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Articles 2018-2020
The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews wanted to move on from the elementary instruction about the Christ (Hebrews 6:1); he wanted to not lay again a foundation of:
We all know what evil works are. But dead works are simply ones with no life in them. The pull backward on the Hebrew believers was toward temple worship with its accompanying animal sacrifices. At the time of the writing of this letter, though the Jewish temple system was in full swing, God had broken out from its walls to invade the whole world. The sacrifice of animals was now powerless concerning the sin question because they were but a type and shadow of Heaven’s perfect solution – the holy Lamb of God in His death and resurrection. For the believers to engage in and then expect the blood of animals to have power in their lives was to take part in dead works and to undermine the very message of the cross that Heaven had commissioned them to proclaim. On the other hand, if they participated in temple worship for the purpose of evangelism, if they pointed to the blood sacrifices as types and shadows of Calvary, then God could use them to open many eyes to the truth. To be zealous for the Law for the purpose of revealing Christ – here it seems was God’s strategy for rescuing many Jewish people from the coming wrath (1Corinthians 9:19 - 23).
Again, dead works are not necessarily evil. In fact, they can often seem quite Christian and quite respectable. But their distinguishing feature is that they have no life in them. The problem is that if the life of God is not the driving force behind them, then they can only point to the person involved instead of to the Lord. That person then receives the focus, attention, and glory that belongs only to Him. But when the life of God is present, spiritual illumination takes place (John 1:4). If we engage in certain activities simply because others expect us to, our works will not contribute in the fight against spiritual darkness. How the world (and the Church as well) desperately needs the light emanating from heaven. As believers, we must not only repent for evil works; we must repent for dead ones too. This is elementary teaching about the Christ (Hebrews 6:1).
Biblical faith does not originate in man; it is the gift of God by His grace (Ephesians 2:8). He authors it with the intent of perfecting it in us (Hebrews 12:2). Some in the world speak about Christians as having blind faith. But in reality, it is just the opposite. What they say would make sense if we were manufacturing faith in our own hearts. But since it is the gift of God as people turn to Him, it actually becomes evidence of His very existence (Hebrews 11:1). And far from being an expression of blindness, it is the means for seeing the ultimate reality of our God, His purpose for us, and our necessary responses to His initiatives. Again, the presence of biblical faith in peoples’ hearts is evidence of God’s ongoing work in humanity.
Notice that the writer refers to baptisms, plural. While there is only one baptism in the Christian faith (Ephesians 4:5), it has component parts. As a result, we can speak of it in a plural sense. Christian baptism/immersion takes place when one is plunged into Christ through water and Spirit. Just like Israel was immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1Corinthians 10:2), so that a single corporate man coming out of slavery could as God’s son (Hosea 11:1) take the Promised Land, so also in the New Testament, there is only one Man who can inherit the fullness of God’s promise to His people. That Man is Christ. And spiritual life is found only in Him; He is our living environment. We gain our access to abiding in Him through repentance and then through baptism in water where God in the midst of natural water buries our old self. Not only does the natural water envelope us, but the spiritual water of life, even the Holy Spirit Himself, comes upon us and explodes within us enduing us with power from on high. The Scriptures speak of these events as three steps we are to take as individuals. Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). But it is also helpful to see salvation in a corporate sense. Though millions repent and go into water in the name of Christ at many different times and in many different places, yet from the water, one man is emerging all across the earth. Christ/Israel’s Messiah is slowly coming into view on earth in a corporate body.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
Only one man is going into the fullness of Heaven’s inheritance for us. If we want to participate, we simply must learn to live in humble, submissive, corporate accountability so that the oneness in God is revealed through the miracle of a diverse people revealing one heart and one mind. Here, to some degree, is the apostolic vision that Paul carried.
God did not just stay in heaven and issue instructions on what mankind needed to do. Rather, He gave His Law that men might see their sin and their need for a redeemer. And then in answer to their spiritual poverty, He came down, became one of us, and became the fulfillment of what we needed. And when He began ministering to the people of Israel, He would often personally lay His hands on those around Him. In doing so, He revealed Himself as our God – the God of the personal touch. Think of this. In the Old Testament, when holy food touched what was common, the common was not made holy. On the other hand, if someone had become unclean by coming into contact with what had died and then touched any of those common foods, they defiled them (Haggai 2:12 - 13). Somehow, the transference of defilement was much easier than it was to make something holy. And so, in Jesus’ day, lepers would cry out that they were unclean. And if others came into contact with them, they would be defiled. But Jesus would walk right up to them, put His hands upon them, and destroy the power of the defiling disease. With the coming of Christ, everything had changed.
The New Covenant is not simply about a list of commandments to obey. It is about the presence of the One who in Himself is far greater than the power of sin defiling the human race. And He has poured out Himself into our hearts that we may represent Him, the God of the personal touch. Not only represent Him, but also impart Him into what has been defiled. And so, in the Scriptures, we read of believers laying hands on others to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be healed, to be blessed, and to be recognized as leaders among God’s people. Such practice was not some side issue to be done every once in a great while. Rather, it was central to the covenant. And of course, it gives us elementary insight concerning our Lord.
The gospel we preach would not be complete if we did not mention that God intends to save our physical bodies as well as our souls. Paul asks how will he be freed from his body of death (Romans 7:24). To him, his body was dead (Romans 8:10). Though it contained life, in its own essence, it still needed to be made alive. And so, he was eagerly awaiting its redemption (Romans 8:23).
When Christ returns, the salvation that we have experienced in our inner man will explode into our physical body and we will know the fullness of Heaven’s saving power. In fact, God’s resurrection power has already invaded human history. When Lazarus died, his sisters were grieved because they were convinced that their brother would not have died if Jesus had simply come to them sooner. And so, our Lord promised them that Lazarus would indeed rise. But their thought was that even though anything was possible when He was around, Jesus was referring only to the physical resurrection on the last day. “So, I guess we will just not get to see our brother anymore in our lifetimes.” But His response was unusual to say the least. To their amazement, He said, “I am the resurrection” (John 11:21 - 25). Suddenly, the definition of resurrection was expanded in a way that startled everyone. For the first time in history, a man stood up and stated that it was embodied in His own person. In having Him, His people would experience the power of the last day long before that day arrived. That is why Jesus could say to Martha and Mary, “everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:26).
Believers do not die; when our physical body finally fails, we will simply step into the direct presence of God – and experience a massive increase of life. So, for us in the present, the resurrection of the last day has already begun in our hearts. We are not simply waiting for the future to arrive; to some degree, we are bearing in ourselves the presence of the future to our generation. Here is one reason why the world hates genuine Christianity. The future they envision for themselves does not line up with what is inexorably and inescapably emerging from heaven. Even the physical creation longs and groans for the final day that it might be set free from its bondage and brokenness (Romans 8:20 - 22). But apart from repentance and coming into harmony with the One who created it all, men will continue to fail in their attempts to ultimately heal the world’s broken ecosystems.
Obviously, we should seek to be good stewards of the environment. But the root of what is wrong in the creation will only be rectified by radical change in the human heart. In fact, the brokenness of creation is but the reflection (one could say it is a living parable) of the broken and fallen condition of the human heart that is separated from its Creator and Redeemer. When people repent for their sins and turn to the living God, one could say that wholeness is coming to the creation one heart at a time.
And here is where history culminates – the confrontation of God with the inner condition of the human heart. The final judgment awaits everyone. Even believers will have to stand before the Lord and give an account of what we have done while in our physical bodies. We will be rewarded for having done good and we will suffer loss for having failed to live according to His will (2Corinthians 5:10, 1Corinthians 3:11 - 15). In the light of this truth, Paul goes on to say that it is from the place of knowing the fear of the Lord that he persuades others in the gospel (2Corinthians 5:11). But the good news for all believers is that when we sin, genuine repentance releases His mercy and power to cleanse us from our sin so that we can face the future clothed with His righteousness. So, in this life, we welcome God’s judgments. When He passes judgment on a certain action we have taken, or a certain attitude of heart accompanied by inappropriate speech, His confrontation with us comes from His heart of love and His express purpose of conforming us to His likeness. That is why His judgments are to be more desired than much fine gold and are in fact, sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:9 - 10).
Apart from His loving confrontation, we would be like a field full of wild growth. In the world, anything goes; so, everything grows. But God is more than a keeper of fields full of weeds, thorns, and thistles whose end is for burning (Hebrews 6:8). He is a good farmer bringing forth the fruit of His own labors in the hearts of men. He knows how to plow and expose what is hidden. He sows precious seed with the fullgrown plant inherent in it. And He causes His face to shine upon us like the sun and then sends the rain of His Spirit to water the budding fruit in our lives. And in the ages to come, all will marvel at His success at bringing forth a great harvest considering the kind of ground He had to work with.
But I would be remiss if I did not say again – there will be believers who will suffer loss on the final day. And it won’t be because of their sin but because of their refusal to humble themselves and to repent for their sin. Let us be quick to humble ourselves. Let us be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19). Amen.
Donald Rumble – October 2020
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