Hebrews 1 from the Easy-to-Read Version follows:
In the past God spoke to our people through the prophets. He spoke to them many times and in many different ways. And now in these last days, God has spoken to us again through his Son. He made the whole world through his Son. And he has chosen his Son to have all things. The Son shows the glory of God. He is a perfect copy of God’s nature, and he holds everything together by his powerful command. The Son made people clean from their sins. Then he sat down at the right side of God, the Great One in heaven. The Son became much greater than the angels, and God gave him a name that is much greater than any of their names.
God never said this to any of the angels:
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”
God also never said about an angel,
“I will be his Father,
and he will be my son.”
And then, when God presents his firstborn Son to the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
This is what God said about the angels:
“He changes his angels into winds
and his servants into flaming fire.”
But this is what he said about his Son:
“God, your kingdom will last forever and ever.
You use your authority for justice.
You love what is right and hate what is wrong.
So God, your God, has chosen you,
giving you more honor and joy than anyone like you.”
God also said,
“O Lord, in the beginning you made the earth,
and your hands made the sky.
These things will disappear, but you will stay.
They will all wear out like old clothes.
You will fold them up like a coat,
and they will be changed like clothes.
But you never change,
and your life will never end.”
And God never said this to an angel:
“Sit at my right side until I put your enemies under your power.”
All the angels are spirits who serve God and are sent to help those who will receive salvation.
Hebrews 2 from the Easy-to-Read Version follows:
So we must be more careful to follow what we were taught. We must be careful so that we will not be pulled away from the true way. The teaching that God spoke through angels was shown to be true. And every time his people did something against that teaching, they were punished for what they did. They were punished when they did not obey that teaching. So surely we also will be punished if we don’t pay attention to the salvation we have that is so great. It was the Lord Jesus who first told people about it. And those who heard him proved to us that it is true. God also proved it by using miraculous signs, wonders, and all kinds of miracles. And he proved it by giving people various gifts through the Holy Spirit in just the way he wanted.
God did not choose angels to be the rulers over the new world that was coming. That future world is the world we have been talking about. It is written someplace in the Scriptures, “Why are people so important to you?
Why do you even think about them?
Why do you care about the son of man?
Is he so important?
For a short time you made him lower than the angels.
You crowned him with glory and honor.
You put everything under his control.”
If God put everything under his control, then there was nothing left that he did not rule. But we don’t yet see him ruling over everything. For a short time Jesus was made lower than the angels, but now we see him wearing a crown of glory and honor because he suffered and died. Because of God’s grace, Jesus died for everyone.
God—the one who made all things and for whose glory all things exist—wanted many people to be his children and share his glory. So he did what he needed to do. He made perfect the one who leads those people to salvation. He made Jesus a perfect Savior through his suffering.
Jesus, the one who makes people holy, and those who are made holy are from the same family. So he is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. He says,
“God, I will tell my brothers and sisters about you.
Before all your people I will sing your praises.”
He also says,
“I will trust in God.”
And he says,
“I am here, and with me are the children God has given me.”
These children are people with physical bodies. So Jesus himself became like them and had the same experiences they had. Jesus did this so that, by dying, he could destroy the one who has the power of death—the devil. Jesus became like these people and died so that he could free them. They were like slaves all their lives because of their fear of death. Clearly, it is not angels that Jesus helps. He helps the people who are from Abraham. For this reason, Jesus had to be made like us, his brothers and sisters, in every way. He became like people so that he could be their merciful and faithful high priest in service to God. Then he could bring forgiveness for the people’s sins, and can help those who are tempted. He is able to help because he himself suffered and was tempted.
Hebrews 3 from the Easy-to-Read Version follows:
So, my brothers and sisters, those chosen by God to be his holy people, think about Jesus. He is the one we believe God sent to save us and to be our high priest. God made him our high priest, and he was more faithful to God than Moses. He did everything God wanted him to do in God’s house. When someone builds a house, people will honor the builder more than the house. It is the same with Jesus. He should have more honor than Moses. Every house is built by someone, but God built everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s whole house. He told people what God would say in the future. But Christ is faithful in ruling God’s house as the Son. And we are God’s house, if we remain confident of the great hope we are glad to say we have.
So it is just as the Holy Spirit says:
“If you hear God’s voice today,
don’t be stubborn as you were in the past,
when you turned against God.
That was the day you tested God in the desert.
For 40 years in the desert, your people saw what I did.
But they tested me and my patience.
So I was angry with them.
I said, ‘Their thoughts are always wrong.
They have never understood my ways.’
So I was angry and made a promise:
‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”
So, brothers and sisters, I ask you—what is your definition of this “rest to be enjoyed”—in heaven or on the New Earth?
The third chapter of Hebrews warns us to be careful that no one has doubts or evil thoughts to the extent that they cause you to stop following the Holy Words of God the Father or Jesus Christ. But strive to encourage and comfort others every day, while you still have something I call “Pep in your step.” Help each other so that none of you will be fooled by sin and become too hardhearted to change. We have the honor, privilege, and responsibility to share in all that Christ offers if we persevere to the end with the certain faith we had in the beginning. That’s why the Spirit said, in Hebrews 3:15 “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Who were those who heard God’s voice and turned against him? It was all the people Moses led out of Egypt. And who was God angry with for 40 years? He was angry with those who sinned. And their dead bodies were left in the desert. And which people was God talking to when he promised that they would never enter his place of rest? He was talking to those who did not obey him. So we see that they were not allowed to enter and have God’s rest, because they did not believe.
Hebrews chapter three concluded by saying that the unbelieving Israelites could not enter the land of promise. Their lack of faith resulted in their unbelief which prevented Israel's people from entering into the land God had promised. We all should be aware that any of our own unbelief could possibly prevent us from entering into God's promised rest.
Hebrews clearly says; He swore that they, the disbelieving ones, the sinners, the ones who sinned the sin of not believing that they would not enter into His rest, the Promised Land.
Hebrews 4 from the Easy-to-Read Version follows:
And we still have the promise that God gave those people. That promise is that we can enter his place of rest. So we should be very careful that none of you fails to get that promise. Yes, the good news about it was told to us just as it was to them. But the message they heard did not help them. They heard it but did not accept it with faith. Only we who believe it are able to enter God’s place of rest. As God said,
I was angry and made a promise: 'They will never enter my place of rest.”
But God’s work was finished from the time he made the world. Yes, somewhere in the Scriptures he talked about the seventh day of the week. He said, “So on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the Scripture above God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
So the opportunity is still there for some to enter and enjoy God’s rest. But those who first heard the good news about it did not enter, because they did not obey. So God planned another special day. It is called “today.” He spoke about that day through David a long time later using the words we quoted before:
“If you hear God’s voice today, don’t be stubborn.”
We know that Joshua did not lead the people into the place of rest that God promised. We know this because God spoke later about another day for rest. This shows that the seventh-day rest for God’s people is still to come. God rested after he finished his work. So everyone who enters God’s place of rest will also have rest from their own work just as God did. So let us try as hard as we can to enter God’s place of rest. We must try hard so that none of us will be lost by following the example of those who refused to obey God.
God’s word is alive and working. It is sharper than the sharpest sword and cuts all the way into us. It cuts deep to the place where the soul and the spirit are joined. God’s word cuts to the center of our joints and our bones. It judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts. Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. He can clearly see all things. Everything is open before him. And to him we must explain the way we have lived.
We have a great high priest who has gone to live with God in heaven. He is Jesus the Son of God. So let us continue to express our faith in him. Jesus, our high priest, is able to understand our weaknesses. When Jesus lived on earth, he was tempted in every way. He was tempted in the same ways we are tempted, but he never sinned. With Jesus as our high priest, we can feel free to come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we receive mercy and kindness to help us when we need it.
What was the promise preached unto them? It was the promise that God would give them a land flowing with milk and honey. Even above that, He would provide resources for everything they would need to enjoy living blessed lives while serving God.
Christ offers to provide for our similar necessities, but more importantly than mere food, security, and health, He offers the only path to eternal salvation. Yes, the Lord Jesus is our shepherd. Our gracious God shall supply all our basic essentials, and more according to His riches, we shall not want. The message is, “seek first the kingdom of God, and all the things we need shall be added unto us.
Yet, with little, if any faithfulness in God's promises they pulled back and even rebelled against the LORD and refused to go into the land God had promised. Christ is encouraging us not to make the same mistakes today.
Let's backtrack a moment and restate some of Hebrews 4. Verse 3, Only we who believe it are able to enter God’s place of rest. As God said, “I was angry and made a promise: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’” But God’s work was finished from the time he made the world.
This author of Hebrews, possibly Paul, is referring to Psalm 95:11, as he did in chapter 3, which says that God swore in His wrath that they would not enter into His rest. He is pointing out that the notion of a promised rest was specifically given to us in scripture. Additionally, he states those who believe in Christ do enter into rest. Believers are allowed to enter into a heavenly rest that is promised with our redemption in Christ.
Hebrews 4:4, says, Yes, somewhere in the Scriptures he talked about the seventh day of the week. He said, “So on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” God Rested and the day of rest is called the “Sabbath Rest.”
The writer is building an argument, building a case, one point at a time. He has already pointed out that a rest is promised to us in the scripture in Psalm 95. The point he is setting forth here is that God Himself rested. We find this in Genesis 2:2, God finished the work he was doing, so on the seventh day he rested from his work.
God neither needs to slumber nor sleep. He does not get tired. So, why did He then set a day of rest? He rested because His creation was perfected. A bountiful earth was set in a perfect motion around a perfect sun in perfect harmony with the other planets and forces within our solar system. Perfection personified. Thus, He ceased His labors, as all the work for earth's creation and continuity was done. Everything that man and all creation would ever need—either has been created or will be created and transformed by His Spirit when changes are required. Good examples would be when He created the manna in the desert, along with the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Then as a judgment on most of humanity, He created the world-wide flood to wash the sinners from the face of this earth.
Psalm 33:6 states; The Lord spoke the command, and the world was made. The breath from his mouth created everything in the heavens. Verse 15 goes on to say; He created every person’s mind, and he knows what each one is doing. Does God work full time on the new minds? Or does He weave the fabrics of creation on other planets in other universes? Who are we to ask—or who are we to know? Scripture never speaks to another creation except when the old earth will pass away and the New Earth will be created. After all, He set all of creation, this universe and all other universes into motion, and these seem to be in perpetual motion ever since. The air is cleaned by rain. All trees absorb carbon dioxide and replenish oxygen. Some trees provide fruit. The ground has brought forth crops. The water is purified by ground filtering and evaporation, over and over. The animals reproduce themselves generation after generation, as has mankind, while God has been at rest.
Can we assume He never went back to work? Is he still resting? I doubt it! Overseeing the fails and follies we find ourselves in, might be His full-time career or full-time time consuming source of His entertainment.
Jumping to Hebrews chapter 6, we read: So we should be finished with the beginning lessons about Christ. We should not have to keep going back to where we started. We began our new life by turning away from the evil we did in the past and by believing in God. That’s when we were taught about baptisms, laying hands on people, the resurrection of those who have died, and the final judgment. Now we need to go forward to more mature teaching. And that’s what we will do if God allows.
After people have left the way of Christ, can you make them change their lives again? I am talking about people who once learned the truth, received God’s gift, and shared in the Holy Spirit. They were blessed to hear God’s good message and see the great power of his new world. But then they left it all behind, and it is not possible to make them change again. That’s because those who leave Christ are nailing him to the cross again, shaming him before everyone.
Some people are like land that gets plenty of rain and produces a good crop for those who farm it. That kind of land has God’s blessing. But other people are like land that grows only thorns and weeds. It is worthless and in danger of being cursed by God. It will be destroyed by fire.
Friends, I am not saying this because I think it is happening to any of you. We expect all will do better—all of us will do the good things that will result in our individual salvation and receive our individual rewards in heaven. God is fair, and he will remember all the work you have done. He will remember that you showed your love to him by helping his people and that you continue to help them. He wants each of you willing and eager to show your love to others. Then you will be sure to receive what you work and hope for. God does not want us to be lazy. He wants you to express patience, faith and commitment to qualify for the blessings God has promised.
God made expressed commitments to Abraham. And there is no one greater than God, so he made the promise with an oath in his own name—an oath that he would do what he promised. He said, “I will surely bless you. I will give you many descendants.” Abraham waited patiently for this to happen, and later he received what God promised.
People always use the name of someone greater than themselves to make a promise with an oath. The oath provides more credibility that what they say is true, and there is no more arguing about it. God wanted to prove that his promise was true. He wanted to prove this to those who would get what he promised. He wanted them to understand clearly that his purposes never change. So God said something would happen, and he proved what he said by adding an oath. These two things cannot change: God cannot lie when he says something, and he cannot lie when he makes an oath.
So these two things are a great help to us who have come to God for safety. They encourage us to hold on to the hope that is ours. This hope is our anchor. It is strong and sure and keeps us safe. It goes behind the curtain. Jesus has already entered there and opened the way for us. He has always been the highest priest forever!
The Christian blessings within the gospel are far greater than any of the tribes had experienced under the law of Moses. Though, with careful study, we can find the same gospel substance prophesied and preached in the New and Old Testaments. Through the ages there have been many ears closed and unbelievers who ignored God's Holy Word. Those disregarding attitudes and general feelings of unbelief are destructive elements that, within us, prevent fulfillment of the fruits of the Word.
You must understand the consequence of partial neglect, and vacillating declarations of faith, often causes humankind to fall far short of how God would like us to be. Let us then live our lives in godly diligence, that we may have an assured entry into the kingdom of God. As our Father God completed creation and then rested from it, he will allow believers to finalize their life's ambitions before enjoying their eternal rest. This rest is a serenity in grace, comfort, and holiness in the gospel state.
As opposed to the constant labors and troubles of this world, the rest we shall obtain when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven will be incredibly wonderful. Wonderful words can not capture the essence of this rest, which is not idle dawdling by any means of imagination. This state of sereneness in God's glory is where God's people will enjoy the fruits of their faith, rewards for their good works on earth, and future works in heaven. This rest is an eternal peace to be enjoyed as a heavenly tranquility for all people of Jesus Christ. We are to labor in the glorious fields of God's missions prior to being rewarded by entering into God's promised rest. So, as I asked before, how would you define this “rest”—as expected to be found in heaven or on the New Earth? In my mind, several words come close but none are all inclusive.
But those who do not believe in Christ are denied both grace and glory hereafter, thus they will never enter into this spiritual rest. Never allow the unbelief that Israel experienced to seep into our souls. Unbelief is the work of Satan striving to keep us from entering the holy rest. God has always promised mankind's rest to be in him, and appreciation of His love is the soul's true real happiness. Unimaginable happiness is promised through his Son, which is the only pathway to gain entrance to a marvelous peacefulness for all.
Keep in mind, if you will, God's plans for our total contentment in the New Heaven and Earth will include work. 1 Corinthian tells us “We will judge angels.” Which could be the angels mentioned in 2 Peter 2:4 where he states: “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.”
Even more work is identified in scriptures and I'm not even counting our everlasting praises of our Father God. Read Isaiah 65:17-25 in whatever Bible you have in hand. The Easy-to-Read Version says:
“I am creating a new heaven and a new earth.
The troubles of the past will be forgotten.
No one will remember them.
My people will be happy and rejoice forever and ever
because of what I will make.
I will make a Jerusalem that is full of joy,
and I will make her people happy.
“Then I will rejoice with Jerusalem.
I will be happy with my people.
There will never again be crying
and sadness in that city.
In that city there will never be a baby who lives only a few days,
and every older person will live for a long, long time.
A person who lives 100 years will be called young.
And whoever doesn’t live that long will be considered cursed.
“In that city whoever builds a house will live there;
whoever plants a vineyard will eat the grapes from that garden.
Never again will one person build a house
and another person lives there.
Never again will one person plant a garden
and another eats the fruit from it.
My people will live as long as the trees.
My chosen people will get full use of whatever they make.
Never again will a woman suffer childbirth
and have her baby die.
Women will not fear childbirth.
I, the Lord, will bless all my people and their children.
I will answer them before they call for help.
I will help them before they finish asking.
Wolves and little lambs will eat together.
Lions will eat hay like cattle,
and snakes will eat only dust.
They will not hurt or destroy each other on my holy mountain.”
This is what the Lord said.
Guess what? Consequently, until then, there will be times here on earth where He will present us with trials. In distress you might cry out, “God, What do you want from me?” The clearly resonating answer is “All of your love, your body, your mind, and spirit. While God wants all of that, he wants you to love your neighbors, and share His work among the unsaved and the un-churched. In giving all of yourself to God and, even though it may seem like an impossible duality, by sharing your all with all others you do not diminish your worth but increase it many times in God's eyes.” For as you give of yourself to others, you are giving all of yourself to God.
After reading Isaiah 65:17-25, the thought struck me of just how similar the everyday routines of our immortal afterlives will be compared to our current life. Except, of course, in our joyful eternal lives, we will be living continuously with God and praising Him where there is no sickness or no evil and we always have peace of mind.
The End, Amen.
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