The Legal Mind Chapter Three

 

In verses one through six, a comparison is made between Moses and Jesus. It is a comparison between the main pillars of Judaism and Christianity, between the old and new covenants. Whereas faithfulness throughout their house is the quality that makes each like the other, the difference is explained in terms of ownership of the house. The heir of God owns the house. Moses, as a servant in that house, as the main pillar and base of Judaism, was set as a testimony of things that would come into play later. In that Moses put forth the will of God, that word was a preparation for the actual will to come, his son. Lastly, in speaking of the house that was built, God is the builder, Moses is the contractor who began the work, and Jesus is the one who finished the work and took possession. The house, of course, is us, you and me. The house consists of the hearts and minds of the people of God.

In verses seven through eleven, the author quotes a passage that the scripture-sharpened mind would have known. The quoted reference comes from Psalm 95:7 – 11. Two things interest me, here. First is that the verse numbers are an exact match and, second is that the words spoken for God, and possibly written by King David, were ascribed to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost. Many may simply view the matter of this quote as the writer being inspired by the Holy Ghost. However, the language is that of God, that is, the one who was tested and tried by the Israelites in the desert, the one who was provoked time and time again until sickened by that generation after proving himself in every situation. It is hard to read this quote and not think that the author is calling God the Holy Ghost. Yet, God is Holy, and God is a spirit.

What exactly was the problem in the “provocation” and what is the author of Hebrews trying to express? The provocation was the incident in Meribah where the children of Israel thirsted. When God saved them from the plagues, they were all “Yeah!” When God brought them out of bondage to Egypt with miraculous signs and wonders, they were all “You betcha!” Despite all of that, despite the manna and the quails, the little discomforts always brought them back to complaining. They were in the desert, they were hot and thirsty, and they were ready to stone Moses. They complained, “have you brought us out here to kill us with thirst?” Just as Pharaoh saw the hand of God but hardened his heart, so the children of Israel saw the hand of God but hardened their hearts. The author is telling us that the initial enthusiasm failed. They went from 'God is with us' to 'where is our God when we need him?'

Was God angry with them because they were thirsty? No. He was ready to provide water. God was grieved with the spirit in them, a spirit that never seemed to stabilize or solidify. Like a squirrel in the middle of the road, they were trying to run in two directions. There was an error at work in their hearts and it was such a big deal that God did not want them to pollute his rest with it. That might have been like putting ink in clean water – the water is no longer clean. These five verses begin with a tricky statement, a statement the psalmist applied to his day and age but, also, a statement that the author of Hebrews applied to his day and age. “Today, if you will hear his voice.”

Let us examine this statement. Today, of course, draws the attention to the present, not to the past where was found the initial enthusiasm but to the tested enthusiasm of our present day, as when the desert tested the Israelite's faith in God. Those of us who begin in faith and grow in faith can, nevertheless, expect to fall on times of testing. We will experience pains and troubles and our woes will be like a dark cloud covering the sun of our joyous strength. What will we do then? Will we whine and complain? Will we forget the sun because of the cloud or will we hold on to the certainty that the sun is more real to us than a temporary cloud? There is definitely a lesson to be learned from the provocation, a faith-building and faith-maintaining lesson we can all take to heart. The error in the hearts of the Israelites was mentioned in conjunction with them not knowing the ways of God. That knowledge is not merely a recognition of what has transpired, the knowledge must be on a personal level. The Israelites knew well what God had already done, they doubted him in their current circumstance.

Let's think about the voice. “Today, if you will hear his voice.” Whose voice is being referenced here? The writer of the Psalm did not directly quote an earlier scripture. What was said was said generally, taking into account common knowledge. So, again, whose voice are we talking about? What are our choices? I see four choices. There is Moses who pleaded for the children of Israel. There is the voice of God (which is not directly quoted) who despaired of that particular generation. There is the voice of the Holy Ghost who is, perhaps, the psalmist's renaming of God (which is not directly quoted.) However, since the author of the book of Hebrews is writing a treatise on Christ and salvation, it stands to reason that the psalmist was referenced for the express purpose of shining a light on both God and the Holy Ghost in the voice of Christ. It is the call of Jesus to the faithful that they not lose the initial enthusiasm. We must not lose sight of our goal – to enter into the rest of God. A former generation was denied access because they lost the faith.

That brings us to the cautionary plea in verse twelve. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from God.” Let's get our definitions straight. It appears the author of Hebrews is giving us the definition of a former generation's downfall. He is explaining what was under the hood, so to speak. We might take a more external view and see some justification in the people calling for water. We can relate. If we were in the desert on the brink of death, we, too, would cry out. Yet, in our day and age, we can not relate to the children of Israel seeing the Red Sea open up, or seeing the pillars of smoke and fire, or hearing the voice of God, or being abundantly supplied with manna and quail. They had no excuse for their complaint. Rather, they should have continued to believe. Instead, they departed from God in their “evil heart of unbelief.”

Next comes timely advice and, here, I lean on the author's wording without the need for much explanation. Hold each other up on a daily basis. Help your brothers and sisters be strong in their faith. Do not let a day pass you by. If you attend only the small matters of daily life, like eating and drinking, therein lies the sin that will harden your hearts against faith. Let every day, while it is today, be a day of exhortation and edification of faith and enthusiasm. Revel in your faith, “For we are made partakers of Christ,” and here I add 'only' “if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” This comes from verses thirteen and fourteen.

We are not the same as the generation that angered God in the wilderness, yet, there is a likeness between them and us that is explained in verses fifteen through seventeen. While it may be said, “Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,” it is obvious that some, when they heard, did provoke God – but not all of them. Some of them continued on to the promised land. The makeup of that generation was a mixed bag, just like ours is today. Some, then, heard and provoked while others heard and held fast. The ones that fell in the wilderness were the sinners who failed to exhort one another in the faith. As it is explained in verses eighteen and nineteen, not all of that generation grieved God, not all of them were denied access into the rest of God – only the ones who did not believe. The present application is that unbelief will bring the same results to us. Likewise, a continuing confidence, built up and maintained daily, will see us to our goal.

The Legal Mind Chapter Two

The author begins chapter two with a warning that connects the nature of man to the nature of the fallen angels. We begin with angels, disobedience, transgressions, and punishments. Verse one starts with a word that connects us back to the first chapter. It begins with the word, 'therefore,' meaning because. In other words, because of all that was bodied forth in chapter one, “we ought to give the more earnest heed.” We should really sit forward and pay attention. It is not some light matter that has been brought up but something intrinsically fundamental to our path through life and, especially, to our outcome.

We have been handed something we need for our own edification. Can we afford to let it slip through our fingers? The full verse states, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” Things slip, things we would normally consider to be rock solid. Things slip and there are always consequences. If the very angels of God are punished for oversights, do you think we will fare any better? One would figure the word spoken by angels to be dedicated and reliable. They speak for God. Right? Yet, we are assured that even the fallen angels were handed something vital to their relationship with God. They let it slip. We know that if God will punish those even closer to him than ourselves, “every transgression and disobedience” will receive a “just recompense of reward.”

If angels did not escape, how shall we? Verse three. That thing we have been handed is neither mean nor common. It is called great. For each of us, personally, it is a thing of the highest order, a vital necessity, like air or water for the body – something we just can not do without. We have been handed our own salvation. We did not have to work for it, it was given. All we have to manage to do is hold on to it and not let it slip through our fingers. A good start for such a labor is understanding. We must understand what it is and why we need it so much. We must understand what losing it means. This small task on our part will lead us to faith. A man who believes in nothing else believes in fire on a cold night. A man who believes in nothing else believes in water in a dry land. A man who believes in nothing else believes in air when over his head in the deep.

What is the history of that vitally important thing we have been handed? “At the first,” it was communicated by the Lord. Jesus told us. Then, those people who first heard the word of salvation confirmed it to others. A chain of communication began which has been uninterrupted to this day. The very same information has come down through the ages to our own ears. It has neither changed nor become less important. It is fire to the cold, water to the parched, and light to those who stumble through the dark. Accepting salvation is like coming up from the depths and breathing in the needful air we did not have below. The history of that wonderful gift we have been given, which we can ill afford to let slip through our fingers, came to us in a straight line from the source. Not only has that message gone forth unimpeded, but it has also received the corroborative support of God in signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Verses five through eight. The author, in speaking about the world to come, clearly states that it has not been placed in the hands of angels. The world to come is a world of saved men and women, it has been put “in subjection,” not of the angels but of men and women. Let us examine the word, subjection. Synonyms for the word include such as domination, control, and mastery. The gist of the argument is that it is a work in progress. We do not presently see the full outcome but we are in control. It is a thing of our making. The sons of men were made “a little lower than the angels” but we were, from the beginning, set up to share the glory and honor that is above that of the angels. Sin is a fallen state and we share that in common with the fallen angels but salvation is not an issue for angels. It is a concern only for mankind. It is, after all, men and women, you and I, the unredeemed who must consider what is at stake. What is it to say that we are unredeemed? It is to say that we are absent, adrift, misplaced, lacking, and astray. We are not properly aligned to receive what is ours.

Verses nine through thirteen. To fallen mankind is offered salvation. Salvation may be seen as a state of proper alignment that will allow us to achieve the goal we were set up for. We do not, at present, see the whole world that is to be placed under us but we see Jesus. Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. That is to say that he was made a man to suffer death for absent mankind. Death was the work. The prize, both for Jesus and for mankind through Jesus, was and is a crown of glory and honor by the grace of God. Jesus already had it. He was with God from the beginning. All things are his and all things are of his making – “by” and “for” – but he was made the captain of our salvation so, for it all to work and for it all to be above-board, it had to be done in a manner beyond reproach. It had to be perfect. Jesus had to be made perfect. That was accomplished through suffering.

Imagine a ravine to be crossed. It is filled with scalding water. We have a rope and we can easily all cross to the chosen side but first, we need a captain, someone to wade through the scalding water to the other side and tie off the rope. Then, the one who suffered is also already there to reach out and pull in the first to safely make it over. The first, then, are deputized to act in the captain's stead and reach out to those who follow and pull them to safety. I used the word deputize but the writer used the word sanctify. In acts of ordination, the ones who ordains and the ones who are ordained are both officially one. The sheriff and the deputy are both the law. As the writer puts it, “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one.” On this wise, the writer then connects the dots through both the old and new covenant. “For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, (Psalm 22:22) in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. (Isaiah 8:18)” This is in reference to certain assertions made by Jesus in his last supper prayer.

Verses fourteen through eighteen. The type of death required to effect salvation is explained here. We must ask ourselves, what kind of salvation was secured? It was a salvation for flesh and blood mankind. Would there have been any value in a spirit climbing up on the cross? How about an angel? A heavenly being, who can neither suffer nor perish, would have achieved nothing by crucifixion. It would have only been an act. Jesus, the son of a spiritual God, had to partake of the nature of flesh and blood in order to truly suffer and truly die. In that manner, alone, could salvation be realized, be real. Christ, as a spiritual being, could have snapped his spiritual fingers and destroyed the devil and death in an instant but what good would that do non-spiritual beings?

For such destruction, we must consider the angle of attack. For all of our physical existence, we have been in bondage to death, and the devil has had power over every aspect of our being. The central reason for this bondage is mankind's “fear” of death. I speak of a matter that stands outside the realm of opinion. Fear is not an opinion, it is not a philosophical predisposition. Fear of death is a matter of our innate nature. Fear is a flesh and blood reality – it is just as much physical as it is spiritual. The eyes will blink, the body will flinch, the heart will race. Salvation for physical mankind will never make sense until one realizes it with his or her full nature. We must understand that when Jesus went to the cross, he faced death with his full nature, being both spiritual and physical. He did not flinch at the approaching death but let it wash over him. He conquered his death both in his mind and in his body. He defeated the innate fear of death and broke the chain of bondage. A flesh and blood man did that as the captain for each and every one of us who finally realizes that it takes death to defeat death.

Jesus could have taken on the nature of angels but he chose a more perfect plan. In all matters that pertain to God and to reconcile mankind with God, the spiritual son of the spiritual God made himself able to suffer and die so that he could be to us both a merciful and faithful high priest. Let us examine the word reconcile. It is not, surprisingly, one of those 'religious terms' with little practical application to reality. It is, in fact, quite the common word as its meaning is this: 'to restore friendly relations' or again, 'to make compatible and coexist in harmony.' Those are things we do every day in our small and common lives. Families, marriages, societies, all of these fail without a deliberate effort toward harmonious coexistence. We fall apart, then we make up. When we do, the marriage is saved, the family is united, and society moves forward. It is true that when we return to the simple core issues, we go above and beyond.

For mankind, the fear of death is both real and physical. When we look for help in our turmoil, invariably, we seek out those who have suffered in ways similar to our own suffering. We look for people who know what we are going through. Our bodies fear death. We avoid it at every turn. Biological fail-safes are hardwired into our physical natures. When I throw my hand suddenly in front of your face, you blink. When you sneeze, your body closes your eyes for protection. When the body is infected with a virus, it produces antibodies for defense. Even our death throes are defensive measures enacted by our biological fear of death. A drowning body spasms and gasps defending itself from death. We drive down the road and a single sneeze can cause us to run into a tree. If I learn to hold the wheel with one hand and hold open one eye while I sneeze, I can help another overcome the same distress. Verse eighteen tells us this about the real nature of the real help that Jesus, as savior, offers mankind: “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to help them that are tempted.”