Ephesians; 1:4 – Election of church age believer, part 29

Ephesians; 1:4 – Election of church age believer, part 29

Context of Heb 4:14-15:

Because the Son of God became flesh and blood in order to propitiate the Father for our sins:

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

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.

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.

Since Jesus is greater over His house than Moses, don’t do to Him what the Exodus did to Moses.

We must not become apostate in disobedience as they did. “Today” emphasizes a sense of urgency; the present moment – Do it now!

Heb 3:7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says [Psa 95:7-11],

"Today if you hear His voice,

So, to us, “Therefore, since I have shown you that Jesus is Messiah and that He is greater than all things of the world and the flesh, do not return to those things from which you have been delivered, or, just like the Exodus, you will not experience the blessings of mature faith. The Promised Land is when you have rest on all sides, despite the fact that you’re surrounded by those who hate you and wish your demise.

“Today” – don’t put it off. Don’t lie to yourself thinking it’s not the opportune time. You have been ready since salvation – go into the Land and fight.

Heb 3:8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

Heb 3:9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years.

The Greek reveals an even deeper understanding of what they did.

“tried Me” – peirazo = to test to see what good or evil there is.

“testing Me” – dokimazo = to test for approval.

They tested Him in order to approve of Him if He passed!

In every situation we face, God has had a plan for it for billions of years. Yet, all of us have violated this command. We have failed to trust in God’s providence and waited in doubt until He did something, and only then did we approve of Him. Israel did this and saw the deliverance of the Lord in the ten plagues in Egypt, at the Red Sea, at the bitter waters, with manna falling every day, water from a rock, and was this not enough to conclude that He is worthy to be trusted?

At some point, one has to conclude that God will do all His will and that standing against His will in any way is going to make for loss of blessing.

The Exodus was camped at Kadesh-Barnea after one year, and there they were denied entrance into the Land, but God writes in Psa 95 that they rebelled against Him for forty-years, and this is significant since at the time of writing it is almost forty-years since the crucifixion. It will not be long before Jerusalem is sacked and the Temple is destroyed.

Heb 3:10 "Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart; And they did not know My ways';

They went astray because they did not know Him. The warning is clear.

Heb 3:11 As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"

This is a common Hebraic way of making an oath. God is saying, “I’m not Yavah if they go in.”

“rest” – a cessation of activity. “Your heavenly Father knows you need these things.” (Mat 6:32)

And in fact, even the wilderness generation that did go in, never had much rest. Rest here means a cessation of activity. It would not mean that they would do nothing, but that they would not have the peace in their hearts that would come from trusting Yavah to the point of making the following of His law the all-important thing in life. That would mean to trust Him to protect them, to provide for them, and to spread His word to all the nations. All the while, keeping His law as their top priority, even though every one of them were law breakers. If they all were like David or Samuel then they would have lived in peace.

This rest is the difference between Mary and Martha. Only one thing is necessary and we take care of all the other things as time and opportunity allows, but we do not get worried and bothered about them. That’s the Promised Land, even though it was surrounded by enemies.

They failed to enter the Promised Land Rest: consecration in subjection of one’s mind, will, and heart to God’s power and way; enabling one to conquer sin.

They were to conquer the inhabitants of the land, which is a picture of us conquering the sin which can so easily entangle us.

Deu 12:8 You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;

Deu 12:9 for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

Deu 12:10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

Jos 23:1 Now it came about after many days, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies on every side, and Joshua was old, advanced in years

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

Jos 23:12 For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,

Jos 23:13 know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

And so, we are told to beware, Heb 3:12. A redeemed people may lose blessings that could be enjoyed if they had continuous faith.

Heb 3:12 Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.

Some commentators say that if the readers of this letter did return to Judaism that they were never believers. In that case “brethren” would mean the Jewish race. Some say that they were believers, but if they had returned, they will die along with the rest when the Romans come. I personally am of the second one. He calls them “brethren” because they are believers, which he has made clear a number of times earlier.