Hebrews 4: 1 –16
Doctor Of Spiritual Medicine
1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need
I am thinking about establishing my own college. I am going to skip the BS and MS degrees and focus on helping students obtain the SM Doctorates. You are probably saying, ‘say what? You must be kidding!’
Well in a way I am. But it is a degree which we should all try to obtain. It eliminates Psychology and Medicine [pharmaceutical drugs]. It works on the real mind [not brain] and has a very high degree of healing success while not just treating symptoms.
It comes with a tried and tested handbook. It is called the Bible. It requires an all out research and study into its truth.
Our victory song comes from this chapter of the book of Hebrews, ‘12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Your doctorate degree will help people who suffer from all kinds of mental problems. And it will even help people who are suffering from physical problems. We will take a look at how this works in a little while. So, are you interested in obtaining a Doctor’s degree in SM? Let’s get started.
So now that you are ready to pursue your new specialty it best to slow down to the speed of life and take some rest. In what follows the author of Hebrews now takes up chapter 3 and applies it to his readers. He make a specific contrast between ‘rest’ and ‘works’ which is constantly drawn out, with the emphasis being on ‘rest’. Christians are intended to leave ‘works’ behind and enter into ‘rest’.
In the book of Hebrews four types of ‘works’ are described, God’s ‘works’ in creation (1.10; 2.7), and His ‘works’ in judgment in the wilderness (3.10), both of which can be discounted; ‘dead works’ which need to be repented of (6.1), and from which our consciences need to be cleansed (9.14); and ‘good works’ (10.24) which are encouraged. Thus the ‘works’ that are to be left behind are clearly the ‘dead works’ which are sinful works and unacceptable to God. They are the works that men seek to do in order to make themselves acceptable to God and which fail in their purpose (Romans 9.32). They are the works that lead to death. They need to be repented of and cleansed.
1 ‘Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.’
We have learned throughout the bible that although the people of Israel had received God’s conditional promise they did not enter into their rest because of unbelief (3.19), and we are to take note of the lesson. Professing Christians are also therefore to be afraid lest we too fail to enter into God’s promised rest, by coming short of God’s promise, by failing to benefit from it. It is sadly something that can happen even to those who seem genuine. Note that he is not talking of them all, but of the possibility of individuals coming short, and even that as doubtful. It may happen but he hopes that it will not. The promise that each can enter into God’s rest is there. He hopes that none will come short of it.
We must bring to mind here that our Lord Jesus spoke of a twofold rest in Matthew 11.28-29. The first was a rest of soul given by Him to those who came to Him. This would arise from a consciousness within them that they need no longer be concerned about their ‘labors’ and ‘burdens’ as they followed Him. They would be able to cast them off. In mind in those labors and burdens were the yoke of the restless conscience and the yoke of the Law as interpreted by the Pharisees (in contrast with the yoke of Christ). It demanded from them much that had to be done that was very burdensome and required much toil, and which with failure brought heavy guilt. But our Great Master had come to deliver men from such things. Through following Him they could find forgiveness and acceptability with God. They could learn to rest in Him. And they would no longer be under the yoke of the demanding and unceasing requirements of an expanded Law.
The second was the rest that they could obtain when they took The Lord Jesus’ yoke on them and learned of Him to walk in trust and humility before God, at which they would find rest to their souls. The Pharisee’s yoke was very heavy. His yoke and burden were in contrast easy and light. Thus there was a once-for all entering into rest by coming to Christ in faith and trust, followed by a continuing entering into rest by walking with God. This became theirs by ‘partaking in Christ’ (3.14).
To place all this in our present time the question is, what is this rest as far as believers are concerned?
• 1). It is entered by believing. For those who do not believe do not enter it (verse 3).
• 2). It is like the rest of God on the seventh day on His ceasing His ‘works’ of creation (verse 4), a ‘Sabbath-rest’, a resting on the seventh day with all ‘works’ completed (verse 9).
• 3). It is what Israel failed to enter into (verse 5).
• 4). It is entered by those who respond to the Good News (verse 6).
• 5). He who is entered into His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. (Verse 10). The past tense means that he is speaking of an experience which occurred in the past and is relevant in the present.
We should note further that there is a great emphasis in the passage on ceasing from works. In 3.9 (quoting Psalm 95) God’s works were those He carried out when He punished unbelieving Israel in the wilderness. God had to work again there because man had sinned. To those who have entered into rest those are no more. Our Holy Maker God, and potentially for those who are His, their ‘works’ ceased from the foundation of the world. God’s intention for both Himself and for His own after creation was ‘no more works’. But if his readers returned to Judaism they would be returning to works, to ‘heavy burdens grievous to be born’ (Matthew 23.4), to ‘works done to be seen of men’ (Matthew 23.5). That was why Israel failed to attain righteousness because they sought it by ‘works’ (Romans 9.32; Galatians 2.16; 3.2, 5, 10), which the writer in Hebrews calls ‘dead works’ (6.1; 9.14). In contrast for God’s people there is rest, and was intended to be from the beginning. They were not to be bound up in meritorious works.
• 6). ‘We’ are to give diligence to enter into that rest.
• 7). It is described as ‘partaking in Christ’ (3.14) and therefore being members of His house (3.6).
Summing up these seven points might suggest that the rest is that of the one who truly puts his trust in Christ and His saving work, becoming one with Him and partaking of Him and His sacrifice on his behalf; who ceases from all attempts at his own ‘saving’ by ‘dead’ works because all is completed; who is believing and obedient and rests in God’s faithfulness; who responds to the Good News that that rest is available; and who ceases from his own works because nothing remains to be done, all having been done by His Great High Priest.
This would point to it signifying the situation of the truly believing person, whose full faith is in what The Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished, so that he recognizes that there is nothing left for him himself to do but partake in Christ, because our Great Master and King Jesus Christ has done all. He trusts fully in Christ’s sacrifice for him and knows that he cannot and need not add anything to it. He rests in Christ.
The point is not that they cease doing anything, but that they are able to rest from the particular labor in view, that of striving to build up righteousness in order to be saved (they cease from dead works which produce death - 6.1; 9.14), entering rather, as those who are saved by Him, into joyful service which is no labor. Here ‘works’ would seem to indicate the ‘labor’ that a man puts in, in order to attempt to secure his own salvation, his ‘dead works’.
So a person, who enjoys this rest of faith rests in the security of The Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, and as a partaker of Christ, will have peace, and joy, and rest, and confidence, and certainty. He knows that The Lord Jesus Christ his great High Priest has done and will do all that is required for his salvation. And all such have boldness and access with confidence into the presence of God through faith in Him (Ephesians 3.12).
It is the rest described in Matthew 11.28-29, a rest of heart, soul and spirit, which results in finding deeper rest as they take Christ’s yoke on them
If his readers had this certainty and this confidence there would be no thought in their hearts of turning back. Thus they must ask themselves wherein their confidence lies, and whether they enjoy this certainty. Are they resting in Christ, and what He has done for them, or restless because they are still in the wilderness of sin?
2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
The ancient Israelites, just like we do, received the Good News of a rest that could be theirs. But the good news did not produce faith and trust in their hearts, and thus it did not profit them. Rather they provoked God and finally perished. We also have had Good News proclaimed to us by a greater than Moses. Have we then entered into that rest of which He spoke and become partakers of Him, or has it not met with faith in us as well?
Essentially the ‘good news’ was the same, God’s offer of grace and mercy available in response to faith. Those who trusted Him would find life transformed for them in the sphere of future blessing.
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
Everyone who has truly believed and recognize that all that is needed to be done has been done in Christ, ‘do enter’ into rest continually by being partakers in Christ, a rest which is like the rest of God on the seventh day of Creation, a rest of contentment and satisfaction and joy, and which we know will lead on to our final rest. Legally nothing further is required of us.
Please note the contrast between ‘we’ and ‘they’. The entering into rest of ‘we Christians’ is in direct contrast to ‘they’, those who are in sin, disobedience and unbelief who do not enter into it. The fact that they do not enter it confirms that there is a rest to be entered into. But they cannot enter it because they are still under His wrath. They are still in unbelief. They have refused the means of propitiation and reconciliation. It is therefore left for ‘us’ to enter.
This refusal is sad because in fact that rest has been available to God’s people from the very beginning, from when the world was first made. Our Merciful and Gracious Holy God did not intend that mankind should have to engage in ‘works’. Such were all performed by God in preparation for man and completed so that they ceased on the seventh day. He did not want His own to labor, His desire for them was continual rest. God’s works were finished and His rest was available. Life was not intended to be a life of ‘works’ because God’s works were finished. It was intended to be a life of ‘rest’. And the rest that the believer enters into is like the rest on the seventh day of Creation, a rest where all works are completed and only God’s provision remains to be enjoyed and nothing further remains to be done.
This rest was intended to be enjoyed by Adam and his seed after him, had they not sinned. For them the Garden was to be a place of rest. They were to engage in activity but it was never to be seen as ‘labor’. Their subsequent requirement to ‘work’ resulted from sin. The ‘rest’ is thus that of Paradise, and a restored Paradise, beginning with our new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17) and resulting finally in the new Heaven and the new earth (Isaiah 11.6-9). It was later to be seen as enjoyed by those who became reconciled to Him through the genuine offering of sacrifices and of a believing heart. But those who are under His wrath because of their disobedience and disbelief still fail to benefit from that rest
Thus from the beginning there are two types of people.
1. Those who have believed and enter into rest, and share God’s rest, ceasing from their own law-works and efforts, and trusting in His merciful provision. They partake of Christ, and by taking His yoke on them find rest along the way (Matthew 11.28-29), and become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17).
2. Those who have not entered into rest because of their unbelief, who are pictured in terms of the failure to enter Canaan. Of them (those who refuse to believe) God has sworn that they will not enter into His rest, life will be a constant struggle, and indeed if they will not respond in faith they cannot, nor will. But now, as the writer will soon demonstrate that rest is available, but only through the great High Priest. Those to whom men once looked for it will no longer be able to give it, for what they offer are but shadows now replaced.
6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
The original offer to enter into His rest, as described in the Psalm (16.9; 37.7; 116.7; 132.14), referred to the good news of Canaan. But because of disobedience they failed to enter into it, even though the offer was made clear to them. And the reason that they failed was because they did not believe.
But this Psalm in the book of David demonstrates that there was still an offer being made of entering into rest in the psalmist’s day, and also demonstrates the same for the writer’s day (and for our day), for the Psalms were a continual offering of God’s mercies. They did not just refer to the past, but to the past as it affects the present. Thus the fact that the Psalms can still say ‘today’ in a way that is relevant to those who use it for worship, demonstrates that the rest is still one that was available ‘today’, in whatever day the Psalm was written, and indeed in any day in which it is used.
The argument the author uses is that had Joshua given rest to the people of Israel the Psalm would have had no relevance for today, indeed would never have been written, it would not have given the impression of a possibility of entering into rest. But the Psalmist speaking by the Holy Spirit (3.7) clearly considered it relevant to the ‘today’ in which he wrote it, and all ‘today’s’ thereafter. Thus it is clear that God still offers a rest to His people.
(The Greek here says ‘Jesus’, but that is simply because ‘Jesus’ is the Greek for the Hebrew ‘Joshua’. In Hebrew ‘Jesus Christ’ is ‘Joshua Messiah’).
It is not without significance that what the first Joshua was unable to give, the second Joshua now gives. He is a greater than Joshua. The first Joshua strove to give the people rest, but failed. But where he failed the second Joshua has been successful. For He offers His people rest (Matthew 11.28-29).
9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
That being so there remains for God’s people a ‘Sabbath-rest’. But what is this Sabbath-rest? It is another way of speaking of God’s rest on the seventh day when He ceased activity in creation, a rest also intended originally to be enjoyed by man, illustrated from the Sabbath which was based on it, which in itself was a foretaste of that rest and a guarantee that one day it would be man’s again (Exodus 20.11). It is the rest of One for whom all that He wanted to do has been satisfactorily completed so that only a glorious future remains of watching over what He has made. No further works would be needed to put it right. It is the rest into which Adam entered when the world was ‘very good’ and which was marred by his disobedience. But once he had disobeyed no longer was everything ‘very good’. He was now destined to work. Works were the sign of fallen man. It is the rest now made available by the One Who became the true restored Man, the ‘second man’ (2.6-9) for those who are in Him. For with Him we are seated in heavenly places ‘in Christ’ and enjoy His triumph (Ephesians 2.6). We have entered into rest. We have ceased from ‘works’ (Ephesians 2.9). Rather do we live out His life (Galatians 2.20).
10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His
It is true that this could refer simply to one who has died in Christ. But the immediacy of the whole passage suggests rather a living present experience, which contrasts with a past experience of ‘dead works’, and furthermore God did not enter His rest by dying, but by having completed His creative work. In God’s case it resulted from the completion of creation. In the Christian’s case it is from the completion of his new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17; Galatians 6.15), when all is supplied that is necessary for his rest and he ceases from law-works. No longer does man need to strive after righteousness. The works are complete. They ‘rest’ as in a new creation along with God the Creator, leaving their old works behind them. And we know that the One Who actually performed the creative work was the Son (1.2). So they rest in Christ, partaking of Him. They have ceased trying to save themselves by their works. They have put aside all such efforts. They rest in what He has done and Is doing in them and what He Is for them, and thus they find rest and are assured of eternal rest.
11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
His concern for his readers is twofold.
1. To ensure that they have entered into that rest
2. To ensure that they fully enter into it, rather than being disobedient like the Israelites.
For it is incumbent on all to ensure that they have entered into that rest and also that they fully enter into it, and continue to experience it by finding their rest in Christ and keeping His yoke on them and learning of Him (Matthew 11.28-29). The writer tactfully names himself as also needing to exercise the same diligence. They must ensure that they do enter fully into that rest, so that they do not fall like Israel did, through similar disobedience. It is necessary also to fully enter that rest so that they will be fitted to face the examination of their hearts by the word of God.
But, it may be asked, if the ‘rest’ is the rest of salvation and of partaking in Christ, how can those who have already been saved enter into it? The answer is that the rest is the sphere of salvation, the resultant position of receiving salvation in Christ, the sphere of partaking in Christ, to be enjoyed continually by faith. In one sense all have rest once they become His and partake in Him, resting in His finished work, in another we have to learn to rest, to ‘find rest’ (Matthew 11.39) as we walk with Him, to attain to confident assurance and peace, otherwise we might fall into disobedience.
The prophet Isaiah in chapter 30.15 of his book says, ‘In returning and rest you will be saved, in quietness and in confidence will be your strength’. Salvation is a free gift and results from the working of God within but from a human point of view it requires a lifetime’s diligence to enter into it and obtain its full benefit, ‘to go on being saved’ (1 Corinthians 1.18), moving from one degree of glory to another, enjoying the rest that it offers. We have partaken of Christ once-for-all, but we are also to partake of Him continually and more and more effectively, finding rest in Him. But to have finally turned away from Christ would be to lose that rest for ever, and to return to a life of ‘works’, which would soon be shown up for what they are. It would be to leave the peace of the Garden of Eden to return to a life of work and labor and would result in death.
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Here is the verse that I spoke about in the beginning of this study. Have you ever thought about Psychology and its effect on people? I mean you have thousands of individuals who have made this profession their career. To me the magic of orchestrating this façade as a legitimate medical practice is totally amazing. Here you have a practice that has incorporated hundreds of theories of proposed changes and issues them out to clients or patients like prescriptions. They give normal words new and unique terms that seem as a medical diagnosis. For example, just take the word ‘think’. This organization changes it to ‘cognitive’. Wow! They also magically take the brain which is a physical part of man who is God’s creation and make a leap to talk about the mind as if the two are the same.
Look with me at the great words our Precious Holy Spirit teaches regarding the proper help for people who struggle with emotional issues – ‘12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
The surgical instrument that can do the proper operation procedure for the mind is the word of God.
For let them not doubt, there is no escaping the word of God which searches out the whole inner man. He knows who is in His rest and who is not, who are right with Him and who are not. He knows the truth about our ‘works’. This ‘word of God’ (Mark 7.13) is that which the writer has constantly cited previously in order to search them out. It tests out all men to see what they are. It is ‘living’, that is, it is still powerfully effective day by day, and it bestows life on those who respond to it; it is active, that is it does its work of ‘discerning the heart’ vigorously and powerfully; and it is sharper than a two-edged sword, that is, devastatingly effective in its cutting work. Nothing can hinder its application. It searches out everything leaving no part unrevealed and untouched. It cuts into the most innermost being. It immediately (‘quick to discern’) knows a man as he really is in the intents of his heart in both his spiritual and physical aspects.
4.13 ‘And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.’
Not only are all of man open to Him, but all men, and indeed all His creatures. All are openly revealed in His sight. No one can hide from Him. Everyone and everything is laid bare before Him, and have to have dealings with Him because He Is the Creator. There is nothing that is not open to Him.
So far having dealt in some depth with the question of man’s response to God, and the need for the all who read this epistle to ensure that they are partakers of Christ who have entered into God’s rest, we now return to the subject mentioned in chapter 2.17-3.1,which speaks about our Great High Priest. It is because of our Great High Priest that the rest is attainable. Thus 3.2-4.13 is sandwiched in between those two references to the work of our Great High Priest so as to draw attention to that fact.
Many criticize the chapter division here, suggesting that these three verses should begin chapter 5, but that is to miss the fact that they are very essential to the closing of 2.17-4.13. They both close that section, generally re-emphasizing what was said at its opening in 2.17, as well as preparing for the next. But we would agree with the one who chose where to end the chapter as it is, for we feel that it’s closest and most necessary connection is with the former section. For Christians enter into their rest precisely because of His having offered Himself as a once-for-all sacrifice, and because they have access to Him on His throne where His Gracious and Merciful activity is available on their behalf.
We should note that reference to the High Priest does not just begin here. In fact the High Priesthood of Jesus the Son of God has been spoken of in every chapter. In 1.3 it is the High Priesthood of ‘the Son’, and His work is seen as completed, He has made cleaning for sin; in 2.17 it is the High Priesthood of ‘Jesus’ Who is concerned with making propitiation for the sins of the people; in 3.1 He is closely compared with Moses with His being seen as the builder of the house consisting of His people to whom He offers rest; and here the ideas of ‘Son’ and ‘Jesus’ are combined in the term ‘Jesus the Son of God’, the Man Who Is God, but where the thought is similar to 1.3. All aspects are combined.
As the great (superior to the earthly) High Priest He Is greater than the angels, He has been humbled in order to become restored Man and be like His brothers and sisters, and He has been concerned with establishing His house and granting His people rest. Now again He Is seen as having passed through the heavens to be seated at God’s right hand (1.3), His priestly work having been completed, in order to grant rest to His people continually.
4.14 ‘Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us keep on holding fast our confession.’
Here we learn that this ‘keeping on holding fast our confession’ results from having our great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God, as the One Who has passed through the heavens. He has passed into the very presence of God. He Is there in the Heaven of heavens itself, in His capacity as our High Priest, as the Son of God and yet as no ordinary High Priest but as the eternal Son of God. His being ‘Great’ emphasizes His superiority to earthly High Priests. And yet He Is as High Priest also the Man Who did Himself hold fast to His confession (2.17). He Is Jesus as well as Son of God. He it Is Who has ensured that through His offering of the sacrifice of Himself once-for-all we are made His house (3.6) and partakers of Him (3.14), and enter into His rest (4.1-11). Thus will we maintain the faith that we confess, for it is based on this solid foundation, and is in the hands of One Who fully understands what we have to face.
In chapter 2 Our Precious Holy Lord Jesus Is The One made lower than the angels as Man, and Who was made representative, restored man by being crowned with glory and honor. In chapter 1 the Son Is The One Who Is the perfect revelation of God Himself. Here the two are combined. As Jesus He can act as High Priest because He acts on behalf of those He represents, but without having sinned, and as ‘the Son of God’ He can pass through the heavens into God’s presence to represent us there.
4.15 ‘For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.’
He is a heavenly High Priest and far above us, but that does not mean that He is not aware of our temptations and our needs. For this great High Priest is not one who can have no sympathy with us in our weaknesses, rather He can empathize (sympathize more deeply because He has experienced it Himself) with us because He Himself was tested and tempted in all the ways in which we are. He was made Man. He suffered testing and temptation. And yet through it all He did not sin (2 Corinthians 5.21; 1 Peter 3.18). Thus He bore temptation to its fullest limit, a limit that we rarely reach, for we so often give way before the temptation has attained its full power.
Thus when we come in prayer to the Father we should not only consider Christ’s glory, but also His close relationship with us. He knows and understands why we come, He Is aware of what needs we have, and He has experienced them Himself. Thus can we be sure of a sympathetic hearing. As we approach He says, ‘My brother, My sister, I know. I understand. I remember when it happened to Me as well, and I remember how hard it was. I will intercede for you’
4.16 ‘Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.’
And because of this we can draw near to the throne of grace with boldness (compare 10.22), for One Is seated there Who has done all for us and totally understands and empathizes with us in our weaknesses. And there we can be sure that we will receive mercy (see 1 John 1.7-10) and find God’s unmerited favor granted to us, through His Holy Spirit, to help us in times of need.
Please take special note that it is first His throne. There He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Having obtained full and final purification for sins (1.3), He was exalted as Lord of all (Matthew 28.19; Ephesians 1.19-22). But He sits there as the One Who has offered the complete and final sacrifice, as the One of Whom we partake (2.14), and Who has faced all that we have to face, and He Is therefore there to offer mercy, and compassion, and strengthening. He Is there as our Master, Leader, and our Elder Brother.
What a wonder this is. On earth the earthly High Priest stood as a suppliant before God. He offered sacrifices for himself first and then for the people, never ceasing to ‘stand’, never with the sense that all was now done. And then he retired from the scene until the next offering was due, still standing. But this One sits on the throne of God. His offering of Himself once-for-all is behind Him. All is perfectly complete. And as the heavenly High Priest Who has the means of offering full forgiveness and cleansing continually, He dispenses Kingly mercy and grace to all who come.
Take a look again at the words -‘That we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help in time of need. ‘We see here His Mercy for the past and His Gracious help for the future. As we go on both are constantly needed. Without the first we would face judgment and constant shame and self-reproach, without the second we would crumble in times of need. It represents full provision for our lives.
Jewish people should really think about the point brought up here. They need to reflect on the ending of the Temple sacrifices. Our Holy Lord Yahweh as you know created the sacrificial system. There is no availability for forgiveness of sin without it. So, if I was a Jew I would be quite distressed in the Temple being destroyed along with the sacrificial system. Here the writer is driving home a better and final solution to the problem of the sacrifice.
Somehow through deceit the Jewish religious leaders of today have incorporated good works as a means of having your sins covered. Any reasonable person would know that this is not correct.
The idea of a High Priest seated on a throne and no longer offering sacrifices would be foreign to the way of thinking of Jews. Yet this is the great contrast that the writer wants to make. We, he says, do not need to provide an offering and bring it to the priest, and then wait for him to offer it on our behalf. This High Priest has offered one sacrifice for sin forever and therefore simply awaits our approach on the very throne of God that He may bring us blessing in response to all our spiritual needs. He is High Priest and King.
