Angelic Conflict part 161: Human history (Rest) – Heb 4:9-12; 1Ti 4:1-5; 1Co 10:14-22; Num 16:22: 27:15-16 ; 1Co 2:9-16; Rom 8:12-17.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 161: Human history (Rest) - HEB 4:9-12; 1TI 4:1-5; 1CO 10:14-22; NUM 16:22: 27:15-16 ; 1CO 2:9-16; ROM 8:12-17. 

 

HEB 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.

 

While the believer is commanded to persist, or to be diligent to enter God's rest, there are certain attitudes, moods, status of soul, that hinder persistence or become antagonistic toward persistence.

 

 "Let us be diligent" - spouda,zw [spoudazo; aorist active subjunctive] = hasten to do a thing, labor, endeavor, to do something with intense effort, and to make haste.

 

The aorist tense points to that time when you recognize that you are outside of God's rest and you realize that you must do whatever it takes to get your head [soul, spirit, heart, mind] to enter it. Listen to doctrine, go to God in prayer, take some time out to examine yourself.

 

The antagonists against diligence are disillusion, boredom, discouragement, self-pity, loneliness, frustration, bitterness, jealousy.

 

It is not at all unusual nor abnormal to suddenly discover in your life these enemies of positive volition, yet to cater to them is abnormal.

 

The solution to each of them is simple. Accept by means of faith the life that God has decreed for you and trust Him to lead the way that He has already worked out before you were born and have faith that it is a way that is better than anything you have dreamed, thought of, or heard of in the world.

 

The antagonists to God's rest are the result of modern day idols which are built and maintained by demons designed to influence the soul.

 

And idol is anything that the believer looks to for deliverance, for happiness, for fulfillment, or for stability.

 

After the example of the Exodus generation in vs. 1-13:

1CO 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

 

1CO 10:15 I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say.

 

1CO 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?

 

This is not just a reference to the Lord's table but also the reality behind the ritual. The blood of Christ is the finished work and the body of Christ the one and only sacrifice. He who has entered His rest has rested from all his works.

 

Believers often make an idol out of guilt and self-condemnation, which is really making an idol out of self. They feel that self-abasement is the solution to the negative effects of sin, failure, and evil that they find in their souls from the influence of the flesh. These types exchange immoral degeneracy for moral degeneracy. Grace, accomplished by the finished work of Christ and all applicable doctrines to the work of Christ (soteriology) is the only solution that will bring rest to the sinner.

 

HEB 4:10

For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

 

1CO 10:17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread [stop the division and comparisons].

 

1CO 10:18 Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar [Day of Atonement]?

 

1CO 10:19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

 

1CO 10:20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.

 

1CO 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

 

They were going through the ritual but those who were wealthy were separating themselves from the poor and eating and drinking liberally in the church while the poor were going without. Their idol was their wealth and prosperity. If they worshipped Christ they would have not behaved in such a way and would have honored the reality of this one ritual for the Church.

 

1CO 10:22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

 

In reference to this verse think of all that we have seen that God did to Israel in the form of discipline. God's work will be accomplished and all of the human race together cannot stop it.

 

This is not demon possession, this is demon influence. The soul fails to function as God desires so that it prospers in the spiritual realm.

 

Without a prosperous soul the believer begins to reap what he sows and self-induced misery results followed by divine discipline - both of which exist by the love of God.

 

Nothing in itself is unclean. What makes a thing, person, or circumstance unclean is the hope that that thing will fulfill the soul. Demons promote thousands of worldly, base, earthly things, people and circumstances as solutions to man’s problems. It is this lie that turns a person, a thing, or a circumstance into an idol, just like it turned a piece of wood or stone into such an idol in the past.

 

Ascetics think they overcome these lies by denying themselves of everything that God has given for our enjoyment. Licentious deny themselves of nothing thinking that they are impervious to the detrimental effects of the things that will harm them. The positive believer knows that God has delivered him from all these things and knows that if he stays occupied with Christ then he will be able to enjoy all things as God has designed them, while also knowing his limitations, knowing that there are certain things in this world that are a great temptation to sin and evil, and in honor of His Lord, as unto His Lord, he virtuously (not ascetically) denies himself of these things.

 

HEB 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

 

HEB 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.

 

HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living [same word is used to describe the resurrected Lord] and active [energes: working or powerful] and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

 "sword" - ma,caira [machaira] = generic word for a small sword or knife used for killing animals, cutting up flesh, or close order battle.

 

In our context the sword or knife is used for cutting of joints as with a boning knife and this is metaphorically applied to the division of the soul and spirit.

 

The two edges could refer to the Roman short sword, but war is not in the context, and dissection is in view. The tool used is the word of God which is the sharpest tool for the job.

 

This verse is translated wonderfully. All the English words are as descriptive as the Greek words. The division means just that - to divide or partition. Interestingly the same word was used by our Lord:

 

LUK 12:14

But He said to him, "Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbiter [divider] over you?"

 

The Father didn't send Me to divide up material things like a socialist or to make everyone have equal portions of wealth, but I was sent to divide or partition the soul and the spirit.

 

The word of God is the sharpest tool to pierce through all the nonsense that makes hearts hard and partition the soul and spirit and critique the thoughts (inward reasonings) and intensions (considerations) of the heart.

 

Why is it important to partition the soul and the spirit of a man?

 

The soul is neutral in the sense that it can be fully influenced by the word and the HS or the world system and OSN. The spirit of a man can be worldly or godly.

 

Whatever your spirit happens to be, which can be looked upon as a motivator or influencer, it will influence your soul. The word spirit also means a breath or wind and therefore an invisible influence.

 

The question that the word of God asks us is, "What is our breath, motivation, and spirit, in other words, what do we live for?"

 

Distinct from all angelic spirits and the spirit of the world, which has many descriptive names, so sometimes I will refer to them as many spirits, but all are from the same source of opposition to God, is the divine spirit that was graciously given to each believer at salvation. Yet since the believer can be influenced by the other spirit or spirits (influenced - not demon possession) it is necessary for the word of God to divide the soul from the spirit so each of us can see what is influencing us. The soul is neutral and is influenced. This eradicates the lies, "I was born this way... This is just the way I am ... I cannot change ... etc." All of these excuses are lies. Excuses are convenient lies used to give a self-justifying reason for not doing what God has commanded us to do.