Comments on Hebrews
This article is on the Book of Hebrews.
It contains some historical information about the book and its acceptance.
It also quotes every verse in that book as well as sometimes other scriptures and commentary.
This article also includes comments on the Book of Hebrews given by the late Pastor General of the old Radio/Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong in a series of radio broadcasts. Here are links to related sermons: Hebrews 1-2 & Angels: An Introduction, Hebrews 3-4: Belief & the Sabbath, and Hebrews 5-7: Teach & Melchizedek the High Priest.
The Book of Hebrews looks to have been written 64-68 A.D. It has traditionally been believed that the Apostle Paul wrote or dictated it.
A lot of modern scholars dimiss that, because of certain grammatical differences in the Book of Hebrews from Paul's other writings in his epistles.
It could be that the Book of Hebrews was initially written in the Hebrew language and then translated into Greek.
The 4th century historian, Eusebius, reported the following claim from Clement of Alexandria of the 3rd century:
2. He says that the Epistle to the Hebrews is the work of Paul, and that it was written to the Hebrews in the Hebrew language; but that Luke translated it carefully and published it for the Greeks, and hence the same style of expression is found in this epistle and in the Acts.
3. But he says that the words, Paul the Apostle, were probably not prefixed, because, in sending it to the Hebrews, who were prejudiced and suspicious of him, he wisely did not wish to repel them at the very beginning by giving his name.
4. Farther on he says: “But now, as the blessed presbyter said, since the Lord being the apostle of the Almighty, was sent to the Hebrews, Paul, as sent to the Gentiles, on account of his modesty did not subscribe himself an apostle of the Hebrews, through respect for the Lord, and because being a herald and apostle of the Gentiles he wrote to the Hebrews out of his superabundance.” (Eusebius. Book 6, Chapter XIV)
If this is accurate, it explains why Hebrews is of a different style than other writings from the Apostle Paul.
We have references from the Book of Hebrews in Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians. Hence, that helps demonstrate that the true Church of God accepted Hebrews as canonical from the beginning.
Yet, the Greco-Roman Catholics, as well as later Martin Luther, did not want to accept it (more on that is in our free online book Who Gave the World the Bible? The Canon: Why do we have the books we now do in the Bible? Is the Bible complete?).
Early Greek Orthodox leaders had questioned it. Origen of Alexandria called it a contested writing (in his Homologoumena, as cited in Reid, Canon of the New Testament, The Catholic Encyclopedia). However, Origen also stated it was long believed to have been written by the Apostle Paul:
So if any church regards this epistle as Paul's, it should be commended for so doing, for the primitive Church had every justification for handing it down as his. Who wrote the epistle is known to God alone: (Eusebius. History of the Church, Book 6, Chapter XXV, verses 13-14)
So, while the "primitive church accepted it, within Greco-Roman Catholicism its canonical status was often doubted.
For example, Cyprian of Carthage’s “first Latin Bible”of the 3rd century fails to include Hebrews:
St. Cyprian, whose Scriptural Canon certainly reflects the contents of the first Latin Bible, received all the books of the New Testament except Hebrews, II Peter, James, and Jude. ... Cyprian's testimony to the non-canonicity of Hebrews and James is confirmed by Commodian, another African writer of the period. A very important witness is the document known as Mommsen's Canon, a manuscript of the tenth century, but whose original has been ascertained to date from West Africa about the year 360. It is a formal catalogue of the sacred books, unmutilated in the New Testament portion, and proves that at its time the books universally acknowledged in the influential Church of Carthage were almost identical with those received by Cyprian a century before. Hebrews, James, and Jude are entirely wanting. (Reid, Canon of the New Testament. In The Catholic Encyclopedia).
Euebius mentioned that the Church of Rome had not accepted it in the 4th century. Augustine of Hippo said Hebrews was still disputed in 393.
Even as late as 405 A.D., Pope Innocent I left Hebrews out of his list of the New Testament 5th century canon he sent to Exsuperius, bishop of Toulouse (Bruce, The Canon of Scripture, p. 234). This is despite the claim that in:
382 … The Damasan catalogue presents the complete and perfect Canon which has been that of the Church Universal ever since”, while in 393 “St. Augustine … acknowledged that many contested this Epistle … Carthage in 419--found it necessary to formulate catalogues ... As for Protestantism, the Anglicans and Calvinists always kept the entire New Testament. But for over a century the followers of Luther excluded Hebrews, James, Jude, and Apocalypse. (Reid, Canon of the New Testament. In The Catholic Encyclopedia).
The West began to realize that the ancient Apostolic Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch, indeed the whole Orient, for more than two centuries had acknowledged Hebrews and James as inspired writings of Apostles, (Reid, Canon of the New Testament. In The Catholic Encyclopedia).
Som clearly the Church of Rome did NOT give the world the Bible. It, along with the Greek Orthodox, eventually accepted the Church of God view that Hebrews was part of the true canon.
Regarding Protestants, notice also something written by Martin Luther:
Up to this point we have had the true and certain chief books of the New Testament. The four which follow have from ancient times had a different reputation. In the first place, the fact that Hebrews is not an epistle of St. Paul, or of any other apostle (Luther, M. Prefaces to the Epistle of the Hebrews, 1546)
Martin Luther really did not believe in sola Scriptura and he did not want taught certain matters in the above books. That is right, Martin Luther had issues with accepting many books of the Bible, including others in the Old Testament (details are in our free online books Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism and Who Gave the World the Bible? The Canon: Why do we have the books we now do in the Bible? Is the Bible complete?).
If the Greco-Roman Catholics and Martin Luther would have accepted the Book of Hebrews as authoritative from the beginning (and in Martin Luther's case, the beginning of his reformation movement), the churches related to all of them would have had a New Testament command to keep the 7th day Sabbath. But by questioning it for as long as they did, the Greco-Roman Catholics had not seen it as an impediment for them to adopt Sunday. And if Martin Luther would have accepted it and really believed in his sola Scriptura rallying cry, then perhaps the bulk of Protestants would have switched to the seventh day Sabbath.
So, we see that the delay that those related churches took in accepting the Book of Hebrews, definitely changed them.
After he asked people if they have proved that the word of God is true, Herbert W.
Armstrong stated the following in his introduction to the Book of Hebrews:
And, my
friends, once again, that brings us down to this, the reason that you don't
really believe, the reason you don't get an answer to prayer is because you don't know Christ's present office. You don't realize that Jesus Christ is on the job right now, that He
has a job, an office; and He is in that office and that He is alive and that He
is active night and day and in your behalf, but you're not taking
advantage of it.
Where Is Christ Now And What Is He Doing?
The entire book
of Hebrews is called the priesthood book. Perhaps it's
the most neglected book in the New Testament. We hear a great deal about the
crucified Christ, about the death of Christ; and a lot of people seem to think
that the Savior is a dead Savior. Don't you know that the Savior is a living
Savior, that He rose from the dead, and that He does His saving work right on
the inside, that He comes within you in His spirit, and that He does the saving
within and not from without?
Now,
Jesus Christ is very much alive. He went up to heaven. The heavens received Him
until the times of restitution of all things, as you read in the third chapter
and nineteenth verse of the book of Acts of the Apostles. Why did He go to
heaven? Two reasons: one, to get for Himself a kingdom and to return. He is
going to come as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He's going to come ruling all of this earth, every
nation on earth. And the kingdoms of this world are at that time going to
become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.
But He is
not the King of Kings now. Not at all! Neither is He the lowly Lamb of God
anymore now. He was 1900 years ago, but He rose from the dead. And I want to
picture to you that Jesus as He exists now.
Perhaps you have pictures
hanging on the wall. You have pictures in your Bible, supposed to be pictures
of Christ. Oh, my friends, do you think that He ever did look or does now look
anything like those pictures? You better realize that is not the Christ at all.
That's another Jesus that
you have a picture of. That's not the Christ.
There were no photographs ever taken of Him. There is no record of exactly what
He did look like then and He does not look now exactly like He did then and I've explained that before. Now let's get into it.
Here is the one passage of this whole book,
and it's about time that we looked into this book of Hebrew and
understood the present mission, the present office, the present activity and
job of Jesus Christ, Himself, because He's on the job right now, and it's
because you don't realize that that you really doubt. And you do have doubts
because God has made an absolute promise, and He has made thousands of them in
the Bible that He'll do certain things that He has absolutely promised He will
do in His word if you perform two things yourself - if you really obey Him and
if you really believe. Well, very few of you really obey Him in the first
place; but in the second place, very few of you really believe. And you say,
"Well, I, I know He could if it were His will."
I want to
tell you, my friends, I don't have any doubts. I have seen the answer come so many times
that I believe. Now, that isn't going to convince you. It isn't intended to. That just convinced me, but you can convince
yourself if you would really believe. And the reason, my friends, you don't believe the Word of God, you don't have that faith to believe. If you can really believe that
the Bible is the Word of God, if you have ever had it proved to you that the
Bible is the Word of God so that you know it and can really believe it, well,
you'll get an answer to your prayer provided you obey God every time and
provided you ask according to His will as it's expressed in the Bible and you
ask something He has already promised to do.
My
friends there are two great portions of the Bible that are almost wholly
neglected. You almost never hear about them. That nearly one-third of the
entire Bible, that is devoted to world conditions today, to our lives today, to
the prophecies of those things that are taking place on earth now, and are going to take place in the very next few years. Almost
nobody understands the prophecies. And then, that matter of what Jesus Christ
is doing now. What has He been doing since He ascended from this earth to
heaven over 1900 years ago? Where's He been all these 1900 years and what has
He been doing? My friends, He's been on the job night and day for you as your
High Priest. And that's an office that
He's been given divinely, an office to help you, that you need.
Now, everyone of you are having your troubles. You know, we see a little baby and he'll begin to try to talk and make a few little sounds, and one
thing and another and we think it's a lot of fun. You know, we tell it now, "Come on, tell us your troubles." Yes, he
has his little troubles and a little child has his troubles that are just about as serious to the
child. But when you grow up, you still have your troubles. And there isn't a one of you listening, that doesn't have problems and
troubles and discouragements and
disillusionments and all that sort of thing. You meet a lot of problems that
you don't know how to handle. Sometimes, you are in real trouble. You
get into real deep water. And what
you don't seem to realize is that there is a supernatural power, that there is
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not hanging dead on a cross, but who rose from
the dead and ascended to heaven and is there now to help you, and God Almighty
has assigned Him to that job and He's busy on the job. But it's a free moral agency proposition and you're not going to get
that help unless you go after it.
It is
something you have
to ask for. Jesus himself said repeatedly, "Ask, and it
shall be given..." (Matthew
7:7). He
gave parables to show that if we would ask and be persistent and not give up,
we would get the answer. But, He just isn't real to many of you, is He? God isn't real. Christ isn't real. He's seems to have gone way, way off. Now, how far off He is in actual
distance of miles or light years or whatever measurements you want to use to
measure distance, I don't know! No scientist knows. And no Bible student knows.
There are three heavens mentioned in the
Bible. The first one is the one where the airplanes fly, and where the clouds
float around. Then there is the second heaven, mentioned in the Bible where we
find the stars, the planets at night. The heaven where you find the moon,
circling around the earth. And where we find the Sun
and Mars and Jupiter and then all the galaxies and the Milky Ways.
Then there is what is called the third heaven. And apparently, that is where God's throne is. Is it clear beyond this universe?
Is it farther away in light years than this universe? I don't know, but divine power such as God has, annihilates
distance and the other things of the sort. That isn't described. The things that are revealed belong to us, we
can know — the things that are not revealed, we don't know. No scientist knows, no theological professor knows,
so those things just aren't known.
But we do
know that God is close. Because His spirit is operative everywhere, as you read
back in the Psalms. You can go to the depths of the oceans and behold, God is
there. You can go up to the highest mountain pinnacle and He is there (Psalm
139). It doesn't make any difference whether you're in Europe, whether you're in Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, North America,
here in the United States; wherever you are, God is there in Spirit. God's
Spirit is there. I wonder if you can realize that?
God's
Spirit projects itself from wherever God is in person, because man is formed in
the image of God and the form and shape of God. And God is in a definite form
and shape and He must be in a definite place. But God is a Spirit and
God's Spirit emanates from Him everywhere. I don't think your mind can conceive that because we are composed
of matter and matter is something that occupies space and has weight. Matter is
confined to a definite space or location, spirit is not. God's Spirit emanates
from Him, and just as your eyesight will emanate from you to translate
knowledge into your mind from something that is millions of light years away. So God's Spirit not only transmits knowledge to Him, but it
translates thoughts and sounds, smells, tastes, whatever you might have,
anything that we know in the physical sense, but much more.
Through
God's Spirit, He can act on those bodies or on the things that He sees and
hears and that He knows. You can see a star that is so large that it becomes a
mere speck in the sky because it is so far away -- millions of light years as I
say. And you can see it with your eye but you can't act on that star, you can't will to do something to it and say I want that star to divide in
two, and half to go one way and half to go the other, and produce it. You have no power over the star, your mind
cannot exert any force or energy that will act on that distant star. But God
can see you and He can act on you and cause anything to happen. That's what God powers
are like. Now, Christ has those God powers. Christ is the one by whom and
through whom God created the heaven and the earth. By whom He thought out and
designed you, and the intricate mind and the intricate body that is you. He is
the one who designed and thought out and created and brought into being every force and every energy and every law that
we know anything about (Colossians 1:1).
Chapter 1
Let's start of Chapter 1, Verse 1:
God, who at various times and in various ways
spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
God communicates through prophets through dreams, the passing of the mantle, sometimes with a double-portion of His Spirit. Those would be consistent with the "various ways" God spoke in the past.
Back in 2006/2007, I translated Melito's Greek text from H. Paulsen Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1.5. Und Die, commonly referred to as Melito's On the Prophets. I submitted the following as to support a koine Greek class I took as a rough translation of the first part of it:
You give the gift of prophecy through your spirit in your way ... (Melito, On the Prophets. Translated by Bob Thiel from the Greek from the H. Paulsen Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1.5. Und Die)
Notice again that Melito sees God giving prophecy HIS (God's) way.
Melito was a second century Church of God leader who Christians considered to be a prophet. Like the CCOG, Herbert W. Armstrong considered to be Melito of Sardis a true and faithful Church of God leader.
Sadly, many people think God needs to give the gift of prophecy according to THEIR (Laos) Way/Judgement (Dike) (Laodicea). Since Melito was considered as a prophet, he may have written what he did to remind his critics and supporters that God decides how to give the gift of prophecy, not humans.
Now after reading the first verse in Hebrews, Herbert W.
Armstrong stated:
Now,
it proceeds here and the rest of the chapter to show us how great
Christ is, how great is your High Priest. That's the first thing you need to know. You need to know about
Him. You need to know about His Greatness. How great is Christ? Far greater
than you have ever dreamed or even imagined at any time.
Consider that God communicates through prophets through dreams (Numbers 12:6; Acts 2:17-18), the passing of the mantle (2 Kings 2:13-15), sometimes with a double-portion of His Spirit (2 Kings 2:9). Those would be consistent with the "various ways" God spoke in the past.
Sadly, many people think God needs to give the gift of prophecy according to THEIR (Laos) Way/Judgement (Dike) (Laodicea). Since Melito was considered as a prophet, he may have written that first line to remind his critics and supporters that God decides how to give the gift of prophecy, not humans.
Verse 2:
has in these last days spoken to us by His
Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the
worlds;
We have the words of His Son throughout the New Testament. In the CCOG, we have intentionally and systematically had sermons covering each and every verse in the New Testament that it is recorded that Jesus said (for a list, go to www.cogwriter.com).
Why did we intentionally do that?
Because Jesus said:
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)
Certainly, the most faithful church would teach everything Jesus said, and we in the CCOG have.
Chapter 1, Verse 3:
who being the brightness of His glory and the
express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high,
HWA stated:
The
Moffat translation has that that "He is the heir of the universe,"
that He sustains the universe with the word of His power. He sustains, He
upholds all the laws that are in motion, all the laws that our scientists know
and deal with, that the physicists and the chemists know anything about - every
force, every energy, every power. My friends, who is it that sustains
these laws, these forces, these energies that causes grass and vegetation to
spring forth and to grow, that gives us the air we breathe, that causes it to
rain on the just and the unjust alike? That is your Savior. He is alive. He is
at the right hand of the Father. He's sitting right there with God Almighty, the Father. He's
there to intercede for you and to see that your needs are supplied and to see
that when you really ask, if you are surrendered to Him, if you've given your
life to Him so He can live your life for you in your stead, that every need of
yours will be taken care of, that you will be divinely led into the way that
you should go, given wisdom, that everything will go right for you, as we say,
that you'll get the breaks, and everything that you really need, not everything
you want. Well, we've been seeing just how great He is. Just think of that -
upholding the universe by the word of His power.
Verse 4:
having become so much better than the angels,
as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
So, Jesus is now so much better than the angels and has a more excellent name.
Verse 5:
For to which of the angels did He ever say:
"You are My Son, Today I have begotten You"? And again: "I will
be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son"?
HWA stated:
He's begotten of the
Father as a human being here on earth, now He is born of God and a born Son of
God by a resurrection from the dead. Now, here again: "... Now, here
again: "... unto him I will be a Father" He didn't say that to any angel “... and he shall be to me a Son”
The old Radio Church of God taught:
One more — Heb. 1:5 — speaking of CHRIST'S begettal in the Virgin Mary. This verse shows that Christ, later BORN of God by a resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4), was an actual BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, in a manner that no angel is, or can be. Angels are merely created beings. They are not actually begotten of God, so that in this sense they become His born sons, as Christ now is — and as we may also be. Notice the verse: "For unto which of the angels said He at any time, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?" (Just what do you mean... BORN AGAIN? 1962)
Chapter 1, Verse 6:
But when He again brings the firstborn into
the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him."
Notice that He says 'let all the angels of God
worship him.”
Verse 7:
And of the angels He says: "Who makes His
angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire."
HWA stated:
He's begotten of the Father
as a human being here on earth, now He is born of God and a born Son of God by
a resurrection from the dead. Now, here again: "... unto him I will be a Father... [He didn't say that to any angel]... and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he brings the
first born into the world, he says, 'let all the angels worship him.' And Who
makes his angels [spirits]..." Listen, He is very God, because it would be
breaking the very first commandment to worship anyone who is not God.
"Thou shall have no other gods before Me. And thou shall not bow down to
nor worship any that is not the real and the true God," the first two
commandments. (Exodus 20:3-6) Now, if angels worshiped Him
and He is not God, that would break the first two commandments. It would be
idolatry. But it says here right in the word of God, in the Bible, let all of
God's angels worship Him. (verse 6)
My
friends, what do you know about angels? Did you ever see an angel? You probably, never did. Did you ever hear a sermon
on angels to explain what angels are? Who are angels, are there any such
things? Do they exist, or it is a superstition? What are angels? Why are angels? If there
are any, what's their function?
What do they do and how do we know? Now, I'm quite sure that no scientist every caught one in his laboratory and I don't think any astronomer ever saw one in a telescope. And I don't think you could see one under a microscope. If fact, I
think science would probably smile at the idea of an
angel. But we hear about angels and demons, now certainly when you read the
Bible; you read a lot about angels because there's a lot in the Bible about angels.
Now,
is it silly? Is it a superstition? Is it just a figment of imagination? Or, are they such beings and what are they? And
why are they and where do they come from? And why do we have them if we do? You
know, you might say that the beginning point is to find out; first
of all, whether you can prove that the Bible is inspired by an
Almighty living God. Is it just a superstition, is the Bible just a religious
writing of an ancient little despised race of Jews that were grouping in the
dark trying to find their concept of God, like a lot of other people have, only
they were perhaps were backwards and didn't know very much and this is just their religious literature.
Is that what you think? Well, that's what a lot of people think. Or, is the Bible the very word of the Creator that created not
only us but created the earth, the heavens, the galaxies the milky way. Our
solar system that created force and energy and every law that exists that can
cause every power, every law that exists today because He created it.
Is
there such as God? Well, I have made communists that thought they were Atheist
at least admit that God exists. I can prove that by the laws of science. You
can prove it too if you want to, if you know what
they are. Can you prove whether the Bible then is inspired by such a God? Well,
I think I can prove both there is such a God and that the Bible is inspired by such a God just by the
prophesies in the Bible. You go back to what is written in the Bible, hundreds
of years before it happened, about Egypt, about Babylon, about Rome even before
Rome had grown great, about the coming of the great Roman Empire, about its
fall, about its various resurrections. Yes, and even what the Bible says about
the United States of America because we're in there. And it tells all about us today. And exactly what has happened to us and how
great we are and why and all about it. There are prophesies in the Bible that
no human being could have written and made them stick and bring them to pass.
But they have happened. And those very events and the very train of history
since these words were written absolutely prove it.
You
know, I remember one Sunday night up in Eugene, Oregon. That was way back in the days
when I had to go on the air on Sunday morning in Eugene, and then drive all the
way to Portland for Sunday afternoon broadcast. And then drive back to Eugene again for a night service in the church
there and when I got down the church was packed we'd just barely had time to get there. And, I was speaking that night on the longest prophecy in all
the Bible which is the eleventh chapter of Daniel, actually
the tenth, eleventh and twelfth chapters all go together but
the tenth chapter is sort of an introduction and the twelfth is a, you might say a prologue or epilogue
or something. And, anyway, the
main prophecy is the eleventh chapter. And it's the longest prophecy in
the Bible. And I was expounding that, you know, it's absolutely
marvelous. That prophecy there; how he starts out telling about the kings that existed at the time that Daniel lived and they were to, he said, they shall stand up three kings in Persia after
that and were just three dominant kings. They were more but the others were
scarcely noted and then a mighty king shall stand up. And then it begins to tell about what was going to happen. His kingdom will be divided
to the four winds of heaven. Well, that happened, that was Alexandra the Great. Then after that,
it tells about his end and how he would come to his end and then the king of
the south would do this. And then the king of the north would do that. And
verse after verse.
Well,
I took up the history of the time and right out of authentic histories, I would
read first a verse of this prophecy. And then there it was in history it
happened hundreds of years after it was written. Then here's
the next verse of something would happen that says many days after that. Here
it is in history fifty years later. This happened. Even a marriage between the
daughter of the king of the south, who was the king of Egypt and the king of
the north or the king of Syria, and that wedding and how it happened and about
the train that accompanied her and what
happened to them. All
of the details prophesied down to the minute detail; years and
years and even in some cases here, hundred of years in advance.
Coming
on down to the time of 168 BC and then skipping on down to our time and
something that was happening that very year, in the year of 1934 A. D. when I was preaching that
sermon. You know, there was a young lady there, who was secretary of the
Communist party in that city. I didn't know anything about it but she came to my wife. She had another atheist unbeliever
with her, she wanted to know if she could have an appointment with me. She
said, I'm an atheist or at least I thought I was, when I came in here and she says to tell you the truth, we came out here to have a lot of
fun. We've been taught that religion is the opium of the people and is
a lot of ridiculous nonsense. She said I heard your husband on the air and I thought he would be a good one to come out and have a lot of sport with. We would laugh at what he said in his
ignorance. But she said, he has said things here tonight that have me sort of floored, I don't know to account for it. And, she said, after all, I haven't been an atheist
just because I wanted to be wrong or any thing of the kind because it seemed like it was right. But she
said, now I'm bewildered and I don't know what to think, I'd like to have an appointment. Well, she dropped her atheism
and the communist party and a lot of other things. And so, my friends, if you
go into the prophesies of the Bible you can prove whether the Bible is inspired and whether God
inspired it.
Now,
I would say that's the first thing
before you can know anything about angels, because you have no evidence. I don't think you know anyone that has literally seen an angel and I don't think any scientist can give you any definite information
about it. He says he can tell you something about gravity but he can't see it and you can't hear it and you can't smell it and you can't taste it but we do see what it does and we know it exists. And there are some things that we have
to accept that we cannot explain. And so, the only authority
that you have on anything about angels is you either accept what the Bible says
about it or you must throw up your hands and say, I'm ignorant. And you can prove that the Bible is inspired by
one who was able to foretell the future of specifically to nations of empires
and bring it to pass. No man could do that, no combination of men could do it.
Now,
I can tell you what the Bible says about angels. It's
up to you whether you believe the Bible but you can even prove that. But I say this: Either you
accept what the Bible says or throw up your hands and say, well I'm ignorant. You can't refute it. You can't prove that there are no angels so less let it go at that.
Well, it might seem a little ridiculous to some because a lot of people believe
only what they see. Now we had been coming here in the chapter in your Bible
that tells you where Jesus Christ is now, what He's been doing these 1900
years, and what He is doing now.
We
had come up to the place where He's talking about the fact that in ancient Israel they were a material nation, they came
to the material mountain, Mount Sinai, God dealt with them in a material and
physical manner. He manifested Himself with flashes of lightning with peels of
thunder that they could hear, they heard His voice. They didn't see God Himself but they saw great manifestations. And he made physical
manifestations that the people could see. He dealt with them in a physical
manner because they were a physical people. Well, were a physical people too. But we are a people who can receive the spirit
of God. And God is letting the rest of the world just go by.
God has assigned a 6,000 years period during which He is permitting people to make their own decisions. And He permits them to cut themselves off from God, and to cut them off from all spiritual knowledge. Spirit, my friends, is something that you can know nothing about normally or naturally. The only way that you receive any knowledge in your mind naturally, is through the five senses, just the five channels, the five sense that transmit knowledge into your mind. Spiritual knowledge cannot come that way. Because you can't see anything spiritual and you can't hear it and you can't taste it, you can't smell it and you can't put your hands on it or feel it. And so, the only way you can know anything about spiritual things is to let God reveal it. And you have to accept it on faith or you not even going to know.
Now here He said that we, if we're Christians, and the world is not included, are come unto the mount Zion, that means always the Church, the spiritual mount, not the physical mount like Mount Sinai, and enter in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. In other words, if you are a Christian, you have come to an innumerable company of angels. And God has set angels with a certain function and duty to guard Christians. And if you are a Christian, you are come to an innumerable company of angels and yet you can't see them. How you going to know about them, and I think it about time that we do know something about them. So, listen.
They're revealed in the Bible, the Bible speaks about angels a great deal, what does it say about them? Now, in the first place, remember the Bible was written in different languages. There was no English language at that time. The Old Testament was written almost altogether in the Hebrew language and the New Testament in the Greek language. The Hebrew word for angels, and I don't speak either Hebrew or Greek, so I don't know how to pronounce them, but the Hebrew word Malak I presume: Malak. And it means a messenger or agent. And the Greek word, Angelos, how ever you pronounce it, it means messenger or agent. Same meaning precisely in the English language. Alright, now what are angels?
In
the one hundred and fourth Psalm, and the fourth verse, you read this:
"Speaking of God, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain, who laid the
beam of His chambers in the waters, who makes the cloud His chariot and so on,
who maketh His angels spirits" — (104: 3-4). He has made
His angels spirits. Now, in the first place, no place in your Bible can you
find any statement that says "who made man spirits." God did not make you a
spirit. He did not make me a spirit. We are not spirits, we are mortals. We are
made of the dust of the ground. God says you'll return to the dust too — (Gen. 3: 18). God says you are mortal and eternal life or
immortally is a gift of God — (Romans 6: 23). And a lot of
people don't believe that today, either. "Who makes His angels spirits,
His minister a flaming fire, who laid the foundation of the earth and so on,
showing the creator." Now, He made His angels spirits you find that same
things exactly
the same words quoted in the New Testament, if you want the new,
some of you people don't believe in the Old Testament. Well, here it is in the new. And of the angels, he says, "Who makes His angels spirits."
Alright, the fact that says God made
them means they were made, therefore, angels are a creation of God. Notice, it says
who [meaning God] maketh, the fact that He made or maketh means he did make;
means they were created. So angels, then, were a creation of God and God is the one who
created them. Now, what were they created or out of what? It says spirits! That
what they are then. They are spirits, therefore angels are not mortal. Angels are not matter. Angels are not made of the 16 or any other
number of elements of the ground or the elements of the earth. Now, spirit is
not material. It has nothing to do with matter. Just what is matter? Actually, the scientist don't even know what matter is. Oh, we have the old definition matter is anything that
occupies space, and has weight but that's a rather old definition. You
know, scientist aren't even sure about that today. They aren't sure actually
whether matter is some form of electricity and rapid vibration or
whether electricity is some form of matter, or what! They're just a little bit
mixed up on it. They have a lot of theories about matter. And they got
down to the atom as the smallest particle of matter and then after the
discovery of Radium and radioactivity, they discovered there are electrons. Now
I've seen these little particle flicking off radium under a magnifying glass in a dark
room. It looks just like you looking up into a great sky with thousands or millions of something
of the sort of..., stars, falling stars, fleeting off and down all around you. But, I couldn't count them. And I don't know any scientist that ever counted them.
Nevertheless, spirit is not matter and it has nothing to do with the elements of matter. Therefore, it is clear beyond the range of material science. So, no scientist knows anything about it. Now the Old Testament in the Bible says nothing whatsoever about the origin of the angels further than the scripture that I read to you that God made them or created them. The Old Testament assumes the existence of angels. And I think that most people today do, they just assume..., well the Bible talks about it. But they never look into it, they never look into to see if it true, or to see what God says about angels or are there angels? Listen, do you suppose there could be an angel right there in the room with you this very second? Would you know it? There might be an angel there and you wouldn't know it. You wouldn't know anything about it.
Now,
there is the book of Jubilees and there's ... Enoch which
are not inspired or part of the Bible. Which describe the creation of angels,
however, probably, they were written by men who had received some of that knowledge
even though their book were not inspired. They seemed to know that and wrote of them as being created and creation of
God. Now, I think we find that they are
created. When you turn over here in Colossians, the first chapter, well we
begin, oh, there's a long sentence here and a good many verses, all one long
sentence, breaking it in the middle up here in the twelfth verse,
""Giving thanks unto the Father," and the thirteen verse
"Who has delivered us and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear
son," [now, it's speaking of Christ,] In whom [That's Christ or the son]
"In whom we have redemption through his blood," "Who is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him [verse
16, now here it is, get it] by Him [speaking of Christ] by Him were all things
created"" — (Colossians 1: 12-16). Well then, since
angels are created beings, they were created by God through Christ, in other
words, God created all things by Jesus Christ. He is the Word, He spoke; it was
done, they were created by God then. "By him were all things created, that
are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, [Well He those are
generally invisible, and so He created them.] whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and
for him. And He, Christ, is before all things" — (Colossians 1:16-1). "He's the
head of the body of the Church. The first born of the dead" — (Colossians 1:18).
The first to be born of God. In other words, when it comes to what you call a
real born again experience, Jesus Christ is the first one to have that experience.
And a lot you need to study your Bibles, a lot more, you've got a lot of
surprises coming when you get your eyes opened.
Now then, the angels are revealed in the Bible as a part of the government of God. And there's something, my friends, it's mighty important. This is something that needs looking into. You know, we are down here on this mundane, cold earth, this material earth, conscious generally only of material things not realizing that the earth and all that's on it and all the forces and energies and powers were created by the great spirit being, God Almighty. Not realizing that God is the Supreme governor of all the universe. Not realizing anything about the government of God and that God is governing the universe. And the way He's governing this world is a part of the universe is that He made man a free moral agent. And He said to man, you choose. Whether you will come under my government or whether you want to rebel and set up your own. And so, God allowed man to choose and commanded him to do it, and by that very process, God has allowed man to choose the wrong way. By which he cuts himself off from God.
God can intervene though in the government that man has set up on this earth, whenever He pleases and there are times when He has done it and there are times when He's going to do it again, very soon, and you're going to see the effect of it because most of you are certainly going to live into that day, it's not very many years from now. Now, this government of God, the headquarters are in the heaven of God's throne. The heaven of God's throne, that's were Christ went. And you have no conception of the kind of government that God has there and the organization that functions around God's throne and around that headquarters, from which He rules the entire universe. We speculate and wonder is there any life on any of the other planets? Well, I don't know, I don't know anymore than your astronomer does. He doesn't know either he's never been able to find it out or see. But God knows. It certainly seems there must be something more than just this earth, doesn't it? But, I don't know, God hasn't revealed it. No scientist can determine it and I have no source of knowing except that God would reveal and He hasn't. But I know this, there must be a great deal for God to govern. And he has a tremendous organization that you don't even dream of spirit beings, not human beings but spirit beings at His throne and His high heaven. My friends, we certainly have been in ignorance. There's so little that we know. We know a little bit in our little tiny sphere on this mundane earth. We don't know very much though. I tell you, all space, the whole universe is a mighty big place. We don't know much about it.
But
these angel are a part of the Government of
God. And they are untold millions of them. Millions upon millions upon
millions of angels, so God says. So your Bible says, the same Bible that tells you what is
going to happen to these governments and
states and nations. And it tells you what is going to happen to
the United States and you're going to see it
happening in your lifetime. But even foretold and being here now and the
prosperity we have and the fact that we would be winning the wars that we've won in everything about it, it all in your Bible and you
never saw it. Listen! You need to write in for our booklet The United States in Prophecy {we have available the free online book Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?}. Because you probably
don't even know where the United States is mentioned in the prophesies of the
Bible and it's mentioned, listen now, its mentioned hundreds of times.
Yes, hundreds of times more often than any other people in the whole Bible. And
you have never known, have you? You've got a lot to learn, haven't you. Well, so have I only I've learned that much, already. We all have a lot to learn, let's confess it, then. No, we don't any of us know it all.
Now, these angels are a part of the government of God, they are messengers, they are spirits, not flesh and mortal, they are servants and they are superhuman, they are not human; they are superhuman. They are spirits but they are subordinate beings that is they are subordinate to God. They are not as high as God but they are superhuman. Angels are ministers of God. And as I said, they are part of the government of God. They are His messengers, the Hebrew and the Greek word both mean the same that are used in the original writing of the Bible, a messenger or an agent. And they are God's messengers or agents used in the divine government by which God rules the entire universe. Not only this world, but the entire universe. They're superhuman; spirits, subordinate beings. Subordinate to God. But they're higher than men. And angels, because they are obedient to the laws of God, because they are not in rebellion against God, they are always pictured as being happy. And joyful. They radiate joy and enthusiasm and happiness and peace and all that sort of thing.
Now, there were some angels, apparently angels have had free moral agency, because there were angel that sinned. And in one scripture they are called angels, the angels that God spared not the angels that sinned. Well, if didn't, take heed that He spare not thee as the admonition there. But, they are not angels now, they were angels up till time they sinned. A sinning angel, however, technically and Bible language is called a demon! Now demon are fallen or sinning angels that are rebellious to the government of God. And I have seen the working of demons. I wonder if you every have. You probably have seen it and didn't recognize it. After all, its material realm has.., has nothing compared to the spiritual.
Alright, now let's look into more of it in the Bible. When were the angels created? The Bible doesn't tell you when but it does give one little inkling, it was before this earth was created. And there is every evidence not only geological but in the Bible also that this earth was created a lot more than 6,000 years ago. Now, we can actually figure that the creation of Adam and the start of human life on this earth that you read of in the first and second chapters of Genesis was approximately 6,000 years ago. There is Biblical evidence and also geological evidence that the earth has been here a lot longer than that. And, I think you can find plenty of geologist that think it's been here for millions of years. Now, I don't know about that and frankly I don't think they do either. Because I've learned that scientific gentlemen, while they're very cautious in their test tubes and their actual observations and measurements they are generally, a good many of them, at least very careless and very extravagant when it comes to flinging around a million years here and there and the task in accounting for things.
Nevertheless,
we know that angels were created before the earth was created, because you read
here in the
thirty-eight chapter, of Job, where God is speaking and bringing Job down, He's
whittling Job down to his own size here. The Eternal spoke and answered Job out
of a whirlwind and said, "Who is this that darkens up counsel of words
without knowledge and so on." He said to Job, "Where were you when I
laid the foundation of the earth? Who has laid the measures thereof if you
know?" [Speaking of His creating the earth now.] "Whereupon are the
foundation thereof fastened? Who laid the corner stone thereof?"
[Apparently, Job had just completed the building of a great building. And so,
God is comparing that to His creation of the earth and He using an earthy building as a symbol here for the creation of the
earth.] "Where upon are the foundation thereof fastened? Who laid the corner stone thereof? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy" — (Job 38: 4-7).
He's speaking there of the angels, now stars are symbolically use there and in the first chapter of the book of revelation, you'll find that stars
are plainly identified in plain language
as meaning the angels. And so the angels then were created before the earth was created.
Now they're called sons of God
in the sense of creation of God they are. And yet, they are not begotten sons
of God, as you read in the first chapter of Hebrews.
Verse 8:
But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O
God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your
kingdom.
Jesus will usher in the Kingdom of God.
Verse 9:
You have loved righteousness and hated
lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness
more than Your companions."
What is righteousness?
172 My tongue shall speak of Your word,
For all Your commandments are righteousness. (Psalm 119:172)
What is sin?
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. (1 John 3:4-6)
Yet, most who profess to being a follower of Jesus do not keep the commandments. They either believe that they are done away, changed, and/or have traditions that allow them to violate them.
Verse 10:
And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid
the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
Verse 11:
They will perish, but You remain; And they
will all grow old like a garment;
The "they" looks to have been a reference to contemporaries when Jesus walked the earth--called companions in verse 9.
Verse 12:
Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they
will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail."
Chapter 1, Verse 13:
But to which of the angels has He ever said:
"Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"?
Angels did not receive the same promises from the Father that Jesus received.
Verse 14:
Are they not all ministering spirits sent
forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
HWA stated:
Now, then, the first
chapter, as I say, is devoted to showing us how great Christ is. Now, take this
last verse, the fourteenth here, speaking of these angels; " Are they not all ministering spirits sent
forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Or in the King James translation, let me read it for you here; "Are
they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them that shall be
heirs of salvation?" Well, we're already the heirs; but we shall inherit salvation. I tell
you, my friends, very few know what salvation is. Very few people know what it
is or anything about it. Now, coming to the second chapter, it comes to man.
The first chapter is devoted to Christ, our High Priest.
The Bible speaks of angels, archangels, chreubim, and seraphim--so there are between 2-4 different types from what we know. The old WCG taught :
Cherubim are associated with God's throne, either transporting it about or carrying out directives from that throne, such as guarding the tree of life after Adam and Eve sinned (Gen. 3:24). Lucifer, an anointed cherub (Ezek. 28:14), was given, before Adam was created, authority to administer God's government over the earth and millions of angels.
The best description of cherubim is found in the book of Ezekiel. In chapters 1, 9 and 10, we read of cherubim transporting God's throne. They are large, powerful, apparently four-faced creatures with four wings.
The seraphim seem to bear a general resemblance to the human figure and have six wings, whereas the four "beasts" or, better translated, "living creatures" appear to have the combined features of cherubim and seraphim. (Sedliacik R. MINISTUDY: The Role of Righteous Angels Today. Good News, May 1982)
More on angels can be found in the free online articles:
Angels, Cherubim, and Seraphim
Chapter 2
Verse 1:
Therefore we must give the more earnest heed
to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
Yes many angels left. They perhaps drifted at first, but so far away that Satan pulled a third of them with him:
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. (Revelation 12:3-4)
Verse 2:
For if the word spoken through angels proved
steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
The just reward for the angels who went with Satan will include future punishment of some sort. Christians will be involved in figuring out their reward as the Apostle Paul wrote:
3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? (1 Corinthians 6:3)
Verse 3:
how shall we escape if we neglect so great a
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed
to us by those who heard Him,
We are not to neglect the opportunity for salvation we have been given. As far as judgment goes, our judgment is on us now as the Apostle Peter wrote:
17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now
"If the righteous one is scarcely saved,
Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. (1 Peter 4:17-19)
Yes, we need to remain faithful--God will remain faithful.
Chapter 2, Verse 4:
God also bearing witness both with signs and
wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His
own will?
Those signs and gifts of the Holy Spirit, being dreams and prophecies in the last days:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. (Acts 2:17-20)
Notice that verses 17-20 come before the great and awesome day of the Lord.
And that verses 17-18 come before the signs in the heavens of verses 19-20.
You would think that end time Christians would accept dreams, for example, as from God's Spirit in this age, but most will not.
For those who are interested, we have an article: Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18?
Chapter 2, Verse 5:
For He has not put the world to come, of which
we speak, in subjection to angels.
Angels do not have the promise to rule like true Christians have.
Verse 6:
But one testified in a certain place, saying:
"What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take
care of him?
HWA stated:
Now, you might say if
there is a golden text here that sums up the second chapter, it is here along
in the sixth verse. When it comes to seeing how great Christ is, then the
question comes, well, now, what's a mere man, a little speck of a weak, anemic man, a man
that has a natural, carnal mind unless or until he is converted, that is
hostile towards God. And mankind has devoted everything he could trying to disprove that God
is the ruler, rejecting the rule of God and trying to represent God as a harsh,
stern monster of some kind, an egotistic, vain creature, like Herbert Spencer
pictured Him. What is man that
one as great as Christ and as great as the Father should be mindful of him? Or, the son of man You take care of him?
I
am going to show you about man, and I am going to show you why He cares about
us. And I'm going to show you, my friends, what a great thing is in store for us
and why you need this High Priest sitting up there and what you're neglecting and
what you're passing up. Oh, my
friends, you don't realize what opportunities you have. You don't realize the vast glory that is in store for you. And there's something you need
to be working at that you're neglecting.
Christ's
Present Position
And
it is recorded in the first book of Hebrews that tells us about Christ and His
present position. He has a job and He is on the job and He's very
industrious and very busy on it and it tells
us in the first chapter that Jesus Christ has so much power that He sustains
this entire universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3)
He upholds and
sustains and keeps in force and in motion, all
of the laws; such as the law of gravity, all
of the laws of physics, all of the laws of
chemistry. Now, how much help could He be to you?
And I wonder if you realize that God not only has created man in His own image, God the Father so loved this world of sinners that have voluntarily rejected Him, because God who is the supreme ruler and God who rules the universe by His power and through the Laws that He has instituted, has ruled that you must choose whether you will obey Him or reject Him. And by so doing, He allows you to reject Him. He does not force you to be obedient to Him.
But, God's laws are good for you. And if you go your way that seems
right to you, that is contrary to the way of God, "...because the carnal
mind is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7 paraphrased)
The carnal mind seems to think that God is wrong and God's ways are wrong and if you go the way that seems right to a man; the way that has seemed right to human beings on this earth; the way that human beings have built up in a human society on this earth; and you go along like one of the dumb sheep. Yes, sheep on the way to the slaughter, those ways are not good for you. That's why this earth is suffering (Proverbs 16:25).
People
write and ask me, "Why does God allow so much suffering in the
world?" Because God allows you to go your own way and because your way has
brought that suffering, that's why. The only way God could stop the suffering would be to
stop you doing the ways you want to do. To stop you doing as you're doing — well,
following impulse, blind desire, vanity, pride, passion, your own self-will,
your own greed and all
of those things in human nature that are wrong and that are
constantly punishing you and punishing others. When you do wrong, you not only
punish yourself, you punish others too. And so we're all suffering, one from another. Where we should be helping
one other and we should be making things better for one another.
Now, to come under the law, and the Government of God, is to come under the blessings of that law and that government. And to have the help of God. One listener writes in and wants to know, where did this saying originate, and where did it begin, that 'the day of miracles is past'? Well, the day of miracles is not past. The day of miracles is not past at all. It is only past for those who do not know God because God hears not sinners, but the minute you repent of your sin and turn to God through Jesus Christ you're not a sinner any longer; then He begins to hear you (John 9:3).
And
Christ came to pay the penalty of what you've done, that you may repent, that you can turn around, that
you can be conquered and that you may surrender wholly and unconditionally to
God and voluntarily come to Him and under His government. And then you're reconciled to God
through the death, through the blood of Jesus Christ. It makes sense when you
understand it.
And then,
my friends, you have a direct connection with God. And then you'll find that the day of miracles is not past if you really
believe. Because God will intervene on your behalf; even with private
independent miracles, if you please. God
has not only set laws in motion that are inexorable and that act automatically,
either for good or for bad, according to whether you use them or violate them,
conform to them or whether you break them. But God also will intervene especially on your
behalf. The day of miracles is past for those who do not know God. But the day
of miracles is not past for the real believer.
And so,
Christ is there and He's our High Priest, and He's there to help you, but all
of that help is of no avail unless you avail yourself of it.
And you can't do that until you surrender to God. You can't do that until you decide you are willing to live by every
word of God and every law of God instead of by every way and every tradition
and every custom of man and the latest fads and the way that all the other dumb
sheep are going to the slaughter. And the aches and pains and heartaches and
suffering which this world is undergoing.
Chapter 2, Verse 7:
You have made him a little lower than the
angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works
of Your hands.
Yes, right now angels are above humans as we were made a little lower than angels. And that God put humans over some of the work of His hands, which we read about starting with Adam and Eve in the first few chapters in the Book of Genesis.
Verse 8:
You have put all things in subjection under
his feet." For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing
that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.
Ultimately, humans who are converted will rule over the universe.
Verse 9:
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower
than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that
He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
Notice that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. Hence, He was NOT fully God when He became born through Mary. But trinitarians do not seem to grasp that.
Verse 10:
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all
things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Notice that Jesus suffered. And He did so in order that we will be granted salvation and brought to glory--that glory is deification (see also What is Your Destiny? Deification? Did the Early Church Teach That Christians Would Become God?).
Verse 11:
For both He who sanctifies and those who are
being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call
them brethren,
True Christians are sanctified, set apart from the world.
Furthermore, yes, Jesus is the true brother to those who are truly Christian.
Verse 12:
saying: "I will declare Your name to My
brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You."
We can sing praises to God now, and do so with various of the songs in The Bible Hymnal.
Verse 13:
And again: "I will put My trust in
Him." And again: "Here am I and the children whom God has given
Me."
True Christians are God's children.
Verse 14:
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of
flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He
might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
The time will come when Jesus will destroy the devil. Watch also the sermon: Destiny of Satan.
Verse 15:
and release those who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Jesus came to set us free. Yet, when Jesus said He had come to do that, He was not believed and people wanted to toss Him off a cliff:
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,Because He has anointed MeTo preach the gospel to the poor;He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captivesAnd recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"
23 He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'" 24 Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."
28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way. (Luke 4:16-30)
Jesus came to help humans, but few really believed Him.
Verse 16:
For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but
He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.
Notice that Jesus did not "give aid to angels," even though they are a little above humans now. But He does give aid to the seed of Abraham?
Does that only mean the Jews?
No!
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
4 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 3:26-4:7)
So, we see that the promises to Abraham were not just for Jews, but for all Christians to be heirs to those promises.
Notice, before going further, something else about angels:
1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. (Hebrews 13:1-2)
That reminds me something else that Jesus said:
31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
44 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:31-46)
Basically, Jesus is saying that many how claim to be Christians are lying to themselves. Jesus understood that if people thought He needed something, they would provide it. But what they do not understand is that by helping poor and hungry brethren, they are giving Jesus what He really wants.
Sadly, most end time Christians do not see the needs of the poor and hungry in places like Africa as important. They need to understand Jesus' words.
They could, as Hebrews stated, be entertaining angels.
Verse 17:
Therefore, in all things He had to be made
like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in
things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Notice that in all things Jesus had to be made like us. We are not fully God. But also notice that Jesus is a merciful High Priest and mercy looks to have been one of the concepts Jesus wanted to impart to His followers when He said what we read in Matthew 25.
Verse 18:
For in that He Himself has suffered, being
tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
Chapter 3
HWA
stated:
My friends, very few of us know
anything about the world tomorrow. We don't know too much about the world today
and the why of it and what's causing all of the eruption in this world today.
You know, it's amazing when you come to understand — why this world could be in
such darkness today and looking upon the Bible as a book of superstition;
because they don't know what it says. The Bible doesn't say what most people
believe it says. It doesn't say what a great many are teaching that it says at
all. Very few people know what salvation is. Very few people know the way of
salvation. Very few people know why they're here on this earth. Very few people
know the great purpose being worked out here below. And why God put humanity on
the earth. And what salvation really is.
Now, coming to the third chapter
of Hebrews, in this great priesthood book, understood by almost no one, that
explains what our real ultimate destiny is. Although God has made us free moral
agents, God has said, "I set before you life on
the one hand; death on the other." (Deuteronomy 30:19 paraphrased) On the
one hand, is a way of life that leads to blessings and everything good, a full
abundant life, a happy life that is free from fears and worries, and on the
other hand, the kind of life, disobeying laws that are in motion, laws that are
living, moving, spiritual principles. Spiritual energies. And bringing curses
upon ourselves. Until, this world not knowing that, has come to a place where
it is miserably unhappy, where lives are barren and desolate of anything
worthwhile, they're empty. And the things that seems so good, and that people
devote all their time and energy chasing and trying to achieve and trying to
receive and trying to participate in, even when they achieve the kind of
success or the accomplishment that they desire and spend a lifetime trying to
gain; it leaves them empty. They find it didn't pay after all.
And so this life, my friends, and
a great deal of which looks upon Christianity as a superstition, is itself an
empty life. And chasing after the things that the world is in this life that
most people think are practical. The things that are supposed to be the real
practical things, and supposed to be the things that pay off, when you find
them, you're just like Solomon said he was. And I don't know of any man today
that has rolled up the big fortune or has really lived the life like old
Solomon did way back there.
The Result Of Solomon's
Achievements
He built great works. Great
public works. Perhaps not quite as great as some of the public works that the
President of the United States is able to at least initiate and through the
power of this great nation, which is greater because there're more of us and than there were in ancient Israel, and yet I don't
know, frankly, whether even the United States government today is able to build
great works any greater than Solomon did. He built great works. He built for
himself magnificent gardens and beautiful things. He built that great marvelous
palace. If that palace that he built, or rather the temple that he built, which
was recognized then as the very house of God if that building existed on the
earth today, it would probably be the showplace of all the earth today.
Solomon worked hard. He
accumulated a great fortune. He lived in luxury and splendor such as perhaps no
man ever did. And, mentally, he had a great mind and he was a man that has been
rated as the wisest man who ever lived. And there's great satisfaction in
mental accomplishments and in having wisdom. Having wisdom to make right
decisions. Think of the vanity that the man can puff himself all up with and
swell all up with when he has it. But after Solomon went in for all of those
things, you know my friends, it left him empty. And he said that it was just
like chasing after a handfull of wind and catching up
with it, that's about all. It was just like looking for some wind. And devoting
your whole life, and you got a hand of wind and what is it? Take your hand away
and where is it? "Vanity of vanities," [he said] "All is
vanity... What does the man gain by all the toil... a generation goes and a
generation comes, but the earth remains forever." (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3) [RSV throughout unless
otherwise specified]
You know, you hear a lot about
the end of the world. Is this world coming to an end? Yes, it is! But, here in
the Bible it says the earth remains forever. Is there any contradiction? Not at
all. Because what's coming to an end is not the earth, but the world and world
is merely the system and the way of life that men have built up on this earth
that is making millions of lives miserably unhappy. Now listen, if you want
something that is real practicality, listen just a minute. Here's something
that is practical. Let's get down to this thing and see what does pay off and
what does make life worthwhile.
Solomon wrote here in
Ecclesiastes. He had a lot of wisdom. He knew more than you know so don't think
you know more than he did, because you don't, I don't care who you are. He knew
more than anybody that's lived, there's none of you listening to me that knows
more than old Solomon. He was a wise old owl, or wise old man anyhow. What has
been, he said, is what will be. What has been done, is what will be done.
There's "nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9) You
understand that? That's true if you understand what he meant. Now, he said,
"I applied my mind, to seek and to search out by wisdom, all that is done
under heaven;" (Ecclesiastes 1:13) He wanted to know all about life. But
he concluded all is vanity and the striving after wind.
What Are You Striving For?
What are you striving after, my friends?
You're working hard at something or else working hard at being lazy and lying
around. Of course, the idea now is to encourage everyone to think that heaven
is a place of bliss, you're go to be like a little dog looking up at his
master. You won't have anything to do. You'll go up there and look on the face
of the savior and think how wonderful it is. Now, that isn't what God offers
you at all, but that's what a lot of people think. And nothing to do; you might
go around playing on a harp once in a while. But you'll be living in the
master's palace, it'll be, you know, a great castle in the air or wherever
heaven is supposed to be. A lot of people have that idea it's idleness and
ease. Now that's the idea we have now. The idea seems to be that the state we
all want to get into is a state of inactivity, a state of stagnation, a state
of complete idleness and ease but we want luxury. We don't want to give
anything, we don't want to do anything, we want to just lie around and I think
I should say lay around, and be a little ungrammatical, I think it would be
more expressive perhaps, but we want to have everything.
Now do you know that very
principle is contrary to the law that God Almighty set in motion? And when you
try to do that and try to live that kind of life, you're cracking and breaking
a law that's going to break you. That law is there. That law is inexorable,
it's invisible, you don't see it. You don't see the law of gravity either that
pulls anything down to the ground if you hold it up and then let loose. But
it's there. And that law works. And this law works.
You know, I knew a man that at
least admitted himself that he was a great philosopher, and some of the great
and the near great of the United States thought he was, Elbert Hubbard. I was a
young man then, of course. He went down on the Lusitania before World War I,
but I knew Elbert Hubbard quite well. I spent a lot of time talking with him.
He said, "Get your happiness out of your work." Well, he didn't know
anything about the spiritual laws that had been set in motion, he knew
absolutely nothing about them but he was pretty wise along material lines only.
And, he did know that you get your happiness out of your work. Fact I was
visiting him over at his place in East Aurora, New York, one time. And, he put
me to work, wrapping up what he was selling then at a very fancy profit; he
knew he was selling it for more than they were worth. He got a big kick out of
that, as a matter of fact. And, he called them goody boxes for Christmas
presents. He had a lot of Irish potatoes. Well, they were very select potatoes.
But he wrapped them up in tissue papers to make them look nice and fancy so he
could charge about three or four times the price they were worth for them. And
make them look like a nice gift box. He put me to work wrapping potatoes in
tissue paper. He wanted to know what I thought, of a man that would have
another man come visit him as a guest and he had his hotel or his inn there and
I was a paying guest. He charged me a very nice price for a very good lunch,
tried to get me to stay all night and pay for a nice room or nice suite or
something, which I didn't do, I had to get back to Buffalo that night. But we
spent most of the day together and he said, "I charge you for everything
you get around here and then I put you to work and I don't pay you any wages
now what do you think of me as a host?" Well, I said who was that
philosopher that said, "Get your happiness out of your work!" And he
had a good laugh at that.
Well, my friends, that's the only
way you're ever going to get happiness is out of accomplishment. And out of
active effort, but active effort that is spent in a direction where it's going
really to accomplish something and not just chasing after wind. Now, there's a
lot of sense in this if you can just get it. Here Solomon said "I said to
myself, Come now, I will make a test of pleasure." (Ecclesiastes 2:1) Enjoy yourself, he said to
himself. Then he said, "I made great works. I built houses, and planted
vineyards for myself." (Ecclesiastes 2:4) Oh, he was looking out for
number one. He didn't care about the other fellow. He was looking after number
one. He taxed the people, he was the King. He had the ability to tax the
people. He taxed them until they couldn't bare their burdens any longer. They
rejected his son, when his son refused to lighten their tax burdens. People
didn't like taxation then anymore that you like it today. But nevertheless, it
costs money to keep government going and it did in those days too. But, Solomon
not only kept the government going, he taxed them so much that he could have a
lot of pleasures for himself, but went clear beyond that of any king on earth
at the time.
He says "I made great works,
I built houses and planted vineyards, for myself; [not for his kingdom, not for
his people, but for himself.] I made myself gardens and parks, I planted in
them all kind of fruit trees. [and beautiful trees] I made myself pools from
which to water the forest of growing trees." (Ecclesiastes 2:4-6) See, he
knew something about irrigation, way, way, way back there, hundreds of years
before Christ.
Solomon's Pursuit Of Happiness
"I bought male and female
slaves. I had slaves that were born in my house. I had also great possessions
of herds and flocks. More than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also
gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasures of kings and provinces. I
got singers, both men and women. Many concubines; man's delight."
(Ecclesiastes 2:7-8)
Wine, women and song. You know,
Solomon had one thousand women. (I Kings 11:3) Now, God set a law in motion, my
friends. God intended a man to have one wife. And God set a law about this
thing of male and female and being joined as husband and wife. That if a man
will just take the one wife that he is in love with and be true to her, she
becomes a great joy to him. And he loves her more and more as the years go by
if they understand God's laws and if they are true to one another and
exercising the laws of God and the laws of marriage as God intended.
But you know, when a man thinks
well, I believe I'd be happier with a lot of women. And I've known men in my
lifetime who had beautiful wives they were very much in love with. But they
think they want to begin to play around, as they say. They want to, as they
say, cheat on the wife and the wife doesn't know it. That's one of the things
that human nature somehow seems to think would be nice to some men and it's
part of the forbidden fruit. They seem to think God is a monster and God's laws
are bad for us and of course they know that God's law says that adultery is a
sin. But naturally a lot of men that are foolish and silly and have no sense in
their heads, begin to think that's just some decree God wrote on a piece of
paper. And maybe He won't catch 'em at it. They don't
realize that's the law that God set in motion that is going to break you if you
break it.
Alright I've known men, who
thought that was an alluring thing and that the forbidden fruit was sweeter and
so they thought it would be nicer to have several women instead of just one.
Course, the wife didn't know it but they were stepping out with other women.
They were committing a lot of adultery. And then all of a sudden those men
would come to me, they used to in my earlier years when I knew some men of that
sort, and they would say, "Well, you know... I don't know what's happened
but my wife is... well she's just repugnant, repulsive to me. She doesn't seem
like she used to any more. I don't know why. But, she's not attractive; I don't
love her anymore." Well, they didn't love any of these other women they're
chasing around with either. Except they thought they did. Until they had
committed adultery with them. And then they didn't. Then they were an unclean
thing just like an old filthy dirty rag. And there wasn't any women that was
really attractive in their eyes.
Well, those men divorced. They
married and then they divorced. I met one of them not so many years ago that I
had known just like that. He'd had two or three wives. He was very unhappy, his
life had never been happy, and he had missed the joys that God has given me. I
talk about it, once in a while. But it is one of the laws of God and I want to
tell you my friends, it pays off. And I want to tell you my friends that God
has given us some wonderful laws if we'll go according to them, they'll pay
off. They can make you very happy. Oh, I know, there are some thorns on the
beautiful rose bushes sometimes. And, I suppose most marriages have their
little unpleasant parts. That's only because of human nature; we let our own
natures get in the way, that's all. But God has set laws in motion that if
we'll observe them we'll get over all of those things and you'll go along and
marriage can be very happy. Marriage can be very beautiful. And love is
something that can just deepen and deepen as the years go by. Oh, don't throw
it away.
I tell you, these people that say
that the laws of God are done away, the laws of God are nailed to the cross.
The law against adultery, the law that says you must be true to one wife.
That's a very good law. Why don't you practice these laws of God. That's just
one of them. Everyone of them, my friends, they
really mean something. This is a practical way of life. A lot of people that
think things that are practical that just means how can you get money, how can
you take it away from the other fellow. Or, how can you get the things that are
illicit and they're inordinate and that God has forbidden. Things that are
illegal according the laws of God.
Now, here Solomon had his
thousand women. What wonderful happiness Solomon threw away. In all of this
thing, of all of his extravagances, in all of his great position and his
wisdom, Solomon didn't have enough wisdom to even understand to know about the Law
of God. Now, Solomon wanted wisdom, God gave it to him. Wisdom is the ability
to apply knowledge and make decisions in certain cases. But, I don't know
whether Solomon had such great wisdom after all.
Wisdom And Understanding
Now, when I was a young man
beginning age sixteen, I began to crave something a little different; just a
shade different in meaning. I wanted understanding. And I began to ask God for
it. You know, if you ask God for some of these things, if they're right, He'll
give them to you. And God has given me a little measure of understanding. I
certainly wouldn't begin to say that I have more of that than any man that ever
lived. But, I've had a little measure of it. Perhaps I've had my share. Well,
I'll tell you one thing, you pay a price for it. The more understanding I have,
the more I see that we shouldn't put our trust in men, where most people do,
and then get away from God, but we should put our trust in God. And have
charity toward men. Because you have to have if you're going to get along with
them. The more you know about men, the more disappointed you're going to be in
them. But God intended we should have love and charity towards people. And
people need it. You need it, too. So, you better have it for others so they can
have a little for you.
Now, Solomon said, "So I
became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom
remained with me." (Ecclesiastes 2:9) You know, I almost question that.
But he said that. Solomon said it, he said it under inspiration. That doesn't
necessarily mean though that God who inspired him to say it, endorsed what he
said. I think that him having a thousand women here and all these concubines,
he didn't have as great wisdom as he might have had because God's law pays off
if you observe it. God set the laws and they are laws that are living and
they're in motion. And when you break them, I want to tell you, they're going
to break you. Now, they don't always break you just, you know, the first second
or the first day or the first year or two but sooner or later they're going to
break you.
I know a man, a man that I knew
pretty well. He wasn't getting along with his wife. I spent years trying to
show them the way. To heal that breach that they could be happy. They weren't
able to meet each other half way. Each one said, let the other one do..., it's
the other one that's wrong. Oh, it was about fifty-fifty, one was about as
wrong as the other. Each one could see the wrongs of the other, there was
plenty wrongs to see. And each one could see only the wrongs and the faults of
the other. She said, "Let him correct himself, then maybe I'll think about
it." He said, "Let her get right and let her correct what's wrong
with her. Let her control that sharp, snappy tongue of hers", and all that
sort of thing." Well, finally he ran off. My friends, you can't cheat
these laws of God and get away with it. Nobody does. Maybe you don't believe
that.
Learning Life's One True Purpose
Well, God put us here to learn
lessons by experience; that's why we live this three score and ten. That's why
God has given us this life. A lot of us are so rebellious, so stubborn, so
stupid; we can't believe God when He says anything. The things that God says
are practical. Only, most of you don't know what He says because you don't
understand your Bibles. You just know what's been purported to be the Word of
God. Know the truth about it as you've never read it or heard it or understood
it before. Then open your own Bible and that's where you really find it and
believe what you see in your own Bible.
Now, Solomon said here, "So
I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Whatever my
eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure."
(Ecclesiastes 2:10) He just gave himself every pleasure. "For my heart
found pleasure in all my toil..." (Ecclesiastes 2:10) A lot of people
don't have the wisdom to know that there's pleasure in good honest hard work.
But he knew that. He even got a pleasure there that a lot of you people haven't
ever learned how to get. "...and this was the reward of all my toil. Then
I considered all that my hands had done, and the toil that I had spent in doing
it." (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11) When he got to be an old man, now and here
were years of efforts, here was a lifetime of a man that became great so that
was none like him in the earth, "and behold, all was vanity and the
striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."
(Ecclesiastes 2:11) Nothing more to be gained. Just vanity and a striving after
wind. What did he have, maybe a hand full or a box full of wind. What is it?
There's plenty of it around anyhow, you can catch it without going too far.
"So, [he says] I turned to
consider wisdom, and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after
the king? Only what has already been done." (Ecclesiastes 2:12)
Isn't anything more for him to
do. My friends, until you find the real values of life, until you come to
recapture the true values. That incidentally is the slogan of Ambassador
College here in Pasadena, California. "Recapture True Values". Until
you come to do that, you don't know what life's all about and you don't know
how to live it. You don't know how to make it happy. Life can be mighty
precious if you learn how.
Well, Solomon finally says
"So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me;
for all is vanity and the striving after wind." (Ecclesiastes 2:17)
Striving, striving, striving, what are you striving for, my friends. You're
working hard. You've got some goal, what is your goal? If your goal is anything
less that to attain to the resurrection of the dead in the Kingdom of God, as a
glorified divine son of God, born again into the Kingdom of God; if you have
any goal less than that, you're striving after wind. And when your life is
over, and when all of your effort has been expended, you'll look back on it and
realize that you've had an empty life. You had a fruitless life. You are a
miserable failure. And, someday your conscience is going to catch up with you.
You're going to realize you've had this one life to live; this one mortal human
life and you've thrown it away. And you've wasted it. What good is it?
Very few know what God has in
store for us. Listen, if I have or I don't have time for very much more,
Solomon said, "I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun,
seeing that I must leave it to the man that will come after me." (Ecclesiastes
2:18) And that's the way you will be if you are just looking at material
rewards and selfishness and greed and vanity and puffing yourself up. Where
will you be?
Listen I knew the president of
the biggest bank in the United States outside of New York. A great bank. Also,
I knew the man who was two steps higher than the president of the biggest bank
in New York that became the biggest bank in the world, before a California bank
out here got bigger in recent years. I was in the city of each of these banks.
I went into each one of them and I asked officers, what about so and so and
what happened to him. Why, they didn't even remember that he'd ever existed.
Greatest men in the United States. They spent their lives building great banks!
Big ones! World known! Today, they aren't even known in the institutions they
built.
There is no reward under heaven
worthwhile but to obtain salvation in the Kingdom of God when you learn what it
is. The very purpose for which you were born was to learn that lesson. And to
come to surrender to God as living ruler over your very daily life. To receive
the very divine nature of the Eternal God. And to yield to permit God to
develop in you His righteousness, His very character so that you shall be born
of Him. God help you to understand.
Why Were You Born? — Booklet
Now, listen, I want you to sit
down right now and write in for the booklet on Why Were You Born? I
think of all the booklets that we have written, that we've published that I've
been announcing on this program for years and years, that there has never been
one more important than this. This lays down before you the whole purpose of
life. It lays down the whole of the why's and wherefore's
of this thing that we call salvation. Why do we need it? And just what is it?
What do you get and how? Why does God permit wars? And so much human suffering
and heartaches, fears and worries and all these type of things. Empty lives,
why does God allow such suffering in this world? And what is the purpose being
worked out here below? You know that mankind seems to have failed utterly to
understand. He has lost his way, he has lost sight of the very purpose of life.
And yet, there's a reason why, not only why the world was put here, not only
why God put mankind here in general but listen, there's a reason why God had
you born as an individual. There's a reason why you as a person, as an
individual, were put here on this world and most of you don't know what it is.
And you're failing to realize that very purpose. Now, naturally, it has to do
with the plan of redemption. But even that plan is not very widely understood
today. Nor, rightly preached.
As a matter of fact, very few
understand the plan. Very few understand the purpose. Very few understand what
redemption is, what salvation is, where we go, what is the condition, what are
the terms, how do we get there, why do we need it; all of those things. You
know, we should ask and we should understand. Why does man need any redemption
anyway? Why do we need it? The popular teaching is that, one is saved at the
time he accepts Christ as personal savior or when he professes Christ or makes
his decision for Christ or in some churches when he's baptized, or when he
joins the church or whatever the way of initiation might be. Well then, listen
my friends, I'd like to ask you this, I want you to think about it. Why is it
then that God does not right then and there in that moment, remove the man if
he's already saved? Why does not God right then and there remove the saved
Christian from this unhappy world of suffering? Why does he have to go on and
suffer? And then again you read in the Bible "It is through much
tribulation we must enter the Kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22 KJV paraphrased)
Why?
Why doesn't God take a person
immediately to his reward and remove him from all of the pains and the
heartaches and the suffering of this world if he is then and there saved? Why
is there such a thing as sin? Why? Now we hear that it came from the original
fall of man. Will you understand about that original fall? Was there any
original fall after all? You know, my friends, we've heard about it, we take it
for granted but did you ever look into it? You will if you read this book. It
will explain it. It will explain all about it. Now, this is a booklet, my
friends, that, well you just can't understand about life, you can't understand
about salvation, you can't understand God's purpose unless you understand what
is in this little booklet. The name of this booklet, Why Were You Born?
Today, we're living in the most frightening, the most terrifying, the
most momentous days of the history of this whole earth. Never
before has any previous generation lived in times like these. Never has there been
a time of world eruption, of world trouble, of world chaos such as we're living in today. And there is no peace, and there is no
hope of peace and the future outlook is dark indeed, if it were not for the good news of 'The
World Tomorrow!' But in the meantime, mankind is bringing
himself to total oblivion. If God Almighty didn't intervene, there would no flesh be saved alive on this
earth, so said Jesus Christ 1900 years ago. So say your world famous scientists today. And that's official.
Now we've been seeing in this most neglected and one of the most
wonderful books in all
of the Bible, the book of Hebrews which is the Priesthood book, we've been seeing how
Jesus Christ is on the job today and has been for nineteen hundred years and
more; night and day, on the job. As I've said before, in this series, you've heard a lot about Christ's ministry of 3 1/2 years, over
1900 years ago, we talk a lot about that, you've heard a lot about Christ hanging on a cross dead; you see
pictures of Him hanging on a cross dead. You hear a little, about once a year,
about the resurrection of Christ on Easter time, because Easter is supposed to
celebrate the resurrection, actually it doesn't, believe it or not, startling as that
may be. If you don't believe that, write for our booklet on Easter and it'll certainly startle you, it will shock you, but it's factual and it's absolutely truth and you can prove it.
Very few people,
however, ever give a thought to what has Jesus Christ been doing since, and so
we've been looking in this Priesthood book. He's on the job for
you and me and if you don't know what He's doing, and if you don't realize the
connection between His work, His job now, and you... well, I wouldn't give you
very much for your chances of the salvation that a lot of you think you have.
And a great many people are deceived and don't have what they think they have today, it's about time we begin to wake up and get our eyes open to the
truth.
Chapter 3, Verse 1:
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession,
Christ Jesus,
Notice that Christians are being called holy. Understand that ours is not a physical material calling and that Jesus is our high priest.
Verse 2:
who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as
Moses also was faithful in all His house.
God the Father appointed Him, and Jesus was faithful. Consider also that although Moses was flawed, he is considered faithful in the same context as Jesus.
Verse 3:
For this One has been counted worthy of more
glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the
house.
Yes, Jesus was sinless and, yes, accounted for a lot more glory than Moses. But this also suggests that Moses, too, was worthy of glory.
Verse 4:
For every house is built by someone, but He
who built all things is God.
There's an old joke that there was a contest between God and an evolutionist to make something. The evolutionist went to grab something physical, like soil, and in the story God says, no you have to first make your own dirt out of nothing. The evolutionist was stunned. But God made everything and that is also a point in Hebrew 3:4.
Verse 5:
And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house
as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,
It was probably because Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant that God used Moses like He did. God has great things in store for you in His kingdom, and perhaps even great things in this life.
Verse 6:
but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose
house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm
to the end.
Jesus is a Son of the House of God, but if we Christians are faithful, we are part of the house if we endure to the end.
Verse 7:
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you will hear His voice,
Verse 8:
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
HWA stated:
Now, here we've been, in
this third chapter, and we've come to the place where Paul, the Apostle Paul,
in writing this for us, had quoted from one of the Psalms, he had quoted from
the Psalm 95, verses seven to eleven, where David in David's day had written, "To day if ye [that's those in David's day] will hear his voice
[now, that was hundreds of years after Moses. So, he said to them at that
time], harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation
in the wilderness [as they did back in Moses' time]:"
At the time they were
being led by Moses out of Egypt and on over to the Promised Land. That, my
friends, was the picture, the type of our being led out of the slavery of sin,
which is the transgression of God's law, in other words, going the ways that have
seemed right to man and contrary to the ways of God. And being led out of the
slavery that that has imposed. In other words, the way that seemed right to a
man has only brought curses upon us and it's bringing final
death. And so, their being delivered out of Egypt was a
type of our being delivered out of sin. And their journey through the
wilderness on to the Promised Land was the type of our journey through this
life. And the Promised Land, the Palestine that they were to enter
into then was the type of our entering into the kingdom of God
and the final rest from all
of the curses that we've brought on ourselves by defying God and the way of God. And
so David was saying to those people, "harden not your
hearts as they had done back there when, he said, your fathers tempted me,
proved me, and saw my work for forty years."
Verse 9:
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And
saw My works forty years.
The fathers had hardened their hearts. They were sure they were right. They found fault with God's government and felt that they were fine in their rebellion.
Verse 10:
Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, "They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known
My ways.'
Verse 11:
So I swore in My wrath, "They shall not
enter My rest."'
HWA stated:
and so God said, He
swore on His wrath that... They shall not enter into my rest." And
that generation did not. Everyone, except two of that generation died; never
got into Palestine.
Now then, the
warning of David was, that if they did not continue to obey God, if they
continued in unbelief and in disobedience, they would never enter
into any final rest from all of these troubles of
this life, and the curses that we bring on ourselves.
Verse 12:
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
HWA stated:
Verse
twelve, to us says, "Beware
brethren [now he's speaking of course to those who are already Christians,
brethren are those who have been begotten of God, that have received the Holy
Spirit of God, the ones that are already brethren, not to the people in the
world, this is not an evangelistic appeal to get converted, this is a message
to those who are converted]. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you
[that is already converted Christians], lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."
Now how did they depart from God? That is
used as a type for the way we can depart from God. Back
in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus we find that the Eternal had said unto Moses
before the Old Covenant was given, before any of the law of Moses was given,
before the Old Covenant had been made with Israel, He said, when they were
grumbling because they had nothing to eat, and they were hungry, and God said,
"Well I'll perform a miracle, I'll rain bread from heaven for you. And you
shall go out, the people shall go out, and gather a certain rate every day that
I may prove them whether they will walk in My law or not."
And, it shall come to pass [God said], that on the sixth day
they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as
they gather daily." (Exodus
16:5)
There would be
enough each day for that day, God only gave them today's bread today but on the
sixth day He gave them bread for two days. Twice as much. Well, then on the
sixth day, Moses said, no "This
is that which the Lord hath said [He said that they went out and gathered twice
as much each man, there was twice as much falling from heaven on that day and
he said], This is that which the ETERNAL hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the ETERNAL [so]: bake
that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning." (Exodus 16:23).
Do your baking, your boiling and all of the preparation
today. Today is a preparation, tomorrow is a Holy Sabbath. So, they laid it up
until the morning and it did not breed worms and stink whereas every other day it
had and here God was revealing whether time had been lost. (Exodus 16:22-24)
If you have any
doubt about time having been lost and maybe we don't know which day God rested on at creation, write for our
booklet, 'Has Time Been Lost?' That will give you seven lines of positive proof
as to whether
or not time has gotten mixed up. Have we gotten the calendar mixed
up? Do we know which day is the same seventh day God rested on at creation? Well He was revealing to the Israelites there. Now, on that day
it didn't breed worms and
stink and every other day it did.
"And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the ETERNAL: to day ye shall not find it in the field." (Exodus 16:25)
Well, some of them thought it didn't make any difference. Some of them thought time might have
gotten mixed up. So, they went out on this day to gather and they said we'll wait until the next day, the first day of the week; we'll rest on that day. We'll make that our rest day.
"And
it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for
to gather, and they found none. And the ETERNAL said to Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?" (Exodus 16:27-28)
The
Sabbath Given by God
Here were God's
commandments, here were God's laws, before the Old Covenant, before the Law of
Moses had been given. This
is no part of the law of Moses, they didn't know there ever would be such a
thing as the law of Moses, in fact there wasn't any such thing; it'd never been given. But God was saying how long will you
refuse to keep My commandments and My laws and here was one of them that
antedates the Old Covenant. Now the Old Covenant then couldn't take it away, the
Old Covenant didn't bring it, it couldn't take it away. Here
was the law of God, my friends, that the Law of Moses didn't bring and that the
Law of Moses can't take away.
"The ETERNAL
said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?" (Exodus 16:28)
"See,
for that the ETERNAL hath given you the sabbath," He didn't say that Moses gave it to you, he said, 'the Eternal has
given it to you.' Now, listen my friends, most of you have always heard that
Moses gave it to them. You know you have, open your Bible, Exodus 16:29 and see it.
"See,
for that the ETERNAL hath given you the sabbath [not Moses], therefore he
giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his
place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day [after that stern
rebuke]."Exodus
16:29-30
Now then, next, I wanted you to turn over here to Exodus 32
now, and the first four verses
"And when the
people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount..." Now, this is after the Old
Covenant had been made and Moses was up getting some of the Laws from God on
the mount. He was up there for forty days and forty nights and what did the
people do while Moses was away from them forty days?
Just let God
send a leader; people will follow the leader. They want to follow a man instead
of following God. And they'll follow the man, and if the man is a man of God, they're following God
because they follow the man, but just let that man go away about forty days,
and the people forget all about him. And they get back into their own ways
again. My friends, most of you are like that; that's human nature! And my
friends listen, that's the thing you were put on this earth to overcome! That's the thing you were put here to eradicate out of your nature! Why don't you begin to really follow God?
Now,
Moses delayed to come down, yes, God kept him up there for forty days and then
"...the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said to him,
Up, make us gods [make some idol gods, in other words], make us gods which
shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of
the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him." (Exodus 32:1)
You know,
my friends, in my personal experience I've learned that's exactly the way people will act. I've had a little flock that had been raised up; people had been
brought to God, which God had brought to Him, through my efforts. I hadn't done it, God had
done it but He'd used me. But the people looked to me, and as soon
as the work began to expand and I was taken to Hollywood and New York and
Chicago and different places in order to get the work of God going on radio
stations; coast-to-coast and all over the nation, I only needed to be gone
about forty days and the people would say, "Oh, as for this Herbert W
Armstrong, we wot not what's become of him, let's go off into some other
doctrines and let's get off into others, and let's throw away this truth."
I have seen it happen! What kind of human beings are we, anyhow?
And I
found that they'd only been looking to a man in the first place. My friends, I'm not trying to get you to look at me. I'm trying to get you to look at Jesus Christ; He's your
savior! HE'S ON THE THRONE OF GRACE and HE'S THERE NIGHT AND DAY! And you can
go direct to Him anytime! Don't you know that? He is there, I'm merely a... just another human being to sort of help you a little, that's all. But God is
the One that does it; I haven't any power. I just
have a little faith and God has given me faith and I know He hears.
Well
anyway, let's go on with this real rapidly now, in the seventh verse, this is
in Exodus 32, "And the ETERNAL said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy
people... have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of THE
WAY [now I want you to notice what they did, they had turned away quickly out
of THE WAY] which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have
worshipped it," (Exodus 32:7-8)
Now, what was it
we read here in Hebrews? David had written of these
people, "they do always err in their heart" as God had said. He was
"...grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their
heart; they have not known MY WAYS." (Hebrews 3:10)
How
Did They Turn Away From God?
Now, in what general
manner did they turn away from God? There were two things above all other
things that they turned to their own way and away from God's ways and that was:
In breaking the Sabbath and in worshipping idols! Here, they had made an idol.
And God said, "They have not known my ways! They have quickly gotten out
of THE WAY which I commanded them." God has commanded us a way, and that
is why you are put on this earth is to learn that way and live it! Now, next, I
want to read Leviticus 26 here. Here was what God had said through Moses in the
day of Moses to those people. He said to them:
"Ye shall make
you no idols nor graven image... to bow down unto it: for I am the ETERNAL your
God [then He said]. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the ETERNAL." (Leviticus
26:1-2)
Just
those two commandments He stressed. Why? Because those were the two that they
seem to disobey more than any other. Now, listen, it doesn't make any difference, my friends, which command you break; if you break any one, you're guilty of all. You're guilty if you
break anyone of them! Because it's like... and there are the ten general principles, the ten
general broad principles of the ten commandments, and all the law hangs on
that, and its all on the one word love, and on the two great commandments; love to God and
love to neighbor.
And the
first four commandments tell you how to love God and the last six tell you how
to love your neighbor and all the Bible is merely an elaboration and
magnification of that; the whole way of God is summed up in those ten spiritual
principles, not moral code, but spiritual principles of life. It is the way of
God! Now, it's like the ten links of a chain and you break any one link, you've broken the chain.
But these are the two that Israel was continually breaking. These are the two
then that God stressed. And He said:
"If
ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give
you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase [you'll have crops the year around]. And I will give you peace in
the land...And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight." (Leviticus 26:3-4, 6, 8)
They
would have become the greatest, mightiest, most powerful nation on the face of
the earth. If they would keep His commandments!
"But
[He said] if you will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these
commandments... I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, the burning
ague [or fever], that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye
shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it...and ye shall be
slain before your enemies [and]: they that hate you shall reign over you."
(Leviticus 26:14;16-17)
And, it was a 2,520-year punishment that God pronounced on them.
If they didn't keep His
commandments and He mentions two: Idolatry and Sabbath breaking, as the two sins that
they were to avoid. Now, they were divided into two nations; and first Israel
and then Judah, broke both the Sabbath and the command against idolatry. Those
were the two commandments, my friends, for which they were driven into the
greatest punishment that God Almighty has ever meted out to any race or to any
people; his own chosen people because of those two great commandments. That's the way they didn't walk in his ways, that's the way they didn't have faith in God,
that's the way they departed from Him.
Sabbath
An Identifying Sign
Now,
here in the twentieth chapter of Ezekiel, God says beginning in verse 10:
speaking of the House of Israel now:
"Wherefore
I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them my
statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also [now in addition
to that] I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they
might know that I am the ETERNAL that [does] sanctify them." (Ezekiel 20:10-12)
He gave
them the Sabbath as a sign by which they would know whom the true God is and be
kept in the true worship of the true God. And the God that sanctifies or sets
them apart as His people that would, in other words, identify them to the world as the people of God. It was the
identifying sign, it identified God so they would
know who God was. It identified them as His
people. So, He gave them this particular badge of identification, as the very sign of God for that
purpose. But, what happened?
"But
the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in
my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths [not the Jew's
Sabbaths, these were not Jews, these were Israelites. And they were never Jews,
never called Jews, the first place the word Jews in your Bible is mentioned, II
Kings, 16:6 (read it after the broadcast is over, II Kings, 16:6) and there you
will find these Israelites, Israel at war against the Jews and the Jews against
Israel. A different nation altogether. The Jews were merely those of Judah that
split off and seceeded and formed a new
nation; the kingdom of Judah. Now] and my sabbaths they greatly polluted [not the Jewish
Sabbaths, God says, My Sabbaths]: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon
them in the wilderness, to consume them. But [he said] I wrought for my name's
sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I
brought them out." (Ezekiel
20:13-14
But, He talked to their children a generation later, verse eighteen.
"But
I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their
judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the ETERNAL your God;
walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my
sabbaths." (Ezekiel
20:18-20)
My friends,
can you see, that their fathers that had walked in the ways of the Gentiles
around them had kept a different Sabbath. And God says, don't hallow their ways, don't hallow their Sabbaths, but hallow my Sabbaths. There's a great difference.
I want to
tell you my friends, this thing is more important, with God, than you even
remotely dream of. Now, a carnal minded man will say, "Well, I can't see
where it makes any difference." Well, neither did those people back there in the wilderness.
They didn't know God's ways, the ways of God they had not known and you were born without knowing the ways of God and if
you haven't been taught the
ways of God, you don't know them, my friends. It's about time we realize that. You didn't know anything the day you were born! You've been brought up in
this world, learning the ways of the world: not the ways of God. You've got to unlearn the
ways of the world and begin to learn the ways of God if you're ever going to be
able to walk in them. Now, I must hurry, I want to cover this ground this time,
so, He said,
"I
am the ETERNAL your God; walk in MY statutes, and keep MY judgments, and do
them; And hallow MY sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that
ye may know that I am the ETERNAL your God. Notwithstanding the children
rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments
to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I
said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against
them in the wilderness." (Ezekiel
20:19-21
And, verse twenty-three:
"I lifted
up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter
them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries [why? Here they
were driven out in 2520 years of slavery as God had said back there in
Leviticus 26. Now, why?]; Because they had not executed my judgments, but had
despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths [had polluted God's
Sabbaths], and their eyes were after their fathers' idols." (Ezekiel 20:23-24
Idolatry
and Sabbath breaking, the two great sins of Israel, that's why they'd been driven out,
my friends, into slavery and captivity for 2520 years.
What
About The Jewish People?
Now,
what about Judah, the Jewish people? Alright, Jeremiah seventeen gives that,
now here it is, the very last verse, the twenty-seventh verse, Jeremiah
seventeen, and here was what Jeremiah was inspired to say...well, in the
twenty-first verse,
"Thus saith
the ETERNAL; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day,
nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of
your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the
sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither inclined
their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive
instruction." (Jeremiah 17:21-23)
Are you willing
to receive instruction? Listen, my friends, all your life you have been receiving the instruction of this world. And maybe of some of this world's religions. And not the religion of God
in your Bible.
And if
you haven't heard it before it's because you've been brought up in this world. You've been reared in it,
the world that does not know the ways of God, that has departed from the ways of
God. Your Bible says, "Prove all things!" You think you have proved
it? No, you haven't. You haven't really proved
these things, because your Bible says things that you don't believe it says. And you believe things that the Bible doesn't say but just
exactly the opposite. You know, I know you don't hear this kind of preaching, do you? Well, it's going to stir you up and make you think a little bit! But I
still say, don't believe me; I'm not going to mislead you. I'm just trying to get you to look into your Bible. Now, here are the ways of God. It's in your Bible. Open your Bible and read it with your own
eyes. Now, verse 27,
"But
if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day [says God], and not to
bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day;
then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces
of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." (Jeremiah
17:27)
And you
turn over to the very last chapter in Jeremiah, the very last chapter now, in the
book of Jeremiah, and you will find where that absolutely happened: And here it
is, the fifty-second chapter of Jeremiah and the thirteenth verse:
Where
Nebuzaradan, the general of the army of King Nebuchadnezzar entered into
Jerusalem and, verse 13 "[he]
burned the house of the ETERNAL, and the king's house; and all the houses of
Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire." (Jeremiah
52:13).
Now, my friends, let's get back to this and see. Here in David's day, "Harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation, in [the same way they did] in the day of temptation in the
wilderness [your fathers]:...have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest." (Hebrews 3:8-11)
Now, that's quoted from David, in the Psalms, 95: Verses 7-11. But now,
Paul, speaking to us in this time now, and that's for us in this
twentieth-century because all those things are written for our learning and
admonition, and here it now is in the New Testament, in Hebrews 3:12,
"Take
heed, brethren [that's brethren in Christ, in this day of grace], lest there be
in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living
God." (Hebrews 3:12)
That's
the way they departed and that is given as an example for you and for me. So,
while it is said today, in this day of the twentieth-century, this most crucial day, this most terrifying day of all the
history of this world, "To day, if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in
the provocation," I have shown you how they did it. God says for us not to
do it as they did it.
Verse 13:
but exhort one another daily, while it is
called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin.
Exhorting one another daily suggests that Christians should strive to have positive interactions with other Christians.
Some, however, have been hardened by deceit and do not think that they need to have interactions beyond their family. That is wrong. Hebrews 3:13 is another reason why all should physically attend the Feast of Tabernacles if at all possible.
Verse 14:
For we have become partakers of Christ if we
hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
Yes, Christians are to endure to the end.
Verse 15:
while it is said: "Today, if you will
hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
Verse 16:
For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was
it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
Well, today, most of those who have rejected true Philadelphian era governance have hardened their hearts and rebel now. They will not enter the rest of the protection Jesus promised the Philadelphians in Revelation 3:10 if they do not change (see also There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Near Petra). Three times in the Book of Hebrews, the Apostle Paul is warning Christians not to harden their hearts through rebellion. This is a generation those admonitions are pointing to.
Laodicean Christians, like the ancient children of Israel, discount how God's Spirit worked and rebelled against God's government. In this time, Laodicean Christians refuse to sufficiently humble themselves and accept that God's Spirit has been clearly working in the Continuing Church of God--the COG which has the confirmed signs of the Holy Spirit that were prophesied for the last days in the Book of Acts. For details, check out the article: Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18?
But, oddly, Laodiceans discount that God has given and confirmed numerous dreams associated with the CCOG (see also Dreams, the Bible, the Radio Church of God, and the Continuing Church of God).
The Apostle Jude prophesied that there would be people who reject authority and be complainers:
8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. (Jude 8)
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; (Jude 11-12)
16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. (Jude 16-19)
There are certainly a lot of people who reject authority--proper church government as well as being complainers these days. And yes, grumblers and complainer tend to be divisive. Of course, the reality is that those grumblers and complainers do not normally believe that the passages actually apply to them.
Sadly, many this century have hardened their hearts. Look, when Pharaoh hardened his heart, he thought he was doing what was best for Egypt. When the children of Israel hardened their hearts, they apparently thought that they were the people of God, hence they were doing the right thing--yet they had rejected one-man rule under Moses. According to Herbert W. Armstrong, the rebellion Hebrews 3 referred to was "in the days of Moses" (Armstrong HW. Law and Grace. Radio broadcast) The children of Israel thought committees of leaders (cf. Numbers 16) or simply trusting themselves was proper (cf. Numbers 16:3)--but they were wrong. Sadly, most end time Christians are Laodiceans and are like that.
While Jesus only promises to keep the Philadelphian Christians from the "hour of trial" there is a warning to other Christians not to harden their hearts like happened with the Israelites in their "day of trial." Yet, the bulk of the non-Philadelphian Christians have hardened their hearts related to supporting true hierarchical governance (see also The Bible, Peter, Paul, John, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, Roderick C. Meredith, and Bob Thiel on Church Government).
Verse 17:
Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it
not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
Verse 18:
And to whom did He swear that they would not
enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief.
Chapter 4
Verse 1:
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering
His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
HWA stated:
And the rest promised us
now, is the rest of the very kingdom of God. A spiritual rest when this mortal
shall become immortal, this human shall actually be made divine; by a
resurrection from the dead or by an instantaneous changing from mortal to immortal.
Verse 2:
For indeed the gospel was preached to us as
well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in those who heard it.
Many people hear at least part of the message.
But most reject important parts of it.
Most do not have the faith they should.
Verse 3:
For we who have believed do enter that rest,
as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, "They shall not enter My
rest,"' although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
True Christians have been begotten as children of God and are now heirs to that rest.
Verse 4:
For He has spoken in a certain place of the
seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His
works";
Now we clearly see with the reference to Genesis 2:2-3 of the seventh-day Sabbath.
Verse 5:
and again in this place: "They shall not
enter My rest."
There are most who in this age will not be willing to obey God and even have the true weekly rest.
HWA stated:
Now
that is the Greek word katápausín, which means spiritual rest
Verse 6:
Since therefore it remains that some must
enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of
disobedience,
Verse 7:
again He designates a certain 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."
Verse 8:
For if Joshua had given them rest, then He
would not afterward have spoken of another day.
HWA stated:
if
they had had rest then, there wouldn't have to be another
day today now for us to get salvation.
Verse 9:
There remains therefore a rest for the people
of God.
HWA stated:
And here the word is sabbatismos, not the Greek
word katápausín but the Greek word
sabbatismos which means the
literal keeping of a seventh day Sabbath. There it is. And that's for us today.
Notice what the New Testament Book of Hebrews teaches using five Protestant (including three 'literal'), one Eastern Orthodox, and three Roman Catholic translations:
3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." 5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience...9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, NIV).
3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”; 5 and again in this passage, “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.” 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,.. 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, NASB)
3 for we do enter into the rest — we who did believe, as He said, ‘So I sware in My anger, If they shall enter into My rest — ;’ and yet the works were done from the foundation of the world, 4 for He spake in a certain place concerning the seventh [day] thus: ‘And God did rest in the seventh day from all His works;’ 5 and in this [place] again, ‘If they shall enter into My rest — ;’ 6 since then, it remaineth for certain to enter into it, and those who did first hear good news entered not in because of unbelief ... 9 there doth remain, then, a sabbatic rest to the people of God, 10 for he who did enter into his rest, he also rested from his works, as God from His own. 11 May we be diligent, then, to enter into that rest, that no one in the same example of the unbelief may fall, (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, Young's Literal Translation)
3 For those having believed enter into the rest, as He has said: “So I swore in my wrath, ‘they shall not enter into My rest.’” And yet the works have been finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken somewhere concerning the seventh day in this way, “And on the seventh day God rested from all His works.” 5 And again in this passage. “They shall not enter into My rest.” 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter into it, and those having received the good news formerly did not enter in because of disobedience, ... 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one having entered into His rest, he also rested from his works, as God did from the own. 11 Therefore we should be diligent to enter into that rest, so that no one should fall by the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, Berean Literal Bible)
3 for we enter into the rest—we who believed, as He said, “So I swore in My anger, They will [not] enter into My rest”; and yet the works were done from the foundation of the world, 4 for He spoke in a certain place concerning the seventh [day] thus: “And God rested in the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and in this [place] again, “They will [not] enter into My rest”; 6 since then, it remains for some to enter into it, and those who first heard good news did not enter in because of unbelief ... 9 there remains, then, a Sabbath rest to the people of God, 10 for he who entered into His rest, he also rested from his works, as God from His own. 11 May we be diligent, then, to enter into that rest, that no one may fall in the same example of the unbelief, (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, Literal Standard Version Bible)
3 However, we who have faith are entering into that rest, even as God said: As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest. And yet, the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 Somewhere [else], God said this about the seventh day: God rested on the seventh day from all his works. ... 9 There must still be, then, a Sabbath rest for God’s people, 10 and anyone who has entered into his rest has also rested from his [own] works, just as God did. 11 Therefore, let us do our utmost to enter into that rest, for fear that anyone should fall according to the same pattern of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:3-4, 9-11. THE EASTERN / GREEK ORTHODOX BIBLE NEW TESTAMENT. The EOB New Testament is presented in memory of Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos † 2007 https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/assets/uploads/books/18204/Eastern_Orthodox_Bible-New_Testament.pdf)
3 We, however, who have faith, are entering a place of rest, as in the text: And then in my anger I swore that they would never enter my place of rest. Now God's work was all finished at the beginning of the world; 4 as one text says, referring to the seventh day: And God rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing. 5 And, again, the passage above says: They will never reach my place of rest. 6 It remains the case, then, that there would be some people who would reach it, and since those who first heard the good news were prevented from entering by their refusal to believe … 9 There must still be, therefore, a seventh-day rest reserved for God's people, 10 since to enter the place of rest is to rest after your work, as God did after his. 11 Let us, then, press forward to enter this place of rest, or some of you might copy this example of refusal to believe and be lost. (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, NJB)
3 For we, that have believed, shall enter into their rest; as he said: As I sware in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: and truly the works from the foundation of the world being perfected. 4 For he said in a certain place of the seventh day thus: And God rested the seventh day from all his works … 9 Therefore there is left a sabbatisme for the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, the same also hath rested from his works, as God did from his. 11 Let us hasten therefore to enter into that rest; lest any man fall into the same example of incredulity. (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, The Original and True Rheims New Testament of Anno Domini 1582)
3 For we who believed enter into [that] rest, just as he has said: “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter into my rest,’” and yet his works were accomplished at the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works”; 5 and again, in the previously mentioned place, “They shall not enter into my rest.” 6 Therefore, since it remains that some will enter into it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience,... 9 Therefore, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. 10And whoever enters into God’s rest, rests from his own works as God did from his. 11 Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience.(Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, New American Bible)
Thus, the New Testament clearly shows that the command to keep the seventh day Sabbath is in the New Testament. It also shows that only those who will not observe it because of their disobedience argue otherwise. And that is why Paul observed it.
Even Origen of Alexandria understood some of this as he wrote:
But what is the feast of the Sabbath except that which the apostle speaks, "There remaineth therefore a Sabbatism," that is, the observance of the Sabbath, by the people of God...let us see how the Sabbath ought to be observed by a Christian. On the Sabbath-day all worldly labors ought to be abstained from...give yourselves up to spiritual exercises, repairing to church, attending to sacred reading and instruction...this is the observance of the Christian Sabbath (Translated from Origen's Opera 2, Paris, 1733, Andrews J.N. in History of the Sabbath, 3rd editon, 1887. Reprint Teach Services, Brushton (NY), 1998, pp. 324-325).
As it turns out, at least 20 Protestant translations make it clear that Hebrews 4:9 is pointing to the weekly seventh-day Sabbath (ASV, BLB, BSB, CSB, DBT, ERV, ESV, GNT, HCSB, ILB, ISV, JMNT, Jubilee 2000, NASB, NETB, NHEB, NIV, WEB, WNT, YLT).
Yet, one reason that many today do not understand this is that certain translators have intentionally mistranslated the Greek term sabbatismos (ςαββατισμóς) which is actually found in Hebrews 4:9 (Green JP. The Interlinear Bible, 2nd edition. Hendrickson Publishers, 1986, p. 930).
The Protestant KJV and NKJV mistranslate it as does the CHANGED version of the Rheims New Testament, also known as the Challoner version (changes in the 18th century)--all three mistranslate the word as 'rest,' whereas there is a different Greek term (katapausin), translated as 'rest' in the New Testament. Sabbatismos clearly refers to a 'sabbath-rest' and honest scholars will all admit that. Because of the mistranslations, many today do not realize that the seventh-day Sabbath was specifically enjoined for Christians in the New Testament.
If you are Roman Catholic, consider the following:
Codex Amiatinus The most celebrated manuscript of the Latin Vulgate Bible, remarkable as the best witness to the true text of St. Jerome ... (Fenlon, John Francis. "Codex Amiatinus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 21 Apr. 2012 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04081a.htm>)
Here is the Latin from the Codex Amiatinus:
9 itaque relinquitur sabbatismus populo Dei (Hebrews 4:9, Codex Amiatinus. http://www.latinvulgate.com/lv/verse.aspx?t=1&b=19&c=4 accessed 10/22/15)
It is clear, even to non-Latin readers that Hebrews 4:9 is definitely talking about the Sabbath.
Decades ago, a Protestant told me that the reason he did not keep the seventh-day Sabbath was because it was not taught for Christians in the New Testament. I handed him an RSV Bible) and read him Hebrews 4. He then looked at the verses himself. After doing so, he said because his grandmother was a "good Christian" in his view, and because she did not keep it, he felt that he did not. He failed to truly rely on the Bible, but instead on false tradition (see also Tradition and Scripture: From the Bible and Church Writings). Sadly most who profess Christianity do not keep the seventh-day Sabbath and rely mainly on improper traditions, whether they realize it or not.
Notice something from the Jehovah's Witnesses translation of scripture:
9 So there remains a sabbath-rest for the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9, NWT, 2013)
For those interested in another source, here is a translation of Hebrews 4:9 from the, Eastern Peschitta, which is an Aramaic text (Roth AG, Daniel BB. Aramaic English New Testament, 5th edition. Netazari Press, 2012):
9. For there remains a Shabat for the people of Elohim.
Here is a claimed translation from a 'Hebrew' New Testament (which some call the Brit HaHadashah):
9 There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God.
Whether we look at translations from the Greek, the first Latin Vulgate, Aramaic, or Hebrew, it should be clear that the Bible does enjoin Sabbath-keeping for Christians.
Professor Andrew T. Lincoln stated:
“The use of sabbatismos elsewhere in extant Greek literature gives an indication of its more exact shade of meaning. It is used in Plutarch, De Superstitione 3 (Moralia 166A) of Sabbath observance. There are also four occurrences in post canonical literature that are independent of Hebrews 4:9. They are Justin, Dialogue c. Trypho 23:3; Epiphanius, Panar. haer. 30:2:2; Martyrium Petri et Pauli cap 1; Const Ap. 2:36:2. In each of these places the term denotes the observance or celebration of the Sabbath. This usage corresponds to the Septuagint usage of the cognate verb sabbatizo (cf. Exodus 16:30; Leviticus. 23:32; 26:34; 2 Chronicles. 36:21), which also has reference to Sabbath observance. Thus the writer to the Hebrews is saying that since the time of Joshua an observance of the Sabbath rest has been outstanding” (“Sabbath, Rest and Eschatology in the New Testament,”in From Sabbath to Lord’s Day, Carson DA, editor. Wipf and Sotck, 1982, p. 213).
The Apostolic Constitutions (3rd century) uses it as follows:
You shall observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence: it is a rest for meditation of the law, not for idleness of the hands. (Apostolic Constitutions 2:36:2)
The Greek word the above verse translates as "observe the Sabbath" is ςαββατισμóν (Funk F.X. editor/translator. Didascalia et Constitutiones apostolorum. Panderbornae : in libraria Ferdinandi Schoeningh, 1905, p. 121), which in English is transliterated sabbatismon.
Although the Sabbath is refreshing rest, many ignore that and consider it a burden. God says it is His holy day and should be considered as a delight:
13 "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, 14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 58:13-14)
Notice the following prophecy that seems to apply to those who do not keep the Sabbath:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
12 To whom He said, "This is the rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,"
And, "This is the refreshing";
Yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:11-12)
Will you hear?
But because the Greco-Roman churches, and then later Martin Luther, declared they had doubts if Hebrews should be in the New Testament, they accepted Sunday, even though the Greek and context make it clear that the Sabbath is on the seventh-day of the week--the day we now call Saturday.
I have wondered if the reason that the Greco-Roman Catholics questioned Hebrews, and later Martin Luther, was because they found it was supportive of Saturday over Sunday.
Now, back to Hebrews 4, Verse 10:
For he who has entered His rest has himself
also ceased from his works as God did from His.
God rested from His works on the seventh-day (Genesis 2:2-13). True Christians rest each week on the Sabbath as well.
Verse 11:
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that
rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
Instead of being diligent to enter that rest, the Greco-Romans 1) switched the day and 2) do not teach that one actually should rest an entire day from sunset to sunset each week. Protestants have basically gone along with that.
Verse 12:
For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to
the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Verse 13:
And there is no creature hidden from His
sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must
give account.
God is omniscient and omnipresent--He is everywhere and sees everything.
Verse 14:
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest
who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
confession.
HWA stated:
As I have said, if there is a golden text to the book of Hebrew, it is here in the fourth chapter. ...Well, here's the real golden text, now, of this book which shows Christ in His present office. Do you see that you have such a High Priest? Do you ever take advantage of it? My friends, Christianity is a very practical religion; but the way most people understand it and the fact they don't understand it, they don't know what real Christianity is. I'm not talking about the popular kind of religion falsely called Christianity. I mean the real thing of Jesus Christ. It's the most practical thing in the world. There's no superstition about it, and it really pays. You really get the answer.
Yes, we have Him there but you're not going to get any service from Him my friends unless you go after it. It's there waiting for you! Now, Jesus Christ is on the job, night and day, but He's on the job for those that come to Him. Now there are people coming to Him, and He's keeping busy. But He's has plenty of time to look after you too. He has plenty of time to see that you get the right breaks. You know, very often ... two basketball teams, are going to meet in a great contest. They're evenly matched. How's it going to come out? Oh, the speculation you read a lot more in the sport pages about it before the great game and the great battle than you do afterward. Speculation as to who is going to win — very often they say it all depends on the breaks. It all depends on the breaks. Call it luck, what ever you will. Do you know there's one on that throne up there as your High Priest that will give you the breaks? He has power to interfere even with nature. And the day of miracles are not past, they are past only for those who don't know God, who separated themselves from God and God has a way of performing miracles for His own people in such a way that the doubters and the skeptics never can see it. They don't get in on it. They don't get these blessings, they don't get these benefits.
No,
God set before us blessings on the one hand and curses on the other. And God
Almighty said to every man, women and child in this
world: Choose! You have
to choose whether you're going to want the blessings or the cursings. You know while we're on it, back here in Deuteronomy 30, remember where God says
"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, [that's on one hand]
and death and evil." [on the other] (Deuteronomy 30:15)
Now that's in Deuteronomy 30, verse 15 and then in verse 19. And you
hear me quote this quite often. You're going to continue to hear me quote this a great deal. Don't think it's a repeat broadcast, because I use this in so many, I want
you to get this. I want you to understand it.
God
made us free moral agents. And God says, "I call heaven and earth to
record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and
cursing: therefore choose life..." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Verse 15:
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet
without sin.
This verse, like Hebrew 2:17-18, disproves the trinitarian assertion that Jesus was 100% man and 100% God on the earth. Yet, God cannot be tempted with evil (James 1:13), yet humans can be.
HWA stated:
Why, He lived in the human
flesh! He had physical weaknesses. Listen, a lot of you people may doubt it,
but I can prove it to you by the very Word of God that Jesus Christ, after He
had been beaten, after He had taken your infirmities and your sicknesses and
paid the penalty in your stead and then He was sent out to Golgotha, the Place
of the Skull that is called Calvary in a good many places, because they wanted
to take a pretty-sounding name instead of the ugly name that is the real name
of the place - they started Him out carrying His own cross. He was weak enough,
my friends, He sagged down and was unable to carry that cross; and it was put
on another man to carry it for Him. Christ even knew what physical human
weakness is. And He grew in strength, spiritually and mentally and emotionally,
morally and in ways of that sort. He learned obedience by the things that He
suffered. He didn't know it all. He learned, yes; and He grew in knowledge. And
He grew in these things. He has been human. He can be touched with the feeling
of your infirmities because He was tempted like you are in all ways, in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
I
can look forward just like the Apostle Paul, forgetting the things that are
behind that are unpleasant and I can look back on, well let me tell you — I know there are
thousands of you people listening right now whose lives have been changed
because God has used this voice and poured out His message through it and I've
merely been an instrument but I've had a little part in it, haven't I? I get a
lot satisfaction out of that and changing your lives. And
bringing many sons to glory, as Jesus the captain of our salvation has been
leading. He uses some of us as instruments. Well, there I go getting off the
track again, listen: "...we have a [this] great High Priest, that is
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, therefore he says, let us hold
fast our profession." (Hebrews 4:14)... and
our confession.
And
it is a profession, it's a vocation, it's a life occupation if you know what it
is, it isn't just something to join a church, it isn't just something to, well,
to shed a few tears on an altar, or to say before people "I've made my
decision for Christ" or "I've received Christ" or something like
that. Oh, it's a great deal more
than that, it's your life, it is your life; it's a changed life! It's a life filled with God Himself and all
of His fullness and His power. Filled with wisdom, filled with
knowledge, filled with a sense of the right values instead of the wrong that
you always cherished before.
Our
High Priest Guiding
And
it's a life where you have
this High Priest up there guiding you. Where you have this counsel. Now, just
in a material sense, we keep an attorney who has all of the legal
knowledge for advice, and counsel. Now we keep a man like that here in our
staff. Well, that's just for some
material things, one thing or another that might come up; many decisions of
that sort. But listen, I have one counselor that I go
to above all others! Now, in a multitude of counsel there's safety, and I have
various groups here on our campus and here at the headquarters of this great work that goes around
the world now and I have different groups that I call in to counsel with on different problems.
College problems, I call certain groups. Business problems, I call in certain
other men. And in a multitude of counsel there's safety.
But there's one counselor above all and that's this counselor that sits up there on the throne of grace. He's my High Priest. And I go to Him continually. And He tells
me through James, if I lack wisdom, and I ask of Him and He will give it! (James 1:5) And I expect to get it when I ask and
I do! And He's prevented me from making many a wrong decision that might have
cost this work and the co-workers who make sacrifices and are loyal with their
tithe money that isn't theirs but belongs to God and who are liberal with their
free will offerings that make all this possible for you. And makes it possible
for me; broadcast after broadcast after broadcast to give you this message,
offer you things absolutely
free and to emphasize it's free and there's no subscription price, and there's no charge and never say a word about money. You don't find me asking for money and this is no request for money either I'm just explaining something.
Well, I'll tell you, I would have lost a lot of their money, many a
time if God hadn't given me enough
wisdom to prevent making wrong decisions. And it's God's money after all and we have to be very careful about it. "Now we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, and yet without
sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
That
means He never made a mistake. Because sin is a great mistake, it is the
biggest mistake you can make! Sin is the transgression of God's law; God set
laws in motion! A lot of people today think they have religion but they don't believe in the laws of God. They don't believe in obedience to God, they believe in the ways of
man, of this world. This world is coming to an end and soon. But this world is the pattern of society that's been built on the
earth that is damning the souls of men. It is making people unhappy. God calls
us out of this world and to be separate. He tells us about the happy, peaceful
World Tomorrow and it's coming and it's coming soon! "...consider [it
says here], the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus Christ."
(Hebrews 3:1)
Well, the knowledge about
Jesus Christ is a very wonderful thing. But you know what I teach our students here at
Ambassador College? They come here to gain knowledge. But they also come here
to gain experience. And to learn how to apply knowledge because I tell them
that knowledge is of no value except as you put it to work. As you apply it. It's the result that counts. Not just getting knowledge — it may
be pleasant to have knowledge come into your mind. Some people enjoy it and some don't. But, nevertheless, it is very practical if you put it to
use. If it is right knowledge and if it works and if it produces the result. That's the thing that
counts!
And so, my friends, it's wonderful to consider Jesus
but you need to know what He is there for! And you need to go to Him when you
need help. You're carrying a lot of
worries, a lot of fears for the future. You don't need to fear the future. It took me years to learn that.
Why don't you learn it? Why don't you just turn it over to Him? Why don't you
realize that you do have a High Priest? And I talked to you a minute ago about
coming across the room and picking up this watch that I might leave on the desk
and say it's yours. But, you wouldn't get it if you didn't come and pick it
up and get it! And you are not going to get all that help from the throne of
grace if you don't go for it! And so it says here, notice again, here's the wording:
Verse 16:
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Yes, we can boldly pray to the throne of grace. We are not cut off. Yes, if we do so, we can obtain mercy and grace to help in the time of need.
HWA stated:
Well, it's up to you. It pays off my friends. It's a very practical thing. You know, real Christianity is a
living thing and it's going to change your life and it's a different life all together. A life in Christ Jesus. How often do you go to
that throne of grace? How often do you take advantage of this? How often do you
claim the promises that God has made on your behalf, to fight your battles for
you, bring you out of all your troubles, to solve every problem and trouble
that comes along and show you the way out, to guide you, to lead you, to give
you wisdom, to heal you when you are sick, to provide every need if you are in
real need? Of course, He didn't say every want; and we think a want is a need quite often
when it isn't, I know.
Chapter 5
Verse 1:
For every high priest taken from among men is appointed
for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and
sacrifices for sins.
So, the Hebrew high priest was appointed andoffered gifts and animal sacrifices for sin.
Verse 2:
He can have compassion on those who are
ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.
Yes, since he is human, he can have compassion and understanding for all the others who are not the high priest.
Verse 3:
Because of this he is required as for the
people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.
Notice that the high priest needed the sacrifice for sins as did the people.
Verse 4:
And no man takes this honor to himself, but he
who is called by God, just as Aaron was.
The high priest was called by God.
Verse 5:
So also Christ did not glorify Himself to
become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: "You are My Son, Today
I have begotten You."
Notice that Jesus is the High Priest and was given that role by the Father. Christ's begettal was in the virgin Mary.
Verse 6:
As He also says in another place: "You
are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek";
Jesus was also Melchizedek. More on that later.
Verse 7:
who, in the days of His flesh, when He had
offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who
was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,
Yes, God the Father heard Jesus' prayers, but the Father still allowed Him to be put to death.
Verse 8:
though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience
by the things which He suffered.
Jesus learned through things He suffered. We learn through things we suffer.
Verse 9:
And having been perfected, He became the
author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
Notice that this verse does not teach that Jesus is the author of eternal salvation for those who simply call Him, Lord.
Jesus, Himself, taught:
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' (Matthew 7:21-23)
Jesus is saying that His actual followers are those who obey the law of God.
While one does not earn one's own salvation, both the writer of Hebrews and Jesus make it clear that real Christians are obeying God.
The original apostles realized this as well:
29. But Peter and the apostles answered and said, 32 “... we are His witnesses of these things, as is also the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:29,32, A Faithful Version)
However many Protestants, as well as people who have fallen away from the true Church of God, ignore these plain teachings.
Hebrews 5, Verse 10:
called by God as High Priest "according
to the order of Melchizedek,"
Verse 11:
of whom we have much to say, and hard to
explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
Verse 12:
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.
Notice that Christians are supposed to be able to be teachers--yes that ability to instruct is also a New Testament concept. Paul is expressing disappointment that the Christians he was communicating with had not grown more in knowledge.
I, too, feel that way as only very few of seem to grasp the importance of many teachings from a historical, doctrinal, and even prophetic perspective.
However, those of you who have learned in depth, are likely to be among the ones that God will use within a decade or so to "instruct many" (Daniel 11:33, see also Preparing for the 'Short Work' and The Famine of the Word).
Verse 13:
For everyone who partakes only of milk is
unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
Some want to be satisfied with that. But the Apostle Paul is pushing for Christians to not be satisfied with lukewarm knowledge, but to grow and be more useful for the work of God.
Verse 14:
But solid food belongs to those who are of
full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.
31 And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. 32 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. 33 And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. (Daniel 11:31-34)
Those who learned as they should have are subject to being used by God to instruct many. Now is the time to learn so you can be used by God to instruct many. You may be chosen and used by God Himself if He believes you can be one to instruct many--you could be one who Daniel was inspired to prophecy thousands of years ago.
Chapter 6
HWA stated:
Why
is it my friends, that so many people say, "I just can't understand the
Bible?" The Bible is full of mysteries to so many people. And indeed it is full of mysteries. Many mysteries
of God have been closed and sealed until now, and that's one reason so many
people do not understand the Bible. Some of it is cloaked in mystery. As a matter of fact, I wonder if you
ever notice how much, even the gospel, is spoken of in New Testament language
as a mystery. It has been a mystery to so many people. But do you know that we
have now come to the time when these mysteries can be cleared up? When the curtain
can be pulled back, and we can see these things as they are because all
of the symbolic or the allegorical language in the Bible is
explained in plain language either in the context or in some other place.
Now, back in the
twelfth chapter of Daniel, and I've quoted this so many times I'm not going to turn to it just now, the prophet Daniel, one
of the great prophets of the Bible; who wrote a whole book. He didn't understand what he wrote, because He was not its real
author, he was only the secretary. He was only, well like we would say today, a
stenographer only he probably didn't have a typewriter in those days. Nevertheless, Daniel
finally said that he heard and he wrote what he heard but he said "...I
understood not." And he had been spoken to by an angel and the angel said,
"...Go thy way, Daniel: these words are closed and sealed up until the
time of the end [until our time]." (Daniel 12:8,9)
Now Jesus
had explained over 1900 years ago, to His disciples, that many of the prophets
of old that were as Peter describes them, 'holy men of old', that were inspired
of God. (II Peter 1:21) And yet Jesus told
His disciples that many of those men had desired to know some of the things He
was explaining to them, but they had not been able to understand them, because
the time hadn't come. (Matthew
13:17)
This knowledge is being opened up and revealed progressively as we go along.
Now, I
wonder if you realize that about a third of the Bible, that was written for us
today, refers directly to world conditions as they're taking place now in the twentieth-century and as they will take place in the next five, ten years.
This living, moving, pulsating present in which we live. This fantastic world
that we're living through today. That is the one-third of the Bible
that is practically never quoted; never
preached from; never mentioned. As a matter of fact, one man, that was a very prominent church man, once said
to me when I was quoting from some of that portion, as a matter of fact, I was quoting
from Daniel and the book of Revelation which are two of the books that refer to
our time now. Why, he looked at me in astonishment, and he said, "Well,
you don't preach anything like that, do you?" He'd never heard anything like that preached in his church.
Well, why is it, my friends, why do we neglect those portions of the Bible?
Well, primarily because men have not been able to understand them.
But there
are keys to understanding. One of the keys is where is the United States
mentioned in the Bible prophecies. You can't understand that whole third, well perhaps a portion, but a very small portion let us say, is all
that you could understand unless you understand our identity and where we're mentioned in the Bible prophecies. But very few people
would know. Well, all you have to do is write in for
our booklet, The
United States in Prophecy (or check out the free online book: Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America?).
It is what was written originally in the original manuscript to be quite a
large book, in very plain language so that any of you could understand it. Of
course, you'll have to do a lot
of reading in your own Bible if you're going to get it thoroughly because this tells you where can
get it, it tells you where you can see it in your own Bible and it's the most fascinating interesting study you ever went into.
It will tell you who you are, and who we are, and then you'll begin to
understand a lot of the prophecies that you could never understand before. That's one of the keys.
It is not the only one, but it's perhaps the major key that has
been lacking, without which the prophecies cannot be understood.
Well,
another one of these mysteries has been the identity of Melchizedek. Now, we've been going through this book of Hebrews, the book that tells what Jesus Christ has been doing this
last nineteen hundred years. We haven't heard much about what Christ has been doing. Where did He
go? What's He been doing? Has He been idle or has He had a job to do? I want to tell you, my friends,
Jesus Christ has been busy. Jesus Christ is busy this minute. Jesus Christ this
very minute is the head of His Church. Where is that Church? The Church He
heads, the Church that He is the active leader of and the active head of. He
only works through human agencies in that Church. But, no man is the head of that Church. And it exists, it's here, alive today and on the earth today. Do you belong to
that Church? Or some other church. And how do you know? I'm not going to answer that question on this program. But it's about time you look into some of these things, my friends. These are vital things.
Jesus Christ said, "I will build my church." (Matthew 16:18)
The Bible
shows you that Church is called, of course in twelve or thirteen places, the
Church of God because it is God's Church. God's group, God's crowd, God's
people, they're the people that are begotten of God. They are the begotten
children of God. They're God's own
children. By an actual begettal of God's Spirit that comes out from Him. And
so, they belong to Him. And the Church of God means the Church God owns. It's God's Church. It belongs to Him. And it is made up of those
people that belong to God. And it is also called the body of Christ. (I Corinthians 12:12) It is the body that
does the work of Christ. But Christ is still the head of that body. And He is
still the leader, the dynamic living leader, who is leading it today, actively.
Yes, I think we need to investigate some of those things because the
gates of hell have never prevailed against that Church, it's still alive and going and still doing the work, of Christ,
on this earth. You need to find it.
Chapter 6, Verse 1:
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the
elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again
the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Verse 2:
of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of
hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
More detail on these elemental principles, called the fundamental doctrines in the New Jerusalem Bible), are covered in an article: Elementary Doctrines of the Church: Hebrews 6. I hope to do a sermon on that topic again.
Verse 3:
And this we will do if God permits.
The Apostle Paul is admitting that he was not sure what God would permit related to his future. We should realize the same about our own lives.
Verse 4:
For it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit,
Verse 5:
and have tasted the good word of God and the
powers of the age to come,
Verse 6:
if they fall away, to renew them again to
repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him
to an open shame.
This is getting into what we tend to call the unpardonable sin. It involves rebellion against God and His government. More on that sin can be found in the article: What is the Unpardonable Sin?
Related to verses 4-6, HWA taught:
Let it be a warning to ALL, and let all FEAR, and TREMBLE before the all-powerful WORD OF GOD!
Why, we would not be the true Church of God, unless a few had turned away from the truth!
It happened in the churches God raised up thru the apostle Paul. Leaders rose up and turned brethren against Paul. To the elders from Ephesus, Paul said:
"For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30).
It happened to Paul. It has happened in our experience. But never fear! All such shall be dealt with, by the power of God. God is showing His servants what they must do. And we shall know by the fruits — the RESULTS — whether the power and the authority of GOD in His chosen ministers is the stronger, and master of the situation, or whether perverted and disgruntled human self-will can triumph! God will DEMONSTRATE His power thru His servants! (Armstrong HW. Local Assemblies Are NOT Social Clubs! Good News, October 1957)
Yes, Herbert Armstrong had to deal with disgruntled people who fell away. We in the CCOG have as well.
Herbert Armstrong wrote:
Now there may be degrees toward "falling away." How shall we know how far is here meant? By the next words: whenever it becomes IMPOSSIBLE to renew one to repentance — well, he has "fallen away — "completely! (Armstrong HW. What Do You Mean - The Unpardonable Sin? Ambassador College booklet, 1972)
This is what can happen when people harden their hearts--which is warned of in several places in the Book of Hebrews (3:8,15; 4:7).
Garner Ted Armstrong said the following about the unpardonable sin:
It means that willful attitude means you're not about to repent anymore, and there isn't going to be any sacrifice because the person who is willfully sinning has made up his mind. He is, with forethought, conscious, diligent effort, living deliberately contrary to what he knows.
Now, that's a far cry from a person who is led by his lust, is tempted, and finally sins in certain circumstances, and then repents of it later. (Armstrong GT. The Unpardonable Sin - Part 2, Sermon 1974)
So, just because one sins, one is not incapable of repentance. But the more one hardens one's heart, the more difficult repentance tends to come.
Chapter 6, Verse 7:
For the earth which drinks in the rain that
often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated,
receives blessing from God;
As Christians, we too are to bear fruit. Jesus said:
1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2)
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (John 15:5-8)
43 "For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)
Hebrews 6, Verse 8:
but if it bears thorns and briers, it is
rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Jesus also taught that in John 15:6.
Verse 9:
But, beloved, we are confident of better things
concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this
manner.
Verse 10:
For God is not unjust to forget your work and
labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered
to the saints, and do minister.
Those of us who have endured the suffering associated with pruning by God need to remember that God will not forget all the good that we do. We need to continue to do good as well as minister to the saints. Yet, various ones criticize the CCOG for spending so much of its financial resources administering to poor saints in Africa.
But as Paul wrote elsewhere:
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:57-58)
Our Christian labors are not in vain. Yes we get victory through Jesus!
Verse 11:
And we desire that each one of you show the
same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,
Jesus wants us to be diligent Philadelphian Christians (Revelation 3:7-13) in the end. Full assurance is a guarantee.
The Apostle Peter wrote:
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-11)
Peter basically confirmed what is written in Hebrews 6. Peter is also giving an inspired guarantee.
Verse 12:
that you do not become sluggish, but imitate
those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Don't get stuck in an unproductive rut. We will inherit the promises.
Imitate those who lived their faith, even when they patiently endured suffering.
Chapter 6, Verse 13:
For when God made a promise to Abraham,
because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
Verse 14:
saying, "Surely blessing I will bless
you, and multiplying I will multiply you."
Verse 15:
And so, after he had patiently endured, he
obtained the promise.
We, too, need to patiently endure. Abraham had to wait 25 years to get the son God promised him (cf. Genesis 12:1-4, 21:5). There were other promises that Abraham is still waiting for (cf. Hebrews 11:8-13).
Verse 16:
For men indeed swear by the greater, and an
oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.
Verse 17:
Thus God, determining to show more abundantly
to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an
oath,
Since God cannot lie, if He confirms an oath it will come to pass.
HWA stated:
Now, if you have really repented, if you have been conquered by God Almighty, your will, your spirit conquered by Him, until it's yielded to Him, and you have come under His glorious government until He rules and governs your life, and you are living by every word of God, as you diligently study that word and as you pray earnestly, continuously to God, that He will open it up to your understanding that you can understand it and realize that the Bible is the revelation of God. It is revealed truth, the way of life. It's revealed to show you how to live, and you live by it, every single thing that you can find in the Bible and by its principles. Well, if you through Jesus Christ have been reconciled to God and received His spirit, with Christ as personal savior, then you become one of the heirs of the promise. And Christ is the heir of all things but you become a co-heir with Him. That's what its been showing us all the way through Hebrews. Christ, is very God, by a resurrection from the dead, and made a son of God and therefore, God, in the spiritual sense by a resurrection from the dead but, He is the firstborn of many brethren. (Romans 8:2) And we're to be like Him. And He is pictured as, in a sense, our elder brother, because He is the first born of many brethren. Again, He is pictured as the bridegroom and the whole Church, the body of Christ is pictured as the bride to be married to Him. (Ephesians 5:31,32) But, it's a bride that will obey the husband. We will obey Christ as Christ in turns obeys God. Now, the promise was made originally to Abraham and his seed. But Christ is that seed primarily, but we also become Abraham's children through Christ and co-heirs with Him of the promise. Now if we are the heirs of the promise;
Verse 18:
that by two immutable things, in which it is
impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for
refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
God cannot lie, nor does God do wrong. Therefore, we should have full confidence in His promises of salvation.
Verse 19:
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
The hope we have is truly guaranteed. Jesus entered the presence behind the Holy of Holies veil.
HWA stated:
So many people will
quote that and they don't know anything at all about what it is speaking of. Well, that is the 'hope', when we are born as children of God with Christ as even He was.
Verse 20:
where the forerunner has entered for us, even
Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Chapter 7
HWA stated:
Well, who then is
Melchizedek? Now, we've been going through Hebrews, we've come up here to the seventh chapter, and we find
in the latter part of the sixth and in the beginning of the seventh, a strange
character mentioned here by the name of Melchizedek. Who is this Melchizedek?
We read here in the latter part of the sixth chapter; where does the sentence
here begin? You know, so many of these verses in the Authorized Version of the
Bible, they're all indented with
a number just like they were each one a paragraph; but they're not. Now here this
twentieth verse, you look back at the end of nineteenth and you see a semicolon
there. Which means it wasn't the end of the
sentence even and you go to the beginning of the nineteenth and look just ahead
of that and you find a colon at the end of the eighteenth verse.
Which means the eighteenth verse was not complete, it's still carrying on. And then you look at the end of the
seventeenth verse and there's another colon. And
you have
to go clear back to the end of the sixteenth verse to find
where a sentence ended.
Now, one of the
mysteries of the Bible, that very few have ever understood is the identity of
this mysterious man; Melchizedek. Who is or who was Melchizedek? We've been going through this wonderful but little
understood and little read book — Hebrews — the Priesthood
Book that tells about the job that Christ is doing right now.
Jesus Christ has a very high office,
He has a mission; a job; a profession; a high office and He is laboring there. He doesn't sleep you know, He's not physical, He's not human, He's
been made divine. He has been made God. He was made flesh and dwelled among us.
But now, He has been made God, He is born a son of God by a resurrection from
the dead as you read in the first chapter of Romans. And He is the firstborn of
many brethren. And He's at the right hand of God the Father sitting on His
Father's throne.
He isn't yet sitting on His own throne, He is sitting on the
Father's throne. And He is there as your High Priest. To minister for you. And
to see that if you conform to the terms and conditions which are very simple; that you repent,
that you obey and that you believe. And He is there to see that your prayers
get answered! There's a reason why they aren't answered. One
reason is that you don't repent and you don't obey! Another reason is that you don't come boldly to that throne of grace. That you can find
help; grace to help in the time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) No, you neglect this great salvation and it means a whole lot, it's a very practical
thing and in your everyday life to deliver you out of all your problems and
troubles, to give you wisdom to help you along. Yes, even give you the breaks and see that things work out right for you.
Well, in
the sixth chapter of Hebrews, we came down to the
place where we read about Christ having entered within the veil, in other words
into the very throne of God up in heaven. "Whither the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus [that is the very throne of God], made an high priest
for ever after the order [or of the same rank as] Melchisedec." (Hebrews 6:20) Because that is what it means.
Now, who
is this Melchizedek? Now, first, Melchizedek was God's High Priest. It was way back at the time of Abraham, He'd always been a High Priest but we only find matter recorded during the time of
Abraham. Now incidentally there's a little something — let me stop and explain. In the Bible,
there were many, many, many centuries prior to Abraham, but you don't read of very much in the Bible before Abraham. You begin to
find Abraham introduced here in the twelfth chapter, well he's introduced first in the eleventh chapter in his genealogy.
And these first eleven chapters of the Bible cover a great long period of time. But not
very much is revealed to us about that time. Very little is revealed to us about what happened back before the
flood. Of course, the flood is something that is very fashionable today to
laugh at and sneer about.
I wonder
if you realize that if our geologists would just wake up and be willing to
confess any of their errors and really look for the truth, that there is ample
evidence in geology and in the rock strata of the earth that proves there was a
flood. But, of course, since they decided there wasn't a flood, they can't admit that kind of evidence. Well, I can produce evidence
that geologists cannot refute. Of course they can laugh, they can sneer, they
can jeer, they can turn and run the other way, but they can't refute it. And of course when you can't refute anything and you are unwilling to admit it, too much
human pride to ever admit we'd ever been wrong, isn't there? The way to get around the
thing is just to sneer at it and ridicule it. That makes other people think
that it's insignificant and it isn't true. That's the way to get around truth and get away from it, if you don't want to accept truth. There's a lot of that going on in this world.
Well, there's very little back here in these
first chapters, in other words, God reveals very little of the history of what happened in that time and there are
no profane records of history about it, at all. A lot of men not knowing
anything about it and not having any historic record, add a good many thousands
or millions of years that they think went on there. There's no evidence, there's no proof. They've
never given you any proof, you've never seen any proof, of course, because
learned men looked dignified and maybe grow a beard to look very dignified, and
pronounce that they're scientists and tell you that a certain thing happened
and most of you just like a lot of dumb sheep just believe it and follow it,
swallow what ever they want to tell you; hook, line and sinker. God's word
says, "Prove all things." (I Thessalonians 5:21) Did you ever stop to prove some of these things? You're going to get
your eyes open when you do.
Well,
there isn't very much given about anything until you come to the time
of Abraham, of what happened; very, very little. And the prophecy is merely history written in advance.
And, when we get up to the time of the coming of Christ, there is very little written about what's going to happen way off there in advance,
in the future that hasn't come yet. You have
to remember, my friends, that the Bible is peculiarly the book
of Israel and about Israel and Abraham is the father of Israel. Abraham is also
the father of the faithful. And if you don't become an Israelite, you have no salvation. A Gentile is
without God, without hope, without Christ and without any salvation. He's cut off from salvation. But, through repentance and through
Christ, he's pictured as a branch on a wild olive tree. He can be cut
right off
of his nationality or his wild olive tree and grafted contrary
to nature onto the natural olive tree which is Israel. You read of that in the
eleventh chapter of Romans.
Now the Bible is the book of Israel and although salvation is opened up to Gentiles spiritually, they become Israelites through Christ. And they become Abraham's children. If ye be Christ's, [said Paul, to the Gentiles at Galatia] then are you Abraham's children and heirs according to the promise made to Abraham." (Galatians 3:29 paraphrased)
Melchizedek
In The Time Of Abraham
So, the first you find about this Melchizedek was in the time of Abraham. Now He'd been a priest prior to that time, but as I say, we don't find much recorded about what happened before that time.
So, He was God's priest. Now, it was during a war between a
number of ancient city-states. Abraham's nephew Lot had been
captured, he and his family and his goods carried off. One of their number
escaped, came and told Abraham. Abraham armed 318 of his own soldiers,
they pursued them clear up to the northern part of Palestine, clear beyond Dan,
and they rescued Lot and his family. They returned with them and their goods,
and incidentally with a lot of spoil because, in those days and even yet, except America and perhaps Britain whenever you win a
war, you take the spoil. In other words, you just loot and rob the people you've conquered of
whatever they have and whatever you want. And, even Abraham apparently did that. And it says here in Genesis fourteen, beginning with
verse eighteen: "And Melchizedek
king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God." (Genesis 14:18)
Now, this was before the Levitical priesthood.
This was more than 400 years before the time of Moses. "And he blessed him
[Abraham], and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth [that is, God is the
possessor of heaven and earth]: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And
he [Abraham] gave unto him [Melchizedek] tithes [that is ten percent] of
all." (Genesis 14:19-20)
Now, notice, Melchizedek was the king of
Salem. Salem is the original Jerusalem. It now is called Jerusalem but that's just Jeru-Salem. They prefixed
Jeru on the front of it and they call it Jerusalem now. Now, Hebrew words have
meaning; the meaning of the name Melchizedek is 'king of righteousness.' Now,
if we would translate that Hebrew word into English, we wouldn't say Melchizedek we'd say 'king of righteousness' and that would be His name. And, Salem means 'peace,' or Jerusalem means 'peace.' It's the city of peace. Only it hasn't known peace because of the ways of mankind, but it will yet
know peace forever.
So this
Melchizedek, whose name was 'king of righteousness' was 'king of peace.' Why?
The king of righteousness would also be king of peace because righteousness
produces peace. Righteousness is the way to peace. It's unrighteousness
that provokes and produces war, my friends. So, naturally, He was the king of peace and He was the king then of the town called Salem, that
became the city of Jerusalem. And it is stated that He was the priest of the most high God! Now, Melchizedek is mentioned again in Psalms
110:4
and that is quoted in Hebrews five, six and seven.
Well, now we've
come up here to the seventh chapter of the book of Hebrews telling us about
Christ and His present job to help us if we would only come to Him for that
help. And that's private help and that's private power and that's the help of
the One who has the power that I've been describing.
Who upholds the entire universe with the Word of His power. And one who can
help you and can give you the breaks and can make things turn out right for you
but not to your own selfish ends.
You know, James says:
"We ask, and we receive not, because you, [he says] you ask amiss, that
you might consume [what you're asking for] on your own lusts" (James 4:3) Now God won't answer that kind of a request or a prayer. But, "...whatsoever we ask [of Him] we receive because we
keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."
(1 John 3:22)
And you must only ask
according to what God has promised and what is according to His will and His
will is expressed is His word, the Bible. And so, if you study it and
read it enough. Yes, you have twenty-four hours a day, you have enough time to
do it, what are you doing with all your time? Throwing most of it away if you
just stop and think and be honest about it. You're awfully busy, aren't you — going around
in circles — awfully busy — on a treadmill
getting nowhere. Here we are, traveling, so rapidly. Oh, we're in a hurry getting places alright, but where are we going? We are not really going any place
when you stop and think about it. We just have to hurry, we're all in a nervous fidget. We've got twenty-four hours a day and most of our time we throw
away — we're not getting anywhere with it.
Now, here we've come down to this seventh chapter, and in the preceding program, we were going through this mystery about Melchizedek, who and what is Melchizedek? Well, Melchizedek was the divine, high priest of God before the human priesthood during the time of the earthly, mortal, human, fleshly nation of Israel, from the time of Moses until Christ when they had the Levitical Priesthood. Now why does God here in His Holy Word introduce this Melchizedek? And why does He talk about Abraham? Notice, He begins here speaking in the very second verse of the seventh chapter speaking of Melchizedek. Who, well in the very first verse, of the seventh chapter,
Chapter 7, Verse 1:
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of
the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings
and blessed him,
It is interesting that Melchizedek is mentioned as the king of Salem. Personally, I grew up in Salem Township. But, of course, the "Salem" related to Melchizedek is traditionally identified with Jerusalem, and the name itself means "peace."
HWA stated:
Why does he mention
Abraham and why does he mention Melchizedek? Let's read on, I want to
show you why it's mentioned here. It's a very important thing that most of
you don't know. You aren't conforming to God's laws and you aren't getting the blessings of those laws and you aren't getting the
blessings of the priesthood of Jesus Christ that you could. You could be a lot happier, you could have things a lot better, you could be in a lot
better economic and financial circumstances than you are, and you could have
better health that you have. And you could have things a lot happier and a lot
more pleasant than they are. And, I'm going to show you how you can and why you don't have it now. So, listen.
Verse 2:
to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all,
first being translated "king of righteousness," and then also king of
Salem, meaning "king of peace,"
HWA stated:
Now, why does he mention that? This is in your New Testament and this direction is for you, my friends today! Don't read over this and think, 'Oh, but that is dead stuff way back there.'
"All scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable...to correct us, to reprove
us, and to instruct us in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works "(2 Timothy 3:16-17 paraphrased). That
means the Old Testament as well as the New but this is over near the end of
your New Testament. Will you open your own Bible to the seventh chapter of Hebrews and read it, my friends? Now, why does it mention this? Abraham
was a tithe payer. He paid a tenth! And we know from other scriptures because
it isn't all in one scripture always, that he gave the first tenth
because that is the tithe that God demands. Not the second, not the last, but
the very first tenth of your money — the first tithe. So Abraham gave the tenth, and it was the first tenth as we
read from other passages.
Let me add this verse also says Abraham paid a tithe on all. It does NOT say only on agricultural produce like some who want to reason around tithing try to say these days. See also: Tithing Questions and Some Answers.
Verse 3:
without father, without mother, without
genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the
Son of God, remains a priest continually.
The above is clearly pointing to Jesus.
Verse 4:
Now consider how great this man was, to whom
even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils.
This shows that Abraham tithed.
HWA stated:
My friends, do
you know what worship is? If you worship anything or anybody except God, that
is a capital sin, and let me tell you right here, very few people know what
worship is! Most of you people are worshipping things or people other than God
and you're sinning and you don't know it. Because you don't know what
constitutes worship. Now, a Bible definition of worship, is in Revelation
chapter thirteen and verse four. And here it's speaking about the Beast which
is the Roman Empire and as it is to be resurrected. And it says, our people
here are worshipping the Beast! And it says that they will worship the Beast;
how did they worship? Saying, "Who is like unto the Roman Empire? Who's
like unto this Beast? Who is able to make war with it?" (Revelation 13:4 paraphrased) Now my friends, a certain amount
of the right kind of patriotism is a good thing. Patriotism, if it is
worshipped is all wrong. But patriotism if it is mere loyalty is alright. Oh my
time is up, I didn't realize it. Well, anyhow, that is worship and here the
Bible actually pays worship to this Melchizedek and so He is greater than any
archangel — He is Christ! Now, I'll just have to bring it to a close.
Why, you read
over here how human beings will be worshipping this symbolic beast which merely
means a revived Roman Empire, a resurrected Roman Empire and its Fuhrer or its
Emperor or leader. When they say, "consider how great this empire is, who
can make war with this great empire," (Revelation
13:4)
that is called worship. It says, they worshipped the Beast in that manner
saying that. Well then, when the Bible says, "Consider how great this man
is," it is paying worship to Melchizedek. Therefore He is worthy of worship and is God and very God, but not God the
Father. He is the priest of God the Father. He not only was the priest of God
the Father in Abraham's day but He still abides a priest. And yet Christ is the High
Priest and there's only one High
Priest, well now it seems inevitable. There's only one High Priest: Melchizedek is that High Priest.
Christ is that High Priest! Then my friends they are one and the same person exactly!
Melchizedek
Is Christ
Now,
one question that I've had from a businessman in New York. And
one of the questions was, 'Why do we read back in Isaiah a virgin shall
conceive and bare a son and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is God
with us?' This man's question was, 'Why didn't they call His name Jesus?' Well,
if you read in the first chapter of Luke in one place His name shall be called
Immanuel which is God with us and in another place His name shall be called
Jesus. Now, Jesus means 'God is savior'. It means
that His name is God, it comes from Yah or Yahweh of the Old Testament with the
words added in the Hebrew language 'is savior' or
'saves'. In other words, 'God our savior'. Now,
Christ as savior is called Jesus. But Christ, in the
form of God in the human flesh, was called, He was there called Immanuel, which
is 'God with us'. Now, you find that He was called back in the fifteenth
chapter of Exodus, 'Yahweh-Rapha' (Exodus 15:26) which is our healer. God our healer. He is
God our healer. He has many names. And the answer is, my friends, Melchizedek
is another of the names of the one who became Jesus Christ, that we know as
Christ the savior.
He existed from
eternity. Was He less than a High Priest then way back there? Of course not! Who was the Rock that followed the
ancient Israelites that you read, let me see, isn't that in the tenth chapter
of I Corinthians, is it? The rock that follow them in ancient Israel, yes, the tenth chapter and the fourth verse, of I Corinthians.
Back there in the time of Moses, "They did all eat the same spiritual
meat; they all drank [the children of Israel all drank] the same spiritual
drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock
was Christ." I
Corinthians 10:3-4And
you'll find back there that that rock was also the one falsely
called Jehovah, because Jehovah is not the correct word, that's what I mean. Not
falsely called but, I should say, falsely pronounced Jehovah. Yahweh is the
Yahweh — we don't know how to pronounce it — the Hebrew word and it means the
Eternal and I prefer to use the word Eternal because we have the example of the
Holy Spirit in translating the names of God as they are found in the Old
Testament in the Hebrew language into the Greek language in the New Testament
as it was inspired in Greek. And so we speak the English language today and it should be
translated into the English language today. God's
names have meaning. And the meaning of the name that you find 'LORD' in the
King James translation and in most places in the Old Testament is merely the
Eternal or the self existent one or the ever living. That is His name showing
immortality and eternal life and the fact that He has life to give and life
inherent to impart to us. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord." (Romans
6:23). Now,
that spiritual Rock that followed them, that Rock was Christ. Christ was the
God of Israel. He was the personal God of Israel, not very many people seem to
know that. Most people think it was God the Father. No, it was
Christ, and one of His names back there was Melchizedek. Now there's one of the very
mysteries of God at last cleared up and made plain. Well, now let's go on.
"...of all; being first [that is Melchizedek] King of righteousness, and after that King of Salem, which is, King of peace; He was without father, without mother, without descent, he didn't have any beginning of days [in other words, He has always existed from eternity which your mind cannot even conceive neither has He any end of life. He's still alive then, isn't He? He never died] ... but made like