan notion of priesthood colors our thinking in reference to a priest. A pagan priest actually barred the approach to God, claiming possession of some mystical power essential to bringing an individual to God. A person had to go through this priest who claimed to have this particular access. That type of thing denies the finished work of Christ and the priesthood of all believers. The priesthood of all beievers was one of the great truths which John Calvin emphasized.
All of us need a priestwe have a lack; we need help, and we all have our hang-ups. Job’s heart-cry was, “Neither is there any days man betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both” (Job_9:33). Job longed for a mediator or priest who would stand between him and God, who would put one hand in Job’s hand and his other hand in God’s hand, and thus bring them together. Christ is that mediator, that priest, through whom every believer has personal access to God. “We have a high priest, that is passed into the heavens.” Let me say right away that the Lord Jesus Christ was not a priest while here on the earth. The only mention in Scripture of His ever making any kind of sacrifice (He never needed to make a sacrifice for Himself, of course) was the time He told Simon Peter to catch a fish and take the gold piece out of its mouth that He might pay a necessary temple tax from which the priests were exempt. He did that, I think, to make it very clear that He was not a priest here on earth. To be a priest you had to be born in the line of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi. The Lord Jesus was a member of the tribe of Judah. He was not in the priestly line.
He was in the kingly line. When He was here on earth He came as a prophet speaking for God. He went back to heaven a priest to represent us to God. He became a priest when He ascended into heaven. He died down here to save us, and He lives up there to keep us saved. It is true that when He was here He offered Himself upon the Cross, and that is the function of a priest, but to be a priest to represent you and me He had to wait until He returned to heaven. Christ occupies a threefold office: (1) He was a prophet when He came over nineteen hundred years agothat is the past; (2) He is a priest todaythat is for the present; and (3) He is coming someday to rule as a kingthat is for the future. He occupies all three of these offices, and He is the great subject of this Epistle to the Hebrews. “Let us hold fast our profession"“profession” should be confession. Paul says, “Let us,” to challenge us, to call us to do it, actually, to command us to do it. Let us hold fast our confession. Notice that he does not say, “Let us hold fast our salvation.” He is not talking about our salvation, but about our testimony, our witness down here. He is talking about our living for Christ. Christ died down here to save us, and He lives up yonder to keep us saved and to enable us to give a good witness. Some people say, “I can’t live the Christian life.” Well, I have news for you. It is true that you cannot live the Christian life, and God never asked you to live the Christian life. I have been thankful that He has not asked that of me because I have tried it, and it didn’t work. We cannot do it in our own strength, but He asks that He might live it through us. He lives up yonder in order that you and I might hold fast to our confession, our testimony down here. When we come to chapter 11 we will find a regular roll call of the heroes of the faith which shows what faith has done in the lives of men and women in all ages. All of those listed there had a good witness, a good report. Theirs was a good witness through faiththey lived by faith.
Hebrews 4:15
You will notice in your Bible that the word yet is in italics, meaning that it has been added by the translators. Christ was tempted without sintested without sin. In the testing of Jesus in the wilderness, He could not have fallen because He is the God-man. However, the pressure of testing was actually greater upon Him than it would be upon us. He could say, “…the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (Joh_14:30). Satan finds something in me and in you also, but he could find nothing in the Lord Jesus.
Let me illustrate this for you: A boat standing in water can only tolerate so much pressure. If the pressure becomes too great, there will be a rip in the hull of the boat and water will come in, and thus the pressure is removed. That is the way you and I arewe give in to the pressure, we yield, and then the pressure is gone. Jesus never did yield, and therefore there was a building up of pressure that you and I never experience. In the same way, the cars of a freight train all have a weight limit which they can carry. If that limit is exceeded, you will have a swaybacked car, one that is bowed down in the middle.
It gives init can only carry so heavy a load. That is true of all of us. We can carry just so much and not any more. May I say to you, the weight of temptation Jesus Christ could carry was infiniteHe was tested without sin. But He was tested, and for that reason He knows how we feel. We have a High Priest who understands us. I have always felt that for the nation Israel the death of Aaron was in one sense of greater significance than the death of Moses. Aaron was their great high priest. Many Israelites had been brought up with Aaron, had played with him as a boy, and had gone through the wilderness with him. They could go to Aaron and say, “Look, Aaron, I did this, and I should not have done it. I have brought my sacrifice.” And Aaron could sympathize with them. He knew exactly how they felt.
But when Aaron died I imagine they wondered whether that new priest, the son of Aaron, would understand. Would he be able to sympathize and to help? We have a Great High Priest who is always available, and He does understand. He does not understand us theoretically, but down here He was tested, and He was “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” He knew what it was to hunger. He knew what it was to be touched with sorrowJesus wept! He was “touched with the feeling of our infirmities …yet without sin.”
Hebrews 4:16
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” I must confess that I have never really liked our translation of “boldly,” but neither do I know how to change it. The word boldly has the thought of being brazenthere is sort of a flippancy suggested by itor of being cocksure. That is really not the idea. It is a very interesting word in the Greekparrhesia. It denotes the freedom of speech which the Athenians prized so highly. They were perhaps the first to feel that the average citizen should have freedom to speak. “Let us therefore come [with great freedom] unto the throne of grace.” We can speak freely to the Lord Jesus Christ. I can tell Him things that I cannot tell you. He understands me. He knows my weaknesses, and I might just as well tell Him. I have learned to be very frank with Him. I have not attempted to become buddy-buddy with HimI despise that approach.
He is God, and I come to Him in worship and with reverence. But I am free to speak, because He is also a man. He is God, but He is a man, and I can come to Him with great freedom. I can tell Him what is on my heart. I can open my heart to Him. I suspect, therefore, that all these very pious and flowery prayers we make are not impressive to Himespecially when we are attempting to cover up what is in our hearts and lives.
I wonder if the Lord doesn’t tune us out when we do not come to Him with freedom and open our hearts to Him. That is one of the reasons our prayer meetings are not more effective. We come to Him rather restrained, without being open and sincere. “Unto the throne of grace.” God’s throne is a throne of grace. Formerly a throne of judgment, it is now a mercy seat, a throne of grace. “That we may obtain mercy.” We need a lot of mercy. Mercy is something that is in one sense negativeit speaks of the past. We are redeemed by the mercy of God. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us …” (Tit_3:5). He has been merciful to me. “And find grace to help in time of need.” Help is a very positive thingit speaks of the future. We may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. David wrote, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psa_23:1). I have noticed that one of the newer translations reads, “The LORD is my shepherd; I have not wanted.” How ridiculous! Of course, he had not wanted in the past, but the beauty of it is that David could say, “I shall not want.” Why? Because the Lord is my Shepherd. I have a High Priest up yonder, and I can go to Him as my Shepherd. By the way, have you been to Him yet today? What did you tell Him? Did you tell Him that you love Him? Did you confess your sins to Him? Well, why don’t you? He already knows it, but why don’t you tell Him? Don’t put up a front to Him. He aleady knows that you can come to Him only on His merit. Go to Him with freedom and talk to Himthere is mercy and grace to help in time of need.