The Consequences of Unbelief - Bible Study

GREATER THAN AARON THE HIGH PRIEST

The Consequences of Unbelief

Hebrews 4

Let us fear (vv. 1-8). Believers today may enter and enjoy their spiritual inheritance in Christ. We must be careful lest we fail to believe God's Word, for it is only as the Word is "mixed with faith" that it can accomplish its purposes. The argument in this section is given in several propositions:

1)    God finished His work and rested, so that His rest has been available since Creation.

2)    The Jews failed to enter into their rest.

3)    Many years later (Ps 95), God said that a rest was still available. That "today" is still here!

This means that Joshua did not lead Israel into the true rest, because a rest still remains. (The name "Jesus" in Heb 4:8, ought to be "Joshua." "Jesus" is the Greek form of "Joshua.")

The Canaan rest for Israel is a picture of the spiritual rest we find in Christ when we surrender to Him. When we come to Christ by faith, we find salvation rest (Matt 11:28). When we yield and learn of Him and obey Him by faith, we enjoy submission rest (Matt 11:29-30). The first is "peace with God" (Rom 5:1); the second is the "peace of God" (Phil 4:6-8). It is by believing that we enter into rest (Heb 4:3); it is by obeying God by faith and surrendering to His will that the rest enters into us.

Let us labor (vv. 9-13). "Give diligence" is a good translation of this admonition. Diligence is the opposite of "drifting" (Heb 2:13). How do we give diligence? By paying close attention to the Word of God. Israel did not believe God's Word, so the rebels fell in the wilderness. " So, then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom 10:17).

In comparing the Word of God to a sword, the writer is not suggesting that God uses His Word to slaughter the saints! It is true that the Word cuts the heart of sinners with conviction (Acts 5:33; 7:54), and that the Word defeats Satan (Eph 6:17). The Greek word translated "sword" means "a short sword or dagger." The emphasis is on the power of the Word to penetrate and expose the inner heart of man. The Word is a "discerner" or "critic."

The Israelites criticized God's Word instead of allowing the Word to judge them. Consequently, they lost their inheritance.

Of course, God sees our hearts (Heb 4:13); but we do not always know what is there (Jer 17:9). God uses the Word to enable us to see the sin and unbelief in our own hearts. The Word exposes our hearts; and then, if we trust God, the Word enables our hearts to obey God and claim His promises. This is why each believer should be diligent to apply himself to hear and heed God's Word. In the Word we see God, and we also see how God sees us. We see ourselves as we really are. This experience enables us to be honest with God, to trust His will, and to obey Him.

All of this is possible because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. (The two "He's" in Heb 4:10 refer to Jesus Christ.) God rested when He finished the work of Creation, God's Son rested when He completed the work of the new creation. We may enter into His rest by trusting His Word and obeying His will. We can do this as we listen to His Word, understand it trust it, and obey it. Only in this way can we claim our inheritance in Christ.

Before Joshua conquered Jericho, he went out to survey the situation; and he met the Lord Jesus

Christ (Josh 5:13-15). Joshua discovered that he was second in command! The Lord had a sword in His hand, and Joshua fell at His feet in complete submission. It was this action in private that gave Joshua his public victory.

We too claim our spiritual inheritance by surrendering to Him and trusting His Word. We must beware of an evil heart of unbelief.

GREATER THAN AARON THE HIGH PRIEST

Moses did not lead the people of Israel into the promised rest; in fact, he himself was forbidden to enter the land. Joshua led them into their physical rest, but not into the promised spiritual rest (Heb 4:8). But what about Aaron, the first high priest? Is it possible that the Aaronic priesthood, with all of its sacrifices and ceremonies, could bring a troubled soul into rest?

The Hebrew Christians who received this letter were sorely tempted to return to the! religion of their fathers. After all, any Jew could travel to Jerusalem and see the temple! and the priests ministering at the altar. Here, was something real, visible, concrete. When a person is going through persecution, as these: Hebrew Christians were, it is much easier to walk by sight than by faith. Some of us have doubted the Lord under much less provocation than these people were enduring.

The central theme of Hebrews is the priesthood of Jesus Christ, what He is now doing in heaven on behalf of His people. Is the high priestly ministry of Christ superior to that of Aaron and his successors? Yes, it is; and the writer proves his assertion by presenting four arguments.

Jesus Christ Has a Superior Title (Heb. 4:14-16)

"Seeing then that we have a GREAT High Priest" (Heb 4:14, emphasis mine). Aaron was a "high priest," but Jesus Christ is the GREAT High Priest. No Old Testament priest could assume that title. But in what does our Lord's greatness consist?

To begin with, Jesus Christ is both God and Man. He is "Jesus, the Son of God." The name "Jesus" means "Saviour" and identifies His humanity and His ministry on earth. "Son of God" affirms His deity and the fact that He is God. In His unique person, Jesus Christ unites Deity and humanity, so that He can bring people to God and bring to people all that God has for them.

Not only in His Person, but also in His position Jesus Christ is great. Aaron and his successors ministered in the tabernacle and temple precincts, once a year entering the holy of holies. But Jesus Christ has "Passed through the heavens" (Heb 4:14, literal translation). When He ascended to the Father, Jesus Christ passed through the atmospheric heavens and the planetary heavens into the third heaven where God dwells (2 Cor 12:2). How much better is it to have a High Priest who ministers in a heavenly tabernacle than in an earthly one!

But there is another aspect to Christ's position: not only is He in heaven, but He is enthroned. His throne is "the throne of grace" (Heb 4:16). The mercy seat on the ark of the covenant was God's throne in Israel (Ex 25:17-22), but it could never be called "a throne of grace." Grace does not veil itself from the people. Grace does not hide itself in a tent.

Furthermore, the common people were not permitted to enter the holy precincts of the tabernacle and the temple, and the priests got only as far as the veil. The high priest alone went beyond the veil, and only on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16). But every believer in Christ is invited, and is even encouraged, to "come boldly unto the throne of grace"! What a great throne it is because our Great High Priest is ministering there.

Jesus Christ our Great High Priest, is enthroned in heaven. Something else makes Him great: He is ministering mercy and grace to those who come for help. Mercy means that God does not give us what we do deserve; grace means that He gives us what we do not deserve. No Old Testament high priest could minister mercy and grace in quite the same way. When an Israelite was tempted, he could not easily run to the high priest for help; and he certainly could not enter the holy of holies for God's help. But as believers in Jesus Christ, we can run to our High Priest at any time, in any circumstance, and find the help that we need.

Now because of the superiority of Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest, over Aaron, two important conclusions can be drawn. First, there is no need in giving up our profession just because we are going through testing and trial (Heb 4:14). The word translated "profession" means "confession." These Hebrew Christians were tempted to give up their confession of faith in Christ and their confidence in Him (Heb 3:6,14). It was not a matter of giving up their salvation. It was a matter of their public confession of faith. By returning to the Old Testament system, they would be telling everyone that they had no faith in Christ (Gal 2:11-21). This kind of unbelief would only bring reproach to Christ's name.

After all, the great purpose of salvation is the glory of God (Eph 1:6,12,14). It was the glory of God that so concerned Moses when Israel broke God's Law and made the golden calf (Ex 32). God offered to destroy the nation and to begin a new one from Moses, but Moses refused the offer. Instead, Moses interceded for Israel on the basis of God's glory and God's promise; and God spared the people, even though He disciplined them for their sin (Ex 32:11-13).

The second conclusion is this: there is no need to go back because we can come boldly into the presence of God and get the help we need (Heb 4:16). No trial is too great, no temptation is too strong, but that Jesus Christ can give us the mercy and grace that we need, when we need it. "But He is so far away!" we may argue. "And He is the perfect Son of God! What can He know about the problems of weak sinners Like us?"

But that is a part of His greatness! When He was ministering on earth in a human body, He experienced all that we experience, and even more, after all, a sinless person would feel temptations and trials in a much greater way than you and I could ever feel them. Christ was tempted, yet He did not sin; and He is able to help us when we are tempted. If we fail to hold fast our confession, we are not proving that Jesus Christ has failed. We are only telling the world that we failed to draw on His grace and mercy when it was freely available to us.