How Firm a Foundation
Hebrews 13:1-8
In 1787, a man named John Rippon published the hymn: How Firm a Foundation, ”which he attributed to the pen of “K”. who this “K” was is uncertain, although some have been a London minister of music named Robert Keene. As this hymn addresses the certainty of our faith in uncertain times, we wonder what difficulty occasioned the hymn. We may never know the answer to this, but the Church has been strengthened in difficult times by this wonderful hymn. The writer took inspiration from this passage from Hebrews which we read this morning. He quotes Hebrews 13:5 at the end of the hymn: “That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
‘I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!’” So let us take a deeper look into the passage.
Hebrews 13 serves as sort of postscript to the Epistle to the Hebrews. His main argument ends at the end of chapter 12. chapter 13 contains some general admonitions for the church itself. Even so, some of the best known verses in the Bible come from this chapter. Hebrews admonished the believers to whom it was originally written to stand fast to the Gospel and not desert the faith. It is a well-reasoned arguments to bolster this admonition as to why we should stand fast. when we get to chapter 13, we come to a practical application of the sermon itself. What does standing fast and being faithful look like. But even in this chapter are the warnings to avoid apostacy and the sureness of our faith in Jesus.
One of the practical concerns the church was facing appears to be an influx of Christian refugees from other churches. The church was to show hospitality to these refugees who had to flee persecution or who had been cast out from their homes. They were to be treated as though they were angels. When we remember the extravagance which Abraham showed to the three men who were traveling to Sodom one of whom was actually the angel of the Lord, we get the idea that our receiving of fellow Christians must not be grudging but should allow these refugees to find rest from their toils. This is a practical application of the Sabbath rest which the main section of Hebrews spends so much time elucidating. We who labor to enter the true Sabbath rest must also be the providers of Sabbath to others. these Sabbaths serve as a down payment which points to the ultimate fulfillment of the Sabbath at the end of time.
The church was to remember that many of their fellow-believers were suffering far more than they were at that time, even though it seems that this was about to change. They were to remember those who were currently in prison. Later on in the chapter, he mentions that Timothy had been set at liberty. It also implies that the writer of the epistle was currently in bonds himself, though he hoped to be released soon and return to them. Hebrews tells the believers to have empathy for those who were suffering. Empathy is more than mere sympathy. Empathy is felt. It puts itself in that person''s place and feels the pain. We in the church today should also be empathetic. Are we sorry that so many of our fellow believers are suffering persecution only to say: “Thank God it is only them who are suffering!”. Empathy means we feel the confusion and hurt they are in. It is like when you stub your toe. The toe is the source of the pain, but the whole body feels it.
Verse four stands out boldly. Why is an admonition about the honorableness of marriage and the admonition to remain faithful to one’s marriage bonds appear here? It is obviously an important Christian doctrine, but it seems to break up the flow of the argument. We all have a tendency to get off on a rabbit trail, but the writer of Hebrews is an expert in the Greek language and rhetoric. He intentionally placed this verse here.
If we were to look back to the wilderness experience of the Children of Israel with which the writer of Hebrews spends so much time developing, we start to see the relevance here. When Moses went up on the mountain and stayed a long time. the Children of Israel took him for dead and cajoled Aaron to make them a golden calf to lead them back to Egypt, The people ate and got drunk. They danced and then they started to commit all kinds of sexual immorality. This angered God greatly, and grave punishment followed in which many died. The Children of Israel also committed spiritual adultery by mixing the true faith in Yahweh with the worship of Baal and other gods. This too angered God and led to the Northern Kingdom being taken captive by the Assyrians and Judah be the Babylonians.
Marriage is a covenant between man and woman in the presence of God and the witnesses in which they pledge mutual fidelity to each other. This makes marriage honorable and sacred. It serves as a reflection of the marriage of the Church to the Lamb. If one cannot be faithful to a seen spouse, how will they remain faithful to the LORD who is yet to return. We need to model Christ in all our relationships, including marriage.
Next comes an admonition against covetousness. The Greek word here means “to love money.” This is negated and the general translation one’s life is not to be centered around the love of money but instead to be satisfied with such things as they have. the command not to covet is the 10th and last commandment. In a way all of the commandments God gave concerning sinning against one’s neighbor is summed up in tis commandment. Stealing, adultery, murder, bearing false witness and even honoring one’s parents finds its root in covetousness. David saw Bathsheba bathing and coveted her. This led to adultery and murder. Judas coveted the money that Mary’s ointment could have brought him. He wanted the 300 pieces of silver which he could have embezzled from the treasury, As a result, Judas betrayed Jesus for a mere 30 pieces of silver. 1 Timothy 6:10 warns believers against the love of money. The KJV says the “love of money is the root of all evil, but newer translations says it is “a” root. We must remember that there is no indefinite article for “a” in Greek. Nouns either have a definite article “the” or no article. there is no article for the word translated “root” which makes the translation ambiguous. Bu Greek nouns should be treated as definite whether or not there is an article. To say that the love of money is “a root” leaves room for other roots of evil. However, if one equates the love of money to covetousness as a catch all, then “the root” is correct.
In the difficulties the church of Hebrews represents, fighting over church resources and offices, both spiritual and temporal, would lead to divisions which would destroy the unity of the church. This would allow the enemies of the church to exploit these differences. The writer has just admonished the church to show hospitality to other Christians who had fled to them for refuge. The people of the church may have been stretched already to meet the many needs of the current membership. There may have been some who feared that resources they thought were for them would be spent on strangers. One does not have to be rich to be covetous.
In our churches today, there are far too many conflicts for resources and attention today. The church, at least in America, tend to be better off financially than the church the author addresses here as well as much better off than fellow believers in poorer countries and communities. It seems that churches would rather spend a lot of money to renovate their fellowship halls than to relieve the suffering of fellow Christians who have lost all to follow Jesus.
The command to avoid covetousness is used to set up one of those often quoted verses of assurance. so many quotable verses in Scripture seem to begin with the little word “for.” We can thing of 1 Timothy 6:10 we just cited (for the love of money.) John 3:16 begins with “for.” “For should cause us to look back to what has just been said. In many ways it sums up what was just said of gives further elaboration. So, the well known Hebrews 13:5 begins with the words: “For He Himself has said.” The addition of the extra pronoun “he” makes this statement extremely emphatic and explicit. We go back to the very first verse in Hebrews in which the simple subject and predicate is “HE spoke.” The Word of God is the agent of creation, providence, and salvation. It is the authoritative word of the Omnipotent God. This is the same God who speaks here. We are summoned to listen and obey.
“I will NEVER leave you; not shall I EVER forsake you”. The construction of what God says here is a Greek translation of what was originally spoken in Hebrew. this is because parallelism is being used here which is common in Hebrew. The “I will never leave you” is rhymed in thought with “I will never forsake you. Each clause contains a double negative in Greek and are connected by the negative “nor.” It is hard to express how emphatic this promise is in English as it is improper in formal English to use the double negative. Again, we look at the last stanza of the hymn “How Firm a Foundation for an idea of how to render this phrase. Look especially at the last phrase.
“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!”
This verse tells us that the Father holds us in His hand, a hand which no one can pull us from (See John 10:27-29). He will eternally protect us, regardless of what man might do unto us in this life. This verse has given strength to the church’s many martyrs. It gives us strength to withstand the tribulations we currently endure for the faith. No one can pluck us from the hand of the Son, no less the Father.
Having been thus encouraged, let us now see how this promise is linked to a life that if free from covetousness in both the individual and the church. Where do we find our true security — in God and His promises or in our own resources or the resources of men and government? If a government is well run, then it serves as God’s agent to promote the welfare of people. But what happens when the government turns against the Christian? The congregation Hebrews addressed had gone through times where the Romans government exercised a degree of tolerance. But Hebrews also mentioned that they had been persecuted also. God is sovereign over secular powers, they rule by His will and will be held to account as well. So even when the government “protects” us, we must realize that this is the work of God. We must not trust in men or governments directly, but rather our trust must be in God alone. We give thanks for his providing for us, by whatever means He has chosen. As it says here: “The LORD is my helper. What can man do unto me?” God is with us in this life, in our physical death, and in the life to come.
There is government that God has established in the church as well. Hebrews now admonishes us to obey the leaders. they are God’s means of feeding the flock by His word. They have served as good examples as well. We have mentioned that the writer of the epistle seems to have been imprisoned. So was Timothy. They had exhibited boldness for the sake of the Gospel, even unto bonds. the example they set should be our example as well, should our profession of our faith puts us before those who would have us deny our faith, or else. These things have happened throughout the history of the Christian church, and we should not be so naive to think that it won’t happen to us.
Verse eight is also a well-known verse: “Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today, and for ever.” The Greeks held that God was unchangeable. their special term for this is “aseity.” But the Greek idea of the unchangeableness of God is NOT the same as what the bible reveals about God. they are similar in the sense that both definitions hold to an all-powerful and self-sufficient God who is complete in Himself. But the Greek concept holds that because God is unchangeable, He cannot enter into relationship with anything or anyone else. But Scripture teaches that God is personal. He enters into relationship with His creatures. God can do this without fundamentally changing because God is God. The Greeks could not understand the idea that “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14).
So, what should we understand about the eternal “sameness” of Jesus? In this context, we should understand this as meaning that Jesus is equally God with the Father and the Holy Spirit and shares in the Biblical understanding of aseity. This is important because there are truths our salvation is grounded in. The first is that God is able to save. The motivation to save such fallen humanity is meaningless apart from the sovereign God who is Lord over all history. The second is that God has to be willing to save as well. It is hard to see in the Greek philosophical understanding of God why God would ever want to do that. this kind of God is above the fray and does not need the company of anyone. He sees no need outside of Himself. But Jesus is also human as well as divine. He cares for us. He laid His life down on the cross to save us. This proves the necessity of willingness to save. His divine power is demonstrated in the resurrection and ascension to God’s right hand.
God is unchangeable in His character. He cannot lie. He cannot go back on what He has promised. He will not desert us because He has promised to be with us. So when trials come, we must stand fast upon the firm foundation of His promises to us.
Seeing that we have such an extraordinary hope, let us encourage one another each day by reminding each other of God’s sure promises to us in Jesus Christ. Even though we have not been placed in the wilderness of Sinai and remain in Egypt, we are in a wilderness, nonetheless. Our faith has been tested and will be tested, even unto the greatest of severity. Let us go forward toward the fulfillment of God’s promise. No chariots of iron or giants in the land can stop us.
