Ephesians; 1:4 – Election of church age believer, part 27.

Tuesday December 18, 2018

 

Context of HEB 4:14-15:

 

HEB 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

 

HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

 

HEB 4:16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

 

HEB 2:14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;

 

HEB 2:15 and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

 

HEB 2:16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.

 

HEB 2:17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

 

HEB 2:18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

 

“come to the aid of” is a compound Greek word that means “to run to the cry of.” When believers are in need and cry out, He runs to help.

 

Jesus is not only the Author of salvation, He is not only Jesus the Sanctifier, He is not only Jesus the Satan-Conqueror, but He is also Jesus the Sympathizer.

 

Couple this with 1JO 1:9. By confessing before God you are seeking His aid, for certainly, you will tempted again with the same type of sins that have the easiest time ruling you.

 

HEB 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling [elect], consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.

 

These are believers (holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling). Consider - make a careful investigation of Jesus.

 

As believers, the writer commands them to make a careful study of the person of Jesus as Messiah. Believers are tempted to put all their time and energy into other things. Temperance is a virtue that includes more than alcohol. Temperance is the ability to understand the limits of all things and to stop the pursuit of them whenever that limit is reached.

 

HEB 3:2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.

 

HEB 3:3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

 

Jesus was an apostle, which title for Him means someone sent as a messenger, and in His case He brought a New Covenant and a new dispensation. Moses was also sent and he brought the Mosaic Covenant and the dispensation of the law. Jesus’ apostleship is far better.

 

JOH 1:17

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

 

HEB 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

 

HEB 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;

 

HEB 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

 

If we hold fast our confidence, then we are members of His house. If a believer fails to hold fast, it doesn’t mean that he is not a saved person, it simply means that he is not acting like one, and in light of the truth revealed concerning who Christ is, it is abnormal for a saved person to not hold fast his confidence until the end.

 

And now the writer is going to skillfully use the Exodus camped at Kadesh-Barnea as an example and a warning. We certainly can miss out on the blessings of our election if we fail in faith.

 

The background to HEB 3:7-4:13 is Num 13-14: the sin of Kadesh-Barnea (deciding the PL could not be taken), which was a crucial turning point in the history of Israel.

 

Israel had been in the wilderness for one year. A great portion of the Mosaic Law had been given, and the Tabernacle had been built.

 

It must be remembered that the journey through the wilderness from Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea was a difficult one. Little water, little pasturage for the beasts, and rough terrain were all tests to the people.

 

DEU 1:19 “Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.”

 

They camped around the oasis of Kadesh-Barnea on the southern border of the Promised Land. Moses sent in twelve spies who returned forty days later. All the spies agreed that it was a land flowing with milk and honey as God said. What they disagreed on was their ability to take the land from the Canaanites who lived there.

 

Two of them, Caleb and Joshua declared confidently that God and Israel could take the land.

 

NUM 13:25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,

 

NUM 13:26 they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

 

NUM 13:27 Thus they told him, and said, "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

 

NUM 13:28 Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

 

NUM 13:29 Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan."

 

NUM 13:30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it."

 

We don’t know what effect Caleb’s statement had upon the people. Perhaps they were fired up at Caleb’s speech and were preparing their minds for going, but soon enough the other ten spies spoke up and the people drifted towards unbelief.

 

NUM 13:31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us."

 

NUM 13:32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.

 

NUM 13:33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

 

The other ten claimed that, due to the numerical superiority and military strength of the Canaanites, it would be impossible to conquer the land. These men would die of plague before the Lord. The masses of people decided to go with the majority and widespread revolt ensued.

 

NUM 14:1Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.

 

DEU 1:26-27

“Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; and you grumbled in your tents and said, 'Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.”