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The Apostolic and Prophetic Foundation
The book of Hebrews was written to address the problem of Jewish believers looking back to the Old Covenant as a basis for right standing before God. Many were going back under the Law. The writer confronts this by articulating the superiority of Christ over the Law and the prophets.
Whereas in the past, God spoke in a partial manner in many ways through the prophets, in these last days He has spoken in full measure to us in His Son (Hebrews 1:1). Jesus is the fullest expression of the heart and purpose of God. He is the exact representation of the Father’s nature. He holds all creation together by His word and He presently rules while seated at the Father’s right hand (1:2 - 3). All angels are inferior to Him (1:4 - 2:18). Moses, a hero in Israel’s history, was but a servant; Christ is God’s Son (3:1 - 6).
There simply is no comparison between that which is created and the One who was begotten from the Father. Jesus is the One we have been baptized into; we find our life in Him. Therefore, let us not go astray in our hearts as the Israelites did. They saw His miracles but failed to learn His ways. They hardened their hearts and, as a result, that generation failed to enter the promised land. Today we can make the same mistake. We can hear His word and yet not have it profit us if it is not united with faith in us. Thus, we will fail both to cease from our own labors and to enter our promised land (i.e., God’s rest; 3:7 - 4:6).
Under the Old Covenant the Sabbath day was consecrated unto the Lord. In the New Covenant He also sanctifies a special day,
...saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
(Heb. 4:7)
The day for wholly trusting in God - to do what He has promised while we cease from our efforts (at maturity, at building His house, at being successful, etc.) - is today. We must believe in the Lord’s ability to do in the earth what He has vowed. There will be a generation who will one day see the consummation of all He has pledged.
And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
(Isa. 25:9 NASB)
While it is true that Israel did finally enter the land of Canaan, by and large, they never entered their promised land. Their history is one of constantly failing to learn God’s ways and enter His rest. Thus, as it says,
For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Therefore, we are called to diligently enter such a lifestyle. It does not entail rest from all work. Rather, it involves abiding in Him in the work He has given us to do.
Sometimes we just do not clearly recognize the difference between what has originated in His heart versus what has come from ours. But the Lord is committed to judging our thoughts and intentions, as well as differentiating for us between soul and spirit. He knows us intimately and understands how we are tempted in these areas. So let us draw near to Him, obtain mercy and find grace to help us (4:11 - 16).
Notice, we receive mercy; it is God’s response to our failures. However, grace must be found in a time of need. The proud who point to all they do for God will not see their need for it. Until they humble themselves, they will not find it. On the other hand, the humble will see their inability to impress God with their labors and will cry out in their need for His ability to be operative in them. Thus, He will oppose the proud and give grace to the humble. This is His strategy.
The Old Testament priesthood was established by God to communicate His recognition of man’s great need. He instituted the Law to establish a way for His people to come near through animal sacrifices and priestly intercession. As helpful as it was, it was but a “type” or “shadow” of Christ. However, His present priestly ministry is of a totally different order than that of the Old Covenant. It finds its roots not in Abraham or Moses but in Melchizedek (again, another picture of Christ). It is based on the power of an indestructible life and the eternal promise of God (5:1 - 6).
Clearly, as we view the Old Testament Scriptures we see that the burden on God’s heart was the unveiling of His Son. The New Testament Hebrew believers had lost sight of the whole thrust of the Law and the Prophets.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
These believers did not have the New Testament Scriptures; their Bible consisted of the Old Testament writings. If they were going to walk successfully with God, they would have to see past the letter of what was written and find the New Covenant. God had “hidden His Son” beneath the surface of the Law. If when they gazed at it, they only saw the commandments, they would miss God’s heart. They needed to gain insight into the oracles or burdens borne by the prophets of old. Thus, the writer of Hebrews was anointed by God to articulate to them the superiority of Christ over all religion (even one authored by God).
One problem facing the Hebrew believers was that Jesus just did not seem to fit the order of religion that had been established under Moses. If He was God’s high priest, why was He not from the tribe of Levi?
For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
God’s desire was that the reality of Heaven be properly expressed on the earth. Moses had to be accurate in the construction process so that what he built did not misrepresent God’s design. Because he obeyed, an accurate “type” or “shadow” of heavenly reality was revealed on the earth. The problem with these believers was that they were going back to “shadow” instead of seeing the reality that had cast it!
It has been said that as we seek to co-labor with God in the construction of His house, we must “build according to the pattern.” Only then will we build accurately. However, if we do, the result will be as it was with Moses. We will produce only a “shadow” of the reality God is establishing in our day. In many ways it will look like “New Testament Christianity” on the surface. But it will lack the authenticity of being corporately born of God’s life.
Today is not the day for bringing forth that which testifies of heavenly reality. We must have a heart for God to establish among us the heavenly reality itself! God finished with types and shadows under the Old Covenant. We are not called to find the right pattern and then implement it. We must respond to Him who is the head of the Church and submit to His initiatives as He implements His will among us.[18] We must become in practice a people seated in the heavens who express individually and corporately the mind and heart of Christ on the earth.
It is certainly true that Jesus fulfills “the shadow” found in the Old Testament tabernacle with its attending laws and priesthood. However, if Jesus alone is the total fulfillment then the following verse would make no sense.
Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these (i.e., animal sacrifices), but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
The blood of animals brought a ceremonial purity to the copies of the heavenly things. However, the heavenly things themselves were purified by a better sacrifice. What are the heavenly things that needed cleansing? It is clear that Jesus did not need to be purified by the shedding of blood; we did. We are that people of the heavenly realms even though we are yet living on the earth. God has…
...raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
(Eph. 2:6)
The heavenlies are not somewhere in outer space; they are but a breath away. As a matter of fact, God’s breath (His Spirit) has birthed us into that realm. It is the domain of the Lord and His angels.
We are to have insight into that dimension and walk in this life, reflecting the values and purpose of the One who reigns as absolute King there. The Church is called to reveal corporately God’s will on the earth in the same way that the human body reveals the thoughts of the human mind. We have been joined to Christ; He is our head. May God help us to become in corporate practice what the Scriptures declare is true of us positionally.
Since we are not to simply find a pattern in the Scriptures and implement it, how are we to build? Are there insights to be found in how Moses constructed God’s house in his day? We will look at this in the next chapter.
Lord, help us to be a people who live in the heavenly realms. Forgive us for being visitors rather than dwellers in the holy of holies. Establish the reality of Heaven in our midst that we may become a corporate expression, not of religion, but of Your very heart. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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