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Why is this HAPPENING? vs. WHY is this happening?
Recently I was having a conversation with a friend about some of the challenges he was facing. Whether it’s business, health, financial, or anything else we hold dear, when we face challenges it is easy to ask the question – why is this HAPPENING?! (emphasis on happening, in the way you would hear a 4 year old lament when their juice box spills).
As I pondered this more, I was reminded that a proper response would be to ask God – WHY is this happening? (emphasis on why)
I crave peace and comfort. My temporal self tells me that the definition of peace is the absence of conflict. When adverse circumstances come into my life, my initial reaction is to try and get rid of them as quickly as possible. The Bible, however, reminds us that trials and tribulations are brought into our lives for our good and for God’s glory.
read moreHOLD FAST YOUR CONFESSION: A SUMMARY OF HEBREWS’ WARNINGS
A key theme, if not THE key theme, in the letter to the Hebrews is that of holding fast, perseverance, endurance-terms that indicate continuing a sometimes difficult and long course for a purpose and with an end, which may not necessarily be in view at present.
The warnings are meant to help readers in the first century all the way through today and beyond to hold on to their faith in the work of Christ that one day they might be counted in those who have “loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8) A brief summary of the warnings and the responses to them follows.
Pay closer attention to what God has revealed in His Son Jesus and do not drift from it (Hebrews 2:1-3a). The Greek for “pay attention” in a naval context means to “hold one’s course toward a place”. The context is the spoken Word but would also include the written Word. Stay close to the Bible and its proclamation and obey it. There are no shortcuts.
read moreFifth Warning from Hebrews: See To It…That You Do Not Turn Away
One final appeal is issued to the Hebrews in this fifth warning encapsulated in 12:25-29 with echoes back to vv.15-17. There are admonitions that no one should come short of grace, that bitterness not be allowed to take root and bear the fruit of group defilement, and that there be no one like Esau who sold his birthright as the eldest son for a meal.
The mention of bitterness refers to Deuteronomy 29:18ff. in which God warns the Israelites against abandoning the covenant He had made with them and adopting idolatry which results in disastrous consequences. Esau gave way to temporary physical desires and in the process sacrificed his inheritance which included participation in the messianic promises (v17).
Esau’s situation is particularly poignant as an illustration that there are certain “trapdoors” through which we traverse with irreversible consequences, for when he sought to regain his birthright, he was refused.
read moreFourth Warning from Hebrews: A Terrifying Thing…
The author further ratchets up the severity of the language surrounding this fourth warning in the series. The text is found in Hebrews 10:26-31. As is often used in the New Testament, there is an argument from the lesser to the greater to emphasize the severity of the warning. Under the Mosaic Law, multiple eyewitness testimony was required to convict of a capital crime and a resulting merciless sentence which involved the physical and the temporal (v.28). But for the sin referenced in this passage, the author poses more severe consequences, expanding to the spiritual and eternal.
There is a terrifying expectation of judgement and a consuming fire (v.27), with the summary that it is terrifying to fall into the hands of the living God (v. 31). The word “terrifying” is the same used in 12:21 by Moses when present on Mt. Sinai in the presence of God, such that he trembled or “quaked” with fear. We who have the revelations of the finished work of Christ and the Word of God have greater responsibility as well as accountability.
Verse 26 is another of the verses that makes us squirm and seek for alternatives to the plain reading. Let us again be reminded that loss of salvation for the elect (possessors) is impossible but those who only profess faith in Christ, i.e. non-elect, are in peril. Also, while certainty of one’s status (professor vs possessor) is impossible before death, assurance of salvation is not only possible but encouraged.
read morePromises
We all lean on promises. They fuel our hope. Without the promises we embrace, we would be lost, void of hope and aimlessly wandering.
Consider the promise of a raise or promotion at work or the promise of a potential marriage. These give encouragement, a path to a vision, a provider of hope.
Without promises, we would have no encouragement or anchor to give assurance of our path.
Consider this promise of God: “Never will I desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Who among us would consider this not a fundamental but critical promise in our lives?
Of course, the legitimacy of the promise is dependent on the integrity of the promise maker. We lose hope if the promise we are depending does not come to fruition. And consequently, lose trust in the one making the promise.
read moreWho is the Watchman?
“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (Romans 1:21-23).
“A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:18-21).
Even after seeing all these things and the results of their hands, they did not repent! Nor did they did not honor God in their foolishness. We do not know why. Could it be that they did not understand the warning and hope that is offered by Jesus Christ in the gospel?
read moreThird Warning from Hebrews: Do Not Fall Away
Of the five warnings in the book of Hebrews, warning #3, found in chapters 5:11-6:8, is one of the most controversial and severe passages in the entire Bible.
It is important to remember that eternal security for the possessor *of salvation is a given and therefore loss of salvation is not the issue in this warning. The corollary is also essential for correct understanding: certainty of salvation is not compatible with faith and therefore not in play this side of the grave.
However, chapter 6 teaches that legitimate assurance is important, encouraged by God, and hinges on a heart for obedience.
The Hebrews referenced in this letter are professors of salvation but are criticized for their immaturity. They have continued holding onto the old and comfortable Judaistic ways as well as not maturing in their new faith in Christ.
read moreWeapons of Warfare Part 2
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3).
In Part 1 we traced the importance of warfare in the economy of God, looking at being a warrior through the lens of the Old Testament saints, angels, and Jesus Christ.
This leads to an obvious question for Christians in the New Testament age: Does this apply to us? And if so, what does being a warrior look like?
There are two fundamental passages in the New Testament on being a soldier: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and Ephesians 6:10-17. Both passages teach that the New Testament Christian is to be a soldier and fight wars; however the realm of our warfare is not physical but spiritual.
read moreWeapons of Warfare Part 1
“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13).
The Apostle Paul commands us to act like men. What does it look like to obey this command? Do men need to be commanded to act like men? Apparently we do. Because I think on some level all of us understand that there are men, and then there are men.
A study of all the things that it means to be a godly man is worthy of your time. In this article I would like to consider one important aspect of being a godly man: that men fight wars. And if you are going to fight wars successfully, you have to be strong and courageous. Which is to say, being a godly man means being a valiant warrior.
I am not suggesting that this is the totality of what it means to be a man. Being a man involves more than that. But I want to make the argument that fighting wars is one fundamental way that men are to act like men.
read moreSecond Warning from Hebrews: The Believer’s Active Rest
Warning #2 in Hebrews encompasses 3:7-4:13 and is multi-faceted. The passage examines three perspectives of “rest”:
The rest of God on the seventh day after the six days of Creation
The rest promised to the nation of Israel after their Exodus from Egyptian captivity
The Sabbath rest for the believer.
The first “rest” was not because God was tired or needed a break but merely denoted a cessation from His creative activity (4:3).
The second rest was found in the land of Canaan, a secure, fertile, and productive land. Except for two, Joshua and Caleb, this promise was not enjoyed by the Israelites who left captivity in Egypt and were older than age 20. This exclusion was due to unbelief, leading to disobedience: the nation’s refusal to engage the inhabitants of Canaan despite the urging and confidence of Joshua and Caleb and, more significantly, the promise of God that the land was theirs to take.
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