Ruth 4:14-15. Kinsman Redeemer, part 11.

Class Outline:

Tuesday July 24, 2018

 

HEB 7:11 Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of

Aaron?

 

HEB 7:12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

 

HEB 7:13 For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.

 

HEB 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.

 

The entire theme of the Epistle Hebrews is built around the word “better,” which is used in a series of comparison to show how God’s revelation in Christ is superior to the revelation that came through the law, especially in regards to the Levitical priesthood.

 

The writer showed them that the same God who delivered the law to Moses by the hand of angels has since spoken historically in His Son, who has bee made temporarily lower than the angels in order that He might enter perfectly in the sphere of human life as a participant in it. Because He is both divine and human, He is qualified to serve as a high priest, in which capacity He is superior to the Aaronic priesthood. Death cannot terminate He tenure, and His sphere of service is in the heavenly sanctuary, the very presence of God. Furthermore, the4 sacrifice that He offers does not need to be repeated. He Himself is the offering as well as the priest, completely acceptable to God, potent to remove the guilt of transgressions under the law and under grace. The eternal salvation which He has thus purchased is attainable by faith, the same faith as the OT saint put in God as their Redeemer.

 

When the reality appeared, the shadow, which was the law and the Levitical priesthood, were put away. He has made us perfect or complete, possessing eternal life.

 

In the NT all believers are entreated to be teleios (perfect, complete, mature).

 

1CO 14:20

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature [teleios].

 

EPH 4:13-14

until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children

 

Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;

 

Php 3:16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

 

COL 1:28 And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.

 

COL 1:29 And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

 

HEB 5:9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

 

HEB 5:10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

 

HEB 5:11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

 

HEB 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

 

HEB 5:13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

 

HEB 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

 

MAT 5:48

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 

JAM 1:2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

 

JAM 1:3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

 

JAM 1:4 And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

 

We have also noted that the OT has an equivalent word to teleios [Hebrew: tamim] that also refers to being complete or perfect. God uses the word to describe Himself (DEU 32:4) and He commands it of His people (DEU 18:13).

 

But everyone broke the Law. They could not be tamim. This was to lead them to consider the impossibility of the command coupled with the fact that God would not ask of them something they could not do.

 

The Redeemer would make them tamim, but not in their lifetime. They looked forward to the promise when the covenants would be fulfilled. God would make them perfect or complete with blood, and God would give them “the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (HEB 11:10)

 

Okay, but in the meantime, in their lifetimes, what to do about the command to be tamim?

 

The Law is summed up in the two commands, “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” To love the Lord is stated 8 times in Deuteronomy. In Joshua’s short closing message to Israel he mentions it twice.

 

A love of the Lord would make an OT saint desire to be perfect under the Law with all his heart, but he wouldn’t be in practice, and he would long for the day in which he could thanks to the Redeemer.

 

Is he perfect before the Law? No. Would he desire to be with all his heart? Yes. Does he know that someday the Redeemer will make him complete? Yes.

 

Loving the Lord with all his heart would mean that he loved the sacrifices and the ritual feasts since they depicted the Lord’s grace, mercy, and redemption. He would love the commands as they were all in line with the righteous character of the One he loved.

 

Joshua said to the trans-Jordan tribes:

 

JOS 22:5 “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

 

He said to the rest of Israel:

 

When Joshua says this, it is such an exciting time in Israel. They have been a nation for 40 years, since Sinai, and now, finally, they have their land, the land promised to Abraham over 400 years prior. There are still some Canaanites settled, but they won’t be difficult to remove. It is a great time in Israel.

 

JOS 23:6 Be very firm, then, to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left,

 

JOS 23:7 in order that you may not associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or make anyone swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them.

 

JOS 23:8 But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.

 

JOS 23:9 For the Lord has driven out great and strong nations from before you; and as for you, no man has stood before you to this day.

 

JOS 23:10 One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you.

 

JOS 23:11 So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God.

 

We have to be careful when times of prosperity come our way, when promised blessings are fulfilled. Enjoy them to the utmost and remember something.

 

DEU 6:10 "Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build,

 

DEU 6:11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied,

 

DEU 6:12 then watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 

DEU 6:13 You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him, and swear by His name.

 

DEU 6:14 You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,

 

DEU 6:15 for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

 

We still may feel confused, if God is asking us to be perfect, and we won’t be until some later day when all the inheritance is ours in resurrection, then why ask perfection of us now?

 

Why not say, “Great, okay God I’ll get right on that - in heaven.”?

 

How does the desire for something and the reality of that something relate to one another? I’m not talking about positive thinking. It doesn’t matter how much you may desire continual sinlessness in this life, it will not happen.

 

There is a desire for God’s will and there is a reality of God’s will. The reality will not happen if I do not desire it. In heaven I will desire it and thanks to the gifts of God, it will be a continual reality. In time, if I love it more than anything, meaning I love Him more than anything, then it will also be a reality, but not consistently. Without the desire there will not be a reality of spiritual completeness or maturity.

 

Do we desire to love as Christ loves? If we do, it will be a reality, though not immediately and not as consistently as we would like, but if we desire it, meaning we desire Him more than anything, then we will keep striving and we will mature.

 

In the same way, resurrection and heaven are in the future, but we are called to live in both of them now. The NT clearly states that we are raised with Him, not that we will be raised. We have seen in our study of the home that Christ has made for us that it is in heaven, “I go to prepare a place for you,” and that it is also a present reality for those who love Him and keep His commands, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." (JOH 14:23)

 

The call of the OT saint to be complete and the higher call of the NT saint to be complete are like this. It will be a consistent reality in the future, but we love it so much now that we strive with the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word to make it our present reality.

 

Many don’t like to leave it in this way because desire is not measurable. It’s not tangible. They would rather certain measurable works, prayers, giving, and even physical and material prosperity because they can all be seen and measured. But spiritual completeness is not measured by man. God looks upon the heart. The believer alone knows that he loves God and desires the Lord’s perfect way all the time.

 

And when the OT saint failed, for they would:

 

PSA 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

Thou God of my salvation;

Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Thy righteousness.

 

PSA 51:15 O Lord, open my lips,

That my mouth may declare Thy praise.

 

PSA 51:16 For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

Thou art not pleased with burnt offering.

 

PSA 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

 

PSA 51:18 By Thy favor do good to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

 

In vs. 18 David is acknowledging that only God does good to His people. The people cannot do good for themselves. The walls speak of God’s protection. Only He can protect. The armies of the people are useless without Him. Each person is useless without His wall of fire.

 

The love of the Law, which is the love of goodness, caused humble responses in the heart and spirit of the lover of God when he broke the law. Then his sacrifices were acceptable to God.

 

PSA 51:19 Then Thou wilt delight in righteous sacrifices,

In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then young bulls will be offered on Thine altar.

 

Hence, an OT saint could be blameless, tamim, before God and before the Law even though he was a sinner. This is his maturity. It is a maturity that looks forward to completeness in another life. It is a maturity under the shadow of things to come, while he looks forward to the things to come, the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham.

 

He would desire to perform the Law flawlessly, and so in his heart he desired to be blameless before the Law, but also knowing that he was not so in practice. Such a person could not be impartial to his sin.

 

Neither the Law or the NT doctrine tells us how to feel or requires it of us as a condition for forgiveness or fellowship, but if a person is impartial towards it, how does he love the One who hates it?

 

Saul said to Samuel that he had done all the will of the Lord. Samuel said, “What is that bleating of sheep that I hear?” We only see desire for the command of God come across Saul’s countenance when Samuel tells him that the kingdom has been taken from him.

 

David actually lost the kingdom in his lifetime and in exile wrote Psa 23.

 

Behold the difference between the one who loves the Lord and the one who loves self first and foremost. The command was to love the Lord with all your heart. There is no room for split devotion.

 

The call to love and devotion to the Lord and His law hasn’t changed, but the completeness of love and devotion has changed drastically due to the actual, perfect redemption accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

The OT saint who loved the Lord would know clearly that his Redeemer was the Lord, yet he wouldn’t know near as much about Him as you and I do.

 

The OT saint put his faith in things not seen.

 

HEB 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

 

HEB 11:2 For by it the men of old gained approval.

 

The writer of Hebrews goes on to list a number of examples of OT heroes in faith. And then, at the end of that list, he turns to the NT saint.

 

The NT saint puts his faith in things that are seen.

 

HEB 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

 

HEB 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author [Prince Ruler] and perfecter [teleios] of faith, who for [instead of] the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

HEB 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

 

HEB 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;

 

Running the race with endurance while we fix our eyes upon Him, not growing weary or losing heart in sight of the many tribulations we face, resisting sin to the point of exhaustion would all be descriptions of the one who is conducting himself as one who is spiritually mature or spiritually complete.

 

Keeping track of where we were and are.

 

EPH 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

 

EPH 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

 

EPH 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature [teleios: complete] man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.

 

We are studying our Lord’s perfection as a qualification to being our Kinsman Redeemer. As a part of this doctrine is the Priesthood of Christ under the Order of Melchizedek as opposed to the imperfect, finite Levitical Order.

 

In Heb 7, the writer draws a comparison between Jesus and Melchizedek, then Melchizedek and the Order of Aaron, and then the Levitical priesthood to the priesthood of Jesus.

 

HEB 7:11 Now if perfection [teleios] was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?

 

HEB 7:12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

 

HEB 7:13 For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.

 

HEB 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.

 

The Law made nothing complete. Daily sacrifices reminded of sin and did not clean the conscience. Jesus’ sacrifice removes sin and cleanses fully.