Continuing in chapter four, the author pleads with his readers to consider the matter with all seriousness and to realize what is at stake. The word 'fear' should be interpreted as a healthy respect for how the matter always works out. It is somewhat like clockwork in that the works must be wound daily, the hands properly aligned to the true time, and the alarm set for the right hour. What good will it achieve otherwise? The alternative is failure. I get all of that from verse one. In verse two, we are reminded that the former generation received the same message that we have received. Those who heard that message and fell in the wilderness were like the 'poster child' of all people who have no faith. The message, for it to bear fruit, must be mixed with individual faith.
In verse three, we are shown that even though everything was set from the beginning, even though God was grieved with that former generation, he still promised, despite his anger, that whoever believed would enter into the rest of God. What that rest is may be found in verse four. It is the seventh day upon which God rested from all his labors. The work of mankind will likewise find its seventh day. The joy of completion will be shared between the creator and the created. Mankind will realize a union that can not be easily described. We have the expression, “you had to be there.” Now, in this regard, a more apt expression is, “you will just have to be there.”
The connection is made, in verse five, between the rest of God that occurred way back in the creation and the rest of mankind far ahead in the resolution of our spiritual progress. The word 'if' is used in that regard, clearly indicating that the issue of choice rests upon the shoulder of each individual. In other words, the alarm has been set to the right hour but what matters now is whether or not we daily wind the gears and maintain the proper alignment. There are many people who will say, give me the benefit, just don't tell me what to do.
I write this in the year 2020, the year of the pandemic. As I write this study, there are many people of the same spirit. Their sense of individuality and independence separates them from the path of proper choices. They will not keep the works wound up because their simple bravado interprets wearing a mask as being controlled by others. Having worked for both the Salvation Army and a Gospel Mission, I can tell you that some people would rather sleep on the streets than be told what to do. They often railed on me when they were told the benefit comes at a price – personal responsibility. To them, compliance of any sort seemed foreign. They wanted the food offered but not the message. They wanted the bed offered but not the shower.
The message of God comes to the pandemic generation through David the psalmist. Seeing that the former generation failed to choose faith and enter God's rest, and seeing that it still remains that some must enter, that offer to make the choice of faith is extended to you and me. A path is opened to whosoever will choose faith over swaggering independence, to whosoever will choose compliance over hardheartedness. A path is open to you only 'if' you are open to that path. Two outcomes await each of us and both are the direct result of the choice we make. Will we continue to separate ourselves and fall in the wilderness or will we have a little faith in how things always work out?
Psalm 95:7 – 11 is central to this argument as, indeed, it stretches back from Hebrews 4:7 to Hebrews 3:7. The point is made in verses seven and eight that a day has been set apart or 'limited.' That day is a future day and has yet to be reached. For Jesus has given no one rest, if he had, says the author, he would not have spoken of a day yet to come. Clearly stated in verse nine is the claim that there remains a day of rest to be reached by the people of God. It is also clear, by the wording, that not all people are eligible for that award as not all people are even interested in such a thing. There is a 'people of God,' a people that strive for that higher mark, and there is a 'people of the world,' a people that disdains anything higher than the sty they wallow in. The latter is a people unable and unwilling to release their own works. It is as if they worship their achievements. Verse ten puts forth that the people who enter the rest of God must be able and willing to bring their works to an end, to set themselves apart from them and release them as did God his own works.
In verse eleven, we find the exhortation to move in the direction of that promised rest, to strive for it, to make our works the labors of faith. Pointing back to the example of those who fell in the wilderness because of their unbelief, the author suggests that there can only be a winner and a loser in this equation. This equation is spelled out in verse twelve. The word of God is the common denominator for it will both prove who is the winner and who is the loser. It will perform both actions by the same word for God is so much a part of every creature that all of us are perfectly known by him. We are, as the author states in verse thirteen, naked and clearly accessible to his discerning vision. Verse twelve shows just how keen and powerful the word of God is. It says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful,, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
I think it behooves those of us who labor for the promised rest to stop and take a hard look at just what this verse implies. The take-away from this verse is clearly seen in the words that were used. They are as follows.
Quick: meaning alive, functional, adaptive. The word of God is not a subordinate function set apart from God but an actual part of God. God is the God of life, the God of the living. There is a functional, adaptive connection between the God of the living, his word, and the living. Every thought and deed, on your part, instantly and completely register with God.
Powerful: meaning authoritative, capable, competent, efficacious. The living word connects the living God to the living in a powerful way. Anything that reaches a level of power does so by rising above all lesser levels. Authority is not a given, rather, it must be earned through labor, and competency must be earned through practice. When we talk about power, we certainly do not mean some paltry attribute off in the wings. We speak, rather, of the leading man in the drama, the hero around which so many fans and lovers gather, the one who judges and rules and supports and carries forward. When we speak of power, we speak not of the planets but of the sun around which the planets find their orbit.
Sharp: meaning acute, precise, absolute. The word of God, being as much a part of our personal realities as of God, himself, is no hit-and-miss quality. It is constant, unswerving, the core reality. It is the fundamental nature. There is no sliding scale in the word of God but, rather, it has a constant accuracy rating. All determinations by the word of God are acute, precise, and absolute.
Piercing: meaning probing, perceptive, observant. The word of God is so much a part of our reality that it is never just on the outside of us. It runs between every atom of our being. It can gauge our common expression as well as see us from the inside out. Like our own dual nature, the word of God is right or wrong, light or dark, up or down. The word of God reveals our true nature because it resonates with everything we are, everything we do, say, and think. Everything we are has a dual nature, and these parts may be separated and compared. Everything we say has a dual nature, and that may be separated and compared. Everything we think has a dual nature, and that may be separated and compared.
Dividing Asunder: meaning to separate and compare. Even our common understanding tells us that reality comes at us in sets and pairs. We know up as opposed to down and right as compared to wrong. We know left and right, in and out, day and night. Life is a Yin and Yang. Our personal selves, our souls, are a Yin and Yang. Our bodies are a Yin and Yang. Everything may be separated, laid out, and studied. From the outermost to our very cores, we find the dual nature that is prevalent in the reality we know. The right and left hemispheres of our brains may be divided asunder. Similarly, there are the left and right eye, the left and right ear, the left and right arm, hand, leg, foot, lung, kidney, etc. Our total being is not one of singularity but duality. The word of God is part and parcel of that duality, knowing each and every aspect from all conceivable points of view.
Soul and Spirit / Joints and Marrow: meaning examples of things that can be divided and compared. These simple examples are telling. The joints in our bodies, themselves being hidden from our external presence, also have a hidden truth inside them. The joints and bones in our skeletons surround, encase, and house a function that supports and justifies their very existence. Normally, however, most of us, if we think of bones at all, think of the more common external aspect. Yet, it is noteworthy that, when broken open, there is more to them than meets the eye. Likewise, and interestingly so, most view the human soul as a singularity. When they stop to think about it, they divided the soul from the body. That is in error as the soul is a combination of flesh and spirit. According to our creation story, the body of flesh was augmented with spirit, at once not only bringing the old body up to the status of “living soul” but also separating man from the animals. These simple examples which are offered by the author of the book of Hebrews, bring us smoothly to the augmentation that made us who we are.
Thoughts and Intents: meaning the point to which the examples are meant to draw our attention. The expression used by the author, and the quality that is intimately and powerfully known by God, who is a spirit, is “the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Obviously, the organ that pumps our blood has no thoughts and intents as those are functions of the brain. The brain, itself, is but an organ that processes mental aspects and qualities. The mind, then, is the augmentation that makes mortal flesh a living soul. The mind, like God, is spirit – the secret, hidden, unseen part of our constitution through which we are readily known by God.
Yes, we are all “naked and opened” to the eyes of God. This is a given state due to man's spiritual quality. It is by no means limited to one people or type of people. Even the most ardent non-believers are spiritually naked before God. Christians, Jews, Muslims, chanting monks, atheists, capitalists, and communists – we are all in the same sack. The very fact that we have a mind opens us to the scrutiny of God. As the author says in verse thirteen, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight.”
The author's recommendation, in verses fourteen through sixteen, needs no help to explain its content. The words are clear and precise for any and all of us to understand. “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” He gets it. Everything you feel, he feels. Everything you know, he knows. He is aware of everything you are going through. Your inner strength stands waiting for you to simply take his hand.
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