Angelic Conflict part 140: Human history – Heb 3; 1Pe 1:3-7; 2Pe 1:4; Rom 5:1-5; 1Co 9:24-27; Pro 17:27-28.Title: Angelic Conflict part 140: Human history – Heb 3; 1Pe 1:3-7; 2Pe 1:4; Rom 5:1-5; 1Co 9:24-27; Pro 17:27-28.
The writer quotes Psa 95:8-11
Heb 3:7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says [divine inspiration of OT], "Today if you hear His voice,
The rebellion of the exodus is as pertinent today as it was then. What is most important today is if you will hear His voice through the intake of doctrine.
Heb 3:8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
Hardening of the heart begins when the celebrityship of Christ comes in conflict with some other priority in your soul.
The symptoms of this are a sloppy doctrinal intake and a resultant sloppy spiritual life.
It can begin when you don’t deal with mental attitude sins through divine problem solving, or you get your eyes on people or things, or you get your eyes on the frustrations and disappointments in life. Something begins to cloud your occupation with Christ and something or someone else dethrones Him in your soul.
Signs of beginning reversionism: sloppy doctrinal intake; loss of contentment/peace/rest; frantic search for happiness; anger, depression, desolation.
Happiness and rest or tranquility of soul has been left for God’s people and the pure stuff, which doesn’t depend on circumstances, is only in God through His word and Spirit.
Know that choosing to stray from the word or deny it or doubt it will rob you of this birthright to God’s people.
A rest that depends on circumstances is not pure. When tested it shows that this worldly or pseudo rest is reactionary, dependent, and not self-existing.
So then, God is eternal and immutable and so, therefore, are His virtues.
How do you know if you possess these virtues? There is only one way to know for sure.
dokimazo – to test for purity, which is only used of God testing the believer, is a test for self-existing virtue (fruit of the Spirit).
The religious person who is playing Christianity as a young child plays at pretending to be an adult is shown to completely lack the qualities of pure virtue (pure meaning self-existing and not dependent or reactionary) when tested. They are adokimazo.
God tests us in order to reveal to us something that He sees clearly and easily, whether we have self-existing virtue or some human or worldly substitute.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
1Pe 1:7that the proof [dokimion] of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested [dokimazo] by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Testing by fire shows whether the believer truly is a partner with the divine nature. God’s pure virtue will or will not be found.
2Pe 1:4 For by these [faith, righteousness, grace, peace, knowledge, divine power, life, godliness, glory, excellence] He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
So how do I get that virtue? These can only be obtained through inculcation of the word of God, which alive and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. That is the conclusion or bookend to our passage in Heb 3-4. The word of God is God’s weapon left for the believer on earth and by walking by means of the Spirit, the word of God becomes more than knowledge, but a full knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of the things of God.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The Lord’s kingdom is not of this realm.
Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants [elect angels] would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."
Mat 26:52-54 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? "How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?"
God’s weapon on earth is His word.
1Ti 6:11-12 But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called,
The fight, the invisible war on earth, is fought in the soul with the accumulation of divine virtues, self-existing virtues, that are accumulated by means of the word of God under the guiding revelation ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Never forget that they are supernatural and divine and you will be less likely to accept a human, worldly substitute.
Rest would fall under the fruit “peace”. These are all from God and therefore do not change and are not dependent on anything. They are immutable and eternal as He is. Therefore, they are not in themselves increasing or decreasing, but rather, we are increasing and decreasing in our acceptance and use of them.
Adversity not only tests the presence of divine virtue, but if it is revealed to the believer that he possesses it, it will increase his joyful expectation of future deliverance and prosperity.
Verses 1-2 identify our position in Christ, which should give the believer peace of mind in that he has eternal life and is a child of God forever and these cannot be taken away.
Rom 5:1 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Rom 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
“tribulations” – afflictions; “perseverance” – to abide under [lit.]; patience, endurance and persistence while waiting for the deliverance from God. \
Rom 5:4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
“proven character” – dokimh,[dokime] = the process of testing, proving, or approving.
“hope” – evlpij[elpis] = happy and confident expectation.
Rom 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. |