It's time for some good news... Heb. 4

     

It has been a week of bad news, coming in waves from far and from near. Bad news is wearisome, isn't it? Doesn't your soul just get tired? Doesn't bad news make you want to throw up the white flag? Hebrews 12 says to "run with endurance..." But sometimes it is hard to crawl out of bed much less run. 

How then are we to endure? By focusing on the good news, by  "fixing our eyes on Jesus..." Hebrews12:2
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Rom. 8:18
 Jesus endured and Jesus was raised. Jesus intercedes and Jesus will make ALL things right again.

“I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.”

The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Hebrews 4, Rest, God's Rest. It doesn't mean inactivity...it means deep soul rest. IT means peace in spite of circumstances, it means an end of attempting to make sense of what doesn't and make right what we cannot. It means trust in God's character and in His work.

v.2 "For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard."

v.6 "Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it (rest) and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience..."

God's rest is offered but not received. Why? Distrust and disobedience. What often leads men to distrust and disobedience? Suffering. 

Men suffer...men reason,
men "store the sand and let the gold go free."

"The sages have a hundred maps to give

That trace their crawling cosmos like a tree,

They rattle reason out through many a sieve

That stores the sand and lets the gold go free:

And all these things are less than dust to me

Because my name is Lazarus and I live."

The Convert-G.K. Chesterton (I've quoted this before and will again!)

Here's the hard truth: though we may reason and reason away ...we will never be able to make sense of suffering. We will never make sense of God through suffering if we do not trust in His healing and restoration of all things. 

And if we never trust
we will never obey
and if we never trust and obey
we will NEVER rest.

“Today, if you hear His voice, 
   do not harden your hearts.”
                                          Heb. 3: 15, 4:7b

  

Consider This...Hebrews 3

My house is silent except for the humming of my space heater. This is a part of my love affair with winter. Winter freezes you! It forces the busy Northeast into some measure of stillness...and the busy bees hate it so! How dare nature intervene in production!
...gotta get the nectar
...gotta work the hive
...gotta make the honey
      Even if we are lazy in our work ethic we may still be frantic in our spirits...restless, seeking, striving. People, God Himself rested! AND He offers us rest.
Why can't we let ourselves stop? Hebrews offers an answer: unbelief.
My daughter shared this thought from Beth Moore- "We may think we believe in God...but do we BELIEVE God? Do we believe what He says...do we believe what He promises? Do we believe what is true about who He is?"
Hebrews 3:1b "...consider Jesus".
Stop your crazy pace and take the time to get to know Him and what He taught about His Father. And as you do consider this as well:  Our opinions on God's wrath can be a barrier to belief and consequently, rest. Verses like: "...I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest." Heb. 3:11, cause us no small measure of doubt.
I offer the following thoughts on what wrath is and how it perfectly fits with the character of a loving God,
a God we can trust,
a God we want to believe.
Wrath is anger producing/inflicting injury.
Anger is a strong emotion that sets us into action. Godly anger is specifically against wrongs, injustices...all that is less than all that He made it to be.
Inflicting means to impose something unwanted.
Injury can be redefined by the word humiliation...i.e. mortification.
Mortification means a cutting away, a death of a part for the life of the whole.
In putting these together, my opinions on God's wrath have shifted profoundly.
God in His complete revulsion over the destruction of His creation was set into motion against the destroyer. His acts of violence are His stand against death, against disease, against injustice for men and women who think His ways an imposition. When men trample each other in pursuit of more nectar, when they work and worry themselves to death, when they sicken themselves with sweets that are bitter to the core...God says "NO!  You will not get away with it because I made you for so much more" To which men cry..."God, you're a tyrant or you don't exist!"
It often seems God is against us;
But here's another definition for you-
Against means both "opposed to" and "in contact with"
Our creator made us to know and be known by Him. He has not deserted us. He does not hate us. He must cut away what is killing us and oppose what is robbing us blind while remaining in contact with us.
Every person has within them a spirit that was made to know God, but in His love He offers each one a choice. For there to be love, there must be a choice. For there to be a choice, there must be opposing options. If there are opposing options, there will be conflict. Where there is conflict, there will be pain.
But for the pain, God gave us Himself.

"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died FOR us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him."
1 Thessalonians 5:3

So, "Consider Jesus..." (v. 1b)
believe
rest.

Hebrews 2:5-18 Call in the Expert!

Hebrews 2:5-18

5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    a son of man that you care for him?
7 You made them a little[a] lower than the angels;
    you crowned them with glory and honor
8     and put everything under their feet.”[b][c]

In putting everything under them,[d] God left nothing that is not subject to them.[e] Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.[f] 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.[g] 12 He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”[h]

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”[i]

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”[j]

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them,[k] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priestin service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Yesterday I came up with a new title for myself. I've decided to call myself a "novice-novice". The inspired name came from bowling with my husband. As I was chucking the ball down the alley I had to question how after all these years could I still be so very bad! The answer was, I'm a novice novice! A beginner at beginning because once a year or so I begin to try to learn to bowl...again!
Many areas of my life fall under this nomenclature...I'm a novice-novice harp player, skier, seamstress etc. Some things, I've advanced to calling myself average. I am an average organizer, cleaner, cook! Unfortunately my averages are in critical areas of life as a wife and mother!
When I'm discouraged about my skills (or lack of), I paint a room or move a piece of furniture...it helps. I seem to do well with picking paint colors and seeing where a sofa should situate! However even in my strength areas, I still get it wrong sometimes and call in an expert.
     The book of Hebrews was written to help novice Christians; Jewish people who were relearning what it meant to have a relationship with God. There were some misunderstandings to correct, bad habits to do away with and a new title to bear: "Christian". The new name, however, did not make them experts at their new life. The writer of Hebrews warned: "How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Unfortunately, their novice areas happened to be absolutely critical in life and in eternity. Even the letter's author seems a novice when he quoted "somebody, somewhere has said..." (v. 6). The Hebrew Christians needed the assistance of an expert if they were going to live out God's mission for humanity on earth; that is in verse 8- "God left NOTHING that is not in subjection to them."
 Have you considered this? God made man to manage the world! Not even the angels were entrusted with such a mission. But men are novice-novices! Do we manage well? Clearly, we do not.
Is there another "religion" that can claim their God solved their problem for them by intervening Himself? Is there another God or prophet or wise man who pioneered salvation for His people?
Jesus, instead of being ashamed of us claimed us as His family! He calls us brothers and sisters, children, His own!
Why is the world a mess? Because He entrusted us with a mission and we failed!
Do you understand that Jesus became fully human to solve our problem?
In the pages of the Bible we read how even though God through Jesus made the world, God through Jesus is rescuing the world.
Jesus said (my own paraphrase)-
"My brothers and sisters, You don't understand who God is! I will show you. You don't get how to live the life He made you for...I will show you! My children, You are so mistaken you cannot help yourselves! I'm taking you to Him."
Jesus,
expert at relationships,
expert at fulfilling His destiny,
expert at mastering temptation
expert at suffering,
expert at dying...
expert at living again.
Does life and death and the idea of God scare you? Are you tired of beginning to try to learn again on your own?
Call on the expert!

Hebrews 2:1-4 Voices

 Hebrews 2 "That is why we ought to pay even closer attention to the voice that has been speaking so that we will never drift away from it. 2 For if the words of instruction and inspiration brought by heaven’s messengers were valid, and if we live in a universe where sin and disobedience receive their just rewards, 3 then how will we escape destruction if we ignore this great salvation? We heard it first from our Lord Jesus, then from those who passed on His teaching. 4 God also testifies to this truth by signs and wonders and miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit lighting on those He chooses."

"Our salvation is not only great, it is true. Of course it could not be great unless it were true." 
"The historical, moral, and spiritual reality of God's great salvation has been displayed." ( Being witnessed and testified to us through God himself, His Son, the gifts of His Spirit and His apostles) "Any lack of conviction on our part—any neglect of this great salvation—is owing not to them but to us. We are the ones who need to change. Our minds are careless or defiled (clinging to false ideas and desires) or too proud to receive the message that we need salvation." John Piper
-and I might add: "...or too wounded to see straight."

Voices 
Entangled in our hearts
Twisted truths, distortions, lies
Where Satan's taken liberties
wreaking havoc in disguise.
He prowls around, about us
Finding "doors" that stand ajar.
Then whispers words of doubt and fear,
Condemning us His voice is clear.
We listen with believing ears,
and search through blinding tears.

More steadfast than the hounding of our evil enemy
is the voice of our soul's lover
pursuing...endlessly.
He beckons us, the Voice of Love 
That's firm and calm and sure
Saying, "Child, trust in me.
I alone will help you see
all that you were made to be
The Truth will set you free."

"The Truth Will Set You Free" JC '15 revision

So many voices vie for our hearing. So many "witnesses" blur our vision. 
The Bible says in James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all and without reproach and it will be given to him."
If the truth is what you're after, ASK! He can handle it.

Hebrews: 1:5-14

We Grow Accustomed to the Dark

"We grow accustomed to the dark
when light is put away...

Then fit our vision to the dark
And meet the road-erect..."
Emily Dickinson

It is winter. Darkness overtakes us slowly. From June through December we lose light ; we lose day- little by little. Some of us acclimate more easily than others.
The Letter to the Hebrews was written a very long time ago...but we get the analogy.
When "Light is put away", our vision shifts without alarm.
The Hebrews were becoming too used to the increasing darkness of a culture that was turning off the Gospel. Fumbling and grabbing at other things... Jewish brothers were beginning to add to what could not be improved,
Christ.
...kind of reminds me of the pop-ups on my computer; flashing the latest campaigns, discoveries and depravities - discourses included with a click.
Hebrews 1:5-14, Let's turn the light back on.
The author makes it clear that tradition or hot philosophies or the trendsetting of the day had no place in a Christ follower's allegiance.
Christ
AND...?
NO!
We will never have more understanding, more health, more joy, more hope, more purpose than is available to us through a reconciled relationship with our God; and we cannot possibly add more to Christ's life and sacrifice for us 
to make that possible.
Jesus, wholly unique in His Deity.
Wholly superior as eternal creator.
Wholly loved and chosen by His Father to be 
THE message bearer, 
THE savior, 
THE King.

Anchored: A Letter to the Hebrews

Hebrews 1:1-4

"1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs."

Much time has passed since God began continually and creatively communicating who He is. The Hebrew prophets heard from him and shared what they learned with the fathers of the Jewish people. But in this period of history, we benefit directly from learning about Him through His Son. The Heavenly Father predetermined that His Son was the chosen One to assume the position of ultimate authority, rightful possessor of all that the Father is and all that he has.For it was through Christ His Son that the world came into being. His Son is the complete reality of the Father. He shines out from invisible perfection, a perfect visual of God. And God, the great author of the human story, 
so placed His trademark on humanity. 
He pressed into man exactly who He is. 
You see Him in Christ. 
Then, Christ marked humanity as his own. 
Oh how desperately we needed to have Him reclaim what we were meant for! How we need Him to take our distorted view of Him and bring God back into focus! How we need Him to take our contorted minds and hearts and restore them to His glory. 
He has! He does!
Jesus was wrung out for us. Ridding God's creation of contamination, after He accomplished all that needed to be done, He claimed His rightful place beside His Father. He took His seat as the extension of God's strength ever reaching, ever drawing His people. He remains the ever present help as men continue to learn and live in what He has secured. 
Superior in the Heavens, superior over all- Jesus the Christ; the Son of God.
By Him
Through Him

For Him

this is now our reality! 

By Him 
Through Him

For Him

this is now our weighty, immovable hook

that sinks into the flesh of Deity

and ties us firmly to our destiny with Him.

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Anchored: A Letter to the Hebrews

If it weren't for blogging, I'd be scratching in my journal and keeping it between me and God. I cannot claim a right to be read but I offer thoughts anyway. Blogging has become a fun platform for theological discussions with my husband. We've been diving into thoughts on Hebrews; our church's new series so, beginning tomorrow, I'll be swimming in Chapter 1.
Please feel free to offer your thoughts and questions in the response section.
Dive in with me!