Hebrews Chapter 4
Hebrews 4:1 MKJV Therefore, a promise being left to enter into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it.
(Heb_4:1-2) The warning is repeated: don’t miss God’s rest.
Therefore: The idea is carried on without pause from Hebrews 3 : unbelief kept the generation that escaped Egypt from entering Canaan. The promise remains of entering His rest, and we can enter into that rest by faith. Unbelief will make us fall short of the rest God has for us.
Let us therefore fear - Let us be apprehensive that we may possibly fall of that rest. The kind of “fear” which is recommended here is what leads to caution and care. A man who is in danger of losing his life or health should be watchful; a seaman that is in danger of running on a lee-shore should be on his guard. So we who have the offer of heaven, and who yet are in danger of losing it, should take all possible precautions lest we fail of it.
Lest a promise being left us - Paul assumes here that there is such a promise. In the subsequent part of the chapter, he goes more into the subject, and proves from the Old Testament that there is such a promise made to us. It is to be remembered that Paul had not the New Testament then to appeal to, as we have, which is perfectly clear on the subject, but that he was obliged to appeal to the Old Testament. This he did not only because the New Testament was not then written, but because he was reasoning with those who had been Hebrews, and who regarded the authority of the Old Testament as decisive. If his reasoning to us appears somewhat obscure, we should put ourselves in his place, and should remember that the converts then had not the full light which we have now in the New Testament.
Hebrews 4:2 MKJV For also we have had the gospel preached, as well as them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
The apostle goes on to apply this part of Israel's history to those whom he was addressing, laying stress on two points:1st, That Israel had failed of entering into rest, through unbelief; 2nd, That the rest was yet to come, and that believers (those who were not seeking rest here, but who accepted the wilderness for the time being) should enter into it.
He begins by saying, "Let us fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any should seem to come short of it," not attain to it. For we have been the objects of the proclamation of glad tidings, as they were in times past. But the word addressed to them remained fruitless, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it: for we which have believed do enter into rest. The rest itself is yet to come, and it is believers who enter into it. For a rest of God there is, and there are some who enter into it: inasmuch as it is written, "They," that is, those (pointing out a certain class who are to be excluded) "shall not enter into my rest."
Israel merely held the outward form or shadow and did not mix it with faith so as to discern its antitype--the rest of heart. Israel did not enter into the real rest or Sabbath, although they zealously observed the seventh day. They did not exercise the faith by which alone the rest can be enjoyed. Faith is necessary to rest. It is for faith to triumph and to realize that God can bring us to that glorious condition which he has promised.
Are you exercising your Faith?
Are the promises of God real to you? Or are you just going through the motions?
Hebrews 4:3 MKJV For we who have believed do enter into the rest, as He said, "I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Belief in the good tidings, the Gospel. The most learned and most ignorant can have this rest if only they believe.
Intellectual belief is not enough, if we truly believe, we will manifest our belief by works in harmony with our beliefs. If we have partial belief, we have partial rest; if we have perfect belief, we have perfect rest. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of God, the more firm and established does our faith become, and our rest is proportionate. We enter into a deeper, more intelligent rest if we avail ourselves of the helps which the Lord has provided for us.
He who trusts in Jesus as his justifier, rests from attempting to do the work for himself. Rest of heart, rest of mind, the peace of God which passeth all understanding. (Phi_4:7)
"Take my yoke upon you and learn of me and ye shall find rest to your souls." (Mat_11:28-29)
So swore in My wrath: This quote from Psa_95:11 demonstrates that God has a rest available to us. This rest is after the pattern of God’s own rest on the seventh day from all His works, as described in the quote from Gen_2:2.
Are you resting in God?
Are there some things you just can’t give over to God?
Hebrews 4:4 MKJV For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested the seventh day from all His works."
By the indefinite “He” is meant “God,” a form of citation not used in the same way by St Paul, but common in Philo and the Rabbis. The “somewhere” of the original is here expressed in the A.V. by “in a certain place,” The reference is to Gen_2:2; Exo_20:11; Exo_31:17. The writer always regards the Old Testament not as a dead letter, but as a living voice.
The idea is this, that the notion of “rest” of some kind runs through all dispensations. It was seen in the finishing of the work of creation; seen in the appointment of the Sabbath; seen in the offer of the promised land, and is seen now in the promise of heaven. All dispensations contemplate “rest,” and there must be such a prospect before man now. When it is said that “God did rest,” of course it does not mean that He was tired with His toil, but merely that He “ceased” from the monumental work of creation. He no more put forth creative energy, but calmly contemplated His own works in their beauty and grandeur; Gen_1:31. In carrying forward the great affairs of the universe, He always has been. actively employed Joh_5:17, but he is not employed in the work of “creation”.
Do you believe the Bible is God’s “living voice”?
Hebrews 4:5 MKJV And in this place again, "They shall not enter into My rest."
Hebrews 4:6 MKJV Since then it remains that some must enter into it, and since they to whom it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief,
These verses are designed to show that it was implied that a rest yet remained. “That which deserves to be called “the divine rest” is spoken of in the Scriptures, and as “they” did not enter into it, it follows that it must be in reserve for some others, and that the promise must still remain.”
God did not create this place of rest in vain. If Israel (those to whom it was first preached) did not enter because of disobedience, then someone else will enter into that rest.
The privileges we have under the gospel, are greater than any had under the law of Moses, though the same gospel for substance was preached under both Testaments. There have been in all ages many unprofitable hearers; and unbelief is at the root of all unfruitfulness under the word. Faith in the hearer is the life of the word. But there is a consequence of even partial neglect, and of a loose and wavering profession, that they often cause men to seem to come short. Let us then give diligence, that we may have a clear entrance into the kingdom of God. As God finished His work, and then rested from it, so He will cause those who believe, to finish their work, and then to enjoy their rest.
Do you think about entering this rest?
Do you have a “loose and wavering profession” of your faith?
Hebrews 4:7 MKJV He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, "Today," (after so long a time). Even as it is said, "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."
Since the seventh day of the creation was a day of rest which God entered into, and not man; and since the land of Canaan was a typical rest, which the unbelieving Israelites did not enter into, because of unbelief; and yet there must be persons, and there must be a time for them to enter into the true rest which God has left a promise of; therefore he has limited, fixed, and appointed a certain day, the Gospel Age or dispensation, for believers to enter into it. The thought is that there is a day of opportunity. If that day is passed by, the opportunity is gone. The word of the Lord is, To-day if, etc.
To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. God speaks now as He spoke before; His voice is in the Gospel as it was in the law. Believe, love, obey, and ye shall enter into this rest.
The offer to be of the Bride of Christ and enter into God’s rest is about to expire, have you responded to the voice of the Lord? Or have you hardened your hearts?
Are you putting off fulfilling your obligation to the Lord for tomorrow?
Hebrews 4:8 MKJV For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
Hebrews 4:9 MKJV So then there remains a rest to the people of God.
There, remains therefore a rest to the people of God - It was not,
1. The rest of the Sabbath; it was not,
2. The rest in the promised land,
for the psalmist wrote long after the days of Joshua; therefore there is another rest, a state of blessedness, for the people of God; and this is the Gospel, the blessings it procures and communicates, and the eternal glory which it prepares for, and has promised to, genuine believers.
There are two words in this chapter which we indifferently translate rest, καταπαυσις and σαββατισμος· he first signifying a cessation from labor, so that the weary body is rested and refreshed; the second meaning, not only a rest from labor, but a religious rest; sabbatismus, a rest of a sacred kind, of which both soul and body partake. A different rest from that which we now enjoy. A rest from all labor while our works will follow us. The glorious blessings of the resurrection state.
Hebrews 4:10 MKJV For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
Alford translates, “He that entered into his (or else God’s, but rather ‘his’; Isa_11:10, ‘His rest’: ‘the joy of the Lord,’ Mat_25:21, Mat_25:23) rest (namely, Jesus, our Forerunner, Heb_4:14; Heb_6:20, ‘The Son of God that is passed through the heavens’: in contrast to Joshua the type, who did not bring God’s people into the heavenly rest), he himself (emphatical) rested from his works (Heb_4:4), as God (did) from His own” (so the Greek, “works”). The argument, though generally applying to anyone who has entered his rest, probably alludes to Jesus in particular, the antitypical Joshua, who, having entered His rest at the Ascension, has ceased or rested from His work of the new creation, as God on the seventh day rested from the work of physical creation. Not that He has ceased to carry on the work of redemption, no, He upholds it by His mediation; but He has ceased from those portions of the work which constitute the foundation; the sacrifice has been once for all accomplished. Compare as to God’s creation rest, once for all completed, and rested from, but now still upheld (see on Heb_4:4).
To all of us Christ offers rest, not in the other life only, but in this. See Heb_4:3; Heb_4:11. Rest from the weight of sin, from care and worry, from the load of daily anxiety and foreboding.
The rest that arrives from handing all worries over to Christ, and receiving from Christ all we need. Have we entered into that experience?
In Heb_4:6; Heb_4:11, where A.V. reads, “unbelief,” R.V., reads, “disobedience.” If we disobey, we cannot believe; but when we believe we are sure to obey. In Heb_4:10 we are directed to our risen Lord, who has finished the work of Redemption and rests, as God did when He pronounced Creation to be “very good.” When we understand what He meant by “It is finished,” we, too, shall rest.
Hebrews 4:11 MKJV Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief.
Let us therefore labour - Let us earnestly strive. Since there is a rest whose attainment is worth all our efforts; since so many have failed of reaching it by their unbelief, and since there is so much danger that we may fail of it also, let us give all diligence that we may enter into it. Heaven is never obtained but by diligence; and no one enters there who does not earnestly desire it, and who does not make a sincere effort to reach it.
Be diligent to enter that rest: The rest is there, but God does not force it upon us. We must enter that rest. Clearly, the rest is entered by faith; but it takes diligent faith. This shows us that faith is not passive; it takes diligence to trust in, rely on, and cling to Jesus and His work for us.
Lest any man fall - Lest he fall off from the grace of God, from the Gospel and its blessings, and perish everlastingly.
Of unbelief - Margin, “disobedience.” The word “unbelief” best expresses the sense, as the apostle was showing that this was the principal thing that prevented people from entering into heaven; see the notes at Heb_3:12.
Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God?—All of it, not just the Red Letters?
If something in the Bible seems contradictory to what you think do you:
Hebrews 4:12 MKJV For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,…
For the word of God - The design of this and the following verse is obvious. It is to show that we cannot escape the notice of God; that all insincerity, unbelief, hypocrisy, will be detected by Him; and that since our hearts are perfectly open before Him, we should be sincere and should not attempt to deceive Him. The sense is, that the truth of God is all-penetrating and searching, and that the real thoughts and intents of the heart will be brought to light, and that if there is insincerity and self-deception there can be no hope of escape.
His “truth” is adapted to bring out the real feelings, and to show man exactly what He is. Truth always has this power - whether preached, or read, or communicated by conversation, or impressed upon the memory and conscience by the Holy Spirit. There can be no escape from the penetrating, searching application of the Word of God. That truth has power to show what man is, and is like a penetrating sword that lays open the whole man; compare Isa_49:2. The phrase “the Word of God” here may be applied, therefore, to the “truth” of God, however made known to the mind. In some way it will bring out the real feelings, and show what man is.
“living.” It is not dead, inert, and powerless. It has a “living” power, and is energetic and active. It is “adapted” to produce this effect.
Let the "sword of the Spirit" the Word of God, do all the cutting, rather than debating, it is preferable to present the message of the Lord's Word orally or in print before those who desire to hear. The teachings of all the Lord's representatives should be the Word of God, not human speculations and philosophies. Let us, in our conversation with others whom we would lead into the truth, pay less attention to self-defense than to a presentation of the divine Word. The Truth itself needs no unkind language, no epithets, to drive it home.
Sharper than any two-edged sword - Literally, “two-mouthed” sword - δίστομον distomon. The word “mouth” was given to the sword because it seemed to “devour” all before it. It consumed or destroyed as a wild beast does. The comparison of the Word of God to a sword or to an arrow, is designed to show its power of penetrating the heart; Ecc_12:11, “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies;” compare Isa_49:2. “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword;” Rev_1:16, “And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword;” Rev_2:12, Rev_2:16; Rev_19:15. The idea is that of piercing, or penetrating; and the meaning here is, that the Word of God reaches the “heart” - the very center of action, and lays open the motives and feelings of the man. It was common among the ancients to have a sword with two edges. The Roman sword was commonly made in this manner. The fact that it had two edges made it more easy to penetrate, as well as to cut with every way.
When the word of God exposes our weakness and unbelief like this, it demonstrates the inherent power, sharpness, and accuracy of the word of God. It bears constant reminding that as we submit ourselves to the word of God, we do it for far, far more than intellectual knowledge of the learning of facts. We do it for the ministry of the Word, because God meets us in His Word, and His Holy Spirit works powerfully through the word of God. We should consider just what the Word of God says it will do in our lives:
For the word of God: God’s Word has diagnosed our illness with a surgeon’s precision. It has seen our hearts, and discerned that we are too ready to follow in the failure of the children of Israel, to give up belief. The word of God is not dead; it is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword. The word of God can probe us like a surgeon’s expert scalpel, cutting away what needs to be cut and keeping what needs to be kept. (Heb_4:12)
Is living and powerful: No wonder the writer to the Hebrews can say this. The Bible isn’t a collection of musty stories and myths. It has an inherent life and power. The preacher doesn’t make the Bible “come alive.” The Bible is alive, and gives life to the preacher and anyone else who will really receive it.
Powerful (translated active in the KJV) reminds us that something might be alive, yet dormant. But God’s Word is both living and powerful, in the sense of being active.
Hebrews 4:12 MKJV …piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit,…
Dividing asunder -- Penetrating so as to divide. It shall separate, shall discover, shall manifest who have the spirit of the Lord and who have not. Separating worldly life from divine life.
Even to the division of soul and spirit: Is there a deliberate and significant difference between soul and spirit here?
Certainly, there is some distinction between soul and spirit. “The New Testament use of pneuma for the human spirit focuses on the spiritual aspect of man, i.e. his life in relation to God, whereas psyche refers to man’s life irrespective of his spiritual experience, i.e. his life in relation to himself, his emotions and thought. There is a strong antithesis between the two in the theology of Paul.” (Guthrie)
But the stress of this passage isn’t to spell out a theology of the difference between soul and spirit. “Attempts to explain [these terms] on any psychological basis are futile. The form of expression is poetical, and signifies that the word penetrates to the inmost recesses of our spiritual being as a sword cuts through the joints and marrow of the body.” (Vincent)
However, it is important to understand what the Bible means when it speaks of and makes a distinction with soul and spirit. The Bible tells us that people have an “inner” and an “outer” nature (Gen_2:7, 2Co_4:16). The inner man is described by both the terms spirit (Act_7:59, Mat_26:41, Joh_4:23-24) and soul (1Pe_2:11, Heb_6:19, Heb_10:39). These two terms are often used synonymously, but not always. We can say that soul seems to focus more on individuality and life (often being defined as the mind, the will, and the emotions or even just the person in general). The spirit seems to focus more on supernatural power and life in an individual.
Does God’s Word cut you deep?
What have you learned about yourself?
Hebrews 4:12 MKJV … and of the joints and marrow,…
And of the joints and marrow - The figure is still continued of the sword that takes life. Such a sword would seem to penetrate even the joints and marrow of the body. It would separate the joints, and pierce through the very bones to the marrow. A similar effect, Paul says, is produced by truth. It seems to penetrate the very essence of the soul, and lay it all open to the view.
God’s Word can hit us with surprising precision, and the Holy Spirit empowers the ministry of the Word to do deep work in our hearts. Often people wonder how a preacher’s message can be so relevant to their life. They sometimes honestly wonder if the preacher doesn’t know some “inside information” about their life. But it isn’t necessarily the preacher at all. It is the sharpness of the Word of God, delivering the message in just the right place.
The truth should be preached with the feeling that it is adapted to this end. Men who preach should endeavor to understand the nature of the mind and of the moral feelings. He who has no belief in the efficacy of truth to produce any effect, resembles one who should suppose that all knowledge of the human system was needless to him who wished to perform a surgical operation, and who should cut at random - piously leaving it with God to direct the knife; or he who should go into a hospital of patients and administer medicines indiscriminately - devoutly saying that all healing must come from God, and that the use of medicine was only to show its own weakness! Thus, many men seem to preach. The true way of preaching is, to feel that truth is adapted to the end in view; to select what is best suited for that end; to preach as if the whole result depended on getting that truth before the mind and into the heart - and then to leave the whole result with God - as a physician with right feelings will exert all his skill to save his patient, and then commit the whole question of life and health to God. He will be more likely to praise God intelligently who believes that he has wisely adapted a plan to the end in view, than he who believes that God works only at random.
When you study, do you study with a mission or just randomly?
Do you study or just read? Do you know the difference?
How does this affect your faith?
Hebrews 4:12 MKJ… and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And is a discerner of the thoughts - It shows what the thoughts and intentions are. It is true that God searches the heart, and knows the thoughts, but that is not the truth which is prominent here. It is, that the thoughts and intents of the heart are brought out to view by the Word of God. And can anyone doubt this? see Rom_7:7. Is it not true that people are made to see their real character under the exhibition of the truth of God? That in the light of the Law they see their past lives to be sinful? That the exhibition of truth calls to their recollection many long-forgotten sins? And that their real feelings are brought out when the truth of God is proclaimed? Men then are made to look upon their motives as they had never done before, and to see in their hearts feelings whose existence they would not have suspected if it had not been for the exhibition of the truth. The exhibition of the truth is like pouring down the beams of the sun at midnight on a dark world; and the truth lays open the real feelings of the sinner as that sun would disclose the clouds of wickedness that are now performed under cover of the night. Many a man has a deep and fixed hostility to God and to his gospel who might never be sensible of it if the truth was not faithfully proclaimed. The particular idea here is, that the truth of God will detect the feelings of the hypocrite and self-deceiver. They cannot always conceal their emotions, and the time will come when truth, like light poured into the soul, will reveal their unbelief and their secret sins. They who are cherishing a hope of salvation, therefore, should be on their guard lest they mistake the name for the reality. Let us learn from this verse:
The power of truth. It is “suited” to lay open the secret feelings of the soul. There is not an effect produced in awakening a sinner; or in his conviction, conversion, and sanctification, which the truth is not “adapted” to produce.
What truths about yourself has God revealed to you?
Do you like what you see?
Would we be a hypocrite or self-deceiver if we say we love the Truth, but refuse to change our comfortable thoughts when the Lord shows us that they are wrong?
Hebrews 4:13 MKJV Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account: There is no one hidden before God. He sees our hearts and knows how to touch them, and we must give account for how we respond to His touch.
Naked reminds us of the way God saw through Adam’s feeble hiding. God sees through our hiding the same way.
Open The proper meaning of the verb is “to bend the neck back” so as to expose it in front when an animal is slain - Passow. Then it means to make bare; to remove everything like covering; to expose a thing entirely - as the naked neck is for the knife. The allusion here is undoubtedly to the “sword” which Paul had referred to in the previous verse, as dividing the soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow; and the meaning is, that in the hand of God, who held that sword, everything was exposed.
Remember the context. The writer to the Hebrews trusts that he has pierced the hearts of his audience, who were contemplating “giving up” on Jesus. In this passage, he has made it plain that they can’t give up on Jesus can keep it “hidden” from God. The word of God has discovered and exposed their condition.
Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness does not hide from You; but the night shines as the day; as is the darkness, so is the light to You.
If we have any secret fault, and are lovers of righteousness, we will want the cleansing power of the Word applied. Do you want it applied?
Hebrews 4:14 MKJV Since then we have a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Seeing then: The Apostle Paul wants to call attention to the specific, unique character of Jesus as our High Priest. No other High Priest was called great. No other High Priest . . . passed through the heavens. No other High Priest is the Son of God.
Let us hold fast our confession: Knowing that we have a High Priest, and know how unique and glorious He is, is wonderful. It is even greater to know that He has passed through the heavens, that He has ascended into heaven, and now ministers there on our behalf is even greater. Both of these things should encourage us to hold fast our confession.
Let us hold fast our profession - This is the drift and scope of the Epistle - to show that Christians should hold fast their profession, and not apostatize. The object of the apostle now is to show why the fact that we have such a High Priest, is a reason why we should hold fast our professed attachment to him. These reasons - which are drawn out in the succeeding chapters - are such as the following:
(1) We may look to him for assistance - since he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; Heb_4:15-16.
(2) The impossibility of being renewed again if we should fall away from him, since there is but “one” such High Priest, and since the sacrifice for sin can never be repeated; Heb. 6:
(3) The fact that all the ancient types were fulfilled in him, and that everything which there was in the Jewish dispensation to keep people from apostasy, exists much more powerfully in the Christian dispensation.
(4) The fact that they who rejected the laws of Moses died without mercy, and much more anyone who should reject the Son of God must expect more certain and fearful severity; Heb_10:27-30.
By considerations such as these, the apostle aims to show them the danger of apostasy, and to urge them to a faithful adherence to their Christian profession.
Where are you in your walk? Holding fast? Or read to quit?
Do you belief that Jesus is in heaven interceding on our behalf?
Hebrews 4:15 MKJV For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted just as we are, yet without sin.
We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize: Though His pedegree has been documented (Heb_1:4-14), His compassionate humanity has also been demonstrated (Heb_2:5-18). It means that there is a Jesus, the Son of God, enthroned in heaven, our High Priest, can sympathize with our weaknesses.
The ancient Greek word for sympathize literally means “to suffer along with.” Jesus knows, He feels what we go through. Our High Priest is not cold and unfeeling. That is, we have one who is abundantly qualified to sympathize with us in our afflictions, and to whom, therefore, we may look for aid and support in trials. Tenderness and sympathy attract those who are feeble, and kindness does more than anything else to encourage those who have to encounter difficulties and dangers. Such tenderness and sympathy has our Great High Priest.
But was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin: Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted and to battle against sin, though He was never stained by sin. “His sinlessness was, at least in part, an earned sinlessness as he gained victory after victory in the constant battle with temptation that life in this world entails.” (Morris)
He was subjected to all the kinds of trial to which we can be, and he is, therefore, able to sympathize with us and to aid us. He was tempted - in the literal sense; he was persecuted; he was poor; he was despised; he suffered physical pain; he endured the sorrows of a lingering and most cruel death.
The importance of this fact - that the Great High Priest of the Christian profession was “without sin,” the apostle illustrates at length in Heb. 7–9. He here merely alludes to it, and says that one who was “without sin” was able to assist those who were sinners, and who put their trust in him.
Do you put your trust in Jesus, our High Priest?
We also are tested for loyalty to God, loyalty to principles of righteousness, loyalty to the truth, loyalty to divine methods. Has God showed you where your loyalty lies?
Hebrews 4:16 MKJV Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
An invitation: come to the throne of grace for members of the new creation; as no others have access. Those who have not made a consecration to God have no Advocate through whom to approach Him. The earnest Christian should see to it that there is a direct and continual communication between his heart and his Lord. We should never grow discouraged, but come to the Lord again and again, remembering that he is never weary of our coming and that he will not turn us away empty.
There is a difference between "saying one's prayers," and praying. In prayer, we should have some definite request before our minds, in order that we may look intelligently for an answer. We may pray for the holy Spirit, for more love, gentleness, patience, wisdom; guidance from the Lord. But we may not tell him what to do; for we have no means of knowing what is His will in matters in general.
Not only should we pray frequently and with regularity, but we should be always in the attitude of prayer. We should be in that attitude of heart which looks to the Lord for guidance in every perplexity and experience. If we are submissive, our prayers will become more and more messages of thanksgiving. We shall increasingly desire to walk in the Master's footsteps. With his petitions he said, "Not my will, but thine be done."
When opportunities of service seem to require more strength than we have, we should go before the Lord in prayer and say that we are trusting that the necessary strength and all else would be provided.
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." (Eph_6:18)
Obtain mercy -- Not for original sin--but for our daily trespasses of ignorance or weakness. Let us never presume upon the mercy of our God by being careless of our steps. We shall receive mercy when we are truly striving to be faithful to the Lord. He knows that we cannot fully control our imperfect bodies. Availing ourselves of these mercies and privileges provided through our great High Priest, we are enabled to fight a good fight against sin. Not to see some progress in overcoming inherited blemishes, should be a cause of disappointment, and should lead to self-examination at the Mercy Seat.
Let us therefore come boldly: Because we have a High Priest who is compassionate, we can come boldly to God’s throne. Discouraging us from this access is a central strategy of Satan. The devil sometimes wants us to consider God as unapproachable - perhaps encouraging us to come by Mary or the saints instead through Jesus. Sometimes the devil wants us to think of Jesus as being powerless to help, not as one who sits on a throne in heaven right next to God.
The throne of grace: The throne of God is a throne of grace. When we come, we may obtain mercy (this is not getting what we deserve) and find grace (this is getting what we don’t deserve) in our time of need.
Remember that grace does not ignore God’s justice; it operates in fulfillment of God’s justice, in light of the cross.
Find grace to help in time of need: Thankfully, God provides help in our time of need. No request is too small, because He wants us to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer . . . let your requests be made known to God. (Php_4:6) When we realize that we are not always successful in resisting temptations. It was because of our needs that God made this arrangement for us.
Comments from this study are from Guzik, Barnes, Clarke, Gill, Russell and more.
(Heb_4:1-2) The warning is repeated: don’t miss God’s rest.
Therefore: The idea is carried on without pause from Hebrews 3 : unbelief kept the generation that escaped Egypt from entering Canaan. The promise remains of entering His rest, and we can enter into that rest by faith. Unbelief will make us fall short of the rest God has for us.
Let us therefore fear - Let us be apprehensive that we may possibly fall of that rest. The kind of “fear” which is recommended here is what leads to caution and care. A man who is in danger of losing his life or health should be watchful; a seaman that is in danger of running on a lee-shore should be on his guard. So we who have the offer of heaven, and who yet are in danger of losing it, should take all possible precautions lest we fail of it.
Lest a promise being left us - Paul assumes here that there is such a promise. In the subsequent part of the chapter, he goes more into the subject, and proves from the Old Testament that there is such a promise made to us. It is to be remembered that Paul had not the New Testament then to appeal to, as we have, which is perfectly clear on the subject, but that he was obliged to appeal to the Old Testament. This he did not only because the New Testament was not then written, but because he was reasoning with those who had been Hebrews, and who regarded the authority of the Old Testament as decisive. If his reasoning to us appears somewhat obscure, we should put ourselves in his place, and should remember that the converts then had not the full light which we have now in the New Testament.
Hebrews 4:2 MKJV For also we have had the gospel preached, as well as them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
The apostle goes on to apply this part of Israel's history to those whom he was addressing, laying stress on two points:1st, That Israel had failed of entering into rest, through unbelief; 2nd, That the rest was yet to come, and that believers (those who were not seeking rest here, but who accepted the wilderness for the time being) should enter into it.
He begins by saying, "Let us fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any should seem to come short of it," not attain to it. For we have been the objects of the proclamation of glad tidings, as they were in times past. But the word addressed to them remained fruitless, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it: for we which have believed do enter into rest. The rest itself is yet to come, and it is believers who enter into it. For a rest of God there is, and there are some who enter into it: inasmuch as it is written, "They," that is, those (pointing out a certain class who are to be excluded) "shall not enter into my rest."
Israel merely held the outward form or shadow and did not mix it with faith so as to discern its antitype--the rest of heart. Israel did not enter into the real rest or Sabbath, although they zealously observed the seventh day. They did not exercise the faith by which alone the rest can be enjoyed. Faith is necessary to rest. It is for faith to triumph and to realize that God can bring us to that glorious condition which he has promised.
Are you exercising your Faith?
Are the promises of God real to you? Or are you just going through the motions?
Hebrews 4:3 MKJV For we who have believed do enter into the rest, as He said, "I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Belief in the good tidings, the Gospel. The most learned and most ignorant can have this rest if only they believe.
Intellectual belief is not enough, if we truly believe, we will manifest our belief by works in harmony with our beliefs. If we have partial belief, we have partial rest; if we have perfect belief, we have perfect rest. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of God, the more firm and established does our faith become, and our rest is proportionate. We enter into a deeper, more intelligent rest if we avail ourselves of the helps which the Lord has provided for us.
He who trusts in Jesus as his justifier, rests from attempting to do the work for himself. Rest of heart, rest of mind, the peace of God which passeth all understanding. (Phi_4:7)
"Take my yoke upon you and learn of me and ye shall find rest to your souls." (Mat_11:28-29)
So swore in My wrath: This quote from Psa_95:11 demonstrates that God has a rest available to us. This rest is after the pattern of God’s own rest on the seventh day from all His works, as described in the quote from Gen_2:2.
Are you resting in God?
Are there some things you just can’t give over to God?
Hebrews 4:4 MKJV For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested the seventh day from all His works."
By the indefinite “He” is meant “God,” a form of citation not used in the same way by St Paul, but common in Philo and the Rabbis. The “somewhere” of the original is here expressed in the A.V. by “in a certain place,” The reference is to Gen_2:2; Exo_20:11; Exo_31:17. The writer always regards the Old Testament not as a dead letter, but as a living voice.
The idea is this, that the notion of “rest” of some kind runs through all dispensations. It was seen in the finishing of the work of creation; seen in the appointment of the Sabbath; seen in the offer of the promised land, and is seen now in the promise of heaven. All dispensations contemplate “rest,” and there must be such a prospect before man now. When it is said that “God did rest,” of course it does not mean that He was tired with His toil, but merely that He “ceased” from the monumental work of creation. He no more put forth creative energy, but calmly contemplated His own works in their beauty and grandeur; Gen_1:31. In carrying forward the great affairs of the universe, He always has been. actively employed Joh_5:17, but he is not employed in the work of “creation”.
Do you believe the Bible is God’s “living voice”?
Hebrews 4:5 MKJV And in this place again, "They shall not enter into My rest."
Hebrews 4:6 MKJV Since then it remains that some must enter into it, and since they to whom it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief,
These verses are designed to show that it was implied that a rest yet remained. “That which deserves to be called “the divine rest” is spoken of in the Scriptures, and as “they” did not enter into it, it follows that it must be in reserve for some others, and that the promise must still remain.”
God did not create this place of rest in vain. If Israel (those to whom it was first preached) did not enter because of disobedience, then someone else will enter into that rest.
The privileges we have under the gospel, are greater than any had under the law of Moses, though the same gospel for substance was preached under both Testaments. There have been in all ages many unprofitable hearers; and unbelief is at the root of all unfruitfulness under the word. Faith in the hearer is the life of the word. But there is a consequence of even partial neglect, and of a loose and wavering profession, that they often cause men to seem to come short. Let us then give diligence, that we may have a clear entrance into the kingdom of God. As God finished His work, and then rested from it, so He will cause those who believe, to finish their work, and then to enjoy their rest.
Do you think about entering this rest?
Do you have a “loose and wavering profession” of your faith?
Hebrews 4:7 MKJV He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, "Today," (after so long a time). Even as it is said, "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."
Since the seventh day of the creation was a day of rest which God entered into, and not man; and since the land of Canaan was a typical rest, which the unbelieving Israelites did not enter into, because of unbelief; and yet there must be persons, and there must be a time for them to enter into the true rest which God has left a promise of; therefore he has limited, fixed, and appointed a certain day, the Gospel Age or dispensation, for believers to enter into it. The thought is that there is a day of opportunity. If that day is passed by, the opportunity is gone. The word of the Lord is, To-day if, etc.
To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. God speaks now as He spoke before; His voice is in the Gospel as it was in the law. Believe, love, obey, and ye shall enter into this rest.
The offer to be of the Bride of Christ and enter into God’s rest is about to expire, have you responded to the voice of the Lord? Or have you hardened your hearts?
Are you putting off fulfilling your obligation to the Lord for tomorrow?
Hebrews 4:8 MKJV For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
Hebrews 4:9 MKJV So then there remains a rest to the people of God.
There, remains therefore a rest to the people of God - It was not,
1. The rest of the Sabbath; it was not,
2. The rest in the promised land,
for the psalmist wrote long after the days of Joshua; therefore there is another rest, a state of blessedness, for the people of God; and this is the Gospel, the blessings it procures and communicates, and the eternal glory which it prepares for, and has promised to, genuine believers.
There are two words in this chapter which we indifferently translate rest, καταπαυσις and σαββατισμος· he first signifying a cessation from labor, so that the weary body is rested and refreshed; the second meaning, not only a rest from labor, but a religious rest; sabbatismus, a rest of a sacred kind, of which both soul and body partake. A different rest from that which we now enjoy. A rest from all labor while our works will follow us. The glorious blessings of the resurrection state.
Hebrews 4:10 MKJV For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
Alford translates, “He that entered into his (or else God’s, but rather ‘his’; Isa_11:10, ‘His rest’: ‘the joy of the Lord,’ Mat_25:21, Mat_25:23) rest (namely, Jesus, our Forerunner, Heb_4:14; Heb_6:20, ‘The Son of God that is passed through the heavens’: in contrast to Joshua the type, who did not bring God’s people into the heavenly rest), he himself (emphatical) rested from his works (Heb_4:4), as God (did) from His own” (so the Greek, “works”). The argument, though generally applying to anyone who has entered his rest, probably alludes to Jesus in particular, the antitypical Joshua, who, having entered His rest at the Ascension, has ceased or rested from His work of the new creation, as God on the seventh day rested from the work of physical creation. Not that He has ceased to carry on the work of redemption, no, He upholds it by His mediation; but He has ceased from those portions of the work which constitute the foundation; the sacrifice has been once for all accomplished. Compare as to God’s creation rest, once for all completed, and rested from, but now still upheld (see on Heb_4:4).
To all of us Christ offers rest, not in the other life only, but in this. See Heb_4:3; Heb_4:11. Rest from the weight of sin, from care and worry, from the load of daily anxiety and foreboding.
The rest that arrives from handing all worries over to Christ, and receiving from Christ all we need. Have we entered into that experience?
In Heb_4:6; Heb_4:11, where A.V. reads, “unbelief,” R.V., reads, “disobedience.” If we disobey, we cannot believe; but when we believe we are sure to obey. In Heb_4:10 we are directed to our risen Lord, who has finished the work of Redemption and rests, as God did when He pronounced Creation to be “very good.” When we understand what He meant by “It is finished,” we, too, shall rest.
Hebrews 4:11 MKJV Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief.
Let us therefore labour - Let us earnestly strive. Since there is a rest whose attainment is worth all our efforts; since so many have failed of reaching it by their unbelief, and since there is so much danger that we may fail of it also, let us give all diligence that we may enter into it. Heaven is never obtained but by diligence; and no one enters there who does not earnestly desire it, and who does not make a sincere effort to reach it.
Be diligent to enter that rest: The rest is there, but God does not force it upon us. We must enter that rest. Clearly, the rest is entered by faith; but it takes diligent faith. This shows us that faith is not passive; it takes diligence to trust in, rely on, and cling to Jesus and His work for us.
Lest any man fall - Lest he fall off from the grace of God, from the Gospel and its blessings, and perish everlastingly.
Of unbelief - Margin, “disobedience.” The word “unbelief” best expresses the sense, as the apostle was showing that this was the principal thing that prevented people from entering into heaven; see the notes at Heb_3:12.
Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God?—All of it, not just the Red Letters?
If something in the Bible seems contradictory to what you think do you:
- Make a diligent search to find out exactly what the Bible says on the matter as a whole?
- Don’t care and keep believing whatever you want?
- Change your thinking to be more inline with God’s Word?
- Change God’s Word to be more inline with your thinking by discounting certain books of the Bible as just written by men?
Hebrews 4:12 MKJV For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,…
For the word of God - The design of this and the following verse is obvious. It is to show that we cannot escape the notice of God; that all insincerity, unbelief, hypocrisy, will be detected by Him; and that since our hearts are perfectly open before Him, we should be sincere and should not attempt to deceive Him. The sense is, that the truth of God is all-penetrating and searching, and that the real thoughts and intents of the heart will be brought to light, and that if there is insincerity and self-deception there can be no hope of escape.
His “truth” is adapted to bring out the real feelings, and to show man exactly what He is. Truth always has this power - whether preached, or read, or communicated by conversation, or impressed upon the memory and conscience by the Holy Spirit. There can be no escape from the penetrating, searching application of the Word of God. That truth has power to show what man is, and is like a penetrating sword that lays open the whole man; compare Isa_49:2. The phrase “the Word of God” here may be applied, therefore, to the “truth” of God, however made known to the mind. In some way it will bring out the real feelings, and show what man is.
“living.” It is not dead, inert, and powerless. It has a “living” power, and is energetic and active. It is “adapted” to produce this effect.
Let the "sword of the Spirit" the Word of God, do all the cutting, rather than debating, it is preferable to present the message of the Lord's Word orally or in print before those who desire to hear. The teachings of all the Lord's representatives should be the Word of God, not human speculations and philosophies. Let us, in our conversation with others whom we would lead into the truth, pay less attention to self-defense than to a presentation of the divine Word. The Truth itself needs no unkind language, no epithets, to drive it home.
Sharper than any two-edged sword - Literally, “two-mouthed” sword - δίστομον distomon. The word “mouth” was given to the sword because it seemed to “devour” all before it. It consumed or destroyed as a wild beast does. The comparison of the Word of God to a sword or to an arrow, is designed to show its power of penetrating the heart; Ecc_12:11, “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies;” compare Isa_49:2. “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword;” Rev_1:16, “And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword;” Rev_2:12, Rev_2:16; Rev_19:15. The idea is that of piercing, or penetrating; and the meaning here is, that the Word of God reaches the “heart” - the very center of action, and lays open the motives and feelings of the man. It was common among the ancients to have a sword with two edges. The Roman sword was commonly made in this manner. The fact that it had two edges made it more easy to penetrate, as well as to cut with every way.
When the word of God exposes our weakness and unbelief like this, it demonstrates the inherent power, sharpness, and accuracy of the word of God. It bears constant reminding that as we submit ourselves to the word of God, we do it for far, far more than intellectual knowledge of the learning of facts. We do it for the ministry of the Word, because God meets us in His Word, and His Holy Spirit works powerfully through the word of God. We should consider just what the Word of God says it will do in our lives:
For the word of God: God’s Word has diagnosed our illness with a surgeon’s precision. It has seen our hearts, and discerned that we are too ready to follow in the failure of the children of Israel, to give up belief. The word of God is not dead; it is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword. The word of God can probe us like a surgeon’s expert scalpel, cutting away what needs to be cut and keeping what needs to be kept. (Heb_4:12)
Is living and powerful: No wonder the writer to the Hebrews can say this. The Bible isn’t a collection of musty stories and myths. It has an inherent life and power. The preacher doesn’t make the Bible “come alive.” The Bible is alive, and gives life to the preacher and anyone else who will really receive it.
Powerful (translated active in the KJV) reminds us that something might be alive, yet dormant. But God’s Word is both living and powerful, in the sense of being active.
Hebrews 4:12 MKJV …piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit,…
Dividing asunder -- Penetrating so as to divide. It shall separate, shall discover, shall manifest who have the spirit of the Lord and who have not. Separating worldly life from divine life.
Even to the division of soul and spirit: Is there a deliberate and significant difference between soul and spirit here?
Certainly, there is some distinction between soul and spirit. “The New Testament use of pneuma for the human spirit focuses on the spiritual aspect of man, i.e. his life in relation to God, whereas psyche refers to man’s life irrespective of his spiritual experience, i.e. his life in relation to himself, his emotions and thought. There is a strong antithesis between the two in the theology of Paul.” (Guthrie)
But the stress of this passage isn’t to spell out a theology of the difference between soul and spirit. “Attempts to explain [these terms] on any psychological basis are futile. The form of expression is poetical, and signifies that the word penetrates to the inmost recesses of our spiritual being as a sword cuts through the joints and marrow of the body.” (Vincent)
However, it is important to understand what the Bible means when it speaks of and makes a distinction with soul and spirit. The Bible tells us that people have an “inner” and an “outer” nature (Gen_2:7, 2Co_4:16). The inner man is described by both the terms spirit (Act_7:59, Mat_26:41, Joh_4:23-24) and soul (1Pe_2:11, Heb_6:19, Heb_10:39). These two terms are often used synonymously, but not always. We can say that soul seems to focus more on individuality and life (often being defined as the mind, the will, and the emotions or even just the person in general). The spirit seems to focus more on supernatural power and life in an individual.
Does God’s Word cut you deep?
What have you learned about yourself?
Hebrews 4:12 MKJV … and of the joints and marrow,…
And of the joints and marrow - The figure is still continued of the sword that takes life. Such a sword would seem to penetrate even the joints and marrow of the body. It would separate the joints, and pierce through the very bones to the marrow. A similar effect, Paul says, is produced by truth. It seems to penetrate the very essence of the soul, and lay it all open to the view.
God’s Word can hit us with surprising precision, and the Holy Spirit empowers the ministry of the Word to do deep work in our hearts. Often people wonder how a preacher’s message can be so relevant to their life. They sometimes honestly wonder if the preacher doesn’t know some “inside information” about their life. But it isn’t necessarily the preacher at all. It is the sharpness of the Word of God, delivering the message in just the right place.
The truth should be preached with the feeling that it is adapted to this end. Men who preach should endeavor to understand the nature of the mind and of the moral feelings. He who has no belief in the efficacy of truth to produce any effect, resembles one who should suppose that all knowledge of the human system was needless to him who wished to perform a surgical operation, and who should cut at random - piously leaving it with God to direct the knife; or he who should go into a hospital of patients and administer medicines indiscriminately - devoutly saying that all healing must come from God, and that the use of medicine was only to show its own weakness! Thus, many men seem to preach. The true way of preaching is, to feel that truth is adapted to the end in view; to select what is best suited for that end; to preach as if the whole result depended on getting that truth before the mind and into the heart - and then to leave the whole result with God - as a physician with right feelings will exert all his skill to save his patient, and then commit the whole question of life and health to God. He will be more likely to praise God intelligently who believes that he has wisely adapted a plan to the end in view, than he who believes that God works only at random.
When you study, do you study with a mission or just randomly?
Do you study or just read? Do you know the difference?
How does this affect your faith?
Hebrews 4:12 MKJ… and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And is a discerner of the thoughts - It shows what the thoughts and intentions are. It is true that God searches the heart, and knows the thoughts, but that is not the truth which is prominent here. It is, that the thoughts and intents of the heart are brought out to view by the Word of God. And can anyone doubt this? see Rom_7:7. Is it not true that people are made to see their real character under the exhibition of the truth of God? That in the light of the Law they see their past lives to be sinful? That the exhibition of truth calls to their recollection many long-forgotten sins? And that their real feelings are brought out when the truth of God is proclaimed? Men then are made to look upon their motives as they had never done before, and to see in their hearts feelings whose existence they would not have suspected if it had not been for the exhibition of the truth. The exhibition of the truth is like pouring down the beams of the sun at midnight on a dark world; and the truth lays open the real feelings of the sinner as that sun would disclose the clouds of wickedness that are now performed under cover of the night. Many a man has a deep and fixed hostility to God and to his gospel who might never be sensible of it if the truth was not faithfully proclaimed. The particular idea here is, that the truth of God will detect the feelings of the hypocrite and self-deceiver. They cannot always conceal their emotions, and the time will come when truth, like light poured into the soul, will reveal their unbelief and their secret sins. They who are cherishing a hope of salvation, therefore, should be on their guard lest they mistake the name for the reality. Let us learn from this verse:
The power of truth. It is “suited” to lay open the secret feelings of the soul. There is not an effect produced in awakening a sinner; or in his conviction, conversion, and sanctification, which the truth is not “adapted” to produce.
What truths about yourself has God revealed to you?
Do you like what you see?
Would we be a hypocrite or self-deceiver if we say we love the Truth, but refuse to change our comfortable thoughts when the Lord shows us that they are wrong?
Hebrews 4:13 MKJV Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account: There is no one hidden before God. He sees our hearts and knows how to touch them, and we must give account for how we respond to His touch.
Naked reminds us of the way God saw through Adam’s feeble hiding. God sees through our hiding the same way.
Open The proper meaning of the verb is “to bend the neck back” so as to expose it in front when an animal is slain - Passow. Then it means to make bare; to remove everything like covering; to expose a thing entirely - as the naked neck is for the knife. The allusion here is undoubtedly to the “sword” which Paul had referred to in the previous verse, as dividing the soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow; and the meaning is, that in the hand of God, who held that sword, everything was exposed.
Remember the context. The writer to the Hebrews trusts that he has pierced the hearts of his audience, who were contemplating “giving up” on Jesus. In this passage, he has made it plain that they can’t give up on Jesus can keep it “hidden” from God. The word of God has discovered and exposed their condition.
Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness does not hide from You; but the night shines as the day; as is the darkness, so is the light to You.
If we have any secret fault, and are lovers of righteousness, we will want the cleansing power of the Word applied. Do you want it applied?
Hebrews 4:14 MKJV Since then we have a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Seeing then: The Apostle Paul wants to call attention to the specific, unique character of Jesus as our High Priest. No other High Priest was called great. No other High Priest . . . passed through the heavens. No other High Priest is the Son of God.
Let us hold fast our confession: Knowing that we have a High Priest, and know how unique and glorious He is, is wonderful. It is even greater to know that He has passed through the heavens, that He has ascended into heaven, and now ministers there on our behalf is even greater. Both of these things should encourage us to hold fast our confession.
Let us hold fast our profession - This is the drift and scope of the Epistle - to show that Christians should hold fast their profession, and not apostatize. The object of the apostle now is to show why the fact that we have such a High Priest, is a reason why we should hold fast our professed attachment to him. These reasons - which are drawn out in the succeeding chapters - are such as the following:
(1) We may look to him for assistance - since he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; Heb_4:15-16.
(2) The impossibility of being renewed again if we should fall away from him, since there is but “one” such High Priest, and since the sacrifice for sin can never be repeated; Heb. 6:
(3) The fact that all the ancient types were fulfilled in him, and that everything which there was in the Jewish dispensation to keep people from apostasy, exists much more powerfully in the Christian dispensation.
(4) The fact that they who rejected the laws of Moses died without mercy, and much more anyone who should reject the Son of God must expect more certain and fearful severity; Heb_10:27-30.
By considerations such as these, the apostle aims to show them the danger of apostasy, and to urge them to a faithful adherence to their Christian profession.
Where are you in your walk? Holding fast? Or read to quit?
Do you belief that Jesus is in heaven interceding on our behalf?
Hebrews 4:15 MKJV For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted just as we are, yet without sin.
We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize: Though His pedegree has been documented (Heb_1:4-14), His compassionate humanity has also been demonstrated (Heb_2:5-18). It means that there is a Jesus, the Son of God, enthroned in heaven, our High Priest, can sympathize with our weaknesses.
The ancient Greek word for sympathize literally means “to suffer along with.” Jesus knows, He feels what we go through. Our High Priest is not cold and unfeeling. That is, we have one who is abundantly qualified to sympathize with us in our afflictions, and to whom, therefore, we may look for aid and support in trials. Tenderness and sympathy attract those who are feeble, and kindness does more than anything else to encourage those who have to encounter difficulties and dangers. Such tenderness and sympathy has our Great High Priest.
But was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin: Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted and to battle against sin, though He was never stained by sin. “His sinlessness was, at least in part, an earned sinlessness as he gained victory after victory in the constant battle with temptation that life in this world entails.” (Morris)
He was subjected to all the kinds of trial to which we can be, and he is, therefore, able to sympathize with us and to aid us. He was tempted - in the literal sense; he was persecuted; he was poor; he was despised; he suffered physical pain; he endured the sorrows of a lingering and most cruel death.
The importance of this fact - that the Great High Priest of the Christian profession was “without sin,” the apostle illustrates at length in Heb. 7–9. He here merely alludes to it, and says that one who was “without sin” was able to assist those who were sinners, and who put their trust in him.
Do you put your trust in Jesus, our High Priest?
We also are tested for loyalty to God, loyalty to principles of righteousness, loyalty to the truth, loyalty to divine methods. Has God showed you where your loyalty lies?
Hebrews 4:16 MKJV Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
An invitation: come to the throne of grace for members of the new creation; as no others have access. Those who have not made a consecration to God have no Advocate through whom to approach Him. The earnest Christian should see to it that there is a direct and continual communication between his heart and his Lord. We should never grow discouraged, but come to the Lord again and again, remembering that he is never weary of our coming and that he will not turn us away empty.
There is a difference between "saying one's prayers," and praying. In prayer, we should have some definite request before our minds, in order that we may look intelligently for an answer. We may pray for the holy Spirit, for more love, gentleness, patience, wisdom; guidance from the Lord. But we may not tell him what to do; for we have no means of knowing what is His will in matters in general.
Not only should we pray frequently and with regularity, but we should be always in the attitude of prayer. We should be in that attitude of heart which looks to the Lord for guidance in every perplexity and experience. If we are submissive, our prayers will become more and more messages of thanksgiving. We shall increasingly desire to walk in the Master's footsteps. With his petitions he said, "Not my will, but thine be done."
When opportunities of service seem to require more strength than we have, we should go before the Lord in prayer and say that we are trusting that the necessary strength and all else would be provided.
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." (Eph_6:18)
Obtain mercy -- Not for original sin--but for our daily trespasses of ignorance or weakness. Let us never presume upon the mercy of our God by being careless of our steps. We shall receive mercy when we are truly striving to be faithful to the Lord. He knows that we cannot fully control our imperfect bodies. Availing ourselves of these mercies and privileges provided through our great High Priest, we are enabled to fight a good fight against sin. Not to see some progress in overcoming inherited blemishes, should be a cause of disappointment, and should lead to self-examination at the Mercy Seat.
Let us therefore come boldly: Because we have a High Priest who is compassionate, we can come boldly to God’s throne. Discouraging us from this access is a central strategy of Satan. The devil sometimes wants us to consider God as unapproachable - perhaps encouraging us to come by Mary or the saints instead through Jesus. Sometimes the devil wants us to think of Jesus as being powerless to help, not as one who sits on a throne in heaven right next to God.
The throne of grace: The throne of God is a throne of grace. When we come, we may obtain mercy (this is not getting what we deserve) and find grace (this is getting what we don’t deserve) in our time of need.
Remember that grace does not ignore God’s justice; it operates in fulfillment of God’s justice, in light of the cross.
Find grace to help in time of need: Thankfully, God provides help in our time of need. No request is too small, because He wants us to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer . . . let your requests be made known to God. (Php_4:6) When we realize that we are not always successful in resisting temptations. It was because of our needs that God made this arrangement for us.
Comments from this study are from Guzik, Barnes, Clarke, Gill, Russell and more.
